Poor training skills of customer care and support center at VNPT ho chi minh city

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business --- Huynh Thi Phuong POOR TRAINING SKILLS OF CUSTOMER CARE AND SUPPORT CENTER AT VNPT HO CHI MINH CITY MAST

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

Huynh Thi Phuong

POOR TRAINING SKILLS OF CUSTOMER

CARE AND SUPPORT CENTER AT

VNPT HO CHI MINH CITY

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

Huynh Thi Phuong

POOR TRAINING SKILLS OF CUSTOMER

CARE AND SUPPORT CENTER AT

VNPT HO CHI MINH CITY

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Supervisor: Dr Doan Anh Tuan

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive summary 2

1 Overview 3

1.1 Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) 3

1.2 Business center of VNPT Ho Chi Minh City 4

1.3 Customer care and support center (Call center) function 4

1.4 Call center function 5

2 Symptom: Increase customer stopping FiberVNN 7

3 Indentification problem 13

3.1 Potential problem 13

3.1.1 Data selection and looking for problems 14

3.1.2 Lack of terminal in installation 14

3.1.3 Poor training skills in Call center 15

3.2 Validated problem 18

3.3 The main problem: Poor training skills of Call center 18

4 Cause validation 19

4.1 Potential causes 19

4.1.1 Lacking of responsibility at work 20

4.1.2 Lacking of costs for training skills 20

4.1.3 Training instructors have uneven knowledge 20

4.1.4 Lack of update customer database 21

4.1.5 Not specialized department in training 21

4.2 Validating causes 21

5 Alternative solutions and action plan 23

5.1 Solution 1: Offer to set up a training group in Call center 24

5.2 Solution 2: Employ experts to guide the workers of Call center 25

5.3 Solution 3: Propose pay Internet charge by credit card ……… ……26

6 Support data 31

REFERENCES 37

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Opening Ceremony of VNPT Vinaphone

Figure 2: Business center of VNPT HCMC

Figure 3: Call center’s organization chart

Figure 4: VNPT subsriber management system

Figure 5: Increasing customer stopping FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 6: Customer stopping FiberVNN by month from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 7: Quantity of new register FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 8: The quantity subscribers arising internet decrease from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 9: Subscriber revenue decrease from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 10: The terminal cost increase from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 11: The quantity of customer complaint FiberVNN in the year 2018-2020

Figure 12: The reason for customer stopping FiberVNN by month from 2018 to Apr-2020 Figure 13: Debt for customer stopping FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

LIST OF DIAGRAMS

Diagram 1: Initial cause-effect map of Call center

Diagram 2: Updated cause-effect map of Call center

Diagram 3: Final cause-effect map of Call center

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The customer quantity stopping FiberVNN from the year 2018 up to Apr-2020 Table 2: Data of customer register FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

Table 3: The customer complaint quantity from the year 2018 up to Apr-2020

Table 4: The reasons for stopping FiberVNN from the year 2018 up to Apr-20

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

VNPT Viet Nam Post and Telecommunication group

VNPT HCMC VNPT Ho Chi Minh city

VNPT Vinaphone Telecommunications Service Corporation

Executive summary

Doubtful debt is a massive problem not only for banking but also for the

telecommunication system in Vietnam It led to a decrease in revenue and profit of the

company In recent years, the customer quantity stopping VNPT’s service has continuously been rising gradually This problem results from many internal and external causes However, the outstanding issue is decreasing customer satisfaction and loyal customer Recognizing that the VNPT, as well as VNPT in Ho Chi Minh city, have concentrated on completing the management of doubtful debts This action is attracting potential customers, creating loyal customers, ensuring operational efficiency of production and business activities, promoting telecommunication, and information technology development

The business center of VNPT HCMC has established expanding sales and taking care

of customers better; the business class is also the direct class to provide services, bringing values and utilities to serve people and the country and meet social needs Therefore, this is the first class that needs to innovate thinking, renovate the operating system, restore the working style and business style, how always to be ahead of the needs of society, bringing the highest satisfaction again in the process of customer service and continued to serve effectively for the state's information and communication activities [1] In parallel with this development orientation, the problem in taking care and supporting service is not functional, reflected in the customer stopping FiberVNN increased significantly Based on the increased customer quantity not using the FiberVNN, after checking potential problems, the poor training skills in Call center is the main problem with two leading causes that are indicated

