A Dynamic Customer Service Feedback Platform for Service Delivery Environment

A Thesis

Presented to the Faculty of

Information Technology Program

STI College Davao

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

Mark Anthony Ramirez

Lyle Justin Prevendido

Juna Mae T. Dajang

Mike Fernee Jaranilla

2018-2019
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The success of this system required the help of various individuals. Without them, the proponents might

not meet their objectives in doing the system (partial). The proponents want to extend gratitude to the

following people for their vital help and support.

To the Almighty, our Lord and Savior, for giving the wisdom, strength, support and knowledgeable in

exploring things; for the guidance in helping surpass all the trials that the proponents encountered and for

giving determination to pursue our studies and to make this system possible;

To Engr. Elvilito Ubas, our compassionate and dearest thesis coordinator who was always there during the

process and for giving us some piece of advices and ideas to accomplish the system.

To Ma’am Lexfrevail Nervida, our kind, responsible and understanding Software Engineering adviser, for

guiding us throughout the proposal and documentation of the system.

To our parents, for giving sustenance and encouragement to pursue this system, forgiving their love and

time;

To our friends and relatives, for cheering up the proponents through hardships and breakdowns;

To ourselves, for cooperating and for spreading only good spirits all throughout the proposal,

documentation, and implementation of the partial module of the system.

And lastly, to the people who helped and contributed great ideas and information, especially to Mr. Mark

Anthony Ramirez who has been the source of proposing the title of the system and for he has been the one

who introduced and explained about the flow of the system. For without him, we would not come up with

a great possible solution which is credible in the future difficulties in a BPO Industry.

The proponents would like to extend the deepest gratitude.

 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In modern times, customers and staff experience in the service sector is changed by new

technologies and different modes of delivery. Call centers and Web-based methods of service are

becoming the norm in complementing the traditional telephone, office and mail services. In fact,

it has even been argued that call centers might be the hub of successful customer relationship

management strategies and the fulcrum of organizations (Mitchell, 1998). However, even though

call centers have been in existence for a number of decades, little has been reported on customer

satisfaction with this mode of service delivery. BPO industry is therefore composed of those

companies that specialize in undertaking responsibility for information intensive business

processes on behalf of their clients. BPO operations are intensive users of IT and

telecommunications. BPO companies are many competitors and they need to improve their

services to satisfy the customer’s so the customer satisfaction is important factor to any BPO

companies that want to improve their products or services. Customer satisfaction enables BPO

companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors and create sustainable advantage.

One of the emerging platform for customer satisfaction feedback is the customer satisfaction score

(CSAT) that provides several advantages. One of the advantages is to gain a better understanding

to your customer’s requirements and concerns so that you improve your products and your

standards of service in line with customer’s needs. By monitoring customer satisfaction and

responding to problems, you can improve customer loyalty and protect revenue and profitability.

Satisfaction survey is the highlights of the company’s strengths and weaknesses from the

customer’s perspective. Focus on areas of your business that achieve very low satisfaction scores
and prioritize the improvement program so that you can remedy any serious problems in those

areas. Furthermore, this study is conducted to provide a service platform that can send and receive

survey responses from customers which can process responses to provide meaningful feedback

efficiently and effectively. This will filled the gap in improving customer satisfaction in BPO

industry and develop a platform that would encourage customers to respond efficiently.

1.1 Background of the problem

In a business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, everything is about numbers. A metric which

usually stands out is called Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score. It tracks how satisfied a customer

is with their recent interaction with the support they receive from the business ranging from –

dissatisfied to very satisfied. The challenge here is how to effectively and efficiently measure it,

along with a multitude of other constraints such as:

Budget – there may be other systems that exist in the market but they are expensive to acquire and

maintain and small businesses may not be able to afford it.

Hard to Use – customers may not be inclined to use it because it’s a painful experience on an

otherwise should-be-easy process. On the other side, some may require specific people to be able

to set-up, customize, and manage the system.

