Customer Value Research Open University Presentation June 2007

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Customer Value ResearchOpen University
PresentationJune 2007

• Sue McKnight
• Director of Libraries and Knowledge Resources
• Nottingham Trent University
• sue.mcknight_at_ntu.ac.uk

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What? - Involve the Customer!!!!!

• Customers matter libraries are a service
  organisation and should understand and respond to
  customers needs
• We make assumptions about what is required, and
  these are not always true
• If we dont know where to put our effort, we can
  waste time, energy and with little added value
  to the customer
• Accountability
• Performance Monitoring
• Continuous Quality Improvement
• Cultural Change amongst Library Staff

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Organisational Culture

• Customer at the centre
• Clearly articulated service statements or
  standards
• Service statements or standards reflect the needs
  and value factors of customers
• Values of library staff aligned with Customer
  Service
• Willingness of library staff to listen to
  customer perceptions
• Climate of continuous quality improvement
• Climate of innovation based on customer needs
• Commitment to do something when faced with
  evidence of the need to change
• Courage to focus on local needs as well as/or
  instead of regional or national benchmarking

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Which Customers?
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Therere many market segments in a Uni.!

• Staff
• Teachers
• Researchers
• Teachers/Researchers
• Tutors
• Administrators
• Support Staff
• etc

• Students
• Undergraduates
• 1st year
• Post graduates coursework
• Post graduate research
• FE
• Part time
• Mature age
• School leavers
• Off-campus Local, Regional, National
• Off-campus international
• Students with a disability
• Those who dont use the service
• etc

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Customers Drivers

• Different customer segments have different
  drivers and different experiences
• Remote customers have different needs than those
  who use e-services in a library building or
  on-campus
• Services and standards vary according to the
  particular customer segment

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Systems and Processes

• Strategic Plan, reflecting commitment to
  excellent customer service
• Library Operational Plans, to implement strategic
  initiatives and directions
• Feedback mechanisms
• Analysis of feedback
• Formal decision-making, involving staff and
  customers (if possible)
• Communications strategy
• Monitoring and review processes
• Organizational, unit, individual
• Recognition and Reward systems
• Re-planning

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Which Methodology?

• Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• Questions qualified by focus groups, or
• Standard survey questions
• Benchmarking Tools
• LibQual
• Interviews etc..
• Customer Discovery / Value Research

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Quality in a product or service is not what the
supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets
out and is willing to pay for. A product is not
quality because it is hard to make and costs a
lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe.
This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what
is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing
else constitutes quality. Peter Drucker
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Hierarchy of Value
Unanticipated
Desired
Expected
Basic
Frustrated
Irritated
Angry
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Customer Value ResearchThe Process

• External Facilitators
• Wireless keypad technology for voting
• 15 participants per focus group
• Library observers
• 5 max Silent
• AM session participants identify irritants and
  value factors
• Lunch with participants time to address some
  issues
• PM session Library staff collate irritants and
  discuss issues

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Customer Value ResearchThe Process continued

• Consolidation of all feedback
• Observations Workshop
• Interactive value modelling to decide priorities
• Communication
• Participants
• Library staff
• User community
• Develop Action Plans with staff
• Monitor and evaluate
• Communication to all
• Re-validate and re-plan

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Customer Value ResearchThe Benefits

• From the customers perspective
• Personal
• Immediate
• Uses their own terminology
• From the library staff perspective
• Personal involvement in process
• Chance to correct perceptions
• Greater understanding of customers problems and
  values
• Challenges assumptions
• From decision-makers perspective
• Priorities are relevant to THIS library
• Interactive value modelling provides data on
  where to place emphasis

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The Challenges

• Is it statistically valid?
• Small numbers of participants in discovery
  workshops
• 6 workshops give a valid sample
• Confirmed by student satisfaction survey
  comprising 3500 students
• However, there will always be the doubters!
• Comparisons are problematic
• The overall rating is not comparable to
• satisfied in traditional surveys
• Not comparable to another library whose
• customers may have different values

