What makes up the customer focus of any business? Customer focus as one of the main principles of activity of JSC "Federal Passenger Company". Small business – no service needed
Currently, focusing on customer needs is becoming the cornerstone for the further development of Russian Railways. The carrier's turn to the consumer is associated with the solution of two fundamental questions: what criteria are most important for the customer and how to meet them?
Carrier: keeping up with the times
During the dialogue between national carriers and shippers, held within the framework of the X International Business Forum “Strategic Partnership 1520” in Sochi, market participants stated: the influence economic crisis impact on the railway complex can be considered twofold, since the decrease in loading volumes is accompanied by the market entering a new qualitative level. Against this background, bringing the topic of customer focus to the forefront looks absolutely logical. First Vice-President of JSC Russian Railways Vadim Morozov notes that for the holding company a systematic approach to this area is quite new and had to start with the development of a single concept. “We defined customer focus as the ability to generate an additional flow of customers by fully meeting their needs,” he explains.
“The first and most important thing for us is how customer-oriented the company is. And this can only be decided by the client himself and never by her management. Second: customer focus should be accompanied by the effect of increasing Russian Railways' revenues, while the company will support the interests of key customers. The concept of “client” is not limited to consumers of services; it is also necessary to form an internal customer focus, that is, to ensure the coordinated work of business blocks responsible for infrastructure and freight transportation, the provision of transport and logistics services and the development of passenger transportation. The coordination of these areas is key point customer focus policy."
Customer focus is one of the elements of crisis management and gives the carrier new opportunities that are especially valuable in the context of a decline in transportation. What are the specific steps? At the end of December 2014, Russian Railways formed a department for business development and customer focus. “The structure was created by optimizing resources without increasing the staff,” emphasizes V. Morozov, “its mission is to create a corporate policy of internal and external customer focus, as provided for in the holding’s Development Strategy until 2030.” The stages of its implementation are also defined: first, the development of a unified policy, then the creation of a concept (including detailed options for each type of business), implementation tools, as well as assessment methods and an implementation program. The list of current tasks includes the formation of an optimal package of services that excludes intra-company competition, and the creation of a unified catalog of services. “The organization of end-to-end processes from the moment of service planning to its implementation implies the integration of actions across the network, and by the end of the year we will have formed this vertical,” promises V. Morozov.
Thus, the vector of development of the holding has been set. The head of the department of business development and customer focus of JSC Russian Railways, Roman Baskin, claims that the tasks assigned to the new division are not easy, so they tried to recruit creative people who have experience working not only within Russian Railways, but also outside the company. “This is very important for developing a methodology and concept of customer focus, that is, documents that are common to the holding, as well as for solving current problems, for example, creating a customer survey system,” concludes R. Baskin.
“For a shipper in the current environment, long-term pricing is important. We have moved away from this model and now make decisions in accordance with manual mode, but returning to it is also a serious tool for increasing customer focus. In addition, we believe that the company needs to move into logistics: work better with port infrastructure, create service chains. Pricing tools are good, but they are not a panacea, but improving technologies for working with clients is the right path to quality.”
Integration in Kazakh
The current tasks of Russian Railways are well known to NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC, the national carrier that has taken on the role of integrator of the republic’s transport assets, including port infrastructure and the transport and logistics center network. How is this task accomplished? Vice President for Logistics of NC KTZ Kanat Alpysbaev notes that efforts are aimed primarily at the development of the regions. “We have positive experience in jointly implementing investment projects with clients with subsequent return on investment on certain conditions,” he notes.
In addition, KTZ created an integrated planning unit that deals with issues of transportation activities, tariff setting and marketing. “The goal of the new structure is to remove unnecessary processes and speed up customer service,” emphasizes K. Alpysbaev. Changes are taking place at all levels: for example, the position of deputy chief for logistics has appeared in road departments. Essentially, this is an account manager who works with clients every day.
The railway complex of Kazakhstan (as well as the Russian Federation) is characterized by a high degree of regulation. According to K. Alpysbaev, it complicates the introduction of new services, but KTZ is trying to solve this problem. “The first thing we want is to remove rail transportation from the regulation of the antimonopoly services of Kazakhstan on those routes where there is competition with other modes of transport, in particular with road transport,” says K. Alpysbaev. The second issue is related to the unification of various transportation documents for the purpose of their use in multimodal transportation. “For example, we have to negotiate for a long time with customs authorities so that when transporting cargo to the airport there are no delays due to transit invoices,” he clarifies. Another problem lies in the lack of complete regulatory framework container transportation. Now they intend to take this very seriously in order to be in tandem with the times.