Rigid – each business run on a specific set of processes, policies, and procedures. While there are

some tools that exist, this may not tailor-fit to the current needs of the business and it doesn’t

integrate well.

Does Not Exist – some may not be aware what CSAT can do for their business yet alone measure

it.
Efficiency – traditionally, when a feedback comes in: (1) it goes to a mailbox of some sort, (2)

gets sorted out and passed along to the supervisor, (3) organizes it and plans out coaching with the

agent, (4) agent is coached – it’s time consuming!

Feedback Effectively – since the feedback takes a lot of time to get processed, it may get “spoiled”

and no longer effective due to “lost time.”

1.2 Overview of the current state of the technology

A Customer Service Feedback Platform for Service Delivery Environment is for BPO industry

which is still currently using the hard copy method of a customer service feedback. There is some

company that caters a web-based customer feedback but it is time consuming. This kind of process

is laborious work for both the manager and the customer.

The existing service feedback platform most BPO companies are using nowadays are not user

friendly. The survey which the customer submitted during the time duration is being checked by

the manager before it goes to the agent for feedback analysis. This means that the feedback is not

time efficient. This as well will lessen the customer satisfaction score within every BPO Company

regarding the service received from a help desk.

1.3 GENERAL OBJECTIVE

The general objective is to provide a service platform that can send and receive survey responses

from customers which can process responses to provide meaningful feedback efficiently and

effectively. The main objective also is that it can integrate well with existing processes.

1.3.1 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

 To develop a security module for Dynamic Customer Service Feedback

Platform

- It will ensure the safety of the information of customers and of the

company. This module will also have level of access wherein it will

only allow authorized admin to have access on the system.

 To develop a registration module for Dynamic Customer Service Feedback

Platform

- The information of customers will be insert into a database, this will

ease the pain of organizing voluminous papers.

 To develop a log module for Dynamic Customer Service Feedback Platform

- The customers will not be hassle anymore. The manager and the

supervisor also will not be able to cater lengthy pile of papers. This

module will also automatically input the feedbacks of customers per

agent and will include their respective incentives.

 To develop a report module for Dynamic Customer Service Feedback

Platform

- This will generate feedback right after the customer service

feedback platform is generated. This will help in organizing files,

this will prevent the feedback’s hardcopies from being misplaced or

stolen.

 To develop a feedback module

- This will automatically get data from log records of customers and

then input the feedbacks of the customer with considering factors

such as per agents and rewards or incentives. This module will

ensure the accuracy of inputting customer’s feedback and prevent

the clerical errors. This module also includes the supervisor and

manager’s sector.
1.4 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This project will focus on developing a web-based customer feedback system designed to

work/complement with existing service delivery customer relationship management (CRM) tools

and will allow:

 Accepting of data from CRM: customer and agent information, policies, among others.

 Designing customized CSAT surveys with one-to-five star rating along with customized

responses for dissatisfied (1-2), neutral (3), or satisfied (4-5) feedback.

o For dissatisfied feedback – allow customers pinpoint what specific area an agent

will need to improve.

o For satisfied feedback – allow customers to choose between “rewards” they want

to give the agent.

 Providing of live feeds for agents to see real-time feedback as they come in along with

number of rewards.

 Providing supervisors with a customized “team view” reports to allow him to be able to

effectively manage and coach front line agents.

 Providing a “company-wide” views and reports – one level up from the supervisor.

 Offering additional set of customizations specific to the company using it.

However, the system isn’t designed to:

 Dictate and create organizational policies but only helps in measuring it.

 Work as a standalone object. It requires input, whether manual or automated (through API)

from an existing CRM tool.

 Chapter 2

2.1 Review of Related Literature

Companies always aim to improve their customer service to meet the needs of the customer and

to give the best service possible before, during and after the customer encounter. Measuring the

customer satisfaction is one of the key elements to improve the overall service quality of the

company. In the study of Johansson & Kidron in 2017, they aimed to improve the customer

experience of the target company working on ICT-business, who is staying anonymous. This is

through measuring the current satisfaction of the customers with a survey, containing both open

and closed questions. The suggestions were made to improve the customer experience in the target

company. Customers were asked to mention particularly positive or negative experiences about

the company and what they expect from the service, among other things.

