Overview
Vertex is a business process outsourcing company that specialises in customer management. The company was founded on the principles of best practice and business excellence, and has developed into a successful international organisation that handles more than 34 million client customer accounts. Its quality management system is fundamental to the way Vertex operates, and is certificated to ISO 9001:2000 and the industry specific Customer Contact` Association Standard by LRQA. Vertex also uses the EFQM Excellence Model.
First | Previous | Next | Last
Introduction to Vertex Customer Management
Vertex Customer Management is part of United Utilities, the UK based FTSE 100 multi-utility company. Launched in 1996, Vertex provides outsourcing of front office and back office services to more than 30 clients. It has sites throughout the UK, as well as one in Canada and another in India, and employs 10,000 people.
As a specialist in customer management, Vertex offers its clients a range of services. Each year the company:
- manages more than 34 million client customer accounts
- handles 204 million UK customer transactions
- receives 201 million inbound telephone calls
- makes 19.5 million outbound telephone calls
- despatches 65 million bills and documents
- processes 95 million payments
- processes 10 million cheques
- handles 2 million items of incoming correspondence
- collects £6 billion on behalf of clients.
Working in partnership with its clients, Vertex helps them to improve the service they provide to their customers; using its experience to identify and suggest options that might not have been considered, thereby offering far more than a ‘better service at reduced cost’.
The company believes it offers business transformation capabilities. In order to offer this proposition, the company’s focus from the early days has been on quality, with best practice being an essential element.
Vertex achieved its first certification to ISO 9001 in 1998 for ‘The provision of business process outsourcing to defined and agreed service levels’ from LRQA, followed by corporate certification in 2000. Achieving certification fulfilled the dual objectives of ensuring that its processes and procedures were efficiently managed and provided a competitive edge when tendering for new business.
First | Previous | Next | Last
Starting the journey
“We wanted external verification that the processes we created were right. We were a new player in the marketplace, and we wanted to ensure that potential clients would have confidence in doing business with Vertex.”
David Miller, Business Excellence Manager, Vertex Customer Management.
When Vertex was launched in 1996, it was clear that management processes were a priority for the company to grow and prosper in a competitive market. A management system compliant with ISO 9001 was the preferred choice – and had the added benefit of enabling the company to differentiate itself from a number of its competitors.
David Miller was appointed as business excellence manager, with an initial brief to major on the introduction of ISO 9001.
“At the start the management system processes needed strengthening ,” he said. “We wanted external verification that the processes we created were right. There were two aspects; internal controls and client expectations. We were a new player in the marketplace and we wanted to ensure that potential clients would have confidence in doing business with Vertex.
“We decided to implement an ISO 9001-certified system throughout the organisation to cover all activities – rather than in selected pockets. Most people recognised the business and/or process need for ISO 9001.”
We were impressed that LRQA took the trouble to understand the kind of business we were from the very beginning.
David Miller
Having decided to introduce ISO 9001 throughout the organisation, Vertex adopted a phased approach. A network of quality practitioners was set up, and each client contract had a full-time or part-time business excellence coordinator, depending on its size. David Miller ensured that the quality team met regularly to share experiences and good practice.
“We did not go for the big bang approach,” he said. “We identified which areas of the business we would get certified initially and used these as a foundation from which to learn and expand. We were creating a system from the ground upward and we recognised this would take time.”
LRQA was appointed at the outset. “As a service organisation, we wanted to be sure that our certification body would not simply try to implement a manufacturing ethos in a service environment, where it was not relevant. We were impressed that LRQA took the trouble to understand the kind of business we were from the very beginning.
“They understood that what we wanted was a system that was not only ISO 9001 compliant, but was also relevant to our organisation. Other certification bodies we approached had more of a checklist approach and pre-conceived ideas about what our processes should look like.”
First | Previous | Next | Last
Developing the system
“Quality has got to be business as usual. We spend a lot of time trying to make it seamless in the organisation. Essentially, it is part of people’s jobs.”
David Miller, Business Excellence Manager.
David Miller and the business excellence coordinators began by looking at how the business was managed, in order to establish what change was required.
“In many cases we found we were already doing things the way they should be done under ISO 9001:2000, with corrective and preventive action, although we tended to use the term ‘continuous improvement’. We identified that continuous improvement takes place in different ways, so we talked to LRQA and devised a system that reflected this. It was a question of making this ‘business as usual’ – a system that first and foremost works for the business but then also meets the requirements of the standard.”
“The focus has always been on what value ISO 9001 could bring to Vertex’s business. We tried to focus internal audits around understanding what the business was looking to achieve and what the key issues were, so we created a direct link between business imperatives and what the QMS was providing.”
“This runs throughout the organisation. Quality must be ‘business as usual’. We spend a lot of time trying to make it seamless in the organisation. Essentially, it is part of people’s jobs.”
In the ‘front office’ (call centre environment), this means customer advisors following the right processes and accessing the right information. While many decision making processes are now software driven ‘on screen’, Vertex maintains a regime of call quality monitoring – one of its critical quality assurance tools.
“The customer experience is vital,” said David Miller. “It is not just the process that they go through when they call. It is how they feel afterwards. Do they feel uplifted because their problem has been resolved quickly and professionally? There are clear links between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, and the better we can make the employee experience, the better for everyone.”
To this end, one of the major changes made as a result of the introduction of ISO 9001:2000 was to increase the coaching role of its front line managers. Each is responsible for a team of customer advisors, and Vertex has tried to free them from red tape and bureaucracy such as management reporting and statistics, so they can concentrate on coaching their advisors, helping them to improve their scores in call quality monitoring.
During the introduction of ISO 9001:2000, Vertex was careful to ensure that adequate awareness training took place once the management system was in place. “That meant taking people off-line in groups, talking to them about what we are doing and why we are doing it, something that is not easy to do in a call centre environment, because cost is key. The moment you take people off-line you are paying for it yourself, but it had to be done.”
