DHL Express Panamá - Customer Service Team of the Year - Recovery Situation

Company: DHL Express Panamá
Company Description: Since 1969, DHL Express has been revolutionizing and simplifying the World of logistics. From inventing the international air express industry to becoming the world’s leading logistics company, DHL has reached more than 220 countries around the world. Decades of experience, innovative technology, and a team of 360,000 passionate experts allow us to provide the perfect solution for our customers.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Team of the Year - Recovery Situation - Other Service Industries

Nomination Title: Customer Service Team of the Year under Covid-19 contingency

From Customer Servicewe show DHL as a partner of choice and foster all the company’s values: Speed, Passion, Can-Do Attitude & Right First Time, driven by our Insanely Customer Centric Culture.

OurFront-Line teamhas a staff of12 specialists, with an average of600 calls a day and the Back-line teamhas a staff of6 tracing and claims & complaint specialists, with an average of200 requests a day.

Due to contingency Covid-19, in March 2020 we had no other alternative than closing theoffice and start thinking how to work from home. We had to deal witha lot of challenges asmoving all the infrastructrure needed, test it andsolve connectivity issuesas the network was not prepared to cope withall the staff working from home. And for Customer Service that was a "must". And we had to solve all the issues in a record time. Wenever stopped working. However, things weren't easy. As all companies were closed we had no place to deliver and almost all shipments remained at DHL. That made customers call us and we had a record of 1000 calls average perday and 300 request affecting our KPI's.

Outline the team's achievements since July 1 2019 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):

By June 2020 call pressure was so high that we lost 3 FTEs. At that time our grade of service went from 90% (our target) to 89% in July and 86% in August. We had to react really fast to hire new staff and train them in a record time so that they could be ready to answer calls as soon as possible. A normal training would have taken 6 weeks and then we would have needed 6 more weeks for their learning curve. However we could do it in only 2 week, to have then our 6 week ramp up, being able to recover our KPIs by September 2020. And we did it all from home!

And following our 2025 strategy “Delivering Excellence in a digital world”, we also reinforced our digital assistance tools to reduce our contact rate from 74.3% in March 2020 to 26.7% in September recovering our standard contact rate ratio. To do that we made marketing campaigns, changed our IVR and developed proactive notifications to reduce calls and above that, to keep customers informed about their shipment and we educated them how to follow their shipment automatically and how to solve any issue they might had.

Finally we did all this respecting our Values “Respect & Results”, achieving our goals and KPIs and taking care of our employees and in the 2020 EOS (Employee Opinion Survey) we could even improve last year resultshaving +1 point in both: employee commitment and active leadership.

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the team's past performance (up to 250 words):

Thanks to the effort, commitment and dedication, working “AS ONE” with all the other departments, our Customer Service Center has become an example of excellence which spreads enthusiasm and shines bright for itself. As a result of going the extra mile every day results speak for themselves and the abovementioned achievements made us have great performance results reducing cost by 12.8% vs. Budget, FTEs by 5.6% even with a 5.9% call increase and a 6.5% BL request increase, letting us have a +13.5% Operational Efficiency productivity increase in 2020.

In addition to tackle this tough stage, we had also time to have fun. In October, we experienced an unforgettable Customer Service Week, the first virtual one, under the motto “Dream Team since 1969”. During that special occasion, all members of the department enjoyed themselves in a remarkable and successful party, full of games and gifts. This virtual reunion encouraged motivation and team work, raised the importance of companionship consciousness, fostered integrity, commitment and respect and increased awareness of the great quality experience we provide to our customers.

Having reviewed our year, we can say that Customer Service Panamá has mastered and demonstrated a high level of competency and professionalism, sustainable along the whole year. We have pushed ourselves to keep performance indicators on the rise, to be united and to main the strength and passion, even in rough times. And last, but not least, always respecting our DNA: “Connecting People Improving their Lives”.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Attachments:

Extract of video of our Customer Service Week.

Performance review for Panamá 2020