Total Quality

Management
The Customer Focus of the
Hellenic Telecommunicatons
Organizaton (OTE S.A.) Quality
Program






Nikolaos Meletiadis
MG 3145 A1 Total Quality Management
Due Date: 20
th
March 2014
Professor: Kostas A. Levetas
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Table of Contents

1. Introducton 3
2. Main Body 4
2.1. Customer Groups 4
2.2. Voice of Customer-Customer Beneft
Package 6
2.3. Customer Relatonship Management 9
2.4. Complaint Management 11
2.5. Customer Satsfacton 13
2.6. Conclusions-Recommendatons 14
3. Conclusion 15
4. Works Cited 16
5. Turn-it-in report 17



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1) Introducton

The current project is part of the course of Total Quality Management
during the spring semester of 2014. It is consisted of the evaluation of the
customer focus of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE S.A.)
Quality Program. Through the main body of the project, the customer focus of
the company will be analyzed through several key aspects of a customer
focus quality program. Such may include the customer grouping and
segmentation of the company, the identification of needs of the above
customer groups, the study on the companys Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), the companys complaints system and the measurement
of the customers satisfaction. Specific conclusion will be drawn after the
evaluation of the companys customer focus quality system and the
necessary recommendations will be stated.

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Main Body
2.1 Customer Groups

One of the most important duties that a company has to undertake and
perform is to identify clearly the customer groups that its products will be
offered. The task of identifying the consumers is a task of the top
management of the company. Having clearly identified customer groups, the
customer needs will be more easily pointed out. The two main categories of
customers are the internal customers and the external customers. The
external customers are customers that receive the end product or service but
he/she is not part of the company. On the other hand, the internal customer is
someone that receives a work-in-progress product or contributes to the
greater goal-strategy of the organization. Furthermore, there are cases that
the employees of the company are the end recipients of the product or service
the company offers (Evans, Lindsay, 2005).
Ote SA has a clear identification of the customer groups that its
products and services are offered. When it comes to the external customers,
Ote has divided them into two main categories, the personal users and the
business users. In terms of the internal customers Ote has some main internal
customers, due to the fact that the company has many subsidiary companies.
OTE wholesale and Cosmote are some of them which use the products of the
main company. Furthermore, the company has clearly identified the vital few
and useful many customer groups. The vital few, are considered the
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customers that bring the most amount of profit to the company. They require a
more customized approach than the useful many. For Ote the vital few are the
alternative telecommunications providers, which provides services of
telecommunications infrastructure via Wholesale and its subsidiary,
Globe, which offers a total of high-tech products and high quality
services. For Ote the useful many are all those personal users and business
users that purchase their products and lease their services. In my opinion,
Ote has a very well structured customer grouping. The company has clearly
defined the profiles of each customer group and is well-aligned with the Total
Quality practices.
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2.2 Voice of Customer-Customer Beneft Package

As said above, having clearly identified customer groups, the customer
needs will be more easily pointed out. Nevertheless, this is not enough. In
order to identify the requirements of the customer, companies should engage
into some quality approaches. Companies need to hear the Voice of the
customer. Companies use a variety of methods and tools to gather
information about customer needs and customer expectations, their
importance and customer satisfaction with the companys performance on
these measures (Evans, Lindsay 2005). Some of the key approaches to
collecting customer information are surveys, the internet monitoring,
complaints systems, field intelligence and the study of the competition.
Another traditional market research tool is the focused group. Typically, focus
group attendees are invited to meet at a neutral location and a moderator
guides the discussion. Such discussions can be more flexible than structured
questionnaires, and focus groups allow the interaction between different
customers to be observed. The insights from focus groups tend to lead to
improvements rather than breakthrough products (Ulwick 2002).
Ote is a company which tries to constantly gather information about the
needs and satisfaction of their customers. The company holds on a monthly
basis surveys towards its customers, with a different goal each time. Every 6
months, they also align the complaints they receive along these periods and
incorporate specific queries in order to measure the amount of issues solved.
Consequently, the complaint system is another source if information for the
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company. Ote also cares about the customer satisfaction from a visit at a retail
store. Thus, each week in a different group of stores, questionnaires are
available to complete after exiting the store by promoters. Finally, all phone
calls to the customer service line are recorder and a sample is examined in
order to identify the most important issues that customers face.
All companies provide the so called customer benefit package. This
package includes all the tangible and intangible benefits of a product or
service that a company offers. Directly connected to the customer benefit
package is the Kano model, named after ta Japanese Professor Noriaki
Kamo. Kamo indicated that the customer requirements are classified as
dissatisfiers, satisfiers and exciters/delighters. Dissatisfiers are elements that
if missing they dissatisfy, satisfiers are those elements that if present they
satisfy and delighters are elements that are not expected by the customer but
provide pleasure and promote customer loyalty (PARASCHIVESCU &
COTRLE 2012).
For Ote, and every other telecommunications company, the main
dissatisfier is the malfunction of the communication service that the company
offers. More specifically, facing a problem in the adsl network that results to
some customers not being able to have their internet connection for a specific
time framework, is an element that dissatisfies. On the other hand though, Ote
provides also some satisfiers. Ote offers annual discounts for continuing
customers that decide to renew their contracts with the company. This is
clearly an element that it present it satisfies the customer. In terms of
delighters, I could say that Ote tries to constantly bring to the Greek Market
new and innovative communication technologies and services. Another
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delighter could be considered the fact that Ote tries to prevent customer
complaints by seeking out for bottlenecks in network capacity and
performance in the case of the adsl service and calls the customers to inform
them about slow internet speeds and informs them about any maintenance
procedures.

