TO: HONORABLE MAYOR FROM: Dolan Beckel
AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: February 24, 2023
Approved Date
2/24/2023
SUBJECT: CITY INITIATIVES ROADMAP: CUSTOMER SERVICE VISION AND
STANDARDS INITIATIVE REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the report on the Customer Service Vision and Standards Initiative and approve the Customer Service Vision, Standards, recommendations, and performance management framework described in this memorandum, as part of the approved City Initiatives Roadmap for 2022-2023.
SUMMARY AND O
UTCOME
The City Council will understand the scope, approach, current status, initiated “quick wins,” and next steps in the Customer Service Vision and Standards Initiative to ensure staff can deliver excellent customer service to the City’s residents, businesses, and visitors. The City Council will also understand and approve the Customer Service Vision, Standards, recommendations (subject to the future appropriation of funds, as appropriate), and performance management framework described in this memorandum and elaborated in the Attachment - City of San José: Customer Service Vision and Standards Initiative Detailed Report. As a result of the Customer Service Vision and Standards Initiative recommendations, and with their implementation, the City will have a foundation to better support customers at scale in accessing and navigating City services and receiving excellent customer service from all City touchpoints.
BACKGROUND
As one of the City Manager’s Key Focus Areas, and as an initiative on the 2022-2023 City Initiatives Roadmap adopted by the City Council on May 16, 2022 1, the Customer Service
Vision and Standards Initiative focuses on transforming the way that the City supports residents,
1 https://sanjose.legist ar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=964944&GUID=E2B80BF3-30A5-42FF-A965- AB6EEB2758AE
COUNCIL AGENDA: 3/7/23
FILE: 23-316
ITEM: 3.4
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
businesses, and visitors in accessing and navigating City services. The initiative also aligns with the City Manager’s One Team Leadership Values and Expectations of “Quality and Excellent Customer Service.”
On April 19, 20222, the City Council adopted a resolution authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute master consulting agreements with qualified strategic planning vendors for the Customer Service Vision and Standards Initiative. Given the City’s current staffing challenges, and need for specific expertise, it was determined that external consultants were the best resourcing channel to pursue as external consultants could provide additional project-based capacity and new cross-industry knowledge related to customer service best practices. The consulting firm Guidehouse, Inc. (consultant) was the highest scoring bidder and was selected as the vendor to provide services for four initial tasks, all of which were completed as of December 2022. These four tasks are:
Task 1. Discovery. Use targeted interviews and data analysis to develop a better understanding of the customer experience across various City departments and offices, person-to- person customer service needs, and areas of focus for transforming the way that the City provides customer service.
Task 2. Mapping the Current State and Analysis. Prioritize and segment customers and identify personas representing key attributes, behaviors, and scenarios that differentiate their journey using City services. Use primary and secondary research to create journey maps that capture persona love points, pain points, and insights at key moments within City service delivery. This includes “active” delivery of services and “passive” general inquiries including emails and phone calls. Customer personas should include, but not be limited, to non-English speaking customer and differently abled customer use cases for key stakeholders identified during discovery.
Task 3. Formulate a Customer Service Vision and Standards. Conduct strategic visioning and reporting sessions with staff based on previous insights and consultant’s external cross- industry customer service expertise. Develop a Customer Service Vision (future state) to capture and describe the ideal future of customer service within the delivery of City services. Develop a set of Standards to give a foundation for and guide future implementation. Elements of the set of Standards should include, but not be limited to, response time, empathy and resolution, creative problem-solving, and compassion and sensitivity.
Task 4. Identify Improvement Opportunities and Create a Transformation Plan. Conduct a current state gap analysis and create future state customer service journey maps that align with Customer Service Vision and Standards. Identify recommendations for impactful opportunities including, but not limited to, people, process, and technology improvements and training opportunities to pursue over several years to transform how
2 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10703948&GUID=9FE2FFD0- 86D 6-4598-AD40- A1C891859A24.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
the City provides customer service. Identify recommendations and improvement opportunities based on previous tasks including interviews, processes, policies, governance, and supportive technology to meet specific outcomes such as reduced cost, reduced time, improved quality, improved accessibility, and improved equity in City service delivery. Develop and apply a performance management framework to understand the desired outcomes and the degree to which improvement opportunities impact customer service within the delivery of City services based on an Agile prioritization methodology. Create a multi-year transformation plan for implementing short-term, high-priority quick wins, short-term pilots, and long-term, at-scale recommendations. Upon approval of the transformation plan, work with staff to refine high-level budget requests as part of the annual priority setting and budget process.
