Customer services

JUST before Christmas, I was unexpectedly asked to take part in a Canal & River Trust (CaRT) regional customer service survey, writes Allan Richards.

I had some difficulty in providing a meaningful response because I was unsure what the Trust really means by customer service. Reading a recent thread on the Canalworld Forum it seems that I am not alone in this respect!

Head of Customer Services

Over six months ago, CaRT appointed long serving regional manager, Dean Davis, as interim Head of Customer Services. However, he moved elsewhere in the Trust at the beginning of this year and will be replaced next month by an outsider, Ian Rogers.

It would appear nobody ever queried what British Waterways meant by customer services. Also, nobody queried what CaRT meant by customer services when it was listed as one of the responsibilities of Marketing and Fundraising director, Simon Salem.

....and nobody publicly queried its meaning when the responsibility for customer services was taken away from Simon Salem and given to Dean Davis. It has taken a press release notifying the appointment of somebody from outside the Trust to spark the debate.

Paying customers?

It seems that, for some, the definition of a ‘customer' is somebody who pays money for a ‘service'. By this definition some think that just boaters (and perhaps anglers) are customers. However, CaRT have many other types of paying customer. As a current example, what about the businesses that pay to drain surface water into our canals. They are paying customers who expect some level of service.

As an aside, is it a good example of customer service to hit business customers with increases of up to 13,000% (Cart goes crazy) without discussion or warning, threatening to withdraw the service if they don't pay up? This certainly does not happen with boating customers who are given notice of six months to three years notice regarding increases.

Non paying customers

Whilst some believe that customer service only applies to those that pay directly for a service, others look wider, suggesting that all those that use the waterways are ‘customers' who require some level of service. There is much to commend this approach because of the hundreds of millions that government has already given to the Trust (well over half a billion in the Trust's first year alone), and the £50 millions or so per year that it will give, going forward, during the term of the funding agreement.

Put another way, everyone who uses the waterways (e.g. a walker on the towpath, a non-boating volunteer etc.) is a customer because it is our taxes and the income from nationally owned assets that are being used to finance the Trust.

Non customers

Taking this a stage further, what about those that do not use the waterways? Are they ‘customers' in that they are paying for a service (via taxation) that they don't use? Certainly, the Trust makes plenty of noise about ‘community engagement' and I take this to mean converting non users to users of the waterways or otherwise get them involved with the work of the Trust.

.... and where is the line between marketing and customer service? Perhaps it did not matter when Simon Salem was responsible for both but it certainly matters now.

Matrix management

It would appear that the role of Head of Customer Services has introduced some unwanted matrix management problems. This has already manifested itself with regard to visitor moorings where some regions have introduced mooring restrictions and CaRT are having difficulty convincing them that this should only be done as part of central guidelines (not yet produced) or with permission of the Head of Customer Services.

The Trust claims that its Head of Customer Service ‘will lead the Trust's [as yet unspecified] programme of customer service improvements, ensuring that all parts of the organisation put customers at the heart of what they do'. It adds that the the Head of Customer Services will also ‘assume direct responsibility for leisure boating, licensing and enforcement'.

Removing operational control

However, regions now have increased responsibility for delivering customer service. At the same time, responsibility for operations (i.e. actually maintaining their regional waterways) has been systematically stripped from them over many years and placed in the hands of centrally controlled teams and contractors. The culmination of removing operational control from regions and placing emphasis on customer service was the publication in November 2014 of a document describing CaRT's new ‘Operations & Asset Management structure'.

Bearing this in mind, should regions now report to the new Head of Customer Services, Ian Rogers rather than Operations Director, Vince Moran?

Or perhaps this is something that will happen later this year when Vince Moran leaves....