The Customer First Programme

The Customer First Programme PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102963601
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
In 2009 the Student Loans Company took over the processing of loan and grant applications for new students from England which had previously been carried out by 130 local authorities. The Company's document scanning system was launched before being fully tested. Its failure was critical, and the Company's contingency plan was both flawed and implemented late. The Company took 33 per cent longer to process applications in 2009-10 compared with local authorities in 2008-09, and only 46 per cent of new applications had been fully processed by the start of term. By September 2009, 241,000 applications had been received but not fully processed. This led to a dramatic increase in the volume of calls, with the Company receiving over four million in September - 87 per cent of which were unanswered. The Company had failed to communicate key messages to applicants that would have helped to reduce unnecessary calls. The customer service provided by the Company in 2009 was poor. The NAO also raises concerns about the Company's performance in managing Disabled Students' Allowance. By the end of 2009, only 4,000 of 17,000 applications had resulted in a payment, taking an average of 20 weeks to be processed. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Student Loans Company underestimated the challenges in centralising this service. Neither the Department's monitoring of the Company nor the Company's Board's oversight were effective. Substantial risks remain to the successful delivery of the service in 2010.

The Customer First Programme

The Customer First Programme PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102963601
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 2009 the Student Loans Company took over the processing of loan and grant applications for new students from England which had previously been carried out by 130 local authorities. The Company's document scanning system was launched before being fully tested. Its failure was critical, and the Company's contingency plan was both flawed and implemented late. The Company took 33 per cent longer to process applications in 2009-10 compared with local authorities in 2008-09, and only 46 per cent of new applications had been fully processed by the start of term. By September 2009, 241,000 applications had been received but not fully processed. This led to a dramatic increase in the volume of calls, with the Company receiving over four million in September - 87 per cent of which were unanswered. The Company had failed to communicate key messages to applicants that would have helped to reduce unnecessary calls. The customer service provided by the Company in 2009 was poor. The NAO also raises concerns about the Company's performance in managing Disabled Students' Allowance. By the end of 2009, only 4,000 of 17,000 applications had resulted in a payment, taking an average of 20 weeks to be processed. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Student Loans Company underestimated the challenges in centralising this service. Neither the Department's monitoring of the Company nor the Company's Board's oversight were effective. Substantial risks remain to the successful delivery of the service in 2010.

Customers First: Dominate Your Market by Winning Them Over Where It Counts the Most

Customers First: Dominate Your Market by Winning Them Over Where It Counts the Most PDF Author: Bolivar J. Bueno
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071787887
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
“B.J. Bueno and his team at The Cult Branding Company respect and understand what so many strategists miss: before we can be experts on product, sales, or the market, we must fi rst be experts on human nature. They have a proven track record of building healthy, sustainable businesses for some of the best brands in the world—using the very process outlined in this book.” —BERT JACOBS, chief executive optimist, The Life is good Company “B.J. Bueno yet again deftly captures the essence of what is required to build and sustain a great brand. If you want to attract and retain highly profi table “brand lovers” rather than stalk new customers, then carefully read this book. B.J. wisely outlines why this is vital and importantly, how to actually do it in today’s marketplace! —DARRYL “DC” COBBIN, president, Brand Positioning Doctors, and former VP of Marketing, 20th Century Fox “Customers First tells the truth. I got a shiver up my back reading this book: What if my competitors read this and follow B.J.’s advice? I don’t care what size business you run, you could and should do exactly as this book instructs. As I was reading, I kept thinking of ways to get my customers to tell me how to be better.” —DAVID RATNER, owner, Dave’s Soda and Pet City MASTER THE SCIENCE OF MARKET DOMINATION... Brand Lovers are the best of your best customers. They power Harley-Davidson to the top of the enthusiast motorcycle market; they’re the core of Apple’s dominant position in portable devices; and they’re the reason why no other premium grocery chain can take a bite out of Whole Foods’ market share. Customers First, by top branding strategist B.J. Bueno, shows how your business will achieve this level of extreme customer loyalty through Brand Modeling, the objective and scientific analysis of your organization’s performance across a wide range of situations. An accurate Brand Model will arm you with hard data to pinpoint and engage your brand’s most passionate customers—and give you an action plan for inspiring and empowering these Brand Lovers to be your most effective evangelists. Much more than a summary of who you are and what you do, a Brand Model maps your business’s DNA to help you build an unbeatable competitive advantage. Through examples of real-world success stories—among them, IKEA, Nike, Coca-Cola, apparel upstart The Life is good Company, Starbucks, and Southwest Airlines—and a detailed sample case study that shows effective Brand Modeling practices in action, Customers First delivers strategic insights and proven techniques for you to: Differentiate your products in ways that are meaningful to your best customers Drive growth by creating brand extensions that are a natural fit with your existing products Significantly improve marketing ROI by avoiding customers not interested in your brand Visually and verbally communicate brand values that resonate with your best customers Brand Modeling evolves the current state of marketing to a new level of sophistication. In Customers First, B.J. Bueno shows how to use this critical tool to eliminate guesswork from your marketing efforts and focus more clearly on understanding (and pleasing) your most valuable ally in the battle for market dominance: The Brand Lover. B.J. BUENO is founder and managing partner of The Cult Branding Company, the premiere Brand Modeling and consumer insight research firm. He is a board member of the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association and a member of the Chief Marketing Officers board for international retailers.

Head First Software Development

Head First Software Development PDF Author: Dan Pilone
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 0596527357
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
Provides information on successful software development, covering such topics as customer requirements, task estimates, principles of good design, dealing with source code, system testing, and handling bugs.