ANALYSIS
The following summarizes the results of work completed thus far including:
1. Discovery Process;
2. Current State and Analysis;
3. Customer Service Vision and Standards;
4. Recommendations;
5. Performance Management Framework; and
6. Multi-Year Transformation Plan and Interim Quick Wins Initiated.
A more comprehensive breakdown of the approach and results is found in the Attachment.
1. Discovery Process
As part of Task 1, staff and the consultant engaged with 416 unique internal and external stakeholders over six engagement methods:
1. City Council and City Staff Interviews, in which the team engaged City leaders and staff in conversations on challenges and opportunities related to customer service delivery and access.
2. Mystery Shopping, in which the team examined customer service scenarios by conducting journey research from the perspective of the customer to inform an understanding of key customer pathways. This included analyzing scenarios in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese and across various channels of customer service delivery.
3. Call and Front Desk Observations, in which the team listened to live and recorded calls and conducted front desk observations to understand customer service standard procedures and key customer issues.
4. Phone and Virtual Outreach, in which the team spoke with customers representing potential personas from City stakeholder referrals and at neighborhood association
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
meetings, and outreach to key customers from a list of customer referrals from City stakeholders.
5. Intercept Interviews, in which the team conducted brief, in-person intercept interviews at various locations across the City. The team utilized interpreter services to conduct intercept interviews in-language with Vietnamese- and Spanish-speaking residents.
6. Staff Affinity Groups, in which the team engaged staff from across City departments to review, react to, and provide a service delivery perspective on customer service across representative personas and unique customer journeys.
2. Current State and Analysis
As part of Task 2, staff and the consultant identified representative customer personas composed of key attributes, behaviors, and scenarios that differentiate their journey using City services. The customer personas created are shown in Table 1, alongside some representative customer journeys accessed by those customers, capturing common pain points, bright spots, and insights at key moments within customer service delivery.
Table 1. Representative Customer Persona and Customer Journey No. Customer Persona
(language preferences) Customer Journey
1 Young college student
(English/Spanish)
• How to report non-emergency property damage
• How to adopt a pet
2 Family seeking assistance
(English/Spanish)
• How to apply for affordable housing
• How to enroll in a child care program
3 Young person, City employee,
calling on behalf of a relative
(English/Vietnamese)
• How to report an animal issue
• How to get a new recycling bin
• How to get a utility discount
4 Elderly resident and
community leader
(English)
• How to report an abandoned vehicle
• How to abate overgrown vegetation
5 Employee at a property
development business
(English)
• How to get a status update on a building permit
• How to report an encampment concern
6 Couple seeking to open a
small business
(Vietnamese)
• How to get a business tax certificate
• How to obtain a business operation permit
The data and insights collected during the discovery process and current state and analysis were synthesized into people, process, and technology opportunities that informed the Customer Service Vision and Standards, Recommendations and Quick Wins Initiated, and Performance Management Framework.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
3. Customer Service Vision and Standards
In pursuit of a unified purpose and meaning to guide customer service, staff and the consultant conducted several visioning sessions with a range of employees that were grounded in the context of the discovery process. Vision and Standards session themes focused on solutions, ease, transparency, consistency, reliability, accessibility, equity, empathy, and teamwork. As a result, the Customer Service Vision and Standards created are shown in Figure 1. Definitions of each Standard are provided in the Attachment.
Figure 1. Customer Service Vision and Standards
4. Recommendations
The consultant defined five recommendation themes across people, process, and technology and 11 detailed recommendations for the City to achieve the Customer Service Vision and Standards.
Each detailed recommendation was prioritized and sequenced for implementation and has a set of workplan steps, definitions, and measures of completion that will be used by staff in implementation over a multi-year timeframe. The themes and recommendations are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Customer Service Vision and Standards Recommendations Recommendation
Theme
Detailed Recommendations
1. Culture and
Training
Recommendation 1.1: Define and celebrate customer service excellence (short term).
Recommendation 1.2: Develop tools and training for improving internal and external connectivity and invest in customer service-related professional development opportunities (long term).
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
2. Customer
Service
Governance
Centralization
Recommendation 2.1: Centralize governance and distribute operations for customer service (long term).
3. Equitable
Access
Recommendation 3.1: Ensure customers can access a full journey in- language (short term).
Recommendation 3.2: Strengthen in-person resources to help customers better navigate the City (short term).
Recommendation 3.3: Optimize outreach campaigns to engage and educate residents.
