Refining the customer care service strategy at vietcombank ho chi minh branch

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT …….✦✦✦…… INTERNSHIP REPORT REFINING THE CUSTOMER CARE SERVICE STRATEGY AT VIETCOMBANK HO CHI MINH BRANCH Company Name: Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam - HCMC Branch Advisor: TRAN THI TUYET Supervisor: DAO VAN DUC – Deputy Manager of Corporate Service Department NGUYEN NHAT HOANG – Officer of Corporate Service Department Student Full Name: NGUYEN NINH VINH THUY Student ID: 1953118 Date of submission: …/08/2022 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT …….✦✦✦…… INTERNSHIP REPORT REFINING THE CUSTOMER CARE SERVICE STRATEGY AT VIETCOMBANK HO CHI MINH BRANCH Company Name: Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam - HCMC Branch Advisor: TRAN THI TUYET Supervisor: DAO VAN DUC – Deputy Manager of Corporate Service Department NGUYEN NHAT HOANG – Officer of Corporate Service Department Student Full Name: NGUYEN NINH VINH THUY Student ID: 1953118 Date of submission: …/08/2022 COMPANY’S EVALUATION Responsibility at work: Official intern student at Corporate Banking Services Department – Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh city branch Student follows the instruction of Department Leader and direct supervisor Professionalism: Student arrives at work-place on time, accomplishes the full duration of internship at Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh city branch Communication skill: Student is sociable at work-place, has appropriate attitudes accordingly in daily interactions List of work assignments: (Please rate the student in the following areas where relevant on a scale of 1–5 = Excellent and = Poor.) No Assignment description Learn about Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh city branch Rating Research the working process at Corporate Banking Services Department Read the reference documents 4 Support when needed at the office 5 Directly participate in customer-caring in practice 5 Further comments (including other areas if any): Nguyen Ninh Vinh Thuy has done his internship at Corporate Banking Services Department – Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh city branch with a positive attitude, clear target that is responsive to the actual requirements at work The internship report is fully completed under the direction of Department Leader and direct supervisor On behalf of Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh city branch, Department Leader of Corporate Banking Services Department sincerely acknowledge Nguyen Ninh Vinh Thuy’s participation at the department and support in customer care as well as related tasks Overall, what would you grade this student? 95/100 SUPERSIVOR (Signed and stampedin the internship evaluation form) Mr Dao Van Duc SUPERVISOR’S EVALUATION SUPERSIVOR Mrs Tran Thi Tuyet ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and the help of several individuals who in one way or another contributed and extended their valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study I would like to express my gratitude to Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Bach Khoa University) for including internship program as a two-credit course which has provided an opportunity to gain practical working experience in the organization My sincere gratitude to Mrs Le Thi Hoa Binh, branch Vice President, and Mrs Doan Thi Phuong Chi, Department Manager, for giving me a chance to my internship in the Corporate Banking Services Department (CBSD) of this organization, Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam - HCMC Branch I am thankful to Mr Dao Van Duc, Deputy Manager, and Mr Nguyen Nhat Hoang, Officer, for devoting time from their busy schedule and explaining how work is being done in CBSD and assigning me with various tasks during these weeks of internship period I would also like to extend special thanks to the entire staff for their full co-operation, guidance and support during my internship Lastly, I would like to thank Mrs Tran Thi Tuyet, professor at Bach Khoa University, for her valuable Instructions and Guidance during the Internship program ABSTRACT Globalization has helped us create spectacular economic development opportunities in the context of deepening integration, but it has also encountered many difficulties Domestic banks will have to compete fiercely and equally with foreign banks, particularly in the banking and finance industry Customers decide on sales based on their satisfaction with products and services, so the existence and development of a bank, like any other business, is heavily reliant on them Customers' ability to continue to choose and use products is very high when they are satisfied; therefore, not only businesses, but the Bank, always puts customers first in developing and providing new products and services that meet their needs and tastes In recent years, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City Branch has prioritized "customer care" service, implementing numerous synchronized measures, constantly innovating, and achieving positive results such as an increase in the number of new customers, card sales, capital mobilization, and so on However, due to the impact of many different factors such as people, technology, products and services , the work of "customer care" has not yet met the requirements This report contains the analysis of the organization’s customer care service and