From there, the author used the theory about business, marketing and human resources

of modern scholars in the world and administering in-depth interview with several leader and staff to understand the core problem, the thesis would like to suggesr some solutions to improve the management of taking care and supporting customer in VNPT Ho Chi Minh city

1 Overview

1.1 Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT)

Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, which is usually shortened as VNPT, is a telecommunications company owned by the Vietnamese Government and the national post office of Vietnam According to a UNDP list in 2007, it's the second-largest corporation in Vietnam Besides, it owns Vinaphone, one of the three largest mobile network administrators in Vietnam The main business activities of VNPT include capital trading in domestic and foreign markets, post, telecommunications, financial investment, IT, and

backbone-based services in local and international markets, communications, and

advertisements; exploration, consultation, design, installation and maintenance of

telecommunications, and so on [1]

broadband (MegaVNN, FiberVNN, MegaWAN internet etc); landline and television

(landline, Gphone, MyTV etc) After the restructuring process of VNPT Group, besides the life of VNPT VinaPhone, there are two new corporations, VNPT Media, VNPT Net, forming

a 3-layer model "Services - Infrastructure - Business" In this new model, VNPT VinaPhone will assume the responsibility of the business class, the core class, which directly serves the market and society [2]

Welcome to VNPT Ho Chi Minh City, a provider of Telecommunications and Information Technology services in the market of Ho Chi Minh City We are serving millions

of customers and have become close friends of every family, of economic groups, of each company as well as government and social organizations Our communication solutions contribute to business success, economic development and the good in life VNPT TP Ho Chi Minh operates according to market demand and is always trusted by customers We are and will continue to put concerns about customer needs first Technology and service are strengths of Ho Chi Minh telecommunications Whatever you need we meet and be assured

of the quality of service [3]

1.2 Business center of VNPT Ho Chi Minh City

Bussiness center of VNPT Ho Chi Minh city at 121 Pasteur street, ward 7, district 3,

Ho Chi Minh city (figure 2)

Business center of VNPT HCMC will represent VNPT in Ho Chi Minh city to

provide telecommunication, IT, and communication services, including VinaPhone mobile and broadband (MegaVNN, FiberVNN, MegaWAN internet, etc.); landline and television (landline, Gphone, MyTV, etc.) Include functional departments such as HR department, Operating department, Accounting, and Planning department, Technical department,

Marketing department; Call center; regional sales such as Sai gon, Gia Dinh, Thu Duc, Nam sai gon, Tan Binh, Cho lon, Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh sale center

1.3 Customer care and support center (Call center) function

Figure 1: Opening Ceremony of VNPT Vinaphone

1.4 Call center function

Figure 3: Call center’s organization chart

VIET NAM POST AND TELECOMMUNICATION

GROUP (VNPT)

VNPT VINAPHONE

BUSINESS CENTER- VNPT HCMC

REGIONAL SALES

CALL CENTER (028) 800126- 18001166

FUNCTIONAL

DEPARTMENT

TAKE CARE AND SUPPORT CUSTOMER

TECHNICAL

ASSISTANT

SERVICES

TELESALE (INBOUND)

TELEMARKETING (OUTBOUND)

Figure 2: Business center of VNPT HCMC

Hotline in Call center: 18001166

Automatic call distribution to the operators

As in the organization structure of Problem in Call center in figure 4, the Call center seperated into multiple teams In this thesis’s scope, there are four teams, namely: Technical assistance service, Taking care and supporting customer, Telesales (inbound), Telemarketing (outbound) should be focused on Each unit has a specific responsibility:

Technical assitance service

➢ Receiving customer call;

➢ Ansering about technical information;

➢ Consulting customer to use the VNPT service;

➢ Entering customer information into database;

➢ Transfering the bad service notice to the technician for solving service directly

Taking care and supporting customer

➢ Receiving customer call;

➢ Answering about complaint, policy after sale, information related VNPT’s service;

➢ Consulting customer to use the VNPT service;

➢ Entering customer information into database;

➢ Send difficulty ideas to available department for solving problem

Telesale (inbound)

➢ Receiving customer call;

➢ Answering for sales;

➢ Guiding service registration procedure

➢ Consulting customer to use the VNPT service;

➢ Receiving customers for registration service;

Telemarketing (outbound)

➢ Call to customer registration service;

➢ Call late customer to collect debt according to the available situation;

➢ Remind pre-due debts and overdue debts by SMS message system and direct call based on the list of loans due in the month;

➢ According to the list of potential customers, call to introduce promotions and

persuade customer using value-added services on the available line;

