Xerox Develops CRM System That Heads Off Emerging Problems

You've got to admire those perky optimists at Xerox. They've continued to apply resources into the all-important functions of R&D and innovation, in spite of some rough times (I'm no financial analyst, but my impression is that their financial performance has improved considerably the past couple of years).

According to this report, Xerox is developing an interesting system for tracking customer satisfaction and quickly heading off emerging problems in their customers' organizations:

Inside Innovation at Xerox: a Periodic Glimpse at Work in Progress; Company Develops Innovative System That Rethinks Customer Satisfaction to Rapidly Get Feedback, Resolve Problems

Xerox calls this CRM system the Sentinel Customer Satisfaction Assurance System and is using it now in about 40 major customer accounts. Here's how today's news release describes the way it works:

A Web-based, supercharged customer relationship management system that's unique enough for Xerox to patent, Sentinel defines customer satisfaction as the absence of problems. So with the customer's permission, Sentinel e-mails a simple question to every worker that relies on Xerox at specific customer sites: "Do you have any problem, comment or suggestion for Xerox?"

That question may sound like a standard customer satisfaction survey, but Sentinel is about as much like one as radar is like a flashlight. It differs in both scope and execution, according to Vaccarelli.

While traditional satisfaction surveys are administered periodically to a sampling of people, Sentinel e-mails a monthly "check-in" to everyone at the customer site who might rely on Xerox in any way.

That way Sentinel catches emerging problems. More important, it routes problems for immediate resolution. Happy workers simply delete the e-mail or click on a happy face and write a comment or suggestion, but people with problems click on a frowning face, opening a dialog box and starting what is known as an "adaptive loop*," Vaccarelli said.

Respondents are linked to a Web site where they explain the problem in their own words. The system instantly and automatically notifies the designated Xerox account manager that there is a problem, creates an electronic problem ticket, prompts an immediate telephone call to the worker, and activates a tenacious adaptive loop that keeps the issue on Xerox's front burner until the worker confirms that the problem has been resolved.

Sentinel conditions Xerox and its customers as effectively as feedback systems used by NASA condition astronauts to react to emergencies, according to Vaccarelli. It teaches Xerox people to sense what's going on and make adjustments in real time, instead of waiting for a customer complaint and then following with protracted problem solving. It conditions customers to give feedback because they know it will be acted upon.

Xerox says in its pilot installation of Sentinel, customer satisfaction rates rose to above 95%. Future versions of Sentinel might incorporate text mining and pattern recognition.

AB -- 3/3/05