proposals of how they should refine it CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES 10 ABBREVIATIONS 11 PROBLEM STATEMENT 12 CHAPTER I: COMPANY INTRODUCTION .13 1.1 The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam .13 1.2 The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City Branch 16 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BASIS OF CUSTOMER CARE/CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP 19 2.1 Definitions 19 2.2 Overview of customer care activities .21 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 22 3.1 Research process .22 3.2 Time and location of research 22 3.3 Descriptive statistics method 22 3.4 Research designing 23 3.5 Research tools 24 CHAPTER IV: THE REALITY OF CUSTOMER CARE IN BUSINESS SERVICE DEPARTMENT – VCBHCM .31 4.1 The reality of customer care in CBSD1 – VCBHCM .31 4.2 Evaluation of the reality of customer care in CBSD1 – VCBHCM .33 CHAPTER V: REFINING THE CUSTOMER CARE STRATEGY FOR VCBHCM 34 5.1 Base proposal and refinement of customer care service of VCBHCM in the near future 34 5.2 Customer care strategy proposal for near future 36 5.3 Solutions for implementation of new strategies 39 CONCLUSION 41 LESSONS LEARNED .42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES 44 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 IFE matrix sample .25 Table 3.2 EFE matrix sample 26 Table 3.4 SWOT matrix sample 27 Table 3.5 IE matrix sample .28 Table 3.6 QSPM sample .2 Table 4.1 Department sales results of the recent years 31 Table 4.2 Customer’s feeling evaluation 32 Y Table 5.1 EFE matrix result 34 Table 5.2 IFE matrix result .35 Table 5.3 SWOT matrix & strategy reccomendations .35 Table 5.4 IE matrix result 37 Table 5.5 QSPM result 37 LIST OF FIGUR Figure 1.1 Vietcombank’s branch and subsidiary network 14 Figure 1.2 Vietcombank’s organizational structure 15 Figure 1.3 Mr Nghiem Xuan Thanh, contemporaneous Chairman of the board of Vietcombank, presenting in the 40 years of VCB HCM celebration 17 Figure 1.4 VCB HCM structure 18 Y Figure 2.1 Purchase decision process of customer 20 Figure 3.1 Research implementation 22 10 CHAPTER IV: THE REALITY OF CUSTOMER CARE IN BUSINESS SERVICE DEPARTMENT – VCBHCM 4.1 The reality of customer care in CBSD1 – VCBHCM Having recognized the importance of Sales Officers to the quality of providing services to customers and, generally, to the customer care activity of the bank, in 2018, VCB HCM had a significant change in terms of customer care strategy Before the decision was carried on, back in 2017, VCB HCM used a strategy called “One-on-one care” which literally means that one officer (from CBSD1) would entirely take care of their customers from the front-end to the back-end functions (information was collected from interviewing an officer) After the decision was signed by the branch leader, VCBHCM customer care stratgey was changed to “Functional caring” which means duties are assigned to functional departments (people who work in CBSD1 only take part in taking care of customer aftersale, the marketing and signing contract process are done by the marketing department); this startegy is still applied till this day To compare the effectiveness of the two strategies, the author collected the department sales results of the most recent years (shown in Table 4.1) to have the general idea of how the new strategy was performed (see Aapendix … for detailed interview questions) Table 4.1 Department sales results of the recent years Factors Number of new customers Net revenue (million VND) 2017 158 1028.16 2018 133 735.44 2019 2020 2021 119 35 117 687.22 118.70 718.66 (Source: Deputy Manager) The table show that ever since the new strategy was applied, there was no improvement in terms of number of new custoers as well as nwt revenue; however, VCBHCM CBSD1 shoed no reaction to the situation This was because they saw this as a special case; according to the interview with Deputy Manager, in 2018, the department was getting used to the new plan of customer care and it was actually going as panned Unluckily, 2019 and 2020 were when the COVID-19 pandemic happened and that severely affected the performance of the entire organization (not only the CBSD1); this was the reason bad numbers show up in the table After the 31 incidence, the department as well as the organizaion tried their best to get back at where they were as the numbers of 2021 performance shown in the table Having this analyzed, the administrative board decided to extend the duration of the implimentation until the end of 2023 to see how it actually works On the other hand, by talking to Mr Nguyen Nhat Hoang, an officer of CBSD1, the author knew that “One-on-one care” was actually more effective than “Functional caring” due to customer familiarity He said that taking care of customers from the very beginning (when signing contract) until aftersale as the old time gave a more confortable feeling for customer due to the connection between CBSD1 employee and customer was much closer Additionally, as planned, the survey about VCBHCM customer care was carried on from June 20th to August 1st (2022) with 50 customers After sending out the survey to the chosen customers, the data was put into Excel to process and calculate the average point for each factor The author, then, had the processed data summarized in the table below of how VCBHCM has been taking care of their customer Table 4.2 Customer’s feeling evaluation Factors Rating customers 0% 