Six-sigma for improving Top-Box Customer Satisfaction score for a banking call centre

• Published in: Production planning & control Vol. 26; no. 16; pp. 1291 - 1305
• Main Authors: M., Vijaya Sunder, Antony, Jiju
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Taylor & Francis 10.12.2015; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Banking; Banking industry; Call centers; call centre; Call centres; Case studies; case study; Continuous improvement; Customer satisfaction; Governments; Information technology; metrics; process improvement; Project management; Service industries; Six Sigma; Studies
• ISSN: 0953-7287; 1366-5871
• DOI: 10.1080/09537287.2015.1021879

Six Sigma process improvement methodology has been accepted globally across the service industry. In past one decade, the application and success of Six Sigma in Services is remarkable across Information Technology organisations, Hospitality firms, Government, Healthcare firms and Banking & Financial Sector. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of Six Sigma within call centres where the metric based environment complements the application of Six Sigma for process improvements. The article establishes the literature for the need for Six Sigma in call centre environment elaborating on customer facing metrics in addition to internal performance measures and highlighting the advantages of Six Sigma. A case study is presented in the second part of the article to study the DMAIC project management approach of Six Sigma for improving the Top Box Customer Satisfaction score of a Banking call centre. The literature identifies the possible opportunities for improving the performance of call centre metrics using Six Sigma. The project case study presented as part of the paper delivered a saving of USD 0.27 million to the bank, and is a classic example of how Six Sigma can bring bottom-line impact to an organisation. The article is limited to elaborate the advantages of Six Sigma in call centre environment, emphasising on its need and its compatibility to go along successfully with change acceleration and project management processes. Managerial implications and lessons learned are discussed alongside the concluding notes.