➢ Call to take care customer after service installation;

➢ Review reports on call to customer list

2 Symptom: Increase customer stopping FiberVNN

Building loyal customers require a company to discriminate Smart companies define the types of customers they seek who would most benefit from the firm's offerings as they are the most likely to stay loyal Also, loyal customers pay back the company in long-term cash flows and generate a stream of referrals Some companies assume that they win customer faith by giving a loyalty award program Nevertheless, companies provide a better deal to new customers than to their old customers Besides, a telecom business may offer brand-new handsets and a reduced-price call plan to draw new customers' attention while past customers are stuck with old handsets and pay more While every firm should aim to build loyal

customers, loyalty is not that strong that customers can resist a competitor who shows up with

a much stronger value proposition that gives customers everything they now have [4]

The profit comes from finding methods to deliver more value to buyers [4], if not the customers will to look for another supplier

Searching to the database of VNPT subscriber management system, the customer stopping FiberVNN in HCMC increased for many recent years This is considered to be the main reason to reduce the revenue and profit

Figure 4: VNPT subsriber management system

According to table 1, the customer quantity stopping FiberVNN has increased sharply from 1.182 at begin of 2018 to 5.952 at begin of 2019 and also increase steadily to Apr-2020, especially the rate in Jan-19 increase 503,55% compare with the month Jan-18, the rate in

Apr-19 increase 393,14% compare with the month Apr-18 The average rate in the year 2019 increase 167,02% compare with the year 2018, estimate the average rate cutt of FiberVNN

also increase 177,69% in the year 2020

Customer loyalty, which may be called the continuously positive purchasing

performance of a customer towards a particular company or brand, will be affected by

Effective sales, as well as service quality, depend on constant learning, processing of information, and implicit knowledge that group collaboration appears to foster [6]

Querying data on the system, the number of customers stopping using FiberVNN increase, resulting in the number of subscribers arising Internet charges sharply decrease

In order to comprehensively evaluate the growth of real subscribers, the analysis

of new registers also have effect to increase quantity stopping FiberVNN

Year

New registers

Quantity stopping

Real subscribers increase

Quantity stopping

Real subscribers increase

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000

Quantity customer cut of FiberVNN by month

from 2018 to Apr-2020

2018 2019 2020

Figure 6: Customer stopping FiberVNN by month from 2018 to Apr-2020

Year New registers Quantity stopping Real subscribers increase

According to table 2, the real subscribers in the year 2018 are 43.555 decrease down

to 13.357 in the year 2019 because of the new registers 76.825 in the year 2018 decrease down to 68.925 in the year 2019 while the quantity stopping 33.270 in the year 2018 increase

up to 55.568 in the year 2019, the real subscribers increase in the year 2020 deep decrease at minus 7.294, this is warming for the CEO of VNPT

According to figure 7, the new registers are 76.825 in the year 2018 decrease down to 68.925 in the year 2019, especially in 4 months of the year 2020 the new registers only

19.200 It is not equal to 1/3 of the same period in 2019 (68.925/3=22.975)

Table 2: Data of customer register FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

0 10000

Quantity of new register from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 7: Quantity of new register from 2018 to Apr-2020

Due to covid-19 in 4 months of the year 2020, the economy is facing many

difficulties, the number of new registers sharply decreases, so VNPT needs to have

reasonable solutions to reduce the number of stopping in order to retain existing customers

According to the figure 8, the quantity subscribers arising internet decrease from

552.207 in Jan-18 to 550.815 in Jan-19, it is keeping decrease 536.334 in Jan-2020,

especially it is sharly decrease 528.912 in Apr-2020 It shows that take care and support

customer not good

JANUA RY

FEBRU ARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUN JULY

AUGUS T

SEPTE MBER

OCTOB ER

NOVE MBER

DECEM BER

FEBRU ARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUN JULY

AUGUS T

SEPTE MBER

OCTOB ER

NOVEM BER

DECEM BER

2018 124,948 107,843 123,900 120,296 124,324 120,768 118,497 119,427 113,260 118,217 114,828 113,406

2019 117,975 105,831 116,578 114,646 117,727 115,245 120,085 115,808 112,337 115,240 113,377 112,080

2020 107,374 104,020 113,721 103,620

0 20,000,000

According to the figure 9, the quantity subscribers arising internet decrease, it leads to the subscriber revenue also decrease from Jan-18 down to Apr-2020

