Report of the Working Group on

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Members

Hector Castillo, Chair, Executive Assistant to the President (Chair)

Karen Stowe, Associate Director of Testing Office, Chair of Staff Senate

Amanda Fuhro, Director of Human Resources

Al Barreda, Dean, Enrollment Management

Diamantina Freeberg, Associate Professor, Behavioral Sciences

Doug Ferrier, Director, Information Services

Jerry Miller, Associate Vice President for Business Affairs

Farhat Iftekharuddin, Dean, College of Liberal Arts

Carol Collinsworth, Assistant Professor, Accounting

Vincent Solis, Director, Student Activities

Roy Martinez, Maintenance Worker II, Physical Plant

Aglhaen Nieto-Cruz, Program Coordinator, Upward Bound

Report of the Task Force on Enrollment Planning

Working Group on Customer Service

Introduction

The Working Group on Customer Service was charged with identifying strengths and needs and with developing recommendations for improvement of customer service on our campus. The committee undertook the charge by first surveying students and staff regarding their perceptions of UTB/TSC’s customer service strengths and needs. A list was compiled and the committee then focused on possible solutions for the areas identified as needing improvement. In this report, the term student and customer are used interchangeably. We recognize that the customer is anyone requiring service of our institution. The customer could be students, staff, or the community at large.

Overall Strengths

Although many individual departments were specifically identified as either lacking or having excellent customer service, these observations pertain to the entire institution. Among the customer service strengths that were identified are the following:

• people felt that the campus has a friendly staff

• we have quality faculty and staff who are genuinely willing to assist

• people are honest (but often don’t have information readily available)

• customers are very pleased that the majority of business can be conducted in two languages

Overall Needs

The following needs areas related to customer service were identified during our study:

• many concerns were expressed with campus communication. Too often phones are not answered, callers are forwarded from office to office, and the front-line people are not well trained

• concerns were expressed about the bureaucracy (from registration through graduation)

• although UTB/TSC is a beautiful campus, there are concerns with accessibility, signage, parking, and lighting

• limited services provided to meet the needs of traditional and nontraditional students (from scheduling classes to providing extended hours for services in the evening)

• lack of informational material on the college; lack of a central information center; and limited information on web pages.

Recommendations

Six major categories emerged for organizing our customer service recommendations as solutions were being proposed. These six categories were training, information, technology, accessibility, resources and assessment. Recommendations were developed under each category to improve customer service. The committee recognizes that some of the recommendations may overlap with those of other Working Groups but we believe that this overlap only serves to reinforce the need to focus on those particular areas.

1. TRAINING

Effective customer service is no accident. It is achieved by preparing employees to handle the challenges of the job and encouraging them to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. The committee discussed the importance of training and our recommendations are:

• Conduct customer service training to enable all employees to handle general questions. Particularly all front-line staff should have the knowledge or access to general campus information to assist callers or walk-ins. Rather than having callers transferred to various departments the front-line staff should be able to direct them to the appropriate person.

• Conduct cross training for staff. To facilitate and expedite information, front-line staff should be able to solve problems and if they can’t they must be able to direct them to the person who can.

• Permit and empower staff to make decisions. All too often staff does not want to take the responsibility of assisting individuals for fear of reprisal. Staff should feel comfortable and empowered to assist customers.

• Conduct phone etiquette seminars. Phone skills play a critical role in facilitating responses to our consumers. First impressions are lasting impressions and the better staff are trained the better our services.

• All new and existing training should incorporate civility among employees. We should not only respect our students but each other as well.

• Establish an incentive or award program. UTB/TSC should develop a program that recognizes and rewards excellent customer service.

2. INFORMATION

The Customer Service Working Group feels that proper dissemination of information is a proactive approach to customer service recruitment and retention of students. Moreover, timely dissemination of information aids in preparing students and their families for their journey into higher education. As the committee studied many possibilities for the dissemination of information, the following recommendations were proposed:

On Campus

• Establish a central information center (kiosk) that is staffed by a group of individuals cross-trained in various areas of student services.

• Improve campus signage to include directions, schematics, well-marked pedestrian crossings and parking lots.

• Post information on the Paseo e.g., banners for upcoming events, reminders to engage in community service via the Center for Civic Engagement.

• Develop up-to-date publications to include UTB/TSC “Fast Facts Brochures” and departmental publications. These publications should be prominently displayed at the kiosk as well as at various locations in the student service areas and departments.

• Standardize departmental publications across schools and colleges for uniformity.

Off Campus

• Obtain lists of students taking PSAT as sophomores. Begin communicating with high school juniors who took PSAT, so that UTB is considered as an option along with the other universities that vie for students’ consideration.

· Communicate with high school graduating seniors about considering UTB/TSC as an option.

· Expand recruitment to include malls, churches and community centers.

• Develop a handbook for parents, so they can participate in college decision making. The handbook should include a campus map, pictures and statements by administrators as well as FAQ’s.

