Back in June, Lauren wrote a blog post launching CCC’s most recent research initiative on quality assurance (QA).  Judging from the comments on her post, Lauren seems to have touched off a nerve that sparked widespread interest in the future of the QA function.

Just a few months later, CCC has finalized its research on QA – Modernizing Quality Assurance.  Given the huge amount of interest in the topic, we’re experimenting with a “Web first” release of our findings.  Don’t worry – we’ll have meetings on this topics in early 2011, but we wanted to get this material to you as quickly as possible so that you can start using it immediately.

What I like most about our findings is that it explores solutions to long-standing QA struggles not by pushing more and more resources to tackle the problem head-on, but by taking a step back and considering the larger causes of ineffective QA programs to identify new solutions that often side-step original problem altogether.

It’s a bit like having blinders on while searching for the exit to a hedge maze.  Keep the blinders on – and blindly push forward until the hedge stops you from going forward.  Take the blinders off – and sometimes the exit is right there on your left. Read More »

We recently received an interesting inquiry from a member curious to know if other companies use actual customers as mystery shoppers to provide feedback on service interactions.  Based on responses from the membership, companies tend to see the value of mystery shoppers to assess rep performance– but there is a lack of consensus on who should do the mystery shopping.  Some noted that using customers is an innovative twist on the standard practice of having internal or third parties conduct this type of assessment. 

CCC members: Catch the entire peer discussion on mystery shopping in the Customer Experience Forum.

But if the goal of mystery shopping is to measure the quality of the interaction – don’t all customers have the potential to provide the same insight as mystery shoppers? So what additional value does an official mystery shopper program bring? Read More »

The CCC research team is about a month into our upcoming research study on quality assurance (QA).  One of the biggest trends we hear companies talking about is a major shift from a checklist-based approach to a subjective QA scorecard.  In other words, moving away from a “did you do it, check yes or no” audit to a “how WELL did you do it” audit.  The reasons for this shift could become a separate blog posting…but that’s for another day, another time.   

Today I’m focusing a little downstream from this objective–>subjective shift to talk about one of the potential implications of a subjective QA approach. Read More »

In the late 90s and early 00s the Food Network achieved incredible popularity with shows like “Iron Chef” & “Emeril – Live”.  Both shows featured entertaining, but difficult to replicate creations often requiring a laundry list of ingredients and difficult to execute cooking techniques. 

In the past couple of years, though, the network has found shows with a simpler message to be just as, if not more, compelling to audiences.  Semi-Homemade Cooking & Ten Dollar Dinners have simplified cooking for viewers and convinced aspiring chefs it doesn’t take a Culinary Institute degree to be successful in the kitchen.     

A similar timeline illustrates the rise in unnecessary complexity and the subsequent back-to-basics approach for the Quality Assurance function at a few service organizations I’ve spoken with recently.

Read More »

CCC is kicking off our latest research project.  As with the beginning of every research project, we have a lot of questions right now, along with a few strong opinions.  And while we explore this subject in more depth across the next few months, I thought it might be a good idea to share some preliminary thoughts and begin to gather feedback.

So…what will be the future of quality assurance (QA; a.k.a. quality monitoring)?  Well, to answer that question, we need to first understand what our current state is.  A few things here:

Click to Enlarge | What is the Focus of Your QA Scorecard?

1. A legacy focus on productivity: Although most companies have shifted the majority of their focus to quality rather than productivity, many QA processes are still aligned to a cut and dry mindset that is very reminiscent of “just do it” productivity KPIs. In fact, a recent CCC survey revealed that 64% of companies use regimented performance criteria for QA (as opposed to encouraging a more tailored experience).  In other words:  Did the rep use the proper greeting?  Check.  Say the customer’s name?  Check.  Identify a sales opportunity?  Check. Read More »