KTZ considers the creation of a single window to be one of the key tasks related to customer focus. “We want to involve all assets under our management in its solution,” says K. Alpysbaev. “Moreover, UTLC already has experience in creating a unified platform for managing the rolling stock fleet and sales of services, and it is worth developing, including when implementing other joint projects.”
Non-zero sum game
As you can see, the experience of national carriers indicates the relevance of a customer-oriented policy. How do those for whom it is intended evaluate it? Deputy general director JSC Management Company Kuzbassrazrezugol Irina Olkhovskaya believes that the efforts of JSC Russian Railways are beneficial to the coal industry. "We see enough steady growth exports, the positions of our coal miners in world markets are maintained,” she states. – These results were achieved thanks to working together" We are talking about building up infrastructure and technological development transportation, including at the Eastern range, a noticeable reduction in the delivery time of goods to the port compared to 2013–2014. and most importantly - about the convergence of the positions of the participants transport business. “The last thesis was confirmed by the adjustment of the Russian Railways tariff corridor at the beginning of 2015 in favor of shippers in the coal industry,” notes I. Olkhovskaya. “They treated us with understanding.”
Of course, the cost of services is a very important criterion for the shipper to assess the level of customer focus of the carrier, but not the only one. Deputy General Director for Logistics of OJSC SUEK Denis Ilatovsky believes that price disputes are akin to a zero-sum game, while there are many other parameters that the carrier and the client can jointly improve, receiving mutual benefit. For example, in 2013, the fleet management technology of various operators on the approach to the ports of Murmansk and Vanino was improved, which led to an increase in the speed of coal delivery, and the reverse side of the acceleration was a decrease in SUEK’s need for wagons. “In 2012–2013. we attracted 52–55 thousand cars, now 45 thousand are enough, since due to the acceleration of rolling stock turnover, the need for it has decreased,” explains D. Ilatovsky.
Another important parameter for the cargo owner is the routing of cargo transportation. Together with Russian Railways in SUEK, its level was increased to 70%, but the partners are not going to stop there. Another topic is increasing the carrying capacity of network sections. SUEK analyzed the traffic on the Komsomolsk-on-Amur – Vanino section: after the Kuznetsovsky tunnel was put into operation, the length of the train was increased, but due to problems with traction, it returned to the previous 53–55 cars, while the volume of transportation still increased due to the increase in the weight of the train , consisting entirely of innovative rolling stock.
How to beat the highway?
The carrier's retail clients using wagon shipments are increasingly finding alternative solutions to rail transport on the market, transferring cargo to the road transportation segment. Konstantin Zasov, a member of the board of directors of Rusagrotrans CJSC, cites disappointing statistics: in grain transportation, the share of vehicles has increased by 10% (to 65%) since 2009, and by 2020 it could reach 80%; for finished metallurgical products the same figure has been since 2005 increased by 49% (to 69%), for scrap - by 45% (to 50%) by 2013, although in 2014 due to the freezing of tariffs it decreased to 38%. According to the expert, there is real competition here, and the situation requires a solution, which should be sought jointly with JSC Russian Railways.
Of particular concern is the inability to compete with motor vehicles at distances of up to 1 thousand km. According to K. Zasov, the situation can only be changed by simplifying the mechanism for applying the Russian Railways tariff corridor or by abolishing the regulation of the railway tariff on such sections. “The possibility of regulating the infrastructure component depending on the type of cargo would also help,” he believes.
To ensure equal conditions of competition with by car It is proposed to amend the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in terms of changing the base for levying transport tax, differentiating rates depending on the weight and number of axles of the car, as well as tightening remote control over compliance with regulatory parameters, including weight standards for cars, on federal and regional roads. In addition, Rusagrotrans considers it necessary to license road freight transportation and introduce restrictions in the field of technical regulation - similar to how this applies to railway transport, with the introduction of additions to the technical regulations of the Customs Union. “The state needs to formulate a clear position,” summarizes K. Zasov. “Otherwise we will fight for equal conditions endlessly.”
German experience
According to industry experts, the experience of Deutsche Bahn is very interesting, since before the transformation the company faced many problems related to customer focus. One of them was the underdevelopment of business culture: management thought within the framework of individual business blocks and did not take into account common goals Accordingly, the sales approach was carried out with an emphasis on the revenue of one division. Another disadvantage was the fragmented operational planning movements on the part of numerous departments located in different regions and even countries, which led to inefficient use of assets.
