Streamlining card operations in a global bank’s Latin American arm.

Painful customer disputes

The Mexican credit card operation of a leading global retail bank was experiencing low Net Promoter Score surveys, with some of the most substantial pain points found during the disputes process. In this way, clear opportunities for process improvement were identified.

The global reengineering team needed to find the best approach to fix an unknown problem within a highly complex and culturally different operation.

In order to understand the problem, four workshops were carried out using an adapted model of Gobeyond Partners’ Immersive Collaborative Experience (ICE) methodology. The workshops had senior sponsorship from global and local operations, were led by experienced facilitators and included participants from 11 business units.

By using South American Spanish speaking consultants and a commitment to live translation we were able to drive process improvements by getting key people to discuss the issues in real time.

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Ten root causes

Immersive workshops mapped the customer journey, measuring the time it took for customers to have their card reactivated after a dispute.

150 pain points were identified and analysed to determine 10 root cause themes. Thinking creatively, we designed 33 solutions, 20 of which were prioritised to implement in the short and mid term.

Initiatives were assigned to individual leaders, and detailed execution plans for process improvement were created by working together with the business. A Journey Owner was appointed by the local operation, and full time support of an on-the-ground global resource was provided during the first six months of process improvement implementation.

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Quicker return to spending

More than 100,000 customers were positively impacted by this project.

In the next two years the company is anticipating:

• 900bps (32%-41%) increase in top down NPS
• 13pp increase in first call resolution (52%-65%), driving 3m call reduction in call centre
• 30% reduction in fraud

This project was the first successful venture between the bank’s headquarters and a local subsidiary. Through being sensitive to cultural differences we were able to support a closer working relationship.

The customer journey mapping became the first stage in stepping outside of organisational silos, by providing a holistic view of the disputes process.

Through an understanding of cultural differences, changes were implemented which suit local customers and will support long-term customer satisfaction.