Management Discussion
Overview of Idea
Customer relations and service account for a significant business achievement. Good customer services result in increased loyalty as well as increased customer base. Organizations that have poor customer service tend to be less competitive and less attractive to clients. Comcast Corporation, America’s largest home internet, and cable provider, offers a perfect example of the impact of poor customer service on a company's competitiveness. The company's customer support and service were recently rated as substandard. Poor customer service reports against Comcast employees have existed for several years, which have resulted in the organization losing some of its loyal customers to competitors. Companies such as Verizon Fios have recently gained popularity among a large US population due to excellent customer support and services. Most of the clients who experience poor customer service tend to move to these competitors. Recent years have however seen Comcast try to improve their services, with the latest move being the construction of a new tower. The building of the new tower brings with it hope that Comcast customer service will expand; therefore, become better. One of the ways to ensure an improvement of customer services is hiring more online telephone operators, as well as increasing the number of services that people can get online. The hiring new employees to increase the number of telephone operators, as well as the increase of service type, will result in several advantages as well as disadvantages.
The hiring of new online telephone operators will result in several benefits to Comcast corporations. The increase of operators will result in faster response time to customers. Slow response time accounts for one of the poorest areas of customer service reported. Customers are often faced to wait for as long as one hour to talk to an online operator. An increase in the number of operators will assist in the reduction of the time that customers wait before speaking to a telephone operator. Another benefit of hiring more telephone operatives is that the company can now divide tasks into different groups. Some operators can work on issues involving the internet with others working on issues involving cable. Such division would allow operators to specialize on specific issues; therefore, the customer does not have to wait for long to get the right help. The increase in telephone operators will also assist the company to serve a large population. The ability to serve a larger population is likely to result in increased profitability for the company.
Cons
The hiring of more internet telephone operators may result in several disadvantages for the company including an increase in cost. The increase in the number of telephone operators will result in increased expenses for the company. The hiring of new employees may not result in improved customer service unless the new employees get training on how to deal with customers. If new employees do not get training on customer service, the company is likely to retain the same reputation of poor customer services. Such training is likely to result in increased expenses for the company. Another disadvantage likely to result from the hiring of more telephone operators is a likely hood of current employees developing a negative attitude to the new employees. Such attitudes may result in workplace conflict; therefore, further damaging the company's competitiveness.
Criteria for Solution
Since the pros outweigh the cons, the company should hire more online telephone operators to assist in improving customer services. Other than hiring new employees, Comcast should also ensure that both the new and old employees receive training on issues related to customer service. The hiring of new employees, as well as training for all employees, may assist Comcast to retain and attract more customers.