The lack of uniform commercial conditions for the sale of the same products, a person responsible for loading assets, as well as a general strategy for network development, implying the formation of transport corridors, was complicated by many interfunctional conflicts, since organizational structure Deutsche Bahn was quite complex, with insurmountable barriers to communication between departments. Together, all these shortcomings led to a loss of focus on the client’s interests.
According to partner and managing director of BCG in Russia Andrey Timofeev, the organization of the transport and logistics business of JSC Russian Railways was influenced by both remnants of the Soviet economy and partial liberalization of the railway industry. The result is duplication of functions within the holding. In general, a situation has arisen where the production service prevails over the commercial service, and the latter does not have the tools to influence the production process. The processes of sales support and commercial work with clients also require improvement.
“It is obvious that two key decisions could improve the situation,” says A. Timofeev. - First of all we're talking about on the formation of a service offer integrated with both sales and operations. Secondly, about customer service based on the one-stop-shop principle at the industry level.”
Andrey Timofeev,
partner and managing director of BCG in Russia
“Of course, customer focus in railway transport must develop against the backdrop of fair competition: if we do not establish equal conditions, we will not be able to attract cargo. Our task is to look at the volumes that are transported in alternative communications and compete for them together with the carrier. Today, fluctuations in road transport tariffs throughout the year reach from 50 to 250%, while the railway tariff remains unchanged. Thus, we have practically no tools for fighting for cargo. In addition, with the existing tariff setting system, it is impossible to beat motor transport at distances of up to 1 thousand km; special solutions are needed here, which must be developed jointly with the FTS,” Konstantin Zasov, member of the board of directors of Rusagrotrans CJSC.
Thus, price regulation and technology improvement represent two options for increasing the level of customer focus. However, the possibilities for increasing tariffs are limited, and it is difficult for the carrier to form an investment program at the expense of the client. So, to increase revenue, there is only one tool left - working with the client.
Marina Ermolenko
Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below
Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.
Similar documents
Organizational and economic characteristics hotel complex"Estate". Hotel business philosophy. Analysis of the hotel's mission, customer satisfaction with the quality of the organization's services. Recommendations for improving the quality of services (service).
practice report, added 11/13/2012
Essence hotel services and approaches to determining its quality. Analysis of the quality of hotel service of the RUE "Hotel "Minsk". The main ways to implement a model for increasing competitiveness based on managing the quality of hotel service.
thesis, added 01/15/2013
Study of the quality management system of a hotel enterprise. Analysis of the activities of the Utes Hotel, the level of quality of services provided. Assessing the quality of service in a hotel. Conducting training to improve telephone negotiation skills.
course work, added 01/02/2017
Fundamentals and styles of customer service for a hotel company. Customer service culture of the hotel complex. Ethics of business communication and style in serving guests. Basic rules of conduct telephone conversations. Hotel rooms.
course work, added 11/25/2013
Conflicts in the service sector: concept, types, causes and methods of resolution. Quality and competitiveness in the service sector. Conflict management as a way to increase competitiveness. Intra-organizational conflicts in the SOPP of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "GTK "Russia".
thesis, added 07/24/2012
The essence of competition and competitiveness of an organization. Factors influencing competition. Analysis of the financial and economic activities of Pallada LLC. Analysis of the competitiveness of the enterprise and recommendations for increasing its competitiveness.
thesis, added 04/27/2015
Concept, essence and factors influencing competitiveness. Types and methods of competition. Characteristics of the activities of the enterprise OJSC AvtoVAZ and assessment of its state in the market. Analysis of company problems. Ways to increase the competitiveness of an enterprise.
course work, added 12/24/2015
The word “customer focus” has become firmly established in our everyday life over the past five to ten years. We got used to it after going through a difficult path of trial and error. Those who were previously skeptical about this term today no longer imagine modern production, business without development professional competencies in the service sector. Therefore, it is natural that in the development strategy of JSC Russian Railways until 2030 it is noted: “Customer-oriented corporate culture“one of the factors for increasing the efficiency of the holding.”
It is very important that since 2010, customer focus has been one of the officially proclaimed corporate competencies on the railway, along with quality and safety, responsibility, creativity and innovation, and leadership. Now the main thing is not to talk too much about this process, so that it doesn’t turn out “as always.” Customer focus is painstaking, scrupulous work every day with each specific client. Because only systematic and targeted work can attract an additional flow of clients to cooperate with the company.
