These days, all organizations, whether for profit or non-profit, have some level of automation for their basic, recurring business processes. Think about the variety of self-help web sites on which you can enroll for an account, manage your account and personal information, and perform other routine customer support functions.

Other customer needs require some sort of interaction with a person at the organization to accomplish tasks; however, many of these business processes are automated, too. In fact, many of these processes are routine enough that we don’t give a second thought to the outcomes or messages communicated to customers. When was the last time you evaluated the output of automated business processes to ensure they are communicating the message(s) you want to send to your customer?

I’d like to share a story of a seemingly simple request I recently made to a company, and the communication I received in response to my request. Hopefully, something similar to this isn’t happening in your company.

Last year, I changed my last name (in case some of you haven’t noticed yet!) and have been working diligently since to update all my accounts. Now, you men who have never had to deal with a name change won’t appreciate what an undertaking it really is – especially in the digital age. Nonetheless, I have been on a quest to update my information everywhere it appears (yes – it’s more than just utility companies and banks!).

Last month, I realized one of my credit card statements still had my former name on the account statement. So, I contacted the company (a major, well-known financial services company) and asked them to change my last name, and to re-issue a credit card with the new name.

As I expected, there was a form to be completed and returned to authorize the change, and the agent indicted she would send me the appropriate form through the US mail (no, the form was not available on their web site, nor could it be emailed).

About 10 days later, I received the Account Change Form and completed it with my new last name (no other information changed). Off it went through the US postal service back to the financial services company. About a week later, I received another letter from the company (without an accompanying credit card). I share the response with you verbatim:

“Dear Sharon Flemings:

We are writing in response to your recent request.

Please be advised, as you requested, we have updated our records to reflect your new name on the above account. However, we cannot send you a replacement card at your new address, as it is too long. Please call us at the number given in your statement to update the new address and request for the new card to be issued.”

Now, remember – this request was only to change a name, yet the company could not send me a new card because my address is too long? Hmmmm… - the change request form came to me without a problem, and the response letter came to me without a problem, but they can’t send the card? (Does that also mean I don’t have to pay the statements they seem to be able to mail to me?)

Of course I contacted the company and read the agent the letter I received. After a few chuckles, she placed me on hold to speak with a supervisor about the problem. Apparently, they figured out how to resolve the problem but not until after the agent accidently selected the wrong option in her software, which generated and mailed another copy of the letter!

I did get my new credit card two days later (they sent it via UPS), however the damage was done. Imagine how I now feel about this financial services company which couldn’t do something simple like change a name on an account and issue a new credit card. What kind of message they sending me about my importance as a customer?, and their capabilities and professionalism?

The problem in this situation was not that the customer service agent couldn’t correctly perform her job. Instead, the corporate business process of making a change on an account included automation which is either poorly defined, or contains business rules which aren’t quite right. In either case, incorrect communications are being sent to customers.

There are several lessons we can learn from this situation.

• Make it easy for your customers to do business with you. In this case, to manage their information. Online forms and instructions, account access (with appropriate security) or other technical capabilities allow easy access and communication between you and your customers. Don’t be afraid to leverage technology to develop closer relationships with your customers, partners and other stakeholders – just make sure it’s sending the message you want to convey.

• Periodically review your automated processes to ensure they function as you intend. Over time, the processes themselves may become irrelevant or be under-performing. Additionally, output from automated processes can become outdated or contain information which is no longer relevant or valid.

• Test your automated processes well. Do you get the results you expect when you exercise each of the possible flows through the process? Does the output make sense? Make sure you test the less common process flows, too – these are likely the ones which will cause the most damage to customer relationships.

Out of necessity, we rely heavily on technology for many of our business processes. Periodic review of not only the process, but also of the output, prevents erroneous or irrelevant information from being released. A good reputation is hard to build and maintain, and one small, silly message to a customer can do significant damage.

What is your technology telling your customers? If you need help figuring it out, let’s chat.

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