Employees First, Customers Second

Employees First, Customers Second PDF Author: Vineet Nayar
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1422139069
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Imagine a management philosophy based not upon serving a company's customers, but on serving the company's employees. Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies in India, has put such a philosophy into practice with remarkable results. His "employee first, customer second" mantra has been recognized globally as an example of organizational innovation, and was deemed a "new and radical management philosophy" ripe for the picking in the Western world by Business Week. In this book, Nayar himself describes his blunt refusal to treat the flesh and blood of HCL--its people--as "human resource" or as "intellectual capital" or even as an asset like all its other assets-and how his unique perspective led to an holistic transformation of his organization. By putting employees on top of the organizational pyramid, he argues, your company can fully realize the value created in the interface between customers and employees. This book leads managers and executives through the five core aspects of Nayar's approach, demonstrating how to create a sense of urgency, overhaul incentives and reporting structures, foster transparency in communications and feedback, provide platforms for achievement and personal growth, and finally recognize the potential of every individual in the organization. The "Employee First" philosophy should be the fulcrum of the transformation journey of any organization.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany

The Four Steps to the Epiphany PDF Author: Steve Blank
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119690285
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The bestselling classic that launched 10,000 startups and new corporate ventures - The Four Steps to the Epiphany is one of the most influential and practical business books of all time. The Four Steps to the Epiphany launched the Lean Startup approach to new ventures. It was the first book to offer that startups are not smaller versions of large companies and that new ventures are different than existing ones. Startups search for business models while existing companies execute them. The book offers the practical and proven four-step Customer Development process for search and offers insight into what makes some startups successful and leaves others selling off their furniture. Rather than blindly execute a plan, The Four Steps helps uncover flaws in product and business plans and correct them before they become costly. Rapid iteration, customer feedback, testing your assumptions are all explained in this book. Packed with concrete examples of what to do, how to do it and when to do it, the book will leave you with new skills to organize sales, marketing and your business for success. If your organization is starting a new venture, and you're thinking how to successfully organize sales, marketing and business development you need The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Essential reading for anyone starting something new. The Four Steps to the Epiphany was originally published by K&S Ranch Publishing Inc. and is now available from Wiley. The cover, design, and content are the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

Customer Centricity

Customer Centricity PDF Author: Peter Fader
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business planning
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Not all customers are created equal. Despite what the tired old adage says, the customer is not always right. Not all customers deserve your best efforts: in the world of customer centricity, there are good customers...and then there is pretty much everybody else. Upending some of our most fundamental beliefs, renowned behavioral data expert Peter Fader, Co-Director of The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, helps businesses radically rethink how they relate to customers. He provides insights to help you revamp your performance metrics, product development, customer relationship management and organization in order to make sure you focus directly on the needs of your most valuable customers and increase profits for the long term.

Using Information to Develop a Culture of Customer Centricity

Using Information to Develop a Culture of Customer Centricity PDF Author: David Loshin
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0124115136
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 105

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Book Description
Using Information to Develop a Culture of Customer Centricity sets the stage for understanding the holistic marriage of information, socialization, and process change necessary for transitioning an organization to customer centricity. The book begins with an overview list of 8-10 precepts associated with a business-focused view of the knowledge necessary for developing customer-oriented business processes that lead to excellent customer experiences resulting in increased revenues. Each chapter delves into each precept in more detail.

Clients First

Clients First PDF Author: Joseph Callaway
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118431790
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
How honesty, competency, and caring will make you rich Throw out the sales manual. Get off the motivation elevator. Clients First is a two word miracle that can change your life. This book outlines a powerful path to riches that authors Joseph and JoAnn Callaway used to sell a billion dollars in real estate in just ten years—a feat never before achieved. Here, they explain the three keys to putting your clients first that helped them create one of the most successful realty firms in the U.S. Each of the three keys is important and can stand on its own. However, the success you can achieve when following the Clients First program can only be reached when all three keys are used in coordination. Explains how honesty ensures a strong client relationship Details the ways in which competency pervades all aspects of a client's perception of you Shows how being a caring individual can win over a client on a personal level Unlock your potential by putting these to use in your life and your business.

Project and Program Turnaround

Project and Program Turnaround PDF Author: Thomas Pavelko
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1351816519
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
The U.S. economy thrives on the development of new products, new systems, and new processes. Usually, these advances start as a flash of inspiration by highly creative individuals. It is complex and difficult to go from initial inspiration to a final product, process, or system. So it is not surprising that approximately one out of every four development programs fails. A development program or project in trouble is distinct from a program encountering typical development difficulties. Such a program or project can appear to be in free fall. This book identifies the essential fundamentals for executing a program or project turnaround effectively. These fundamentals include: Clearly identifying the next critical accomplishment needed for success Assigning responsibility for each program task to one person Capitalizing on colocation and face-to-face communication Recruiting problem solvers Wining commitment from team members Using team accomplishments to propel high team morale The guidance provided in this book is applicable to all program or project genres, including manufacturing, nonprofit work, education, medicine, investment management, and municipal management. Software has become a great part of both providing product functionality and assisting with managing product development. A special chapter devoted to software development dispels common misconceptions and provides guidance for turning around this special type of project or program. This book is a highly valuable source of insight for a wide range of readers, including management professionals, business students, and executive managers. Every member of a product or project development team will find its recommendations to be of high value.

Proceedings, 19th Annual Meeting, Natural Resources Research Program

Proceedings, 19th Annual Meeting, Natural Resources Research Program PDF Author: Natural Resources Research Program (US Army Corps of Engineers). Meeting
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Natural resources
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description