Businesses, big or small, face the challenge of managing demand on a daily basis. With the increasing number of customers and the growing need for prompt and efficient service, it is imperative for organisations to adopt effective strategies to manage work demand. One strategy that has proven to be effective is a structured reduction in failure demand through more accurate routing of work.
Accurate routing of work refers to the process of directing tasks to the right person, at the right time, and with the right level of priority. By routing work accurately, organisations are able to reduce the demand on their employees. When work is sent to those who aren’t skilled to complete it, time is lost finding the correct team and redirecting the work which will likely require a manager, adding yet more lost time. Removing these instances, in turn, increases the overall productivity of the organisation, as work isn’t double or triple-handled, leading to better customer service. This reduces the overall demand on employees, allowing them to focus on higher-priority tasks and resulting in a more balanced workload.
So, what does this mean for the customer? I’m sure we’ve all been on the receiving end of a customer service advisor saying “You’ll hear back from us in a couple of days”, we happily go about our business and after a few weeks we suddenly remember “oh yeah, I’ve not had that yet”. This could be an inconvenience in the first instance, but if it happens over and over then it quickly becomes annoying and after not too long the name of the company leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
For companies that route work correctly, the customer often isn’t even aware, all they do know is that what was promised, has been delivered. Satisfying the customer’s request eliminates the need for them to repeat it and reduces the time for a response, resulting in a much more efficient and satisfactory experience.
There are plenty of other benefits of routing work correctly such as better collaboration between teams and the ability to identify and eliminate any bottlenecks. When teams constantly receive work which they cannot complete frustrations rise and finger-pointing towards other teams begins, harming relationships. By routing tasks to the right team, organisations work better as a collective, resulting in a more efficient and productive work environment. Through routing work correctly, organisations are able to identify where work is taking longer and put in place measures to reduce these bottlenecks, leading to more streamlined processes and better results both for productivity and the customer experience.
It’s not that customers get overwhelmingly impressed when companies deliver on their promises, but rather how customer frustration can significantly increase when their expectations aren’t met. As such, companies must ensure they are able to meet the minimum requirement of customers, as efficiently as possible, to make their operation sustainable. Routing work correctly is therefore a must and if your business is failing to prioritise it, there is a risk that cracks will begin to show and failure demand will rise. So, we urge you to think about how the work within your business is routed and what more you can do to route work accurately to give the best experience to your customers.