Moreover, according to Adegbola in 2010, customer satisfaction can be seen as one of the main

instruments that ensure the existence and survival of a business organization. It is very important

for the business organizations to consider offering what the customers want rather than offering

quality goods and services which may not meet up with the customer’s expectation. Therefore,

business organizations have to possess a framework in their organizational structure towards

satisfying their customers so that they can maintain their existence, survival and success. Satisfying

a customer today leads to retention and attraction of new customers as a result of the current

customers of the business organization being satisfied. It analyses the process that businesses

could take towards satisfying customers, the difficulty that could be encountered when striving to

satisfy customers and the advantages that could emanate from satisfying customers and how to

improve on customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Both study aimed to satisfy the customers and make them comfortable to the services offered by

the companies. In order to evaluate customer satisfaction, feedback survey is very crucial tool.

This is to know the negative feedback that can help the company improve their services and the

positive feedback that could attract clients and earn more income.

On the other hand, results of the survey could give the company the chance to avoid bigger

problems by immediately solving current complaints and minimize future risks that could affect

company’s service. In the employee’s perspective, feedback is an important tool in improving their

communication skills, work ethics and personalities in order to serve more efficiently.
2.2 SYNTHESIS

Measuring the customer satisfaction is one of the key elements to improve the overall service

quality of the company (Johansson & Kidron, 2017). Many studies had shown that the results of

the survey can be considered trustworthy with emphasis on the open questions. The sample of the

survey was also small, which decreases the reliability to some extent. It can be concluded that most

of the customers are satisfied with the current level of customer service of the some target company

but still there are services that should be improved through the customer satisfaction feedback.

The study of Adegbola in 2010 that was also about customer satisfaction significantly showed the

importance for the business organizations to consider offering what the customers want rather than

offering quality goods and services which may not meet up with the customer’s expectation.

Therefore, business organizations have to possess a framework in their organizational structure

towards satisfying their customers so that they can maintain their existence, survival and success.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) help the companies to understand how they are servicing

their clients and determine what areas need to improve. It also aims to solve the expensive and

complicated tools in the market considering that CSAT is cost and user friendly. This will also

solve time-consuming tool in gathering customer feedback efficiently. Thus, extensive study in

developing this customer satisfaction feedback platform is crucial for the customers as well as to

the BPO industry.

 Chapter 3

A Dynamic Customer Service Feedback Platform for Service Delivery Environment

3.0 Overview of the project

The proposed system will be the enhancement and the revised of the existing service feedback

platform system of BPO Companies, since it will be made for accessible survey method.

It will contribute to the needs of the agents to track their performances and check the satisfaction

level which they offered to their customers in a more efficient manner and less timely cost. The

manager will lessen the risk of checking the hard copied surveys for their feedbacks from time to

time. He/she can avoid redundancies and conflict with the person in charge. The proposed system

as well provides congratulatory aspects given by the satisfied customers that will make agents

perform their jobs better which is an effective way in a BPO Industry.

3.1 System Design Specification

3.1.1 Data Flow Diagram (Log-in/Register of Agents and Manager/Supervisor)

The proponents used the data flow diagram to provide a more detailed breakout of pieces

of the context diagram. The proponents highlighted the main functions carried out by the

system and break down the high-level process of the context diagram into sub processes.

The system will go to the first process of the external entity which is registering the admin

and the supervisor with their information’s stored in a data store.

The system will now go to the second process which is registering the agents with their

information’s stored in a data store.

The third process is validating the inputted username and password by the three registered

participants. Data flow shows that if the username and password is valid and is existing,

data stores the log record. [See Appendix B Figure 2.0]

3.1.1.2 Data Flow Diagram

The first process shows the interaction between the customer and the agent during the call

time. The information given by the customer will now be stored on a data store that will be

used for afterward processes.

