“Businesses already have access to fairly detailed technical data when choosing their ISP, but information on the levels of customer service can be patchy,” says Harry Eastman, Operations Director, Easynet Connect. “While the technical data is still important in the buying process, only feedback from customers themselves can tell you what it is really like to rely on their services day in, day out. Fundamentally, the real question is whether or not businesses have enough information to make informed choices about who to choose as their internet service provider (ISP). If they don’t, is a customer service benchmark just what they need? If so, shouldn’t we, as an industry, look into providing it?”
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is one example of a pre-existing benchmark for measuring customer service that could be adopted by business ISPs. Already in use by organizations such as Amazon, eBay and Dell, and used internally within Easynet Connect, the NPS is based on just one question; ‘Would you recommend us?’ From this one question, other measurements such as overall satisfaction, value for money, network reliability, sales and communications naturally flow.
“We’ve been using the Net Promoter Score internally for a few years now. Since adopting it our score, and therefore the customer service that we actually deliver, has improved significantly in just a few years. It is a powerful tool that keeps you on your toes,” said Eastman. “Crucially for us, we use the NPS to zone in on problem areas. If our CRM is the big gun in our arsenal, then NPS is without doubt our targeting system for that gun.”
Julian Harriott, Business Manager, CMA says “Guidelines and standards are important for suppliers and users alike, both in terms of selection and expectations. Adopting a standard like Net Promoter Score is the responsible thing to do. Telecoms is a heavily-regulated industry. If organisations look after customer service themselves, it gives the regulators one less thing to worry about.”