There are many different ways that we collaborate. We may collaborate in person. We may collaborate over the phone, through e-mail, using video, conferencing, or social. These are just a few examples. Generally speaking over the course of a collaborative exercise, we'll use most if not all these modes of communications. What remains constant with collaboration is driving toward a common goal. Identifying the desired goal will align collaborative efforts to ensure everybody on the team is focused and striving toward the same results.
Universal Motor Agencies (UMA) has the vision. They believe (and I agree) to achieve the vision of a customer-for-life you must put the customer experience first. Customers will become loyal if they trust you to have their best interests at heart. The first step was improving the customer care experience. Customer contacts are handled faster and more efficiently then ever before. UMA centralized the contact center on a single toll-free number, so the right agents were always available to the customer. Complaints are resolved quicker then before with an integrated escalation process. Finally, the quality of experience for customers calling the help desk was vastly improved by consolidating the communications infrastructure.
While the goal of customer-for-life continues to see tangible results because of the efforts already completed by UMA, they have found additional internal results directly attributed to smarter communications. 
The most significant result is employee satisfaction is up 20%. If your employees aren't satisfied you won't have customers for life. Productivity for employees is up 10%. Not only has productivity and satisfaction increased, but at the same time expenses associated with travel have dropped 40% while IT costs have dropped 30%. These are the results that show innovation and transform the business bringing it to the next level.
Sherif Wahba, IT Director at UMA sums it up perfectly when he says "We achieved a culture change.". By boosting collaboration, UMA has accelerated decision-making and problem solving. The UMA contact center is able to handle more calls. They solve customer issues faster by having the right experts available to best meet the customer needs. UMA understands that in today's digital world the technology used is important, but more important is a culture that puts the needs of the customer first and does what it takes to continually strive to meet that vision.
If you'd like to learn more about Universal Motor Agencies, the full case study is available at: http://cs.co/9005B1Xz1 Let me know your thoughts on the customer-for-life. Are you seeing success in the same? As a customer do you feel companies are not doing enough to maintain your loyalty? I look forward to your comments on this very important topic.
