Tesco Bank and BT contact centre pioneers
How do you know your customer contact centre planning function is doing a good job? BT, NHS Direct, RBS, RSA and Tesco Bank have launched the new business accreditation framework, developed by the Professional Planning Forum and its members; a process that is designed to give external, independent evidence about the success of an organisation’s planning function.
The pioneer organisations attended a launch workshop to equip them with the tools and information needed to embark on the benchmarking process. A detailed and robust self-assessment process is used to review how the function works and the impact it is achieving, using a detailed framework that identifies the level of maturity evidenced in each of the key planning capabilities. External peer assessment validates this and provides benchmark information and a full report and roadmap for further development is produced.
“The real strength of the business accreditation process is that it not only provides a fantastic external benchmarking of an organisation’s planning function against industry developed standards, but at the same time gives participants an invaluable learning experience from carrying out the self- and peer-assessments,” explains Steve Woosey, Chief Executive of the Planning Forum. “And that is before you even take into account the industry-wide recognition of your company’s commitment to planning best practice,” he continued.
Tracy Johnson, Operations Planning Lead Personal Sales & Service, RSA agreed, ‘This is a great opportunity for companies to 'stop and take stock' of where they are as a business. Achieving accreditation will really be recognised in the Industry as well as in your own business as being real 'expertise' Business Partners…it is refreshing how passionate people are on making a difference in the Business.’
Steve Grainger, Head of Partner Relations,General Insurance, TESCO Bank confirms “Our genuine ambition is to be the best end to end Operational Planning & MI function in our industry, so working with the Planning Forum and benchmarking ourselves across other organisations, will help us define what good really looks like. The accreditation process itself presents a structured approach to evaluating where we are now and identifying areas for improvements, which will then help shape our continuous improvement programme for the next 12 months…’