Then, the second process which is the customer will log-in then the information will be

stored in a data store. If the information is invalid, it will loop back to the process 2.0 before

it will proceed to the next iteration.

Then, it will go to the third process which is to deploy the customer feedback platform

which the manager sets policies to it. The information of the customer from the data store

will be used as a survey data which the customer answers. The response from the customer

will be stored in a data store that will be used for afterward process.

The fourth process is to generate the feedback. The data in a data store will be the CSAT

score which a manager can check.

The CSAT score will be passed to the team supervisor real-time that the agent can maintain

through its feed. [See Appendix B Figure 2.1]

3.1.2 Entity-Relationship Diagram

The proponents used the entity-relationship diagram (ERD), it is a graphical representation

of a system that shows the relationship between entities within the system. The proponents

identified entities of the system and their cardinality or relationship with each other.

The customer entity with an attribute of CustID will make a call to the agent entity with an

AgentID. The call will become an entity that has a primary key of CallID acquiring he

foreign key of CustID and AgentID.

The customer will then answer to the dynamic platform which the answer will be save in a

database. The manger will manage the platform by which the manager is being managed

by the supervisor. Then the supervisor will monitor or supervises the feedback towards the

agents. [See Appendix B Figure 4.0 ERD]

3.1.3 State Transition Diagram

Agent

Supervisor create an account to the hired applicant. In the home page account of the agents

which they can view the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Reward Points, Team

Ratings and Customer Feedback. CSAT is the grades of the agents if they received

excellent feedback from the customer that is advantage for them and if they received a poor

feedback it can harm their work or may lead for their re-training. The reward points is for

the agents because they can encourage them self to work well and competitive to other

agents. Team ratings is very important because it can affect the ratings of the company.
Customer Feedback is the opinion of the customer’s, they can give you a good/bad

suggestions to your services or products. [See Appendix B Figure 5.0 STD]

Manager

In the account of the manager on his/her home page they can edit or create another

questionnaires for the survey. The manager is maintaining the ratings of the company so

he can view the ratings of the team of the supervisor’s and the agents, through the ratings

they can easily figure whose agents has a problem that need to be resolved. The manager

also can give a rewards to the hard workers agents and competitive teams. The manager

can monitor whose agents always fail in the CSAT. [See Appendix B Figure 5.2 STD]

Supervisor

The supervisor account it has a home page and team page. In the Supervisor home page

you can view the Team ratings and Agent ratings supervisor is the one who really monitor

the CSAT score and Ratings of their agents. In the team page the agents always give a

reports to his/her team supervisor if they have problems or customer complains. Supervisor

is the one who face to the customer who’s have a problem to his agents. The supervisor

follow up the customer when needed and make things right. The supervisor also can help

the agents to improve their CSAT score. [See Appendix B Figure 5.1 STD]
Customer

After the customer registered, he/she can contact to the agent through the Customer

Relationship Management Tool (CRM). CRM is the tool of the company that can generate

the survey and send to the customer. The customer can answer or leave it alone. If they

want to, they will fill-up the questionnaires and submit it. Its automatic and real-time-- the

feedback received by the agent. [See Appendix B Figure 5.3 STD]

References

Johansson & Kidron (2017), Improving Customer Experience in Telecommunications Company.

Retrive from: http://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/128938

Adegbola, Oladejo and Akolade 2010. Customer Satisfaction in Business Organizations a Case

Study of Prisma, a Subsidiary of KPO.

Retrieve from: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/20483/Oladejo_Akolade.pdf?sequence=1

Mitchell, P.J., 1998. Aligning customer call centers for 2001. Telemarketing &Call Center

Solutions 16 (10), 64–69

 APPENDIX B

DIAGRAMS

Figure 2.0 Data Flow Diagram

Figure 2.1 Data Flow Diagram
Figure 4.0 Entity-Relationship Diagram
Figure 5.0 STD

Figure 5.1 STD

Figure 5.2 STD

Figure 5.3 STD