1. Pre-arrival

2. Arrival

On arrival, customers need to be placed in an appropriate queue. Customer Flow Management stresses the possibility of segmenting the customers in different queues if appropriate, rather than entering all customers in the same queue. The most common segmentation is based on customer needs, e.g. separate queues for separate services. Customers with more complex service requirements can then be managed separately, which reduces the risk of “blocking” other customers with a negative impact on their service experience. It also allows the service provider to match customers with the staff who have the most suitable competence to respond to their needs. This is positive both for the customers who get the best support and for the service provider that maximizes the likelihood for potential cross- and up sells. Another possibility for segmentation is to base it on customer attractiveness. VIP customers that are considered important for the service provider could for example be positioned at the front of the queue. In a world where service providers are struggling to build increased loyalty among their customers, this represents a very interesting opportunity. Depending on the degree of complexity of the segmentation the queue entry point can and should be designed differently. In the very simplest case no special arrangements or at most a few barriers might be appropriate. In more complex situations various self-service terminals or even staffed greeting can be used to ensure customers enter the queues correctly. From a customer perspective an important criteria to ensure a high service experience is to secure an “in-process feeling”, e.g. the customers need to know and feel that they have entered the queue correctly and will be served in the appropriate time by the appropriate service person.

For the service provider the arrival and queue entry is the first opportunity to start tracking the customer on site. This requires customer identification and the creation of an initial data point. If the customer is not identified and tracked at this point the next opportunity to start tracking the customer is at service delivery.

3. Queuing/waiting

After arrival and queue entry most customers will endure a period of waiting. A balanced and controlled waiting period is the desired optimum result of any manager. No one wants to have a completely empty waiting area, as it would most likely mean you are overstaffed. Besides, an empty shop or service area gives an impression of abandonment and will not attract customers. An empty hospital could give the impression that tax money is wasted. Equally, too many customers waiting is simply as off-putting. And in the case of a hospital or public service centre a too long waiting time might not be accepted by citizens who can demonstrate this in elections. CFM can help managers get the balance just right by improving staff planning and by adding more flexibility to the processes.

From a CFM perspective this step has the greatest risk of impacting customer service experience negatively if not managed appropriately. A customer who perceives waiting as long is usually not satisfied with the service. Customer Flow Management offers two approaches to manage this. The first is to minimize actual waiting. By choosing the most appropriate queuing principle and using available Customer Flow Management tools to plan staffing and monitor waiting in real-time the service provider can actively manage waiting time.

Another approach, which does not exclude the first, is to minimise the perceived waiting time. This can be made by engaging the customer in active waiting, e.g. fill the waiting time with activities that reduce the perceived waiting time and hence enhance the waiting experience. Imagine for example being able to broadcast specific messages, targeted at the customers who are currently in your front office or in your shop. A service provider using Customer Flow Management in an advanced manner can identify who is currently visiting and the manager can, using targeted broadcasting, keep them informed and/or entertained while waiting, even using adverts reflecting their specific interests. Other opportunities that both reduce the perceived waiting time and create additional value for the service provider are to engage the customer in activities to prepare for the service and reduce workload for staff, e.g. by filling out forms etc. create opportunities for further shopping while waiting, either through strategically placed goods where the customers are waiting or by allowing the customers to move freely around the service providers premises while waiting to be served use media to stimulate further sales. If the service provider knows which individual customers are waiting, the media content can be adapted to target the specific needs of the customers waiting.

4. Serving

If the service provider chooses to identify and start tracking the customers as soon as they enter the queue, then the staff calling the customer forward can start preparations before the customer actually arrives at the service point. For example, staff could call up the customer’s history on their screen. They can see every visit the customer has made before, who they saw and what the enquiry was about. When the customer is being served, data on their visit can be captured and made available for real-time insight through management dashboards. It can also be stored for later use. For instance, management could use the information to view customer wait times or find out how long different transactions actually take to complete.

5. Post-serving

After a customer has been served, staff closes the transaction and relevant data – like wait-time and transaction time – are recorded. If required, a case handling function can continue to manage the case throughout its lifetime, from the time it is created, signed over to different advisors or different departments and until the case is closed. Each step is documented and processed. It is also possible to engage the customer in other value-adding activities like answering customer surveys. This could be done after the transaction is closed and as a result, will not affect the waiting time for other customers. The information gained could be highly valuable for the service provider as it could reveal the customer’s perception of the service they have just received and highlight areas with improvement potential. It could also improve the customer’s service experience if they feel that they have the opportunity to make their voice heard.

6. Managing

If data from the CFM process is gathered and stored then managers can, at any point in time, use that data to evaluate the current processes. Reports can be generated on employee customer interactions, service times and customer wait times. Operational inefficiencies can be identified and addressed through process changes or training. Trend analysis provided by system reports help the user to manage staff rotas in line with peaks and quieter times in the service area. Customer segmentation, staff scheduling, media content, etc can be tested, evaluated and modified based on insights from analysis of the gathered data.

Statistical reports are also useful tools for achieving and reporting on a variety of organizational targets. For service providers with targets related to service levels rather than profits the information captured by the Customer Flow Management system can be an important tool to measure and evaluate performance. As the system can be seamlessly connected to any number of service access points over a wide geographical area, managers can have a complete overview of their service network.