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2.3 Customer Relatonship Management

Companies always try to build and maintain customer loyalty through
developing some kind of trust between them and the customers. This trust
derives from the effective management of interaction and relationship with the
customers through its approaches and its people (Evans & Lindsay 2005).
The satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the customer takes place in the so called
Moment of Truth. The Moment of Truth occurs in all instances where the
customer gets in contact with the company. And this contact must be secured,
supervised and controlled in order to result to customer satisfaction (Yagil &
Medler-Liraz 2013).This can be done by having an effective and carefully
designed procedure of selection of employees that come into contact with the
customers. Ote focuses in depth on the hiring procedure of customer service
personnel by using various ways of testing the employees skills and
competencies in order for them to provide the appropriate customer service.
Ote also dedicates a lot of effort in training and evaluation. All employees are
monitored closely, especially the ones at the call center department. All calls
are recorded and evaluated in order to achieve a better customer experience.
Furthermore, in 2010, the number of OTESHOP (Telecommunications
Commercial Stores) certified according to the ELOT EN ISO 9001:2008
standard (quality management system), stood at 127 nationwide. The
certification process ensures the provision of quality controlled services, which
undergo continuous re-assessment and improvement.

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Another aspect that affects the Customer Relationship Management is
the accessibility and commitments area. Customers must have easy access
to the employees of the company, if the company wants to have a customer-
focused character. Ote, as said above has an ISO quality certified chain of
retail stores and a well-structured and organized call center which is also
certified with an ISO 9001:2008. Moreover, strong commitments reassure the
high quality of the products and services that the company offers. Ote offers
all the necessary commitments to its customers when they decide to purchase
a product or they sign a contract for providing a telecommunication service in
a specific time framework. Finally, effective Customer Relationship
Management is directly connected to a successful Complaints Management
System, an issue that is discussed on the next section.

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2.4 Complaint Management

Another aspect that we need to focus on regarding the evaluation of
the customer focus of a quality program of a company is the complaints
management system. It is a fact that all companies, despite their efforts to
satisfy the needs and the demands of their customers, face situations of
unhappy customers. Nevertheless, the complaints of the customers must be
considered as opportunities for improving their drawbacks (Evans, Lindsay
2005). There are two ways to deal with the complaints of the customers. The
first one deals with the problem and resolves the complaint right at the time it
occurs. This way of resolving the complaints is called reactive. On the other
hand there is also the proactive method. In this method, all complaints are
used as data in order for the company to predict future issues and is aimed for
improvements.
Ote states at its complaint management statement that it makes every
effort to immediately resolve complaints and avert any customer
dissatisfaction, in order to provide the best level of customer service.
Since 2008, Ote has been operating the 'Complaints Management System',
which covers the contact points where requests are recorded such as
OTESHOP stores, the '134' number in Thessaloniki, the Customer Support
Group, the Regional Telecommunications Departments and ancillary services,
and provides useful statistical data. Ote focuses mostly on a reactive way of
handling customers complaints. Their aim is to maximize the cases that the
problem is solved, and minimize the time that it takes them to resolve the
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issue. Quoting their statistical data In 2010, the average percentage of
written complaints to which we responded within 20 days was 90%, while the
majority of oral complaints were resolved within 2 days. Nevertheless, all
complaints are recorded and used as data in order to be studied and prevent
future issues. Moreover, the Voice Portal & Voice Recognition Services
Department of the Home Customer Services Division maintains a record of
cases of non-compliance regarding customer service. When cases of non-
compliance are recorded, special administrative procedures are followed to
resolve them. As a result, we can say that Ote mainly focuses on resolving the
complaints of their customers right at the time it occurs.


