Swiss Airline Wins Staff Service Excellence Europe Award

May 31, 2010

SWISS AIRLINE WINS STAFF SERVICE EXCELLENCE EUROPE AWARD

Swiss International Airlines has won this year’s coveted Skytrax World Airline Award for “Staff Service Excellence” Europe. The distinction is based on the latest survey by Skytrax, the reputed UK-based consultants, which was conducted among several million travellers. The award was presented to SWISS at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany.

SWISS’s personnel earned the Skytrax award for the excellence of their European service product against the crews of more than 200 other airlines. Air travellers from over 100 nations were polled in the latest survey conducted by Skytrax, the UK-based consultants.

“Like any service company with high quality aspirations, our people are crucial to our success, and I am proud to accept this award for our excellent work on behalf of our entire SWISS crew,” said Marco De Dea, Head of Maître de Cabine Management at SWISS, when accepting the award in Hamburg. “On behalf of our Management Board,” he continued, “I would also like to thank our cabin crew colleagues for all the professionalism and commitment they bring to serving our customers.” SWISS currently employs 3 351 cabin personnel, who are drawn from 38 different countries.

The services provided by ground personnel at the carrier’s home airport are a further key criterion in Skytrax’s Staff Service Excellence awards. So SWISS’s 2010 distinction here is also a tribute to the personnel of Swissport who provide these services at Zurich Airport on the airline’s behalf. “We’re delighted with the excellent collaboration we enjoy with Swissport,” confirms Marcel Witzig, Head of Ground Services at SWISS.

“Our customers’ journey with us begins and ends on the ground. So we have to ensure that the top quality standards to which we constantly aspire are maintained throughout their travel experience. Having, in Swissport, a partner at our Zurich home base that so closely shares our own strong service philosophy is a source of great satisfaction to us, and clearly has outstanding appeal to our customers, too.”

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Things OCBC Is Doing To Enhance Service Excellence

May 31, 2010

THINGS OCBC IS DOING TO ENHANCE SERVICE EXCELLENCE

(extracted from the article “The war of the bank branches begins in earnest”)

OCBC has left no stone unturned in rejuvenating the bank’s branch network, Mr Tan told BT in a recent interview.
The improvements range from the look and feel of the branch to the use of new technology and raising staff quality.
Nothing was deemed too insignificant. At every OCBC branch, the bank started the practice of having bank staff line the entrance at opening time and greeting the first customers with a chorus of ‘Good morning, welcome to OCBC Bank’.
The morning ritual, which OCBC says is unique to the bank, takes place everyday at all its 57 branches islandwide.
The typical enquiry counter at the entrance has been done away with. Instead, service ambassadors greet and engage customers at the door.

‘We want the customers to feel the service culture immediately. There is no barrier in the form of yet another counter. As you walk into the banking hall, we engage you right away,’ said Mr Tan.
A system to indicate the estimated queue time has been introduced to manage customer expectations once waiting time exceeds 15 minutes. Beyond an estimated wait time of 30 minutes, customers are given queue passes so that they can go off and run other errands before returning again.According to OCBC, the typical queue time is an average three to five minutes, though it is longer at peak hours like lunch time.
The bank tellers at the counters have also been given new note-counting machines that not only count notes but also dispense money, speeding up transaction time.
The banking halls were renovated to be more welcoming, bum rests were added for customers along the queue line, so were little ledges in front of the counters for customers to place their bags, handphones and other belongings – more examples of the little touches that the bank felt was important to put into its branch transformation effort.
The greatest changes probably relate to the people who man OCBC’s branches.
‘We have changed the way we recruited over the years,’ Mr Tan said. Branch staffers like tellers are now more qualified and better trained than before. At the heart of this is the bank’s Polytechnics’ Trainee Bank Officer Scheme. This recruits diploma holders for sales advisory and teller positions and was started in May 2007. About 300 staff have come through the scheme so far. They spend their first year as tellers, become service ambassadors in their second year, and after that, move into the sales or service tracks depending on their aptitude. The most experienced man the premier banking floors, serving well-heeled customers.

The branch revamp effort has met with highly positive feedback from customers, said Mr Tan, although the bank declined to disclose its average branch traffic and transaction volumes. It has proved especially popular with families on weekends, at the branches where Sunday banking is offered, he added.
While OCBC has been an early mover in raising its game in branch banking, rival banks are now in the mix as well.
DBS, with new chief executive Piyush Gupta in place, is now placing top priority on fixing the bank’s branch network, which counts a total of around 80 DBS and POSB branches.
DBS has added more staff to branches, cut unnecessary work for bank tellers, and installed more ATMs in the busiest locations. Beyond that, DBS also plans to change the way each branch is managed in a bid to IMPROVE THE GROUP’S OVERALL CUSTOMER SERVICE AND PROFITABILITY IN THE LONG RUN.

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MAS Wins World’s Best Economy Class Award

May 27, 2010

MAS Wins World’s Best Economy Class Award

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) — Malaysia Airlines (MAS) won two awards — World’s Best Economy Class and Staff Service Excellence — at the 2010 World Airline Awards in Hamburg, Germany, last Thursday, it was announced here today.

The World Airline Awards is based on the World Airline Survey by Skytrax of more than 40 airlines from around the world, and the winners were selected by some 18 million air travellers from 100 different nationalities in a 10-month survey between July last year and April this year, said a MAS statement.

The statement quoted Skytrax chairman Edward Plaisted as saying that the World’s Best Economy Class award won by MAS reflected the quality of product and service delivered to its customers.

“The World Airline Awards are known as “The Passenger’s Choice” underlining the fact that Malaysia Airlines are clearly satisfying the hardest critics – their customers,” he said.

Plaisted said the Staff Service Excellence Award for Asia “recognised that airlines deliver the highest standards of staff service not only on board the flight, but also at the home base airport.”

Meanwhile, MAS Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Tengku Datuk Azmil Zahruddin said the airline, throughout the years, has worked hard to improve its service delivery as part of the airline-wide initiative to enhance customer experience.

“I am delighted that our efforts have been recognised by our customers. We will continuously build on our culture of putting our guests first,” he said, adding that he was proud of the MAS team’s outstanding performance.

– BERNAMA

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What Do Consumers Want by Joseph Pines

May 26, 2010

What Do Consumers Want by Joseph Pines

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Should Hospitals In Singapore Be Proud Of Their Repeat Patients?

May 14, 2010

Should Hospitals In Singapore Be Proud Of Their Repeat Patients?

I came across this on SPRING SINGAPORE’s Website and I could help but smile at the choice of words.

“A year after embarking on the Customer-Centric Initiative (CCI) in 2008, Thomson Medical Centre has beaten other private hospitals in the Customer Satisfaction Index for Singapore (CSISG) to gain the top position in the private hospitals category. Thomson scored 73.3, significantly higher than the healthcare sector average score of 68.9. This is an improvement of 4.4 points under Thomson in 2009 as compared to 2008.

Through the CCI, Thomson has taken steps to increase its product and service quality, patient expectations and perceived value. Last year saw a record high of 8.907 babies delivered at Thomson, as compared to 8,567 in 2008- the highest across all private hospitals. Their efforts in cultivating long-term relationships have led to an increase in patient loyalty. The number of repeat patients grew from 26.8% in 2008 to 32.2% in 2009.“

Hmmm, I don’t know about you, but as a patient I would much rather not be repeating my visits to my hospital no matter how wonderful the service may be. Maybe a rewording of the words used might be in order! :)


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