Because the terminals are loaned by VNPT, when the customers stopped internet and

do not return the terminals, VNPT have to buy other equipment to install for new customers,

so the number of customers who stop getting internet increases, the terminal cost will also increase

According to the figure 10, the terminal cost in Jan-2020 is 3.282, it increases

107,85% compared with 3.043 in Jan-19

Beside the customer quantity stopping FiberVNN, the customer complaints also increase from the year 2018 up to Apr-2020

FEBRU ARY

MARC

H APRIL MAY JUN JULY

AUGUS T

SEPTE MBER

OCTOB ER

NOVE MBER

DECEM BER

When analyzing the reason that customers are stopping the FiberVNN, this quantity is highly concentrated on debt customers Consequently, it illustrates that the customer is

unsatisfied with service, especially in taking care, and support service should be seen as a sign that managers need to focus on

Reduce the amount of Internet usage

Increase complaint

Lack of experience in supporting

Time consuming

in solving problem

Increase debt customers Poor training

Increase customer quantity Stopping FiberVNN

) Lack of

Reducing loyal customers

(B6)

Diagram 1: Initial Cause-effect map of Call center

Figure 11: The quantity of customer complaint FiberVNN in the year 2018-2020

3.1.1 Data selection and looking for problems

Data selected on VNPT management database system, all reports are used for

monthly planning and controlling subscriber development FiberVNN

The following steps to detemine the main problem:

➢ Review data related to the symptoms and potential problems

➢ Taking in-depth interview with some leader and staff in the Call center

➢ Analysis of financial data

Base on above research result, the possible problems are indicated below:

3.1.2 Lack of terminal in installation

Nowadays, Internet demand of customers is increasing, service providers and

competitors are providing terminals for them Thus, one of the factors that attracts customers

is to provide adequate equipment, ensure stable wifi, fast internet access speed However, if customers register a low package and the house has many floors, of course the wifi device may be not good, customers will complain because of unstable network quality, reduced usage capacity, lead to increase complaints about equipment

Customers who have registered the service always require stable network quality, meet their work needs The customers such as banks, securities companies, hospitals, foreign company have to require for transmission quality If occuring the loss of the signal, it will cause huge damage to their customers, resulting in increased complaints

The operative quality of a service organization is measured by its ability to manage service circumstances To support customer service, the company should have maximal freedom to make decisions and utilize resources By decentralizing choice making, an

organization can make decisions quicker and more productively, at least in theory There is

an opinion that successful service organizations have in common that they are built of

independent profit centers and know the importance of customer trust and quality of services for their success (Näsi et al., 1987) Customers that purchase services with high trade values, high-perceived financial, legal, or personal risk and high requirements for accuracy prefer to deal with the same person However, these devoted servers are virtually always a high-priced solution for the service provider, because these twenty-one servers do not know all the areas, and the person is not available all the time Some firms have therefore chosen to form teams

of service providers (Heskett et al., 1997) [7]

Improving good service is the good method that all suppliers may be use to low prices Taking care of the customer is understood as the process of finding out, listen to

complaints Good service quality will improve income, lessen costs, maintain capital for the company, create liability premise to increase influence, image, and market share for VNPT

As sharing from Ms.Luong Thi Minh Trang – Take care and support team leader, good Customer care, receiving customer feedback, timely solving problem are the important factors contributing to improving service quality, reducing complaints, retaining customers and bringing a stable source of revenue for the company Besides, customers leave the

service, do not return the equipment, causing equipment losses, leading to increased terminal costs affecting the company's profits

3.1.3 Poor training skills in Call center

Service consultants in Call centers require special skills to identify customer issues, enhance and explain solutions, and simultaneously demonstrate understanding in a telephony environment Hence, they need training, practice, and the authority to promptly solve

problems and support from organizational processes and resources [8]

In their work on service climate, Schneider, White, and Paul (1998) demonstrated a positive relationship between service climate and perceived service quality, while many researchers have found links between service quality and customers' self-reported loyalty (e.g., Butcher, Sparks, and O'Callaghan 2001; Ranaweera and Neely 2003) Therefore, it seems reasonable that perceived customer orientation's effects may operate through perceived service quality to loyalty [8]

How to improve customer retention skills using VNPT service and reduce the

customer not using VNPT service has always been a headache for managers without timely equipment recovery The increase quantity customer of doubtful debts will affect instantly business, capital and the profitability of the company When customers have a problem, the operator consults and support in the best way to the customer

