CALL CENTERS (CENTRES) - Faculty of Industrial Engineering and ...

customer focus: The company systematically gathers and analyzes information on its customers
in order to correctly assess their individual credit risk and to offer products and services tailored
to their individual needs. The case is designed to illustrate how the concept of customer
relationship management (CRM) can be translated into strategy, organisational design, hiring,
marketing processes, and IT infrastructure of a company. The teaching objective is fourfold:
(1) to present a best-practice organisation that embodies the concept of CRM; (2) to enable a
discussion around the definition of CRM; (3) to recognise why effective CRM cannot only be
practised within the marketing function, but has to be adopted by the entire organisation; and
(4) to recognise the important role of the human resources function and the IT function in a
company-wide CRM strategy.
Keywords: Customer relationship management, Financial services, Credit card, Marketing strategy,
Database, IT, CRM, Call centre
23. Silvestro, R., C. Silvestro. New service design in the NHS: An evaluation of the strategic alignment
of NHS Direct, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 23 (4),
2003, 401–417.
Abstract. Awareness of inconsistencies and variability in the delivery of health services across
the UK has heightened in recent years, leading to general acknowledgement that a move away
from “health care by post code” is a strategic priority for the National Health Service (NHS).
NHS Direct, a call centre service for patients and their carers, is unique in the NHS in that it
represents an entirely new service concept, with a rare opportunity to design a single nation-wide
service from scratch, and to manage and coordinate a delivery system consistently throughout
the country. Evaluates the strategic alignment of NHS Direct during the first three years of implementation
through an analysis of its service concept, its operational objectives, the design of
its delivery systems and its volume and variety characteristics. The evaluation reveals an absence
of a central design specification which has resulted in wide variation in the call centres’ service
portfolios, resource bases, competencies, telephony and clinical expert systems. Contends that
variation and variability in the design of the call centres has severely compromised NHS Direct’s
ability to meet its strategic and operational objectives, resulting in strategic misalignment. Also
identifies missed opportunities to learn from the growing call centre literature and from service
shops in other industries.
Keywords: Service design, NHS Direct, Strategic alignment, National Health Service, Call centre
service, Operational objectives, Strategic misalignment
(Appears also in Section VIII.)
24. Singhal, H.K. and D.G.. Prasad. Call centers and customer relationship management in insurance
organisations. Case, ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR), India, 2003, 3 pp.
Ref. No.: 503-054-1.
Abstract. The case focuses on improving customer relationships in insurance organisations. It
discusses the role of call centres in improving customer relationships in insurance organisations
and examines the way in which these organisations can improve the functional performance of
call centres. The case also discusses the role of technology in managing call centre operations.
The case is structured to enable students to: (1) understand the role of customer relationship
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