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2.5 Customer Satsfacton

Customer satisfaction is another key element of a successful customer
focus quality system. A successful customer satisfaction measurement leads
to valuable information about the customers opinion towards the products and
services that the company offers. This information can further be used as data
for analysis in order for the company to predict future market behavior of its
customers (Evans & Lindsay 2005). The most common way that businesses
use in order to measure customer satisfaction are surveys and
questionnaires. The questions on the surveys must be in such a way
presented, so that they can absorb vital information about the customers
opinion (Thomas 2013).
Ote over the last 5 years has been implementing the CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY BAROMETER survey. The barometer survey
requires the design, development and application of a customer satisfaction
measurement system and is in fact a very useful tool used for strategic
planning operations. Quoting the statements of Ote on their website about the
barometer survey it includes measurements, both quantitative as well as
qualitative, targeting residential, business and corporate customers, as well as
surveys targeting special audiences: 11888 (directory enquiries), 134 (call
centre), '121 (fault reporting centre), as well as the customer service numbers
offered by telecommunication operators . Another reason that the barometer
survey is held is to measure also customers satisfaction regarding the
companys Corporate Responsibility.
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2.6 Conclusions-Recommendatons

To conclude, in my opinion Ote has a very well structured customer
focus system. The company has clearly identified its customer groups and
continuously tries to identify more needs of the customers in order to satisfy
them. Its Customer Relationship Management seems to be in a very satisfying
level. All stores and call centers are quality certified (ISO). Otes complaint
system is a very well structured one and pays attention to every single one
report of an unsatisfied customer. Nevertheless, the companys quality system
can perform a lot better, if it engaged more into benchmarking. Ote should
compare and contrast its services and products with the rest of the
competition. Telecommunications, is a field that is fast growing nowadays. The
threat of new entry is high, so Ote has to closely consider the competitors in
order to achieve the best customer satisfaction possible.



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3)Conclusion

Businesses today should clearly be customer focused. Having a
satisfied customer is the main way of converting him/her into a loyal customer.
All the steps of the customer focus quality system should be clearly and
effectively covered by all companies and organizations that wish to achieve
the maximum customer satisfaction possible. In my opinion, based on the
above research of the OTE S.A., I feel that Ote has a high level of quality
regarding its customer focus practices. Nevertheless, there is plenty of room
for improvement for the company.


Word Count: 2.295







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4)Works Cited

OTE SA (n.d). Complaints Management. Retrieved from
htps://www.ote.gr/cr2010/cr2010_en/complaints-management.html
OTE SA (n.d). Quality Management System. Retrieved from
htps://www.ote.gr/en/web/guest/corporate/company/quality/standards/
management-systems
OTE SA (n.d). Store Network & Certfcaton. Retrieved from
htps://www.ote.gr/cr2010/cr2010_en/stores-network-certfcatons.html
OTE SA (n.d.). CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY BAROMETER.
Retrieved from htps://www.ote.gr/cr2010/cr2010_en/customer-
satsfacton-and-loyalty-barometer.html
OTE SA (n.d.). Quality Management in OTE. Retrieved from
htps://www.ote.gr/en/web/guest/corporate/company/quality
OTE SA (n.d.). Wholesale CRM. Retrieved from
htp://www.otewholesale.gr/WholesaleCRM/WholesaleCRM/tabid/217/la
nguage/el-GR/Default.aspx
Evans & Lindsay (2005). THE MANAGEMENT & CONTROL OF QUALITY.
Cengage Learning.
Moore, A. (2014). When the "Voice of the Customer" is Actually the Voice of
the Customer. KM World, 23(3), S2-S3.
Ulwick, A. W. 2002. Turn customer input into innovaton. Harvard Business
Review 80(1): 91-97.
Gofn, K., Varnes, C. J., van der Hoven, C., & Koners, U. (2012). Beyond the
Voice of the Customer. Research Technology Management, 55(4), 45-53
PARASCHIVESCU, A., & COTRLE, A. (2012). Kano Model. Economy
Transdisciplinarity Cogniton, 15(2), 116-124.
PARASCHIVESCU, A. (2012). Complaints Management. Economy
Transdisciplinarity Cogniton, 15(2), 108-115.
Thomas, S. (2013). Linking customer loyalty to customer satsfacton and
store image: a structural model for retail stores. Decision (0304-0941),
40(1/2), 15-25.
YAGIL, D., & MEDLER-LIRAZ, H. (2013). MOMENTS OF TRUTH: EXAMINING
TRANSIENT AUTHENTICITY AND IDENTITY IN SERVICE ENCOUNTERS.
Academy Of Management Journal, 56(2), 473-497