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First-contact problem resolution

Establish a one-contact resolution for customer issues

Ensure that customers must contact the company only once to get their problems resolved

Frank, L., Poll, R., Röglinger, M., & Lea, R. (2020). Design heuristics for customer-centric business processes. Business Process Management Journal, 26(6)

Description

Companies should ensure that all information needed to solve customer issues are collected at the first encounter in the business process. This reduces the interaction effort on both sides and supports the fast and comprehensive identification of solutions.

Real-World Example

At Allianz, call center agents are instructed to serve customers in minimum time by prohibiting repeated calls, by permitting only one forwarding per call and by assigning the most appropriate agent available. This way, customers do not need to describe their problem or needs several times and get support as soon as possible.

Implementation

This heuristic can be realized by reducing the number of loops in business processes and by proactively assigning the most suitable employee or IT-based touchpoint (e.g. chatbots).

Performance considerations

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Foundational free Patterns

Appoint case managers

Assign a responsible individual for handling each case type

Distinguish case types

Determine whether activities are related to the same type of case and, if necessary, distinguish new business processes

Apply Integral technology

Elevate physical constraints by applying new technology

Minimize numerical involvement

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Parallelize activities

Consider whether activities may be executed in parallel

Apply triage

Consider the division of a general activity into two or more alternative activities

Green Variant

Offer a green alternative with the same outcome, utilizing different steps, resources, or partners, while retaining the previous existing process

Offer temporal flexibility

Let customers interact with your organization whenever they want to.

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Connected to

Empower resources

Empower workers for more decision-making authority

Reduce touchpoints

Reduce the number of contacts with customers and third parties

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