4. Policies and
Processes
Recommendation 4.1: Establish clear policies on communication and expectation setting throughout the customer journey (short term).
Recommendation 4.2: Define and build quality assurance processes for customer service (long term).
5. Channels,
Software, and
Data
Recommendation 5.1: Optimize current phone and online channels to improve accessibility and ease (short term).
Recommendation 5.2: Procure a Customer Relationship Management solution to centralize customer data collection, tracking, and sharing (long term).
Recommendation 5.3: Establish consistent metrics and leverage data to identify areas for improvement for customer service (long term).
5. Performance Management Framework
Staff and the consultant created a performance management framework to support the City in achieving the Customer Service Vision and Standards. The performance measures identified are distinguished between near-term (defined as measures that the City collects today or could be measured today using current capabilities) and long-term (defined as measures that would need to be modified or a collection method created with new capabilities). Table 3 summarizes the near-term and long-term performance measures planned to measure the impact and success of the Customer Service Vision and Standards.
Table 3. Customer Service Vision and Standards Performance Management Framework Customer Service Vision
Near-Term Percent of customers surveyed who answered “very satisfied” with overall customer experience
Long-Term Percent of customers surveyed who answered “very satisfied” with overall customer experience
Standard 1. Deliver customer service with a focus on solutions Near-Term Percent of phone calls resolved on first call (SJ311 Contact Center) Long-Term Percent of phone calls resolved on first call (citywide)
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
Standard 2. Support a consistent and accessible experience for all customers Near-Term Percent of customers that engaged with City employees in their preferred language and using their preferred channel
Long-Term Percent of customers that were able to reach a resolution in their preferred language and using their preferred channel
Standard 3. Work as one team to facilitate a seamless customer experience Near-Term Percent of customers who felt their experience engaging with the City was seamless
Long-Term Rate of points of contact experienced to reach a resolution per customer Standard 4. Enable customers to easily navigate the City on their first try Near-Term Percent of customers who were very satisfied with their experience contacting someone in the City
Long-Term Percent of customers who felt the effort required to contact the City was very easy
Standard 5. Set expectations for next steps at point of contact and communicate along the journey
Near-Term Percent of customers who were “very satisfied” with the timeliness of the response
Long-Term Percent of inquiries that received a response/next steps at point of contact Standard 6. Treat every customer like their problem matters and we are on the same team to solve it
Near-Term Percent of customers who are “very satisfied” with the courtesy, competency, and cooperation of City employees
Long-Term Percent of customers that would be very willing to contact the City again Standard 7. Continually improve our customer service through our people, process, and technologies
Near-Term Percent of employees that feel they have the tools they need to facilitate a positive customer experience
Long-Term Percent of employees engaged in people, process, and technology improvements
6. Multi-Year Transformation Plan and Interim Quick Wins As a result of this work, the City has a multi-year transformation plan to achieve the Customer Service Vision and Standards, recommendations, and performance management framework. The transformation plan spans approximately three- and one-half years in two phases:
1. Interim quick wins delivered through the end of 2023-2024 with existing staffing and remaining allocated funding; and
2. Major transformational work of business process design, organizational alignment, and implementation of a citywide Customer Relationship Management System delivered over three years. Funding for this phase of the transformation plan will be included as part of the 2023-2024 and future Budget processes, as appropriate and as resources allow.
In the interim, numerous quick wins for improving customer service delivery were identified during discovery activities. These are small scale actions across people, process, and technology
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
opportunities that the City can take to improve customer service leveraging existing priorities, budget resources, and staff capacity. As such, progress has begun to address issues identified in the discovery phase. Table 4 highlights several interim quick win summaries by service area and customer issue resolved.
Table 4. Customer Service Vision and Standards Interim Quick Wins No. Service Customer Service Issue Quick Win Summary Status 1 SJ311 Language Access: Spanish
speakers using the SJ311
live chat option were
receiving responses in
English.
Limiting Spanish live chat to
only be available when there is
a Spanish speaking
representative and
encouraging SJ311 staff to
utilize a translation
application.
In progress
2 Communications City Tools: Some
employees are unaware of
citywide access to
translation services.
Communications distributed a
citywide email to staff to
educate them on these services
and connect to support
resources.
Complete
3 City Manager’s
Office
Partner Access: A key City
partner was feeling
disconnected from, and
unaware of, a variety of
City services for which
they were in need.
The City connected the partner
to a variety of resources and
relationships, including
COVID-19 Recovery,
Economic Development,
Cultural Affairs, and
Community Energy services.