Let us ask ourselves: is it always quality service Is it a sign of a customer-oriented company, and business in general? This is not an idle question, but in conditions of fierce competition in the transport industry and a difficult economic situation, it becomes one of the key ones. In any production you can achieve High Quality service brought to automation. But at the same time, we may not notice the requests of a specific client. Because generally accepted standards of service delivery come first: accuracy, productivity, speed. That is, the client will be dealing with a set of traditional tools and products. Therefore, in some cases, he may not have the most enthusiastic impressions of meeting the company. And the words “wait”, “you know how many of you there are, but I am alone”, “you are not alone” can negatively affect his desire to use your services. He can turn to competitors, the same motor transport companies.
You need to show that each client is one and only for you and for his sake you are ready to demonstrate the wonders of marketing and logistics! Even if the price of the service is higher than the regular price list. The client is ready to pay a little more, but so that everything is done the way he wants. Therefore, service patterns or standards are not always competitive advantages, and this must be remembered.
Any client is essentially very good manager to promote your service. Willingly or unwittingly, without noticing it, but having received a quality service, he begins to promote it among his friends, colleagues, associates and business partners, recommending your company. Such a client will contact you more often. And most importantly, the most satisfied client is willing to pay more. Therefore, in our opinion, customer focus is, first of all, the quality of the service provided, its uniqueness.
And one more observation: feedback should also be taken into account. After all, a loyal customer shares feedback with your company, his advice and requests, helping marketers to constantly improve the product and quality of service, and optimize business processes. And this, in turn, will allow you to increase the value and ultimately the price of the product.
But here we want to touch on another important aspect. A customer-oriented company is such not only externally, in relation to clients - shippers, passengers, but also internally - in relation to its own employees.
How to understand whether we are customer-oriented or not, what are the criteria? What should be considered an objective indicator: profit from attracting cargo and passengers from other modes of transport or the level of customer satisfaction, or perhaps the number of newly acquired customers?
We propose to consider the concept of “customer focus” as two interconnected, correlating quantities, namely: internal and external client focus. At the same time, the statement that the way a company treats its employees, the same way it will treat its clients, can be considered an axiom.
The majority of experts specializing in this topic argue that there is no good external customer focus if the company does not create an appropriate internal environment. Therefore, internal customer focus is especially important, that is, the extent to which employees perceive their colleagues as internal clients who are ready to help employees from other departments.
Let us note that it is quite possible to measure internal customer focus. Exist basic methods studies, such as research of company regulations using psycholinguistic programs, frequency content analysis, Likert-Werner technique and, finally, sociological research in the form of surveys, interviews, etc. We conducted such surveys, and, as their results show, senior management began to pay more attention to the boss-subordinate relationship. But as before, the bosses do not want to listen to the lower ranks, and the rigid management style prevents equal dialogue with subordinates.
Let us recall the classic of strategic management by the American economist with Russian roots, Igor Ansoff, and his “Strategic Paradigm for Possible Success,” which is based on an interesting hypothesis: “A firm’s performance is optimized when external strategy and internal capabilities balance the turbulence of the world surrounding the firm.” By turbulence he understood the variability of the environment.
We determined the real level of turbulence in the internal environment of JSC Russian Railways using the example of a low-level employee (for example, a train dispatcher). According to the standard procedure, a photograph of the working day was taken and brought to the form of changes in the frequency of decision-making (the so-called bifurcations) during the working day.
The dispatcher works under very intense pressure, negotiating with clients (employees of other divisions of Russian Railways). The average duration of negotiations ranges from thirty seconds to three minutes. Basically, they do not require the dispatcher to make independent decisions. Such a need arises only in one case out of ten. As a result, the frequency of decision making is on average 4.5–5 hours. Turbulence is low only at the very beginning and at the end of the working day. In general, it corresponds to the third and fourth levels (from “variable” to “intermittent”).
We conducted a similar experiment in relation to the head of one of the divisions of JSC Russian Railways. The turbulence of a manager's internal environment varies within wider limits than that of a lower-level employee. Thus, the costs of a client-oriented approach for a manager will be noticeably lower than for a lower-level employee. The manager is in a less turbulent environment, has fewer choices to make between different options, and has more time to think about each decision. In order to motivate these two workers to switch to a customer-oriented approach to work, the boss will need much less incentive than the dispatcher.
