Reflection - Visualization in Customer Service 

 Challenge 

 I ’m part of a continuous improvement department in a customer service company , the most common   approach used in this department to improve processes or solve problems is based on traditional   mechanisms such as Kaizen or Just Do It ( JDI ) , where the first one intends to gather a group of experts   across the organization to solve upon unclear or unknown causes to a problem and the latter is used   whenever a problem ’s cause is identified and can be easily fixed . A vast amount of contacts to the   customer service team refer to problems after a product is purchased due to malfunction or damaged   conditions when received ; in order to solve this problem I put up together a project team composed of   customer service agents to analyze the problem , uncover root causes and find solutions . When defining   the problem and mapping the customer path , the team faced confusion and struggled to identify the   scenarios by following the steps taken from the customer ’s order until they contacted , therefore I had to   find an alternative method to help them visualize the problem areas and the overall scenario causing a   bad customer experience . 

 Selection 

 Having an entire team not used to technical terms or process mapping standards , we decided to use   visualization as the tool to help us see a clear picture of the problem and the customer path and the   scenarios or possibilities around the shopping experience . 

 Application 

 In order to better apply the tool , we split the team in two : 1 ) Customer and 2 ) Company . The first group   was instructed to use drawings or doodles simulating a customer entering the shop and going through   the several phases of acquiring a product . The second group was instructed to do the same but from the   Company ’s perspective on the interaction based on the customer ’s needs . We collected a wide range of   materials to help us have a visual representation by using sticky note blocks , flipcharts , markers and   boards . Each group had their own board and selection of materials to draw and recreate through   drawings thigs like products , people , warehouses , trucks , etc . Then we would connect the pieces though   arrows in order to visualize the flow and have a clear path . 

 Insights 

 The team was able to visualize all the scenarios from the product selection until the purchased was   done , on the other hand we were able to visualize how the products were transported from warehouses   to the shop or in case of deliveries , the logistics to send a product to a customer ’s location .   Amongst the   wide variety of drawings and actors represented , we were able to see beyond the customer service   phone scripts and gained knowledge of the products handling that was causing damaged items during   the transportation and also taking several steps back to the suppliers of the products that were   delivering damaged items straight from the factory . The customer service team not only gained 

 knowledge to better address the customer problems but also delivered the findings to the respective   units in order to establish control mechanisms to avoid damaging or accepting defective products . 

 Approach 

 This tool definitely made the difference not only to uncover root causes to problems but to the problem   definition itself . Having an idea of why the customers are contacting so much serves as the go to   indicator to have a look and dive into details , however those details are better perceived and   understood by visualizing them through drawings and maps . I would recommend this as a complement   to the problem / project defining phases of any process improvement or problem solving activity , instead   of gathering a team and forcing them to follow standard and often complex methodologies . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection - Visualization in Customer Service 

 Challenge 

 I ’m part of a continuous improvement department in a customer service company , the most common   approach used in this department to improve processes or solve problems is based on traditional   mechanisms such as Kaizen or Just Do It ( JDI ) , where the first one intends to gather a group of experts   across the organization to solve upon unclear or unknown causes to a problem and the latter is used   whenever a problem ’s cause is identified and can be easily fixed . A vast amount of contacts to the   customer service team refer to problems after a product is purchased due to malfunction or damaged   conditions when received ; in order to solve this problem I put up together a project team composed of   customer service agents to analyze the problem , uncover root causes and find solutions . When defining   the problem and mapping the customer path , the team faced confusion and struggled to identify the   scenarios by following the steps taken from the customer ’s order until they contacted , therefore I had to   find an alternative method to help them visualize the problem areas and the overall scenario causing a   bad customer experience . 

 Selection 

 Having an entire team not used to technical terms or process mapping standards , we decided to use   visualization as the tool to help us see a clear picture of the problem and the customer path and the   scenarios or possibilities around the shopping experience . 

 Application 

 In order to better apply the tool , we split the team in two : 1 ) Customer and 2 ) Company . The first group   was instructed to use drawings or doodles simulating a customer entering the shop and going through   the several phases of acquiring a product . The second group was instructed to do the same but from the   Company ’s perspective on the interaction based on the customer ’s needs . We collected a wide range of   materials to help us have a visual representation by using sticky note blocks , flipcharts , markers and   boards . Each group had their own board and selection of materials to draw and recreate through   drawings thigs like products , people , warehouses , trucks , etc . Then we would connect the pieces though   arrows in order to visualize the flow and have a clear path . 

 Insights 

 The team was able to visualize all the scenarios from the product selection until the purchased was   done , on the other hand we were able to visualize how the products were transported from warehouses   to the shop or in case of deliveries , the logistics to send a product to a customer ’s location .   Amongst the   wide variety of drawings and actors represented , we were able to see beyond the customer service   phone scripts and gained knowledge of the products handling that was causing damaged items during   the transportation and also taking several steps back to the suppliers of the products that were   delivering damaged items straight from the factory . The customer service team not only gained 

 knowledge to better address the customer problems but also delivered the findings to the respective   units in order to establish control mechanisms to avoid damaging or accepting defective products . 

 Approach 

 This tool definitely made the difference not only to uncover root causes to problems but to the problem   definition itself . Having an idea of why the customers are contacting so much serves as the go to   indicator to have a look and dive into details , however those details are better perceived and   understood by visualizing them through drawings and maps . I would recommend this as a complement   to the problem / project defining phases of any process improvement or problem solving activity , instead   of gathering a team and forcing them to follow standard and often complex methodologies .
### Output: 