Complete
4 SJ311 Language Access: The
hold message of the SJ311
phone tree was not
translated to Spanish.
Spanish SJ311 hold message
was added to the phone tree.
Complete
5 Department of
Transportation /
SJ311
Information Uniformity:
Information was
inconsistent across
Department of
Transportation webpages.
Language representation
was not uniform.
The SJ311 and
Communications teams
worked to update all relevant
information.
Complete
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
6 Animal Care and
Services / SJ311
Staffing: Customers
calling Animal Care and
Services that were being
rerouted to SJ311 were
left unanswered at specific
times due to competing
team meetings.
Reduced SJ311 team meeting
length to decrease windows of
workday times when reps are
unavailable. SJ311 updated
training for overflow partners
so there is always a rep
available.
Complete
7 Animal Care and
Services
Phone Tree: The Animal
Care and Services phone
line was routing all non-
emergency inquiries to the
same voicemail.
Staff are working to update
call flow (e.g., reviewing for
any “dead end” pathways like
the “Customer Representative”
option).
In progress
8 Communications Language Access: While
start up pages were
translated – attachments,
forms, and pages many
clicks within the website
were not.
Website translations with
SJ311 products are being
analyzed and any gaps will be
identified with the appropriate
team.
In progress
9 SJ311 Transfers: Customer did
not know when they were
being transferred outside
of the SJ311 phone line,
creating customer
confusion about who they
were speaking to.
SJ311 department has
implemented an automated
message to alert callers when
they are being transferred from
the SJ311 line to an external
department (e.g., Department
of Transportation).
Complete
10 SJ311 Departmental Transfers:
Customers contacting
SJ311 often need to be
transferred to a City
department to resolve a
request.
SJ311 is working towards a
warm hand-off model, where a
customer needing
departmental transfer can
move forward with the context
of their request to minimize
frustration and repetition.
In progress
11 SJ311 Customer Relationship
Management System
Consolidation: Multiple
systems exist across
departments, creating
variation and fragmented
customer service delivery.
The Information Technology
Department is exploring an
early analysis of consolidating
two different instances of a
Customer Relationship
Management system into a
single instance to reduce costs.
In progress
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
City staff will continue to implement interim Phase 1 quick wins that can be done within current priorities, resources, budget, and staff capacity. This work includes using the remaining budget of the existing $600,000 allocation to implement some of the highest-priority recommendations.
The Administration will also bring forward solutions-oriented recommendations along with resource considerations as part of the 2023-2024 Budget process to begin Phase 2 of the Customer Service Vision and Standards work.
COORDINATION
This memorandum was prepared in coordination with the City Attorney’s Office, the City Manager’s Budget Office, the City Manager’s Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations, and the Information Technology Department.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
This memorandum will be posted on the City’s Council Agenda website for the March 7, 2023 City Council meeting.
Community engagement and public outreach was conducted as part of Task 1, including engagement with 416 unique stakeholders through in-language phone, virtual, and in-person customer interviews; partner and community-based organization interviews; and in-person customer observations conducted at point of City service.
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION AND INPUT
No commission recommendation or input is associated with this action.
CEQA
Not a Project, File No. PP17-009, Staff Reports, Assessments, Annual Reports, and Informational Memos that involve no approvals of any City action.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 24, 2023
Subject: City Initiatives Roadmap: Customer Service Vision and Standards Report
PUBLIC SUBSIDY REPORTING
This item does not include a public subsidy as defined in section 53083 or 53083.1 of the California Government Code or the City’s Open Government Resolution.
DOLAN BECKEL
Chief of Staff for the City Manager,
City Manager’s Office
For questions, please contact Erik Chiarella Jensen, Assistant to the City Manager, at [email protected].
ATTACHMENT: City of San José: Customer Service Vision and Standards Initiative Detailed Report
City of San José:
Customer Service Vision and
Standards Check-In
Task 1: Discovery // Working Session
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
1 City of San José:
Customer Service Vision
and Standards
Detailed Report
March 7, 2023
2 Customer Service Standards Project Overview
PROJECT TASKS INPUTS PURPOSE
The City engaged Guidehouse over four tasks to address customer service opportunities The City of San José is seeking to understand and assess person-to-person customer service across the City and assist in developing a comprehensive Customer Service Vision, set of standards, and actionable recommendations for improvement.