0% 26% 12% 62% point 4.36 entirely and understandably Employees have positive attitudes 0% 0% 2% 16% 82% 4.80 with customers Services are served on time Employees are knowledgeable and 0% 0% 0% 0% 24% 14% 36% 20% 40% 66% 4.16 4.52 their 0% 0% 12% 14% 74% 4.62 and 0% 0% 14% 10% 36% 24% 20% 12% 30% 54% 3.66 4.10 Employees instruct Total always ready to answer customers’ questions Customers feel that information is highly secured Short wait-time Employees react quickly precisely whenever customers inform having problems 32 Employees are well dressed when 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% 5.00 they meet up with customers Customers feel respected and 0% 0% 10% 26% 64% 4.54 fulfilled after every care time Customers will recommend VCB’s 20% 16% 8% 40% 16% 3.16 services to friends and family Customers feel connected to the 28% 33% 10% 15% 14% 2.54 support agency (Source: Survey) 4.2 Evaluation of the reality of customer care in CBSD1 – VCBHCM 4.2.1 Advantages & Disadvantages According to Table 4.2, most of the customers have evaluated the quality of customer care in VCBHCM above average To be specific, the table shows how well-trained the employees are as they are rated very high in terms of instruction to customers, attitudes toward customers, reflexibility, information security as well as manners However, it seems that customers have to wait for long time in order to use VCB services; and due to the “Functional caring” strategy as Mr Hoang said, there shows minor to no familiarity from customer The first disadvantage is very significant but unchangeable and will be explained clearly in the next section 4.2.2 Causality To be specific about the long wait time in terms of experiencing services at CBSD1, it is all about customers’ overall feeling such as: High level of information security, network of procedures for legitimacy… VCB also needs customers to understand that the location of the branch may be far or near accordingly, so maintenance time should be secrued as fast as possible 33 CHAPTER V: REFINING THE CUSTOMER CARE STRATEGY FOR VCBHCM 5.1 Base proposal and refinement of customer care service of VCBHCM in the near future 5.1.1 Opportunities ad Threats Evaluation There are, in fact, a lot of external factors that influence the customer care quality and the author had chosen major factors to be evaluated as shown in the table below Table 5.1 EFE matrix result External factors Opportunities Science and Technology development The need of POS terminal is increasing Likelihood to attract high-class customers Threats Competition from competitors New comers into the market Focusing more on organizations than individual customer Technology is getting more complex High-quality requirement Total Weight Rating Weighted score 0.134 0.236 4 0.536 0.944 0.117 0.351 0.125 0.25 0.122 0.244 0.065 0.072 0.129 1.00 2 - 0.13 0.144 0.258 2.857 (Source: Survey) The weighted score is 2.857 implies that the organization ability to react to the outside environment is above average but not really good The currents strategies have helped the bank react positively to these opportunities and threats 5.1.2 VCBHCM’s strengths and weaknesses 34 Table 5.2 IFE matrix result Internal factors Strengths Strong and stable financial resources Great human resources Qualified and enthusiastic leadership Legitimate reputation and brand name Variety of products and services High-quality products and services Weaknesses Product diversity Delays to wait for IT department to solve software problem Long wait-time due to many procedures High cost Total Weight Rating Weighted score 0.084 0.076 0.118 0.119 0.128 0.079 3 3 0.336 0.228 0.354 0.476 0.384 0.237 0.049 0.098 0.112 0.224 0.111 0.124 1.00 2 - 0.222 0.248 2.807 (Source: Survey) 5.1.3 SWOT matrix formation By grouping the factors used in EFE and IFE matrix, the author have come up with a completed SWOT matrix with strategy reccomenedations as shown in Table 5.3 Table 5.3 SWOT matrix & strategy reccomendations Opportunities (O) Threats (T) O1: Science and Technology T1: development O2: The Competition from competitors need of terminal is increasing POS T2: New comers into the market O3: Likelihood to attract T3: high-class customers Focusing more on organizations than individual customer T4: Technology is getting more complex T5: requirement 35 High-quality S1, S2, S3, S4 – O1, O2 Strengths (S) S1: Strong and stable  Marketing financial resources Development S2: Strategy Great human S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 – T1, T2, T3, T4, T5  Horizontal Combination resources S3: Strategy Qualified and enthusiastic leadership S4: Legitimate reputation and brand name S5: Variety of products and services S6: High-quality products and services Weaknesses (W) W1: Product diversity W2, W3 – O3 W1, W2, W3, W4 – T1,  Additional Service W2: Delays to wait Development for IT department to Strategy solve T2, T3, T4, T5  Weak-point Improvement software Strategy problem W3: Long wait-time due to many procedures W4: High cost (Source: Generalized and created by author) 5.2 Customer care strategy proposal for near future 5.2.1 Strategy proposal from IE Matrix (Internal-External) Table 5.4 IE matrix result Total score of the IFE matrix Strong Moderate Weak 36 (4.0 – 3.0) (2.99 – 2.0) (1.99 – 1.0) I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX High Total score of the EFE matrix (4.0  3.0) Moderate (2.99 – 2.0) Low (1.99 – 1.0) (Source: Generalized and created by