Internal Customer Service – Is It Really So Important?

I think all of us, as consumers, can easily understand the value of good customer service, and I mean external customer service to the customer. But did you ever think about how important and valuable good internal services can be?

Whenever and wherever we travel (by plane, train, or other) , or go shopping, whether it be online or in the physical stores (yes, they still exist people!) – we are consumers and we understand the concept of service and the level we should expect….and it’s definitely not the kind of service musician Dave Carroll found on a major American airline:

What happens to us as employees? When we come to work we understand that we should be provided with satisfactory working facilities and if something goes wrong, we understand that we can and should push to get it resolved.

However, the effort invested in getting our issues resolved results in loss of working hours from the person who needs the service and the person who has to give the service. The time being spent on phone calls, emails, and the like, could be very time-consuming.

Let’s take a moment and look at what SERVICE means. There are 4 main principles:

• Professionalism
• Quick response time
• Transparency of information
• And always work with empathy and a smile

Whether you are the one providing the internal service inside your organization or not, always think of yourself as a customer. If the service you receive from any department (whether it’s Human Resources, Accounting, etc.) will be based on the principles above, wouldn’t you be pleased?

Think about increasing the use of your Service Desk within your organization.

A good service desk/help desk system is not only for the IT department anymore; it can be a resource for all departments within an organization—helping to avoid loss of time and frustrations. Say, for example, you need service on your company car. You send an email to the person in charge, the very same person who receives dozens of emails a day and simply doesn’t have time to go through his/her Inbox. You then try calling and leaving messages but again – no response. What if your organization’s service desk allowed you to open a ticket about your issue and assign it to the person in charge of the company cars? Wouldn’t this free up your time? Wouldn’t this also be a relief for the person providing the service as they won’t be bombarded with emails and phone calls? With a ticketing system in place, one that is clearly defined and audited, you can be sure that your issue/request will be taken care of, and you are kept in the loop by the sharing of information.

Now who wants to join me in making a video called “The IT Guy Wiped My iPhone and Returned It To the Manufacturer Default!” I’m sure it’ll go viral :-).

Please share your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter, Google+, or Facebook where we are always listening.