Call
observations
Customer
intercepts
Customer
interviews
Desk
observations
External Customer Engagement
Mystery
shopping
Leading
practices
Department
interviews
Document
review
Internal City Engagement
• Task 1 – Discovery. Current state review, internal City engagement, external customer engagement. • Task 2 – Mapping the Current State. Representative customer personas, data-driven journey maps. • Task 3 – Vision and Standards. Collaborative visioning, customer service standards development. • Task 4 – Future State Mapping and Transformation. Future state journey map, gap analysis, recommendations and quick wins, transformation plan and cost estimate, performance management framework. 3 Discovery
Overview
Council and Staff
Interviews Mystery Shopping Call / Front Desk
Observations Phone / Virtual Outreach Intercept Interviews 4 Discovery Inputs
We engaged 416 internal and external stakeholders over 5 engagement methods • Spoke with 7 members of
the City Manager's Office.
• Spoke with 28 members
of City leadership and
6 priority service staff.
• Spoke with the Mayor, 6 City
Council Members and 6 of
their staff.
• Conducted 2 affinity group
meetings with 13 City staff
members.
• Held 3 persona socialization
sessions reaching 33 City
Staff members.
• Frontline visioning session
engaged 26 City staff
members.
• Conducted journey
research from the
perspective of the customer
to inform understanding of
key customer pathways.
• Analyzed 7 different
scenarios in English,
Spanish, and Vietnamese.
• Scenarios included
applying for housing, park
reservations, reporting
graffiti, abandoned
vehicles, junk pickup,
permits, and animal care
services.
• Assessed SJ311, phone,
email, and web channels.
• Listened to 65 live calls and
SJ311 call recordings to
understand customer
service standard
procedures and key
customer issues.
• Conducted 30 front
desk observations
to understand customer
journeys.
• Observation locations
included City Hall (e.g.,
Permits, PBCE, DOT ,
PRNS, Environmental
Services), ACS Intake,
and Police Dispatch.
• Spoke with 37 customers
representing potential
personas from City
stakeholder referrals.
• Provided project
introductions at 2
Neighborhood Association
meetings.
• Continue outreach to key
customers from
representative list of 150+
City stakeholder referrals.
• Conducted short in-person
intercept interviews at 24
locations across the City,
including City Hall (multiple
areas – e.g., Business T ax,
lobby and info desk)
Community Centers, MLK
Library, San José State
University, and El
Chapparal Grocery.
• Utilized interpreter services
to interview Vietnamese-
speaking residents and
Spanish-speaking
residents.
Indirect Constituent Engagement Direct Constituent Engagement 7 Scenarios 95 Observations 37 Customer Interviews 170 Intercept Interviews107 Staff Touchpoints Indirect Constituent Engagement Direct Constituent EngagementInternal Staff Engagement 5 Discovery Themes – Overview
San José has opportunities across culture, operations, and tech to improve customer service Technology
The City does not currently have the
technology to retrieve, process,
track, coordinate, and ensure follow
through on customer inquiries.
The lack of centralized data
collection and metrics leads to a
fragmented understanding of
customers.
People
City staff often do not leverage
collaboration across Departments
or take extra steps to problem
solve for customers.
Many customers felt customer
service was inconsistent depending
on who they reached out to.
Process
Inconsistent and complex policies
and processes across Departments
resulted in a fragmented, lengthy,
and ineffective customer experience.
Customers without deep familiarity of
City services struggle to navigate
towards a resolution.
The City’s current state of customer service delivery creates challenging and at times insurmountable barriers for residents and businesses in accessing the services that they need. 6 Customer Journey – Key Phases
The customer journey is broken down into five key stages Awareness
Prior to engaging with the
City, the customer is aware of
services and has an idea of
how to connect with the City,
what their needs are, and
whether they need a solution.
Information Seeking
The customer researches a point
of contact to connect with the
City to address their need and
uses a selected channel (in-
person, email, 311 phone, SJ311,
call center, dispatch) to reach out
to the City.
Engagement
The customer service
representative receives the
information and either provides a
solution, transfers the customer, or
provides contact information for
another Department.
Service Delivery
The customer directly
engages with a City
Department to receive a
service or solution.
Resolution
The City provides
updates to the customer
and the issue is resolved
and/or closed.
7 Current State Customer Journey – Representative Bright Spots Our discovery identified bright spots across every step of the customer journey Awareness
Customer has an awareness of City services
through personal experience or through
personal connections (e.g., Neighborhood
association leaders, community center, library,
neighbors, family, friends, etc.)
Customer is provided bilingual
representatives who can switch to
their preferred language.
FAQ section is available on the
front page of the City website and
helps customers locate
information quickly.
