Customer Satisfaction: GCA Validation Service Ranks at Top of the Charts
Customers of the Global Corporate Action Validation Service (GCA VS) gave it a 92% overall satisfaction rating in DTCC’s 2008 customer survey, placing it among the organization’s most highly rated products and services. GCA VS also achieved the largest gain in customer satisfaction for the past year, posting a 12-point increase over 2007’s overall satisfaction rating of 80%.
“We redoubled our focus on listening to customers to ensure we are addressing and anticipating their needs throughout the year,” said John Colangelo, DTCC managing director, Operations/Business Reengineering and Quality. “We also adhere to rigorous standards across our New York, London and Shanghai operations, which contributes to the accuracy and timeliness of GCA VS data, along with speedy responses to customer inquiries.”
In the 2008 survey, customers indicated high satisfaction for the processing of mandatory events (90%), help desk service (88%) and the browser tool (88%). Colangelo, who noted that the volume of global corporate actions announcement is growing at just over 5% a year, credits the GCA VS staff and its “follow the sun” mentality for the high levels of customer satisfaction.
Results that speak to customers
“Service delivery is a top priority, and for GCA VS, this starts with listening to customers in all the markets we serve and giving them error-free, timely data,” said Peter Gleeson, DTCC vice president, Operations. “We also work seamlessly across three continents, which is essential for a global service, and are willing to adapt procedures and technology to meet customers’ needs.”
“To continually evaluate and improve the customer experience, the GCA VS team uses Six Sigma methodologies,” said Brett Lancaster, vice president, DTCC Solutions LLC and head of GCA VS. “We picked a handful of metrics that the customer cares about and, every day, we make sure we hit the numbers.”
For instance, GCA VS has service level agreements (SLAs) with customers that require it to meet certain performance levels or return a portion of its fees. For the composite SLA, DTCC must meet deadlines at least 99% of the time. So far this year, the service is exceeding this target with a 99.8% level, the equivalent of a 4.32 Six Sigma level (out of a possible 6.0).
GCA VS also has a remarkably low weekly error rate of two-one-hundreths of 1%. And, in a change that resonates with any customer who has ever called a help desk, the team has slashed help desk ticket resolution time from an average of more than 50 hours in July 2007 to fewer than 5 hours in July 2008.
The results have paid off not just in higher customer satisfaction, but also in additional business, said Lancaster, who noted that the sales pipeline for the service is as strong as it has ever been in the five years the service has been operational.
Evolution of a service
When DTCC first launched GCA VS five years ago, “We expected to handle fewer than 10,000 events each month, and cover about 700,000 securities,” said Lancaster. “Now, we handle about 100,000 events each month, covering more than 2 million securities globally, and we are adding more data on a regular basis. We have come a long way – our clients have recognized our efforts and our ongoing commitment, and have given us their thumbs-up in the customer satisfaction scores.” @