Other communications included company briefing sessions, intranet communities on business process and business excellence, and employee newsletters when required. Internal audit training was brought in and conducted in-house, using Vertex’s own training materials.
The quality clock starts ticking as soon as Vertex wins a new contract, UK or overseas. “When new contracts are brought in-house from clients the Vertex transition process is implemented, a key element of which is focused on quality,” said David Miller. “This is an in-depth process where we involve LRQA from the start so they can see the transition plan and when will be able to do a full assessment.”
First | Previous | Next | Last
A culture of change
“Quality is not just putting the mechanics in place, it’s about winning the hearts and minds of the people.”
David Miller, Business Excellence Manager.
Since achieving certification to ISO 9001:2000 from LRQA, Vertex has realised a range of benefits, including its primary objectives of creating an efficient organisation with which customers are confident and comfortable.
In achieving this, Vertex has also successfully embedded a culture of quality within the company.
“Quality is not just putting the mechanics in place, it is about winning the hearts and minds of the people,” said David Miller. “We have seen a big shift from people being job-focused to one now where they are job-improvement focused.
“When you visit our operational sites you get a real sense of the improvement culture. Our vision is to be world class – we have more work to do, but we are well on our way. One of our greatest achievements is getting an improvement culture embedded at every level of the organisation, bearing in mind that it is the people who are speaking to customers on the phone or processing bills or providing other services that are adding value to what our clients are paying for. That is why we focus so much effort on the quality of our service to the customer.
David Miller believes that the culture of the organisation is an important reason why it continues to attract business. “When potential clients see what we do and what we are about, it dispels a lot of the myths and pre-conceived ideas about call centres. That is why it is vital that we do not become complacent and lose the culture that we have taken years to create. We have to keep it relevant, energised and invest properly to ensure it is sustainable.”
First | Previous | Next | Last
EFQM Model for improvement
“People are very impressed with this in an industry where tangible benefits are very important.”
David Miller, Business Excellence Manager.
Having achieved ISO 9001:2000, Vertex decided to continue their quest for making quality ‘business as usual’ by expanding their use of the EFQM model as a framework for improvement.
Using the model, the organisation created its own self-assessment process and integrated this into the deployment of its business plan.
“Every year we have a new business plan which sets out what we want to achieve over the next five years, and in very specific terms what we want to achieve in the next 12 months,” said David Miller.
“We use EFQM self-assessment to facilitate identifying our corporate business planning objectives (critical success factors). We conduct workshops within each directorate to identify these objectives which are then to local level. Every individual has objectives within the performance management system to achieve the company objectives.”
The benefits are clear. “The EFQM score is very useful for us internally to see how we are doing, and it is yet another powerful message for clients. People are very impressed with this in an industry where tangible benefits are very important.”
Vertex enjoyed recognition of their quality achievements by winning on the North West Quality Award in 2001.
First | Previous | Next | Last
Relationship with LRQA
“We have a partnership with LRQA and an expectation that goes beyond just a certificate. We want value for money, and we want clear, objective feedback.”
David Miller, Business Excellence Manager.
Vertex’s relationship with LRQA falls into two clear periods: initial discussions when LRQA was appointed at the outset, and the ongoing partnership that has since developed.
Once LRQA were appointed, the relationship began to develop. “We have expectations that go beyond the certificate. We want value for money and clear, objective feedback. When we see our external assessors we tell them what has been happening in the business, what changes have been made, so they can understand what is happening.
“In this way, when they come on site, they can be doing something that is valuable. We do not just want them looking at document control, but more fundamental control issues; issues that may be risks. We work with them on site and they talk to our senior people about the business, not about things such as corrective action and non-conforming product. They are happy to do that.”
The LRQA UK assessor works with fellow LRQA assessors in North America and India to ensure a cohesive approach. LRQA have supported Vertex’s initiative to be accredited to the Contact Centre Association (CCA) standard at its call centre locations.
The CCA scheme was developed as an industry-specific assessable quality management standard. “This was a way for the call centre industry to demonstrate to the outside world that they were very much quality focused, that we had sound practices in place, and that our working environment was good,” said David Miller.
“We were cautious of yet more certificates – we already had our own ISO, Investors in People and EFQM-based quality award – but because this was an industry specific standard, we support it wholeheartedly. We wanted an integrated system that utilised our company-wide ISO 9001:2000 and IiP – as well as the additional emphasis that the CCA were looking for.
“LRQA raised this for us with the CCA, they agreed to the interchange between standards, and we now have a joint approach from the same assessor who can give a dual report that the CCA can review.
“In short it is a discrete but joined-up approach, in which our management system fulfils the needs of ISO 9001:2000, IIP and CCA – which is the only way to go.”
First | Previous | Next | Last
The future
“There is an enormous cost-benefit and everyone is looking for more for less. This is one way of achieving it.”
David Miller, Business Excellence Manager.
The international prospects for Vertex are healthy, and David Miller believes that considerable growth is achievable in its operations in the UK, North America and India.
“Offshoring will continue to grow while there are cost benefits in the same way as commodity manufacturing. Everyone is looking for more for less. This is one way of achieving it. The important thing is that we continue to provide a high quality service and differentiate ourselves from our competitors in whatever way we can.”
First | Previous | Next | Last
To learn more about LRQA products and services, contact our business advisors on 0800 783 2179
Page last modified on 07 February 2007
Article can be found online at:
http://www.lrqa.co.uk/help/casestudies/vertex/
Care is taken to ensure that the information herein is accurate and up-to-date. However, LRQA accepts no responsibility for inaccuracies in, or changes to, such information.
© Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance 2010