When being transferred within departments,
customers felt they were given enough
information and knew how to proceed.
.
Customers were appreciative of
the programming and services
provided and praised the quality of
these programs.
.START: Customer
needs support.
“The people are helpful; unlike other
places I’ve lived where sometimes the
attitude is ‘what do you want’ – there is
more a sense of ‘how can I help you’ from
San José.” – Intercept #78, Dai Thanh
Supermarket
“It’s pretty nice – there’s a
pool, field trips, and
movies. My grandson
goes to camp here. We
live nearby and come
often.” – Intercept #11,
Mayfair Community
Center
“I used 311 before and felt they
were pleasant and efficient.” –Intercept
#12, Mayfair Community Center
Customers that have used SJ311
thought the process was easy and
convenient.
Reps feel connected to the community
and feel a sense of pride in supporting
customers.
END: Customer has
accomplished what
they wanted.
“[I] interact mostly with the
website and app… [I] like the
chat feature online and makes
using the City website easier.” –
Intercept #60, Bascom
8 Awareness
The customer has low familiarity with City
services and does not have the time and
resources to figure out the process, which puts
them at a disadvantage from the start of their
journey.
The customer has challenges
reaching a human representative who
speaks their preferred language.
The customer is not able to
determine who to contact for their
needs – phone numbers listed on
the website are out of date.
Reps do not have visibility into the
customer’s previous touchpoints, so
the customer must repeat their inquiry.
The customer reaches the wrong
Department when calling. The rep
does not provide actionable next
steps nor a warm transfer.
The customer experiences long wait times
with no follow-ups on their inquiry status and
feels there is a lack of urgency from the City.
Several months pass without the
customer hearing back from the City.
START: Customer
needs support.
END: Customer is
hesitant to reach out to
the City in the future.
“If I needed something I’d just
give up because I wouldn’t know
who to call.” – Intercept #155,
Farmer’s Market
“We’re really bad about reporting back
out what the resolution was…some
Departments have single resources
that manage inquiries, which can
create a bottleneck or lost opportunities
to respond if they leave that job or are
on vacation.” – City Staff, Persona
Session
“Language access on phone calls is too limited - needs
Chinese speakers. – Intercept Interview #34
“Having to wait to be seen is
horrible – [I] understand having
to wait a few days or a week, but
months; the impact is losing jobs
and not being able to get stuff
done.” – Intercept #2, City Hall
Current State Customer Journey – Representative Pain Points Our discovery identified pain points across every step of the customer journey 9 Customer Service
Vision and Standards
Customer Service Vision and Standards
Standards are guidelines for City employees to deliver customer service and achieve the vision Working together to serve our community through reliable, empathetic, and solutions-oriented customer service
Standards
5. Set expectations for next steps at point of contact and communicate along the journey.
3. Work as a team to facilitate a seamless customer experience.
4. Enable customers to easily navigate the City on their first try.
2. Support a consistent and accessible experience for all customers.
1. Deliver customer service with a focus on solutions.
6. Treat every customer like their problem matters and we are on the same team to solve it.
7. Continually improve our customer service through our people, processes, and technologies.
Vision
3. Work as one team to facilitate a seamless customer experience.
2. Support a consistent and accessible experience for all customers.
1. Deliver customer service with a focus on solutions.
10 Customer Service Standards – Definitions
Standards were developed based on discovery research and staff visioning workshops
3. Work as one team to facilitate a seamless customer experience. Many customer inquires are complex and may require engagement across several Departments. In order to provide the best information possible information to our customers, we need to understand each other and practice open communication. If a customer needs to be transferred, we will do our due diligence to make sure they are transferred to the right person, and that person should be given enough information t o ensure a seamless transition. Customers should feel like they are working with one City, no matter where they receive service.
2. Support a consistent and accessible experience for all customers. Our customers are diverse - in preferred language, technology proficiency, preferred communication channel, level of trust in the government, and so much more. It is our job to meet the customers where they are to ensure they can engage with the City in accordance with their preferences and needs, including providing an end-to-end experiences in their preferred language and channel. We will ensure that all customers are serviced fairly and effectively by following the standard protocols and processes to help them reach their goals.
1. Deliver customer service with a focus on solutions. It may not always be possible to say “yes,” but we will aim to complete customer inquiries from beginning to end where possible. We will avoid handing off issues to other Departments and practice innovative and creative thinking when solving issues. We want our customers to know we tried our best to help them achieve their goals.
