NTA Regional Award Winner, Partnership and Collaboration; Barclaycard and CragRats Ltd.
Barclaycard Obsessed About Great Customer Service

Barclaycard has dramatically transformed the way it does business by introducing an Obsessed initiative across its operations; A programme that puts the customer at the heart of everything it does and fulfils its desire to become truly customer centric.

Barclaycard's Obsessed campaign, run in conjunction with partner training company CragRats, was so successful that the global payments company is forging long-term relationships with customers, improving customer retention and building on its reputation for excellence.

Barclaycard, issuer of the first credit card in the UK and with more than 11.9 million customers in the UK alone, recognized the importance of meeting customers' ever higher expectations of service. To achieve it, Barclaycard recognized the need to take ownership and accountability to improve one stop capability, drive down failure demand, and provide a world class service every time. Obsessed enabled them do just that and will ultimately help them to achieve their vision of "owning the world of simple payment."

Barclaycard worked with specialist learning provider Cragrats Ltd to produce multimedia training resources for its internal customer experience training. The objective was to become Obsessed with understanding customers' needs, getting things right first time and delivering service with purpose.

In response Cragrats Ltd produced a training DVD consisting of highly stylized animation interspersed with real film. Team leaders delivered two-hour training sessions to 4,000 call centre employees, up to 16 at a time, between December 2008 and March 2009, using Cragrat's' training manual. Employees were given diaries in order to record the changes in customer experience and Obsessed badges to wear once the training was completed. Awareness of the campaign was raised through internal training events and execution of an internal communications plan, full of activities.

The results exceeded expectations, both financially and in terms of the reduction in complaints. In particular, the number of escalated complaints to Senior Leaders has been eradicated and the number of inbound repeat complaint calls fell by 42.5% . In addition the number of calls resolved at the first point of contact rose from an average of 80% to 96%. Customer satisfaction scores rose accordingly - from an average of 80% to 98%.

These impressive results have most certainly had a positive impact for customers and in addition Barclaycard have noted a rise in engagement at advisor level as a direct result of their ability to be more empowered to make changes to processes that are not customer-centric. The initial investment made was well worth it!

According to Craig Buckley, Barclaycard Head of Customer Service based in Stockton on Tees, the training has produced a culture change across the whole organization. He describes this as a new way of thinking for Barclaycard; challenging and redesigning their current measures of success and focusing on what great customer service looks like; matching customers needs with a first class service which delivers purpose and drives real value.

Craig said, "We are indeed changing the way in which we think about our customers from the top of the organization right through to our front line advisers. We are improving and changing systems to make sure they are designed to deliver from a customer's perspective. The huge improvement we have seen in overall quality, customer feedback and first point of contact resolution has been nothing short of amazing. Following the outstanding results against all five key measurements we are now looking to roll out the programme in our US, South African and German operations. Obsessed has been endorsed by our chief executive as the way in which Barclaycard will do business with its customers now and in the future."

Cragrats Ltd and Barclaycard both have Investors in People accreditation.