Continual Service Improvement: More Than Improving Services

Continual service improvement is not about making services ever better; its purpose is to align the service provider's focus and services with the changing business requirements of its stakeholders. In The Journey to Service Excellence, John Sansbury explains that customers define the quality and outcomes they need and are prepared to pay for.

• Change for its own sake is ruled out. If a customer is content with a service available for all but a few minutes a week, 100 per cent availability may be possible but typically carries an unjustified cost. Consistent with ISO 9000, quality means the level stakeholders require, and the book's example shows customers may value predictability over occasional speed.
• The CSI model runs from vision, through a baseline of the current state, SMART improvement objectives, a service improvement plan and deployment, to checking progress and consolidating gains into business as usual. The pause to reflect is why it is continual rather than continuous.
• CSI should be led by someone passionate about quality, perhaps a high flyer, with access to all reports and meetings and possibly reporting to the department head. Everyone remains responsible for the quality of their own work.
• Start at the support centre: a few hours listening to calls reveals the consumer experience and points of failure.
• A CSI register collates ideas from service reviews, individuals, problem management, suppliers and partners, prioritises them, builds business cases and tracks measurable benefits.