Customer Satisfaction with IT by Anticlue

One of the most illusive goals of my career has been to be a part of a team which values customer satisfaction and loyalty. Often being a part of an IT department, I’d sit in meetings with the customer wondering. If we were the competitive choice, would this customer department still choose to work with us. Was the department held captivated by our team work, cheerfulness, and empathy? Or is the department held a captive audience by the fact all IT requests can only be serviced by our department, and the customer has no other options? I’d watch and listen to our customer and technicians interactions and discussions. I’d wonder with whom the customer department compared us?

For instance, once in a meeting with our patient billing department directors and VPs, I sat flabbergasted as the top technicians explained a simple report was incorrect due to the fact that the requirements were not clearly written our request form by the customer. The technician became indignant and negative. The customer became quiet and unresponsive. Together, we had an impasse to work through. Afterwards, I talked with our technician, explaining a simple conversation with the customer beforehand to elicit requirements would be a better tactic for next time. Understanding the business need is a crucial part of this process.

Often after many meetings like the above, I’d come to the conclusion, that we as an IT department needed to measure and prioritize customer satisfaction as one of our key deliverables. I’d imagine giving surveys asking the following (borrowing from the press ganey and gallup ratings)

How well the IT department staff worked together
Overall cheerfulness of the IT department
How well the IT department anticipates your needs
IT’s response to concerns/complaints made
Amount of attention paid to your business needs
The level of empathy displayed by IT staff
IT staff clearly explained procedures and solutions in non-technical jargon
How well IT managers kept you informed
Efforts to include you in decisions about your solution
IT Staff’s attitude toward your requests
Skill of the IT department
IT Staff advised you if there were going to be delays
IT responded promptly to outages and problems.
IT responded in a reasonable about of time
IT staff sensitivity to the inconvenience of unavailable systems

The truth of the matter is that IT Management spends most of their efforts in project delivery. The data measured surrounds project delivery. The customer, however subjectively judges the overall experience with the department. Not just if the project was delivered on time and within budget. The customer’s perception creates the reality and subjectivity cannot measured in the same manner as project delivery. Perceptions and outcomes are important critical success factors but each has a different impact.

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