The use of etom and the quality of customer experience in Zambian telecommunications call centers for process gap identification

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Date
2019
Authors
Mbilikita, Kasweka
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The University of Zambia
Abstract
The study sought to identify gaps in the processes affecting the customer quality of mobile service experience in Zambian telecommunications call centers using eTOM. Enhanced Telecommunications Operations Map (eTOM) being defined as a business process framework that is service oriented and helps service providers in process management and enhancement. The data used was collected through surveys and interviews from thirty-one employees of two mobile service providers and three hundred mobile service customers in three districts in Lusaka. A problem to solution eTOM process flow was mapped using problem management process decompositions at level 3 and compared with the problem handling process flows in the telecommunication companies to identify gaps. Purposive sampling and random sampling techniques were used. Customers reported their problems or complaints through telephone as the major communication channel to the call center. These complaint records were then captured in a fault management system and tracked through follow ups with customers that entailed calling them to find out if their problems were resolved. Resolution of the mobile complaints was carried out by call center agents who made escalations to other departments for the more complicated faults that involved billing, Value Added Services (VAS) and the mobile network. The study established that customer feedback was being provided on the complaint or problem resolution through the available channels of communication more especially through the phone. The results of the study show that even though the processes for capturing, tracking and resolving customer mobile complaints or faults were present, some inefficiencies of late resolution of faults and delays in giving feedback were identified. Overall problem handling quality of customer experience was discovered to be acceptable with minor improvement needed in the areas of poor signal, data bundles and browsing failures problem handling. Hence, continuous process enhancement needs to be carried out in order to remedy the inefficiencies identified and improve the on the processes. Key Words: Enhanced Telecommunication Operations Map, Quality of Experience, Call Centre, Processes
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Keywords
Call centers--Management , Call centres--Mobile network
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