Fidelity Investments - Customer Service Department of the Year
Company: Fidelity Investments, Smithfield RI
Company Division/Group:Fidelity Institutional
Company Description: Fidelity Institutional offers clearing, custody, investment products, insights, brokerage & trading services to thousands of financial intermediary firms.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year
Nomination Title: Fidelity Institutional, Next Generation Service Model
Heading into 2020, we were focused on taking our Fidelity InstitutionalService Model to the next level in order to best serve our clients as they dealt with growing competition from “Robo Advisor” technology solutions and a competitive landscape that had driven trade commission fees down to $0. To ensure we were doing everything possible to help our clients adapt, we formed a steering committee consisting of the largest and most complex firms we support. We met monthly, collected feedback, and designed & deployed our new “Next Generation Service Model” in partnership with our clients.
Through our client steering committee meetings, we learned that simplifying our phone support menus was a top client priority, so we reduced the # of menu options offered from 46, down to 16, allowing clients to connect with a support associate more quickly. We also launched a cross training & coaching program for all phone associates. The training program put a renewed focus on our “Average Speed To Answer” metric which we were able to reduce by 10%, delivering a new average of 17.9 seconds per call. Overall, Client COO Satisfaction with our Phone Support Team jumped by 8% in 2020.
Our steering committee clients asked to have our Client Management Team lead a large-scale effort to reduce their paper mailing costs. A new Practice Level Reporting Dashboard was deployed, providing new reports & insights into expense reduction opportunities. The new suite of reports allowed clients to hone-in on the specific offices, advisors and accounts generating the most paper & associated mailing expenses at each firm. A targeted marketing campaign delivered “Click To Agree” emails to 1.12M account holders, allowing them to enroll in “paperless statements” with a single click. The campaign resulted in 215,000 new accounts enrolling in “paperless document delivery” and savings of over $4M to our clients in 2020.
Clients also requested that we include our Quality Consulting Team services as a standard part of our new model. In response to this feedback, our Quality Team standardized their engagement model, which provides clients with detailed analytics and actionable steps they can take to reduce processing errors, calls and associated costs. They also guided clients through deploying new Money Movement, eSignature capabilities, which reduce processing times and help account owners receive funds more quickly. Their efforts resulted in over $29M of transactions processed leveraging eSignature vs $5M in 2019, (an increase of 550%). A tremendous amount of effort was invested in creating our Quality Client Scorecard and we were proud to see it recognized with a Gold Stevie Award in April 2020.
Because we implemented our Next Generation Service Model in early 2020, we were in a strong position to help our clients as they responded to COVID-19 and transitioned to a 100% remote and digital world. Our Phone Teams ensured there were no interruptions when faced with a 14+% increase in call volumes in the month of March and while supporting over 350,000 client calls over the course of the year. The work our Client Management Team did to promote “paperless document delivery”, not only saved our clients over $4M but also helped our clients and their account holders make the transition to accessing account documents online as they began meeting over video instead of in person. The timing of the meetings our Quality Team facilitated with clients, reviewing workflow efficiencies and new technology solutions couldn’t have been better, and resulted in reduced cycle times as over $29M of transactions leveraged our eSignature solution.
Our Next Generation Service Model was designed with direct input from our clients and is tailored to meet their specific needs, while providing world class Service & Phone Support, Client Management, Quality Consulting + rich Reporting & Training, all packaged together in a single, comprehensive offering. We would be honored if you'd consider us and our Next Generation Service Model for a Stevie Award.
Next Generation Service Model
Established new strategized service tiers.
Annual Client Survey “Overall Service & Support” rating of 90% in 2020.
Enhanced Service & Phone Support
New phone menu, reduced # of options from 46 to 16.
Over 350,000 calls serviced.
Client COO Satisfaction with Service & Phone Support Team jumped by 8% in 2020.
Client Management
Formed new Client Steering Committee.
Launched new Advisor & Practice Level Reporting Dashboard.
Led paper reduction initiative, reduced client expenses by $4M+.
“Client Manager/Team” Annual rating rose to 92%.
Quality Analysis & Consulting
Deployed eSignature solution with transaction volume of $29M.
Client Quality Scorecard won a Gold Stevie Award in April 2020.
COVID-19 Response
Launched new Next Generation Service Model early in 2020 which helped put clients ahead of the curve as they responded to COVID-19.
Please see the attached document which contains a more extensivelist of our 2020 Accomplishments. Thank you