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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Irritation
Queuing for service
Don't like card access policies
Unreliable limited IT / Av
Lack of training support when I need it
Inadequate expensive photocopying / printing
Problems with catalogue
Can't find materials I need
Inadequate opening hours
Restrictive difficult Loans policies/practices
Unhelpful uninterested staff
Inadequate academic liaison / communication
Noisy inappropriate study environment
Inadequacy of collection its management
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Irritation - Gaps
Queuing for service
Don't like card access policies
Unreliable limited IT / Av
Lack of training support when I need it
Inadequate expensive photocopying / printing
Problems with catalogue
Can't find materials I need
Inadequate opening hours
Restrictive difficult Loans policies/practices
Unhelpful uninterested staff
Inadequate academic liaison / communication
Noisy inappropriate study environment
Inadequacy of collection its management
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Irritation - Frequency
Queuing for service
Don't like card access policies
Unreliable limited IT / Av
Lack of training support when I need it
Inadequate expensive photocopying / printing
Problems with catalogue
Can't find materials I need
Inadequate opening hours
Restrictive difficult Loans policies practices
Unhelpful uninterested staff
Inadequate academic liaison communication
Noisy inappropriate study environment
Inadequacy of collection its management
NEVER Frequency
ALWAYS
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Irritation
Frequency - Gaps
Queuing for service
Don't like card access policies
Unreliable limited IT / Av
Lack of training support when I need it
Inadequate expensive photocopying / printing
Problems with catalogue
Can't find materials I need
Inadequate opening hours
Restrictive difficult Loans policies/practices
Unhelpful uninterested staff
Inadequate academic liaison communication
Noisy inappropriate study environment
Inadequacy of collection its management
NEVER Frequency
ALWAYS
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Irritation Pareto
Chart
K Inadequacy of collection its management
C Noisy inappropriate study environment
J Inadequate academic liaison communication
I Unhelpful uninterested staff
H Restrictive difficult Loans policies practices
A Inadequate opening hours
F Can't find materials I need
M Problems with catalogue
D Inadequate expensive photocopying / printing
G Lack of training support when I need it
B Unreliable limited IT / Av
L Don't like card access policies
E Queuing for service
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Value
Services clearly communicated to users
Timely targeted training
Availity of reliable up-to-date technologies facilities
Good quality cheap photocopying printing
User friendly loans policies procedures
Managing multi media curriculum content
Opening hours which meet user needs
Inspiring environment which supports diverse needs
Proactive partnerships b/w Academic staff Library
Knowledgeable friendly accessible staff who help me
Comprehensive available relevant resources
Easy access to materials where / when I need them
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Value - Gaps
Services clearly communicated to users
Timely targeted training
Availity of reliable up-to-date technologies facilities
Good quality cheap photocopying printing
User friendly loans policies procedures
Managing multi media curriculum content
Opening hours which meet user needs
Inspiring environment which supports diverse needs
Proactive partnerships b/w Academic staff Library
Knowledgeable friendly accessible staff who help me
Comprehensive available relevant resources
Easy access to materials where / when I need them
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Value - Performance
Services clearly communicated to users
Timely targeted training
Availity of reliable up to date technologies facilities
Good quality cheap photocopying printing
User friendly loans policies procedures
Managing multi media curriculum content
Opening hours which meet user needs
Inspiring environment which supports diverse needs
Proactive partnerships b/w Academic staff Library
Knowledgeable friendly accessible staff who help me
Comprehensive available relevant resources
Easy access to materials where when I need them
POOR Current Performance
EXCELLENT
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Value Performance -
Gaps
Services clearly communicated to users
Timely targeted training
Availity of reliable up to date technologies facilities
Good quality cheap photocopying printing
User friendly loans policies procedures
Managing multi media curriculum content
Opening hours which meet user needs
Inspiring environment which supports diverse needs
Proactive partnerships b/w Academic staff Library
Knowledgeable friendly accessible staff who help me
Comprehensive available relevant resources
Easy access to materials where when I need them
POOR Current Performance
EXCELLENT
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Academic Staff Hierarchy of Value Pareto Chart
B Easy access to materials where when I need them
G Comprehensive available relevant resources
H Knowledgeable friendly accessible staff who help me
I Proactive partnerships between Academic staff and Library
A Inspiring environment which supports diverse needs
D Opening hours which meet user needs
L Managing multi media curriculum content
E User friendly loans policies procedures
C Good quality cheap photocopying printing
K Availability of reliable up to date technologies and facilities
F Timely targeted training
J Services clearly communicated to users
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Students Hierarchy of Irritation
Inadequate academic liaison communication
Inadequate opening hours
Lack of training support when I need it
Problems with catalogue
Don't like card access policies
Queuing for service
Unhelpful uninterested staff
Restrictive difficult Loans policies practices
Can't find materials I need
Unreliable limited IT / Av
Noisy inappropriate study environment
Inadequate expensive photocopying / printing
Inadequacy of collection its management
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Students Hierarchy of Value
Managing multi media curriculum content
Proactive partnerships b/w Academic staff Library
Services clearly communicated to users
Opening hours which meet user needs
User friendly loans policies procedures
Timely targeted training
Availity of reliable up to date technologies facilities
Good quality cheap photocopying printing
Knowledgeable friendly accessible staff who help me
Comprehensive available relevant resources
Inspiring environment which supports diverse needs
Easy access to materials where when I need them
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Student Satisfaction Survey

