Submission Category: Customer Service
The NTTA, has a responsibility to deliver to service to their customers and stakeholders regardless of the economic environment. The NTTA is committed to providing the “highest level of service for the least amount of cost that is valuable for its customers and responsible for the NTTA. Having committed to an All Electronic Tolling (ETC) strategy, the NTTA customer experience has become a much larger challenge. The elimination of toll booths, the implementation of ZipCash payment systems and new facilities have put increased volume and pressure on all customer touch points. Seeking a solution to the pressure of providing value added services with less resources and capital, NTTA turned to an unlikely partner: their customers. NTTA put their “customers to work” providing advice, coaching employees, auditing customer experience and training NTTA personnel. And not just a “couple” of customers helping out “every once and a while”, thousands of NTTA customers provide valuable coaching, advice and insight daily throughout the agency. Utilizing Tamer Partners Corporation’s CDM (Customer Driven Management) application the NTTA can access customer’s 24x7 for input. This results in hundreds of customers assisting individuals (and their managers) in addressing specific performance areas by providing coaching, advice, encouragement and training. The impact is seen in reduced management expenses, increased customer loyalty, streamlined process, changed employee behavior and perhaps most importantly dramatically improved customer experience. In addition to synchronizing with customers, the NTTA also leverages CDM to facilitate virtual focus groups. The NTTA was considering two sign designs to communicate a rate change based on vehicle axles. Instead of using a traditional focus group, the NTTA was able to use this technology to get feedback regarding the two signs. These customers viewed the designs online and provided enough detailed feedback and advice that the NTTA was able to produce a third and final design that is in place today. A similar process allowed customers to view and provide feedback on new invoice layouts that were being considered. These two instances alone save tens of thousands of dollars in traditional focus group costs as well as reducing contact volumes and their associated costs. NTTA increased their level of service at a minimal cost while reducing the operational costs of quality monitoring and coaching staff. Imagine — Customers and a public agency working together for the people of North Texas.