The Governance Perspective

Corporate Governance leaders in the Public Sector understand the challenges of ensuring customer communications are technically accurate, clear and not mis-leading. With multiple systems all generating such customer focused output, keeping on top of every document that is sent can be a significant challenge. This is made more so given the close scrutiny of the public media and the challenge on operating budgets.

The past decade has witnessed increasing interaction between government bodies, the public and service providers. A constant challenge is that of providing accurate, timely and full information flows which satisfy the needs of the public and government alike, and serve both equally. This is also particularly true of departmental correspondence, compounded by the increasing public expectation of being able to select their choice of communications: whether such delivery is by post, email or SMS. These expectations constantly challenge traditional systems and processes for constant improvement in speed and precision.

The benefits of a comprehensive, responsive and properly implemented Customer Communications Management strategy for corporate governance include:

• Elimination of uncontrolled cost exposure to communication discovery
• Speed to launch global correspondence with material changes
• Downward management of litigation risks
• Easy absorption of necessary legislative compliance terms
• Rapid and complete response to Freedom of Information requests with accuracy and demonstrating accountability

In short, control of risk costs, minimisation of management distraction, speed to execute legal and rule changes.

At Icon UK we specialise in creating customer communications solutions, working with organisational leaders and senior management teams to guide them through the right choices to realise significant improvements in customer service, whilst ensuring regulatory compliance and substantial returns on investment - in some cases over 100% in year one…

Challenges

Being able to communicate to customers in an effective and relevant way, whilst remaining within budget is a key challenge. Public Sector organisations need to communicate more now than ever with the Public and other departments. However complex systems can unnecessarily lead to costly rework and delays.

Lack of comprehensive management and capture of communications can result in:

• Exposure to litigation through simple errors in customer correspondence
• Uncontrolled cost exposure for “discovery” of communications in the event of litigation
• Potential loss of complete customer interactions’ picture
• Impact of time to implement regulatory changes
• Time delay to deploy public or client communications initiatives

All leading to additional costs, service user dissatisfaction and negative image.

Other challenges include:

• Document content must be technically accurate, drawing together multiple sources of data to present to the customer quotes, projections and scenarios in way that is compelling to the individual and their circumstances.
• Documentation must be clear, unambiguous and well presented, while at the same time being technically correct. This requires careful drafting, with systems that provide re-use of existing approved content. It also enables a clearly auditable path from staff writing customer communications to those reviewing them
• The historic introduction of new products, systems and merger impacts means there is often a complex array of core policy based systems. These can range from the latest web based systems to those over 20 years old. Most have their own document generation tools. Since these are often different, keeping these multiple systems all compliant is costly and time consuming.

At Icon UK we specialise in managing such challenges, creating customized solutions for each client and working with internal teams to guide them through assessments to maximise desired improvements in Service Effectiveness, Cost reduction and Compliance.

How Icon Helps

Icon Suite offers Public Sector organisations the opportunity to address all these challenges in one solution platform. Practically every type of document can be flexibly constructed from pre-approved templates, incorporating powerful re-use and multi-lingual features. The types of output that can be produced include such diverse uses as jury service letters, court attendances, fines, decisions, order confirmations and policies, statements, public self-service, correspondence and agent communications (see ‘Uses’ on Public Sector Overview).

The use of customer communications management to minimise risk and enhance corporate governance in Commercial Services sector is wide ranging. Examples include:

• full 360⁰ view of all customer related correspondence, structured and unstructured, even buried in discrete silos, relevant to a particular situation, easily retrievable and easy to act on ­ vital to address litigation
• one local change with global reach ­ add or modify a key term to meet legal obligations and have the term perpetuated through all relevant documents and interactions
• respond to customer requests ­ self-service, call centre or written, with complete audit trail of interactions ­ a one hit response to customer queries helping to eliminate spurious complaints early
• Social Media collaboration is enabled as the ‘command and control’ governance approach of the ‘Systems of Record’ era morphs into the ‘Systems of Engagement’ era, helping a new future to be carved out with personalised but compliant customer communications.

Icon UK can assist in the all areas related to improving customer communications including:

Icon UK’s Customer Communications Management solutions can deliver these benefits. Companies that engage Icon find they can understand what customer communications are really costing and translate this into a compelling Return on Investment case. By investing in the right solutions strategic objectives [such as rapidly re-branding following restructuring] and tactical delivery [such as large scale personalised messaging on a multi-lingual, multi-channel basis delivered cost-effectively] can be realised.

Some of the world’s leading service organisations use our technology solutions. Call us to find out how we can help your organisation.