Ms Le Thi Nhien – Manager of the Call center – shared that due to the high workload,

Overtime staff is divided into shifts, ensuring to receive customer calls 24/7, each employee may contact from 150 up to 200 customers per a day Most of the staff are inexperienced collaborators, or older employees from non-climbing technical staff will be on call

Additionally, the Call center has no team specializing in coaching for new staff, especially update skills for current staff

Ms Ngo Thi Thanh Thao – Vice Manager – shared that besides her daily work, she has to coach for new staff use VNPT subscriber management system, skills for calling the customer pay doubtful debt, sale and service technical support

In addition, excellent technical assistance service helps customers immediately handle common technical errors, soft and soft talking will make customers less angry, and advice on fast registration procedures, making customers satisfied with service, will attract the customer

to use long-term VNPT service Ms Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang – Technical assistance team leader – shared that customer dissatisfaction with technical assistance, weak wifi equipment, and repair slowly Also, she emphasized that it comes from the deficiency in the operator's skill and the weakness in the verification staff's ability

Researching in VNPT customer database system, the reasons of stopping FiberVNN, that are unstable service quality, customer care not good, not contact to subscriber, move to another address, debt customer (see in table 3)

Not contact to subscriber, move to another address 7,335 6.36%

Table 4: The reasons for customer stopping FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

Figure 12: The reasons for customer stopping FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

We could see that training is determined as leverage, which is an essential key to

further improving the service quality and efficiency of work, meeting basic knowledge about daily work Training skills also provide opportunities for employees to exchange experiences and solve difficult problems

Searching data in VNPT management system, increase customer having debt

have relationship with increase customer stopping

Base on table 1: data customer stopping FiberVNN of the year 2018 increase up to April

2020, and the reason for debt customers also increase from 2018 up to April-2020 (table 4):

4 months

of 2020 sum

not contact to subscriber, move to another address 2,116 3,534 1,685 7,335

Table 4: The reasons for customer stopping FiberVNN increase from 2018 to 2020

See the table 4 and table 1, there is the relationship between increase customer having debt and increase customer stopping, there are 33.270 customers stopping FiberVNN in the year 2018, including 30.312 customers debt The customer stopping FiberVNN increase to 55.568 and customer debt also increase up to 50.628 In 4 months of the year 2020, the

customers stopping FiberVNN are 26.494, including the customer debt are 24.139

However, according to Ms Nhien – Manager said that “these are customer debt for along time, maybe they have debt for over 3 months, the staff have call them pay and not connect them, the VNPT cut of Internet” But this is not the main problem for customer stopping

FiberVNN

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000

Unstable service quality

Customer care not good

not contact to subscriber, move to another address

debt customerDebt for customer stopping FiberVNN

2018 2019 2020Figure 13: Debt for customer stopping FiberVNN from 2018 to Apr-2020

customer care skills training for employees

Conversely, poor training skills in the customer care center could lead to limited technical assistance service skills and, hence, will not be able to manipulate complaints confidently, complex cases, and make customers wait for a long time Besides, work

experience also needs to be accumulated and learned from colleagues According to Ms Nhien, she had a lot of obstacles when she began to work without instruction, and her

performance wasn't excellent in several months So she thinks it is very crucial for her job Besides, Mr Lam said that he believes training in the very initial steps makes staff more confident and happy at work

To sum up, based on in-depth interviews, the Call center's poor training skills can be considered the main problem that influenced customer quantity stopping FiberVNN at this time

3.3 The main problem: Poor training skills of Call center

The importance of training and the cost of training is evident, as organizational

performance depends upon the employees’ skills, knowledge, and experiences It means that

an individual makes the organizational performance better by utilizing their knowledge and skills; hence, the organization offers training to develop its employee performance to achieve the expected purposes [9] “Training is generally considered a tool used to enhance individual skills, knowledge, and abilities of a resource, and to enable that person to understand certain aspects of business” [10] Training will help employees release frustration and anxiety caused by a heavy workload and enhance productivity in work [11] According to Bolotbek Orokov, Dan Durning and Sergei Pushkarev [12], “training was considered to be job-focused, limited to the technical skills and abilities needed by public employees to perform specific tasks.” They also stated that isolated experience might not contribute to the success of an organization Therefore, when the Call center staff is not trained in communication skills, inadequate professional knowledge, and not updating new product information, it will cause some problems They could handle for a longer time call, causing congestion, and other