• Create a “refrigerator” magnet with important phone numbers of campus student services. The magnet should not be too small and should have at least one of the following: school colors, scorpion, or logo.

3. TECHNOLOGY

The use of technology and its various applications in higher education change rapidly. The committee believes strongly that we must take advantage of these innovations and technological applications to enhance customer service. Our recommendations in this area are:

· Expand the use of electronic message systems to allow for quicker notices to students. This form of communication will provide our students with quick and easy information. The university community can receive information updates, information on upcoming events, and numerous other initiatives that students need to know. One example of this would be an on-line database of e-mails. This type of service would allow two-way communications as students list their own personal e-mail as oppose to what we provide them.

• Purchase and network a class and facility scheduling software. This would enable the entire university community to have access to this information. Internal or external people who contact the institution to request space would immediately be assisted by staff that has access to the scheduling software.

• Improve the telephone system. The current telephone system needs to be evaluated. There are too many prefixes, which makes it difficult when trying to reach the different areas on campus. Too often calls are missed or not being answered due to the antiquated system we have in place. Every person who calls should talk to a person and get assistance immediately.

• Ask Jeeves on web. This would be a web-based application search engine along with fully interactive areas of our web pages that individuals could use for on-line interactions with faculty, registration, transcripts, and other data pertinent to our students. Examples of this would be Macot.com or Web for Student.

• Develop a Smart Card. This would greatly simplify services to our customers. The cards would be used as a debit card for the library, financial aid reimbursements, bookstore, ATM, and even for paying parking fines. Students can use these cards at local businesses and receive discounts. They also serve as a great recruitment tool because UTB/TSC logos could be digitized on the card.

• Develop a CD for recruitment and information. This handy little information system would contain virtually all the pertinent information on our campus for prospective students. It would be mailed to school districts as well, for students who don’t have access to a home computer. The CD will not only give prospective students information about our campus, but also link them back to our fully functional and interactive website for further information.

• Increase the use of the UNO channel. This system is already in place so we should take advantage of this medium by showing informational items such as upcoming events, deadlines and campus accomplishments.

• Integrate all student services on-line. Students should be able to register, add/drop, make payments, receive academic advising, counseling and other services on-line. This will assist in alleviating waiting in line and parking.

4. ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility to our services and programs must be a cornerstone of the planning process. In order to insure that students have easy entry and access to all of our services and programs we recommend the following:

• Involve the end users in course and class scheduling through surveys and focus groups. By involving the end user, we would be able to provide better service to our customers.

• Class scheduling should be based on the needs of the students. This is especially critical when reaching out to the non-traditional students.

• Expand the curriculum in Distance Education programs. Instead of always having the students come to campus, extend our services to the customer.

• Establish UTB/TSC centers in our service area. Along with distance education, establishing centers throughout the valley will provide greater accessibility to our customers.

• Ensure that the campus grounds and buildings are accessible for all students (including adequate signage and lighting).

• Establish partnerships to secure space in local businesses. As an example, HEB or Walmart could provide space to allow enrollment, registration or accept tuition payments.

5. RESOURCES

Linking planning and budgeting is fundamental to the success of any initiative. A plan focuses on specific desired goals and outcomes. The budget provides the needed resources to implement the necessary directives in order to achieve the goals. A successful customer service initiative will require some resources but it does not or should not depend on additional resources for implementation. The committee recommends the following pertaining to resources:

• Provide adequate resources for staff training and professional development.

· Employees need to receive professional development enabling them to carry out the initiatives. This often requires time away from their position. Adequate resources are needed to provide for replacement personnel while this training is taking place.

• Develop a strategic plan to involve all employees in customer service. Inclusion of all employees in the plan is required, thus enabling them to carry out the initiative. Departments function as part of a team. Input and feedback from each department is necessary, because it provides for buy-in by the department. The buy-in encourages the department to allocate its resources to support the plan.

• Departments that have critical roles in facilitating student success should have extended/flexible working hours. Resources could be maximized by planning work schedules and better utilizing part-time staff during peak demand times

• Benchmarking our practice with industry may provide guidelines for employee scheduling and resource utilization.

6. ASSESSMENT

The university should conduct research to measure the effectiveness of the services being provided to students and to the general public. The gathering of data can be accomplished by mail, phone, or on the Web. The Institutional Effectiveness Committee or Legacy committee should review and evaluate all findings and report annually to The Executive Council. Information gathering methods should be targeted for all of our varied customers including the following:

• A survey to measure customer service effectiveness. The campus should utilize services or surveys (i.e. Noel/Levitz) that measure student satisfaction.

• Initiate a survey to assess transferring and graduating student satisfaction.

• Initiate a survey to assess faculty and staff job satisfaction, attitudes, and willingness to provide customer service.

• Initiate a community survey to assess customer satisfaction.

• Install web based “suggestion/complaint box” to be used for direct feedback on services rendered.

SUMMARY

Customer service should be a core value of the institution. It should be emphasized at all levels and continually reinforced. UTB/TSC should serve as a model for customer service and a catalyst in the community to embrace this philosophy.