Introduction to ISO 18295-1 standards

Introduction to ISO 18295-1 2017 Customer contact centers — Part 1: Requirements for customer contact centers

The ongoing success and development of any organization relies on its understanding of the expectation levels and perceptions of its customers. Service standards are an important element of service management excellence; they help clarify expectations for clients and employees, enable performance management, and support client and customer satisfaction. ISO 18295-1:2017 specifies service requirements for customer contact centres (CCC). ISO 18295-1:2017 is applicable to both in-house (captive) and outsourced (third party operator) CCCs of all sizes, across all sectors and all interaction channels, including inbound and outbound. It specifies performance metrics (KPIs) as and where required. It is intended to be used for any customer interaction with a customer contact centre (CCC). It specifies a framework for any CCC that aims to assist in providing clients and customers with services that continuously and proactively meet or exceed their needs. Implementation of ISO 18295 standards can create value for the customer, the client, the employee and the CCC, improving the robustness and efficiency of the service and the client/CCC relationship, therefore enabling the CCC to deliver a higher level of customer experience on behalf of the client. ISO 18295 specifies requirements for customer contact centres (CCC) which are either in-house or managed by an outsourcer. It deals with certain aspects of products and services which remain the responsibility of the client organization, rather than the CCC. The clauses in the ISO 18295-1 standards are given below. 1 Scope 2 Normative references 3 Terms and definitions 4 Customer relationship requirements 4.1 General 4.2 Communication of information to customers 4.3 Measuring and monitoring of customer experience 4.4 Complaints handling 4.5 Customer protection 5 Customer-focused leadership 5.1 General 5.2 Customer experience design and delivery 5.3 Employee satisfaction/engagement 6 Human resources 6.1 General 6.2 Functions 6.3 Agent competencies 6.4 Skills development 6.5 Communication of information to employees 7 Operational processes 7.1 General 7.2 Customer-related processes 7.3 Workforce planning 7.4 Quality assurance related to customer interactions 8 Service delivery infrastructure 8.1 General 8.2 Handling customer interactions 8.3 Customer data 8.4 Work environment 8.5 Continuation of service 9 Client relationship

ISO 18295-1 certification

Certification can be a useful tool to add credibility, by demonstrating that an organisation’s product or service meets the expectations of its customers. For some industries, certification is a legal or contractual requirement.

Accreditation body

ISO 18295-1 certificate is issued to an organisation by an independent certification body after auditing its management system against the requirements of ISO 18295-1 standard. This certification body will be accredited with an accreditation body who provides accreditation to issue the certificate. Accreditation provides independent confirmation of competence.

International Accreditation Forum (IAF)

Any accreditation body in which the certification body is accredited with, will be a signatory of International Accreditation Forum (IAF). IAF provides accreditation for all accreditation bodies globally so that the certificate issued by certification body accredited them will be mutually recognized by all other member bodies. The hierarchy is given below Benefits of ISO 18295-1 certification

Key benefits of getting certified to ISO 18295-1 standards are:

• Better communication
• Increase customer loyalty and customer retention
• Improve customer focus and satisfaction
• Build brand reputation
• Continual improvement
• Good governance & leadership
• Increase employee morale and productivity
• Standout among competition
• Manage process risks
• Adaptability to changing regulatory requirements
• Eliminate non value adding activities
• Adaptability to changing customer perceptions
• Reduce customer complaints and rework
• Worldwide recognition and credibility
• Improve the efficiency of service
• Ensure consistent and reliable service to clients
• Improve the relationship between the client and customer contact centres

Process approach

ISO 18295-1 standards promote the adoption of a process approach when developing, implementing and improving the effectiveness of a quality management system, to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements. Understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its intended results. This approach enables the organization to control the interrelationships and interdependencies among the processes of the system, so that the overall performance of the organization can be enhanced. The process approach involves the systematic definition and management of processes, and their interactions, so as to achieve the intended results in accordance with the quality policy and strategic direction of the organization. Management of the processes and the system as a whole can be achieved using the PDCA cycle with an overall focus on risk-based thinking aimed at taking advantage of opportunities and preventing undesirable results. The application of the process approach in a quality management system enables:

• Understanding and consistency in meeting requirements;
• The consideration of processes in terms of added value;
• The achievement of effective process performance;
• Improvement of processes based on evaluation of data and information.

Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (PDCA Cycle) The PDCA cycle can be applied to all processes and to the quality management system as a whole. The PDCA cycle can be briefly described as follows: Plan: establish the objectives of the system and its processes, and the resources needed to deliver results in accordance with customers’ requirements and the organization’s policies, and identify and address risks and opportunities; Do: implement what was planned; Check: monitor and (where applicable) measure processes and the resulting products and services against policies, objectives, requirements and planned activities, and report the results; Act: take actions to improve performance, as necessary.

Risk-based thinking

Risk-based thinking is essential for achieving an effective quality management system. The concept of risk-based thinking is carrying out preventive action to eliminate potential nonconformities, analysing any nonconformities that do occur, and taking action to prevent recurrence that is appropriate for the effects of the nonconformity. To conform to the requirements of ISO 18295-1 standard, an organization needs to plan and implement actions to address risks and opportunities. Addressing both risks and opportunities establishes a basis for increasing the effectiveness of the quality management system, achieving improved results and preventing negative effects. Opportunities can arise as a result of a situation favourable to achieving an intended result, for example, a set of circumstances that allow the organization to attract customers, develop new products and services, reduce waste or improve productivity. Actions to address opportunities can also include consideration of associated risks. Risk is the effect of uncertainty and any such uncertainty can have positive or negative effects. A positive deviation arising from a risk can provide an opportunity, but not all positive effects of risk result in opportunities.