Assess the risks in customer service
Overview
This standard is part of the customer service competence area related to Handling Problems, Queries and Complaints. It includes assessing the risks in customer service. It covers the behaviours, processes and approaches that are most effective when handling customer service problems. 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 use formal or informal risk assessment techniques to reduce any risks involved in the provision of customer service. Your organisation's provision of customer service involves a range of risks that may be financial, reputational or health and safety risks. As part of your customer service role, you identify and assess individual risks to classify and prioritise them, enabling you to take actions to minimise risks.
This standard is for customer service professionals who assess the risks in customer service.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- identify the stages in your organisation's customer service process that provide opportunities to impress and disappoint customers
- identify the financial risks for each stage of the customer service process
- identify the reputational risks for each stage of the customer service process
- identify the health and safety risks for each stage of the customer service process
- identify the risk of delivering sub-standard services or products in each stage of the customer service process
- ensure that your customers are aware of any risks that might impact on them
- develop staff awareness of the risks you have identified
- assess the probabilities of each risk that you have identified
- assess the potential consequence of each risk in terms of finance, reputation and health and safety
- classify each risk as high, medium or low considering its probability and potential consequences
- consult with colleagues to identify any actions to take to reduce risk
- implement actions to minimise the overall customer service risk profile
- 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 role and responsibilities in relation to assessment of risk in customer service
- your organisation's customer service stages and the points in the customer service processes that have most impact on the customer experience
- the risk assessment techniques and processes that are used in your organisation
- the types of potential customer service risks that your organisation has, including financial, reputational and health and safety risks
- the impact that sub-standard services or products in each stage of the customer service process have on your organisation and customers
- the methods that you can use to create risk logs to capture and analyse risks
- how to classify risk based on probability and potential consequences
- your organisation's records related to risk assessment
- how to conduct a cost and benefit analysis for customer service
- how to produce a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) and Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental (PESTLE) analysis
- how SWOT and PESTLE analyses link to risk management
- the colleagues who manage risk in your organisation and how to communicate with them
- the legal, organisational, codes of practice and policies relevant to your role and the activities being carried out