FACTS: N Bank, with nearly 150 branches (from Napa Valley, California, to Seattle, Washington) and 8.3 billion in assets, is committed to creating and maintaining a corporate culture that provides excellent customer service. A key component of the bank’s overall retail strategy is its “universal associate” program (that is what N Bank calls its employees). At N Bank, each universal associate is trained to perform every banking task. A teller can take a loan application, and a mortgage officer is able to assist a customer in opening a safe-deposit box. A significant side benefit of this culture is that N's employee turnover is one-half the industry average. Another benefit is that employee boredom is reduced by performing multiple tasks daily. An employee’s workday varies based on which departments are slow and/or busy. In contrast, at a typical bank, employees specialize in certain tasks; thus, employees often have an “it’s not my job” mentality. N Bank’s employees are empowered to satisfy customers. Many branches place dog bowls full of water at the bank entrance for clients with dogs. At the bank location in Portland, Oregon, Umpqua partners with such technology-based companies as Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft to enhance the customer experience via an innovation lab. This location features a 25-foot plasma product wall featuring touch-screen technology, a computer café for customer use, and an interactive wall providing information on volunteer opportunities and community events. A social networking site-LocalSpace-invites local firms to seek advice from one another. Based on their use, these features may be rolled-out to N Bank’s network of branch locations. Some N bank locations even play music produced by local talent. According to a former project manager for N Bank, the firm proves its story in its branches because “visually, every square inch is dedicated to aligning the bank branch with the neighborhood it resides in”. N believes that it needs to continually measure and require customer service on a team level. The bank gives out a total of $175,00 in bonuses each month. The team award is based on (1) new account surveys, (2) in-lobby your opinion counts cards, (3) the result of the mystery telephone shopping experiences per month, (4) the retention of existing customers, (5) lost accounts per month, and (6) cross-selling products per sales session versus an industry average of 3.5 products. N understands the difficulties in sustaining its customer service strategy as the firm acquires banks with different cultures and personnel who do not share N’s customer philosophy. Thus, when it acquires a local bank, Umpqua conveys its culture to employees and customers. After acquiring one local bank, it announced its opening with ice-cream trucks filled with ice-cream sandwiches. Question: - what is the problem? - what are 3 alternative courses of action - what are its pros and cons
FACTS:
N Bank, with nearly 150 branches (from Napa Valley, California, to
Seattle, Washington) and 8.3 billion in assets, is committed to creating and
maintaining a corporate culture that provides excellent customer service. A
key component of the bank’s overall retail strategy is its “universal
associate” program (that is what N Bank calls its employees).
At N Bank, each universal associate is trained to perform every banking
task. A teller can take a loan application, and a mortgage officer is able to
assist a customer in opening a safe-deposit box. A significant side benefit
of this culture is that N's employee turnover is one-half the industry
average. Another benefit is that employee boredom is reduced by
performing multiple tasks daily. An employee’s workday varies based on
which departments are slow and/or busy. In contrast, at a typical bank,
employees specialize in certain tasks; thus, employees often have an “it’s
not my job” mentality.
N Bank’s employees are empowered to satisfy customers. Many branches
place dog bowls full of water at the bank entrance for clients with dogs. At
the bank location in Portland, Oregon, Umpqua partners with such
technology-based companies as Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft to enhance the
customer experience via an innovation lab.
This location features a 25-foot plasma product wall featuring touch-screen
technology, a computer café for customer use, and an interactive wall
providing information on volunteer opportunities and community events. A
social networking site-LocalSpace-invites local firms to seek advice from
one another. Based on their use, these features may be rolled-out to
N Bank’s network of branch locations.
Some N bank locations even play music produced by local talent.
According to a former project manager for N Bank, the firm proves
its story in its branches because “visually, every square inch is dedicated to
aligning the bank branch with the neighborhood it resides in”.
N believes that it needs to continually measure and require
customer service on a team level. The bank gives out a total of $175,00 in
bonuses each month. The team award is based on (1) new account
surveys, (2) in-lobby your opinion counts cards, (3) the result of the mystery
telephone shopping experiences per month, (4) the retention of existing
customers, (5) lost accounts per month, and (6) cross-selling products per
sales session versus an industry average of 3.5 products.
N understands the difficulties in sustaining its customer service
strategy as the firm acquires banks with different cultures and personnel
who do not share N’s customer philosophy. Thus, when it acquires a local bank, Umpqua conveys its culture to employees and customers. After
acquiring one local bank, it announced its opening with ice-cream trucks
filled with ice-cream sandwiches.
Question:
- what is the problem?
- what are 3 alternative courses of action
- what are its pros and cons
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