WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.980 --> 00:00:03.980 The customer service function in Germany is big, 2 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:06.970 Deutsche Telekom's the incumbent, Germany's a big market 3 00:00:06.970 --> 00:00:10.800 and the market positioning of Telekom in Germany 4 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.080 was very much focused on best network, 5 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:16.600 and you could see that that would not fly for the future. 6 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.780 We needed more in order to really give something 7 00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:21.840 to the premium brand 8 00:00:21.840 --> 00:00:25.060 and the decision was taken that best customer experience, 9 00:00:25.060 --> 00:00:27.714 best service would be one of these proofs. 10 00:00:31.272 --> 00:00:33.775 My name is Gero Niemeyer, 11 00:00:33.775 --> 00:00:36.220 I led the agile transformation 12 00:00:36.220 --> 00:00:39.640 of the service operations in Germany. 13 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:43.400 When we started off, the talk on the floor was, 14 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:45.950 if we can only get rid of handling time targets, 15 00:00:45.950 --> 00:00:47.940 have more time to serve our customers 16 00:00:47.940 --> 00:00:49.870 that's the one thing that's holding us back 17 00:00:49.870 --> 00:00:51.200 from excellent service. 18 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:56.200 So in our experimentation site, we did exactly that. 19 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:58.050 We said, "So, no handling time targets, 20 00:00:58.050 --> 00:00:59.760 not for you, not for the team leads. 21 00:00:59.760 --> 00:01:00.760 Just take your time, 22 00:01:00.760 --> 00:01:03.460 it's all about customer satisfaction, about solving." 23 00:01:03.460 --> 00:01:04.580 Well, that didn't work, 24 00:01:04.580 --> 00:01:07.490 because just having more time, didn't create ideas, 25 00:01:07.490 --> 00:01:09.300 didn't change the way we served the customers 26 00:01:09.300 --> 00:01:11.060 and actually customers do not want 27 00:01:11.060 --> 00:01:13.470 to spend more time on the phone. 28 00:01:13.470 --> 00:01:14.730 We then started for example 29 00:01:14.730 --> 00:01:17.540 to do daily stand-ups at the end of the day, 30 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:20.790 half an hour, each team talking about, 31 00:01:20.790 --> 00:01:22.190 "What can we do better?" 32 00:01:22.190 --> 00:01:23.790 "What will we try tomorrow?" 33 00:01:23.790 --> 00:01:24.730 "What did we learn?" 34 00:01:24.730 --> 00:01:29.360 And thereby iteratively getting better in an agile way. 35 00:01:29.360 --> 00:01:31.900 We introduced a customer feedback cycle 36 00:01:31.900 --> 00:01:34.650 for every single contact, with calls, 37 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:36.870 with callbacks systems, where from an SMS, 38 00:01:36.870 --> 00:01:40.150 where you can do a star rating of the interaction. 39 00:01:40.150 --> 00:01:42.180 We introduced last agent callbacks 40 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:44.780 so you can talk to this person you spoke to last. 41 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:46.290 In the end, it's still service. 42 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:47.920 It's still two human beings, 43 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.450 being in contact with each other, one being the expert, 44 00:01:50.450 --> 00:01:52.210 the other one having a question and a problem, 45 00:01:52.210 --> 00:01:55.810 and hopefully the expert can help him resolve it. 46 00:01:55.810 --> 00:01:57.570 But the way we think about it, 47 00:01:57.570 --> 00:01:59.172 the way the agent thinks about it, 48 00:01:59.172 --> 00:02:02.950 really radically changed over time. 49 00:02:02.950 --> 00:02:04.880 Now, they are in charge. 50 00:02:04.880 --> 00:02:06.140 In the end the most important thing 51 00:02:06.140 --> 00:02:07.870 is solving the customer issue. 52 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:12.310 And if they need tools, rule changes, 53 00:02:12.310 --> 00:02:14.240 systems to make that happen, 54 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:16.910 they have a system to ask for that. 55 00:02:16.910 --> 00:02:19.660 It's still an organised way, but in the end, 56 00:02:19.660 --> 00:02:21.610 the rest of the organisation is working 57 00:02:21.610 --> 00:02:23.760 for the agents to empower them. 58 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:25.410 When we found something that really worked, 59 00:02:25.410 --> 00:02:27.260 and the procedures that will be implemented, 60 00:02:27.260 --> 00:02:30.420 and then we started really rolling out 61 00:02:30.420 --> 00:02:33.540 and doing waves of cities, of sites, 62 00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:35.280 changing the way of working. 63 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.220 We're not totally done yet, 64 00:02:37.220 --> 00:02:40.080 the mobile service in Germany has totally changed, 65 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.600 but just for internal sites. 66 00:02:41.600 --> 00:02:44.370 So now we are in the phase of implementing it 67 00:02:44.370 --> 00:02:46.260 and outsourcing providers. 68 00:02:46.260 --> 00:02:49.820 And by now, we see significant cost reductions 69 00:02:49.820 --> 00:02:52.390 on the amount of 10% year over year. 70 00:02:52.390 --> 00:02:56.240 Now second year, due to the change in service. 71 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.890 Now for the third year, consecutively 72 00:02:58.890 --> 00:03:03.890 we have won the top customer service award for hotline, 73 00:03:03.893 --> 00:03:07.460 for customer service, with Deutsche Telekom Germany, 74 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:09.782 coming from a positioning where we were, 75 00:03:09.782 --> 00:03:12.100 like on every cocktail party, 76 00:03:12.100 --> 00:03:13.510 someone knew someone 77 00:03:13.510 --> 00:03:14.840 with a bad story about Deutsche Telekom. 78 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:15.970 They still know the stories, 79 00:03:15.970 --> 00:03:17.467 but now they end the story with, 80 00:03:17.467 --> 00:03:18.950 "And that has really changed." 81 00:03:18.950 --> 00:03:20.580 We are really proud about that.