Customer support operations

Well, I can't answer this until I've clarified a few things can I?

First and foremost, I need to know how is my business setup. Are my BUs setup based on product vertical, geography/region, or function?

Am I currently a flat/agile oganization or more pryamid-shaped?

The answers to these two questions completely change how I approach setting up my support operation center in terms of people, org struture/design, and process (hint: that's the framework)

Are you interviewing with McKinsey Digital or BCG Platinion? This is a very digital-style prompt.

Hey there,

There are many ways to approach...here's a simplified approach:

1. First understand the customers and segment them- Premier or Basic (keep it simple). This will depend on type of service and support they buy. You could also segment by enterprise, government, small business
2. Then channels of escalation/support contact (phone, email, account manager etc)
3. Then services offered by the support centre & hours of operations- diagnostic, resolution etc
4. Out of office/Weekend support e.g. basic support queries and logging of issues only
5. Then create all the processes related to raising support tickets, diagnostics, resolution, escalations and customer relationship management etc
6. Think about what tools/technology will be needed to execute the above processes effectively. Go a step further and name some popular ones if you know any (Zendesk for example)
7. Finally comes the people layer- # of staff, clear roles & responsibilities, training, location (low cost offshore or inhouse or outsourced), language requirements etc

As you can see we have stepped through the layers systematically starting with customer layer to get the design right. Feel free to message if you wish to discuss and understand this approach. There are other simpler ways, but the above in my view is comprehensive.

Hello!

Agree with what other coaches said. 

To add on top, you would not get a question like this in a consulting interview. 
Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hi there,

In order for us to design a customer support operation center, we should think about three things: 

1. Divide the customer support into subfunctions (ex: install support, issues handling etc).
2. How fast you want the request to be answered? Think about that and decide the number of people working in support (The faster - the more employees).
3. What can be done by AI and what should be handled by human?

Hope it wass helpful,

GB