6. Treat every customer like their problem matters and we are on the same team to solve it. A customer’s first impression of the City can be based on the attitude, etiquette, and/or knowledge of the representative that picks up the phone or answers the email. We will interact with every customer in an empathetic, kind, positive, and productive way. We want to reassure our customers and put them at ease.
5. Set expectations for next steps at point of contact and communicate along the journey. Many solutions or services cannot be provided in a day, but we will strive to acknowledge the request or provide customers with next steps and expected timelines the same day. When transferring between departments or external organizations on a singular customer inquiry, we will provide clear and concise directions and expectations for completing the task at hand. When setting expectations with the customer, we will be honest, transparent, and accountable. We want customers to feel like they know where they are in the journey and where they are going.
4. Enable customers to easily navigate the City on their first try. For many customers, our online presence is their entryway to the City and its services. We will ensure that information is accurate and up-to-date on our website and publicly-facing materials and that in -depth knowledge about City processes is not required to navigate the website. For people that prefer to speak with a person, phone trees and processes are set up so that customers are connected to a human on their first try. No matter which entry point customers choose, each channel should lead towards a resolution.
7. Continually improve our customer service through our people, processes, and technologies. On an individual and organization-wide level, we will strive to identify and improve San José’s policies, programs, and decision-making towards improved outcomes for all San José residents. We will listen to our customers and seek customer feedback to understand their needs and barriers. We will strive to pursue the best practices available and regularly review our operations and techn ology to ensure we are providing the best experience possible. 11 12
Recommendations,
Performance Management, and
Multi-Year Transformation Plan
Vision, Standards, and Recommendations Framework
The recommendations support San José in achieving its Customer Service Vision and Standards Working together to serve our community through reliable, empathetic, and solutions-oriented customer service
Standards
3. Work as
one team to
facilitate a
seamless
customer
experience.
2. Support a
consistent and
accessible
experience for
all customers.
1. Deliver
customer
service with a
focus on
solutions.
5. Set
expectations at
point of
contact and
communicate
along the
journey.
4. Enable
customers to
easily navigate
the City on
their first try.
6. Treat every
customer like
their problem
matters and we
are on the
same team to
solve it.
7. Continually
improve our
customer
service
through our
people,
processes, and
technologies.
VisionRecommendations
Culture &
Training
Governance
Centralization
Equitable
Access
Channels,
Software & Data
People Process Technology
3 Detailed Recommendations 5 Detailed Recommendations 3 Detailed Recommendations 13 Policies and
Processes
Policies &
Processes
Detailed Recommendations
Recommendation Theme Detailed Recommendations # of Steps
1. Culture & Training: Define a unified
and consistent culture of customer
service across the City so staff feel
empowered to make decisions that lead
to quality customer service.
Recommendation 1.1: Define and celebrate customer service excellence (short term).
Recommendation 1.2: Develop tools and training for improving internal and external connectivity and invest in customer service-related professional development opportunities (long term). 8 2. Customer Team Reorganization:
Centralized governance and support for
customer service.
Recommendation 2.1: Centralize governance and distribute operations for customer service (long term). 2
3. Equitable Access: Implement
measures to ensure equitable access
throughout the customer service journey.
Recommendation 3.1: Ensure customers can access a full journey in-language (short term).
Recommendation 3.2: Strengthen in-person resources to help customers better navigate the City (short term).
Recommendation 3.3: Optimize outreach campaign to engage and educate residents (short term). 6 4. Policies & Processes: Develop
policies to improve processes
throughout the customer experience.
Recommendation 4.1: Establish clear policies on communication and expectation setting throughout the customer journey (short term).
Recommendation 4.2: Define and build quality assurance processes for customer service (long term). 7 5. Channels, Software & Data: Improve
existing channels, procure new
infrastructure to process customer
inquiries on a City-wide level, and use
data-insights to identify and improve the
customer experience.
Recommendation 5.1: Optimize current phone and online channels to improve accessibility and ease (short term).
Recommendation 5.2: Procure a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to centralize customer data collection, tracking, and sharing (long term).
Recommendation 5.3: Establish consistent metrics and leverage data to identify areas for improvement for customer service (long term).
19 The five themes each have detailed recommendations that are broken out into sub-steps 14 Multi-Year Transformation Plan Framework
The transformation plan supports San José in achieving its Customer Service Vision and Standards Working together to serve our community through reliable, empathetic, and solutions-oriented customer service Standards
3. Work as one
team to facilitate a
seamless
customer
experience.
2. Support a
consistent and
accessible
experience for all
customers.
1. Deliver
customer service
with a focus on
solutions.
