Process information about customers
Overview
This standard is part of the customer service competence area related to Customer Service Foundations. It covers processing information about customers. It includes the language and concepts of customer service as well as the organisational context and the external environment in which you work. Remember that customers include everyone to whom you provide products and services. They may be external to your organisation or they may be internal customers.
You and your organisation process information about your customers and their behaviour to answer customer questions and to respond to customer requests. Information about customers is also used by your organisation to develop its customer service. Some customer information is collected from your customers whereas other information is collected through information systems and equipment that make records of service delivery. In either case you collect information, retrieve it and supply it when needed to provide a sound basis for all customer service transactions. The quality of the customer information depends heavily on your skills and attention to detail when processing it.
This standard is for customer service professionals who process information about customers.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- collect and record new information about customers in accordance with your organisation's guidelines
- record new information about customers in your organisation's systems
- update existing information about customers
- record information about customers following organisational guidelines for accuracy, sufficiency and relevance
- respond to authorised requests for information about customers from colleagues
- select relevant information for customers following your organisation's guidelines
- select information for colleagues that matches their requests
- supply accurate and sufficient information about customers to meet your customers' or colleagues' expectations
- seek support form colleagues when you are unable to access the information you require
- choose how to supply information to your customers or colleagues using the systems available
- confirm that your customers and colleagues have received and understood the requested information
- follow the legal, organisational, codes of practice and policies relevant to your role and the activities being carried out
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- your organisation's procedures and guidelines for collecting, retrieving and supplying information about customers
- the types of personal information about customers that should or should not be kept on record
- how to collect and validate information about customers in accordance with data protection legislation
- how to operate your organisation's customer information storage system
- the colleagues involved in data processing in your organisation and their roles and responsibilities in relation to you
- the ways that processing information about customers correctly contributes to customer service
- the importance of attention to detail when processing information about customers and how to conduct quality checks
- how to store and use customer data
- the procedures to follow if you make errors in data and what to do if you, or a colleague, breaches data protection regulations
- how information should be managed and removed from your organisation's records, when required
- the legal, organisational, codes of practice and policies relevant to your role and the activities being carried out