In other words, the environment itself contributes to the development of a new client-oriented approach. From the example with train dispatcher It is clearly seen that working with an (internal) client with an already known set of requirements is not so difficult, however, as the tasks become more complex, the dispatcher will most likely look for a way to get rid of the “annoying” client.
To summarize the above, the conclusions are as follows. Firstly, customer focus is a complex combination of external and internal customer focus. Secondly, this process is an objective necessity modern market, and for its successful implementation, customer focus should become not a slogan, but an objectively measured parameter in the work of any employee of the company.
And one last thing. Deepening the principle of customer focus at JSC Russian Railways, given the current difficult situation in the economy, in our opinion, will be associated with an inevitable increase in the load on those employees who work in conditions of the highest turbulence. Therefore, the growing loads must be distributed more evenly and compensated for by adequate incentives - otherwise customer focus will remain just a slogan.
That's all today transport companies, including JSC Russian Railways, strive to be customer-oriented. At one time, we had a substantive discussion with members of the Management Board about the best way to assess the efficiency and quality of a company’s work. Naturally, for this kind of assessment there is a whole set of financial, technological and other indicators, but since Russian Railways is essentially a service company, we considered that the main criterion that is fair for us is meeting customer requirements. And these are not just words, but the current trend and priority of the company’s development for the coming years. What does this mean? In part freight transport- in attracting railway additional cargo from other modes of transport (road, aviation, water). To do this, shippers need ease of interaction with Russian Railways in terms of submitting applications and placing orders, the ability to obtain information about the location of goods online, delivery of goods strictly on schedule, the formation of route transportation, etc. I have provided a far from complete list of what we are currently implementing, but these are exactly the things on which the main emphasis is placed. Customer focus for us also means interaction with potential clients- product manufacturers who depend on the supply of raw materials and components, and subsequently on the transportation of the final product to sales markets. This means offering them special tariff conditions when it comes to opening new enterprises that create for Russian Railways an additional freight base and highly profitable cargo for transportation.
Customer focus in terms of passenger transportation is, first of all, the availability of railway transport for citizens. What is being done in this direction? We offered differentiated ticket prices and a system of discounts allowing passengers to save from 10% to 50% of the base fare. A full-scale passenger loyalty program has been introduced and operates in the transportation segment long distance. The possibility of purchasing train tickets in in electronic format- Last year, a quarter of all purchased tickets were ordered via the Internet. We plan to further develop this technology, as well as offer passengers other modern services, increase the comfort and speed of passenger trains. As recent examples, I can name the launch of Lastochka on the St. Petersburg - Petrozavodsk route, the Moscow - Yaroslavl day train, modern electric trains that began running in the Moscow region and a number of other regions. Yesterday we launched double-decker night trains between Moscow and St. Petersburg. This means not only an increased level of comfort, but also a reduction in the cost of a compartment ticket by 30%. As for the speed of trains (on average it is 90 km/h), the situation here is somewhat more complicated - we can increase it only if there are appropriate investments in infrastructure. I believe that the improvements that are currently being made to the infrastructure between Moscow and St. Petersburg as part of the current investment program of Russian Railways will gradually reduce travel time between the two capitals to 3.5 hours. The design of the VSD, which has already begun in our country, will increase the mobility of the population by an order of magnitude.
In this context, it is appropriate to talk about the current pricing policy Russian Railways, which is formed taking into account the interests of clients. Against the backdrop of a general rise in prices for goods and services, we plan to increase ticket prices in the unregulated segment of railway transportation (compartment and SV) by no more than 5%. In the regulated segment, the increase will be 10% (this is the figure by which the state indexed our tariff for this year), which is even lower than the inflation rate, which in 2014 was 11.4%. As for international passenger transportation, Western countries present us with tariffs for using the infrastructure in Swiss francs, and this can significantly affect the increase in the ruble price of tickets. However, we are working to optimize tariffs with foreign partner companies interested in developing tourism cooperation with Russian Railways. The other day we solemnly celebrated the anniversary of the launch of the Moscow - Nice train, which turned out to be a very popular service, including for citizens of the European Union. Over 5 years, this train has transported more than 40 thousand passengers. For the anniversary, we have completely updated the train running between Moscow and Nice with new RIC size carriages jointly produced by the Tver Carriage Works and Siemens. This is also customer-oriented, and we understand perfectly well that without this kind of events, which are sometimes very costly, we cannot win in the competition for passengers.
