TMNG Global Helps Leading Service Provider Enrich Consumer Experience by Redefining “Yes to Bill” Framework

Challenge

A leading U. S. communications service provider needed to address growing customer dissatisfaction and costly rework associated with inaccurate bills. Their research indicated that:

• 40% of their customers said their first bill was not accurate,
• Of that group, over 60% said they received wrong information on their activation fee, pro-rate/billing in advance, and other charges
• Nearly 60% said their credit/discount/rebate/coupon was not applied
• 35% claimed they were not told about the activation fee or it was not waived as it should have been
• Customers generally said their equipment rebate took too long
• Over 30% said their equipment charges are not what they expected

By capturing necessary billing data and issuing the bill in an accurate and timely fashion, the service provider anticipated a marked improvement in customer satisfaction and payments made on line. They established a major initiative to design a new customer experience-driven invoicing and payment requirements framework.

Development of the requirements framework would focus on the customer experience from the time the customer selected the provider until they paid their first invoice (“Yes to Bill”). The requirements document was to be designed as a living tool to be used by the company’s working groups on an ongoing basis.

Developing the requirements would require a thorough understanding of the end-to-end processes associated with the provider’s core business including: Generating Demand; Selling Solutions; Delivering Service; Managing Billing, Procurement and Payment Processes, Collections, and Financial Reporting. TMNG Global has specialized skills in these areas, as well as specific experience with the service provider’s processes and systems and an appreciation of the client’s cross functional interdependencies and the need for coordination across channels and organizations demanded by this project. TMNG Global’s understanding of the provider’s business drivers, strategic objectives and operating environment would contribute substantially to the client’s ability to achieve the project’s objectives on time and within budget and thus, they called on TMNG Global to help.

TMNG Global Solution

The “Yes” to Bill process was defined as all of the policies, processes and systems used in the end-to-end experience of signing the customer agreement, setting up the account and order, receiving equipment/accessories, using equipment/service, calculating the bill, receiving the bill, and ultimately paying the bill. To address this broad project scope, the TMNG Global team established a multi-phased approach to assess the requirements for the new invoicing and payments requirements framework.

Business Requirements Definition Approach

We documented current and proposed initiatives including proposed quick fixes, near, mid-term improvements, long term and strategic business requirements associated with the sales to cash processes. We considered critical interdependencies among segments, channels and industries and fostered/obtained cross-organizational concurrence on major objectives. Our project also considered industry, technology and business advances in future-state planning.

The requirements framework was developed and presented in multiple formats to highlight the following interdependencies:

• Business Requirement Type
  • Policy, Process, System, Communications
    
• Segment Relevance
  • Large/Major only, Individual/Small business only
    
• Area of Focus
  • Self-Service Strategy, Billing and Reporting Options Portfolio, Account Reconciliation Support, Communications strategy, Proactive Account Monitoring

The requirements framework was created utilizing input from cross functional groups, detailed requirements developed and a process established for building on to these requirements: The TMNG Lexicon™ Tool was used to kick start the requirements development process.

Using the Voice of the Customer (VOC) lifecycle view as a foundation, the project first defined the key requirements and then evaluated their implications from three distinct perspectives.

Figure 1: A Requirements Framework

The first step was to develop a set of business requirements the service provider must have to address each of the main customer wants and needs.

Figure 2: Customer Driven Business Requirements

The next cut looked for unique segment requirements and logical groups of requirements and areas of focus.

Figure 3: Buisness Requirements Example

Our review of the full set of requirements suggested a number of themes or areas of focus where improving the customer experience would require taking an integrated cross-functional approach. Examples include:

The TMNG Global team presented the prioritized business requirements, and a series of recommendations and next steps to client senior management. Some of the recommendations included:

• Develop a cross-functional account reconciliation support program to manage issues/disputes.
• Develop a corporate-wide customer oriented communications plan related to invoicing and payments
• Develop a cross-functional account reconciliation support program to manage issues/disputes.
• Develop a corporate-wide customer oriented communications plan related to invoicing and payments
• Develop a proactive account monitoring support plan

Benefits to the Client

Based upon the results of the detailed analysis completed by the TMNG Global team, the service provider had a well-defined assessment of the business requirements for the end-to-end “Yes to Bill” process. The service provider agreed that it would adopt all of the team’s recommendations as a foundation for their improved customer experience initiatives.

Implementing the requirements had immediate measurable results for the client: a reduction of errors on the first bill, improvements to the overall customer experience, and increased payments made on line and on time.

Other client benefits of this project included:

• Refined and/or established processes to ensure corrective action, identification and resolution of billing problems at earliest possible point in the process
• Reduced customer churn
• Reduced calls to customer care
• Decreased disputes
• Improved cash management and cash flow