• 3500 students
• Conducted the same half year
• No surprises in results (complements/conforms
  CVR)
• But there is no frequency of irritation
• Noise levels versus Inspiring environment that
  supports diverse needs

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Importance versus Satisfaction Libraries

• -

?
?
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Key Findings

• Irritants often have a corresponding Value Factor
• Fix the irritant --- improves value
• There will always be Irritants
• Hopefully these become less critical as
  improvements are made
• Library staff assumptions are not always accurate
• Under-estimated the impact/value/frequency
• Did not predict some irritants
• Customers compare library services with other
  commercial experiences, not necessarily with
  other libraries

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Key Findings cont.

• Customers see Library as one organisation (or
  just part of the bigger organisation)
• Need teamwork
• Everyone is important and adds value
• Need to drive change and decision making in other
  parts of the organisation
• Some of the irritants will be the responsibility
  of other parts of the organisation

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Further Analysis

• Results of the interactive value-modelling are
  high level and indicative
• Involve teams of staff in checking assumptions
  and working out what can be done to reduce
  irritation and increase value
• Involve customers if at all possible in this
  further stage
• Involve staff from across the library improves
  decision-making
• Generates more buy-in staff identify and drive
  change
• Creates greater commitment to change
• Imbed the actions in the Operational Plan

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Example of Action

• Greatest Value and Greatest Irritant the
  Information Resources (easy access where and when
  I need it comprehensive available relevant
  resources)
• Actions
• Textbooks policy
• Do we expect students to buy the textbook? Put in
  Information Resources Policy
• eBooks
• Reading lists
• All modules to have up-to-date and appropriate
  reading lists
• Received in time to make sure the items are on
  the shelf, or in VLE
• Digitised reading list material under Trial
  Scanning License
• E-resources
• Everyone wants availability when ever and where
  ever it is needed
• More e-journals (full text) and e-books
• Short loan collection to be digital
• Multiple copies of key resources
• Active stock management
• Improved information literacy programmes
• Improved catalogue system
• Postal Loans Service

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Communication and Performance Monitoring

• Communicate decisions to
• Stakeholders
• Participants in the Customer Value Research
• Library Staff
• Customer Community
• Monitoring ongoing performance, against
• Operational Plan
• Service Standards
• Individual Performance Reviews
• Tell everyone what is happening
• Re-Plan
• More Customer Value Research
• Check validity of Value Factors
• Check if new irritants are emerging

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Conclusions

• Know your customers what they want and how they
  perceive library services
• Dont just think libraries think bookshops,
  online booksellers, quick-print providers, video
  stores, supermarket check-outs
• Customer validation of professional assumptions
  is a mighty management tool
• Need commitment to change and to allocate
  resources according to needs and values
• Marketing and communication is very important

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Success breeds success!!!
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Questions and Comments?
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Thank You