5. Set
expectations at
point of contact
and communicate
along the journey.
4. Enable
customers to
easily navigate the
City on their first
try.
6. Treat every
customer like their
problem matters
and we are on the
same team to
solve it.
7. Continually
improve our
customer service
through our
people,
processes, and
technologies.
VisionRecommendations
Culture &
Training
Customer Team
Reorganization
Equitable
Access
Policies &
Processes
Channels,
Software & Data
People Process Technology
3 Detailed Recommendations 5 Detailed Recommendations 3 Detailed Recommendations 15 City-wide performance metrics at the CSA and Department level to measure the success of the recommendations in support of the Vision & Standards Performance
Performance Management Framework
The framework measures success against the Customer Service Vision and Standards Working together to serve our community through reliable, empathetic, and solutions-oriented customer service Standards
3. Work as one
team to facilitate a
seamless
customer
experience.
2. Support a
consistent and
accessible
experience for all
customers.
1. Deliver
customer service
with a focus on
solutions.
5. Set
expectations at
point of contact
and communicate
along the journey.
4. Enable
customers to
easily navigate the
City on their first
try.
6. Treat every
customer like their
problem matters
and we are on the
same team to
solve it.
7. Continually
improve our
customer service
through our
people,
processes, and
technologies.
Vision
16 Performance Measures
(long-term)
3. Rate of points
of contact
experienced to
reach a resolution
per customer.
2. Percent of
customers that
were able to reach
a resolution in
their preferred
language and
using their
preferred channel.
1. Percent of
phone calls
resolved on first
call.
5. Percent of
inquiries that
received a
response/next
steps at point of
contact.
4. Percent of
customers who
felt the effort
required to
contact the City
was very easy.
6. Percent of
customers that
would be very
willing to contact
the City again.
7. Percent of
employees
engaged in
people, process,
and technology
improvements.
Percent of customers surveyed who answered “very satisfied” with overall customer experience Service Area Customer Issue Quick Win Summary Status
People
SJ311 Language Access: Spanish speakers using the SJ311 live chat option were receiving responses in English.
Limiting Spanish live chat to only be available when there is a Spanish speaking representative and encouraging SJ311 staff to utilize a translation application.
In progress
Comms City Tools: Some employees are unaware of citywide access to translation services.
Communications distributed a citywide email to staff to educate them on these services and connect to support resources. Complete CMO
Partner Access: A key City partner was feeling disconnected from, and unaware of, a variety of City services for which they were in need.
The City connected the partner to a variety of resources and relationships, including COVID-19 Recovery, Economic
Development, Cultural Affairs, and Community Energy services.
Complete
Process
SJ311 Language Access: The hold message of the SJ311 phone tree was not translated to Spanish. Spanish SJ311 hold message was added to the phone tree. Complete DOT and
SJ311
Information Uniformity: Information was inconsistent across DOT webpages. Language representation was not uniform.
The SJ311 and Communications teams worked to update all relevant information. Complete
Animal Care
and Services
and SJ311
Staffing: Customers calling Animal Care and Services that were being rerouted to SJ311 were left unanswered at specific times due to competing team meetings.
Reduced SJ311 team meeting length to decrease windows of workday times when reps are unavailable. SJ311 updated training for overflow partners so there is always a rep available.
Complete
Animal Care
and Services
Phone Tree: The Animal Care and Services phone line was routing all non-emergency inquiries to the same voicemail.
Staff are working to update call flow (e.g., reviewing for any “dead end” pathways like the “Customer Representative” option). In progress Tech
Comms
Language Access: While start up pages were translated – attachments, forms, and pages many clicks within the website were not.
Website translations with SJ311 products are being analyzed and any gaps will be identified with the appropriate team. In progress SJ311
Transfers: Customer did not know when they were being
transferred outside of the SJ311 phone line, creating customer confusion about who they were speaking to.
SJ311 department has implemented an automated message to alert callers when they are being transferred from the SJ311 line to an external department (e.g., Department of Transportation).
Complete
SJ311 Departmental Transfers: Customers contacting SJ311 often need to be transferred to a City department to resolve a request.
SJ311 is working towards a warm hand-off model, where a customer needing departmental transfer can move forward with the context of their request to minimize frustration and repetition.
In progress
SJ311
Customer Relationship Management System Consolidation:
Multiple systems exist across departments, creating variation and fragmented customer service delivery.
IT is exploring an early analysis of consolidating two different instances of a CRM into a single instance to reduce costs. In progress Interim Quick Wins Initiated
17