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American Express in Canada operates as AMEX Canada Inc. and AMEX Bank of Canada. AMEX Canada Inc. is a leading provider of travel-related services in Canada and assists companies with managing and controlling their business and travel expenses. AMEX Bank of Canada is the issuer of American Express Cards in Canada. Both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of New York-based American Express Travel Related Services Company Inc., the largest operating unit of the American Express Company, which provides a wide range of financial and travel-related services for consumers and companies.
AMEX Canada Inc. manages:
AMEX Bank of Canada manages:
Main Client Groups
Each of the core businesses at AMEX Canada Inc. has clearly defined customer
groups based on product and service offerings which are re-assessed annually as
part of the corporate planning process and throughout the year as new products
and services are launched. The core business groups are:
AMEX Canada Inc. has mature quality systems in place. The organization has demonstrated solid leadership is establishing and maintaining a customer-focused strategic direction. Alignment of organizational goals is maintained through a comprehensive planning process. Strategic Quality Plans are regularly monitored with extensive communication to all employees. Leadership effectiveness is reflected in the organization's strong financial performance as well as significant improvements in key customer, process and shareholder results.
The organization clearly recognizes the importance of the customer. For example, customer satisfaction goals are developed for all employees. As well, a number of mechanisms are available to customers for complaints, assistance, inquiries or needs identification. Empowered employees quickly handle any customer requests - service level agreements are in place for key customer encounter points. Customer data is extensively collected, measured and tracked. Positive customer trends are evident. A wide array of methods is used to measure customer satisfaction as well as analyze data for improvement.
Amex uses the NQI Framework for Business Excellence and the quality assessment tools linked to the Framework. As well, Amex pursues benchmarking with other organizations, customer satisfaction surveys, focus groups, syndicated marketing research studies on consumer/market trends. The business line responding to this survey has particular responsibility for New Customer Acquisition and Servicing (i.e. customer service, marketing offers, relationship management/risk management). Delivery of these services is divided between different service channels, specifically:
In person | 5% |
Phone | 80% |
Fax | 1.67% |
1.67% | |
Electronic Mail | 1.67% |
Internet | 10% |
Kiosk | 0% |
Service level agreements are in place for key customer encounter points and linked to compensation.
Each business unit at AMEX is using a service standard appropriate to their work including: Top2Box; Customer Satisfaction; AHT; TAT; ASA; Representative Knowledge, Courtesy, Accuracy; Industry Service Level; Compliance; etc.
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
There are external customer satisfaction surveys four times a year and focus
groups are held twice annually. There are ongoing consultations with Business to
Business customers. Marked improvements in Top2Box customer satisfaction has
been noted as a result of actions taken in response to survey results. In a
business line where results are flat from one study to another, action plans are
developed, standards reset, benchmarking and best in class processes analyzed,
and executive ownership is assigned to address the situation.
The challenges in monitoring/measuring customer satisfaction were realized in the difficulty of striking a balance between ongoing tracking and refining customer listening tools (e.g. changing questions to reflect process change and customer expectation change). As well, viewing internal performance data for external SAT data holistically presented a challenge. Mechanisms for responding to complaints or redress are used on an ongoing basis throughout the year.
Improvement in customer satisfaction is monitored based on movement on key drivers of satisfaction for a particular process and improvement in overall satisfaction on customer surveys. Internally, staff look at call monitoring and compliance scores/ratings to quantify improvement (list of attributes is long).
The internal elements that contribute most to customer satisfaction are a deep commitment to communication to all levels of the organization (from front line to executive staff), setting an improvement plan with performance targets and ongoing tracking.
Implementation of Service Standards
Being a quality and customer-focused service company, implementation of plans
to measure/improve customer relationships was problem-free. The company's
vision and values are customer-centred; performance evaluations and goals have
customer, shareholder and employee components; incentive reward and recognition
programs in place to reward above and beyond service to customers.
The results from customer service feedback was used to develop service standards. The trend data, industry benchmarks and consultation with research specialists contributed to the development of specific standards. Consultation with internal customers and stakeholders, as well as focus groups with front line staff, also contributed.
Service standards vary from one channel to another and by other customer value/behaviour segmentation. As part of a customer relationship management strategy, customers expect difference levels/types of services from Amex and each channel designs their processes to deliver against those expectations.
Amex shares best practices and improvement stories within the company in other geographical markets and externally with companies in related industries.
Find a balance between ongoing tracking and refining the listening tool to ensure the tool is asking the right questions.
Take an holistic approach to comparing internal performance data against external customer satisfaction data.
Karen Peart, Consultant
Amex
Telephone: 905-474-8398
Fax: 905-474-8363