author) With the total score of EFE matrix is 2.857 and the total score of IFE matrix is 2.807, the IE matrix shows that the position of VCB belongs to III, V, VII (specifically V) with the strategy of hold and maintain The suitable strategies with VCB’s capability are: Marketing Development Strategy; Additional Service Development Strategy 5.2.2 Strategy proposal from SWOT Matrix According to the SWOT matrix and the IE matrix analysis, the author proposes the strategies: - Strategy 1: Marketing Development Strategy - Strategy 2: Additional Service Development Strategy - Strategy 3: Weak-point Improvement Strategy - Strategy 4: Horizontal Combination Strategy - Strategy 5: Restructuring Human Resource Strategy 5.2.3 Finalizing strategy Table 5.5 QSPM result Factors Strat Strat2 Strat3 Strat4 Strat5 External factors Science and Technology development The need of POS terminal is increasing Likelihood to attract high-class 12.00 12.96 5.68 Total Attractive Score 12.00 9.00 9.00 12.96 12.96 6.48 8.52 5.68 8.52 6.00 9.72 8.52 customers Competition from competitors New comers into the market Focusing more on organizations than 6.00 10.64 5.96 8.00 7.98 8.94 8.00 10.64 8.94 individual customer 37 4.00 5.32 8.94 6.00 7.98 8.94 Technology is getting more complex High-quality requirement Internal Factors Strong and stable financial resources Great human resources Qualified and enthusiastic leadership Legitimate reputation and brand name Variety of products and services High-quality products and services Product diversity Delays to wait for IT department to solve software problem Long wait-time due to many procedures High cost Total 7.02 10.08 8.22 7.38 9.84 12.08 11.92 8.64 10.88 10.40 13.44 7.26 7.02 9.36 9.36 10.08 13.44 13.44 Total Attractive Score 8.22 10.96 10.96 7.38 4.92 7.38 9.84 6.56 9.84 12.08 12.08 9.06 8.94 8.94 5.96 11.52 5.76 5.76 2.72 5.44 10.88 5.2 10.40 10.40 10.96 7.38 9.84 9.06 5.96 11.52 10.88 10.40 10.08 7.26 158.7 13.44 7.26 159.9 6.72 7.26 147.7 10.08 7.26 157.3 4.68 6.72 170.4 4 (Source: Generalized and created by author) So, the QSPM show that: - Strategy (Marketing Development Strategy) has the highest attractive score with 170.4 points and it is going to be the first chosen strategy - Strategy (Reconstructing Human Resource Strategy) is the second strategy to be chosen with 158.74 points According to the result, VCB HCM CBSD1 should focus on Marketing Development Strategy first in the next setep of the custome care strategy developing process In the mean time of the implementation, there will be eveluation and correction throughout the process 5.3 Solutions for implementation of new strategies 5.3.1 Reconstruction Human Resource Strategy: Having a team of good, dynamic, and resourceful officers and employees, that corporation can not only outperform its competitors, but also thrive in the market The reality is that the banking business is not an exception in this case When conducting human resource planning to influence the strategy customer care strategy for Vietcombank, three important factors that Viettel must consider are: identification of human resource needs, selection, and training and development 38 - Identification of human resource needs: When Vietcombank conducts human resource planning, this is an important job To achieve ultimate success, Vietcombank must determine how to detail human resource needs for network development strategy mobile network delivery This includes specifying the number of officers, employees, work type, and skill level required At the same time, Vietcombank requires a detailed plan for obtaining the necessary human resources - Selection: Vietcombank must carry out the selection process to obtain the necessary human resources after determining in detail, specifically the need for personnel resources The selection and recruitment of human resources must also be closely related to Vietcombank's strategic direction and the next goal that Vietcombank wishes to achieve To this effectively, Vietcombank must develop a system of standards and selection criteria for each position, each specific type of job in the customer care duty: Qualifications, professional training, work experience in similar positions, foreign language proficiency, information technology qualifications, dynamism and enthusiasm in all work - Training and developemt: Because of the undeniably important roles that staff play, training and human resource development should be valued This should be done on a frequent basis The content of education and training should focus not only on improving staff qualifications, skills, and techniques, but also on propagating Vietcombank's customer care goals and strategies These activities are aimed not only at selecting new officers and employees, but also at retaining existing officers and employees Develop human resources to ensure strategy implementation while keeping quality in mind Furthermore, Vietcombank must have policies and plans in place for annual retraining of human resources, as well as create favorable conditions for them to self-train and improve their professional skills 5.3.2 Marketing Development Strategy: Vietcombank is a leading bank in Vietnam with a team of knowledgeable and friendly employees If Vietcombank wants to strengthen customers' trust and high credibility in the bank, these are the things that they should do: 39 - Creating a positive image of Vietcombank in the minds of customers and gradually gaining their acceptance posters, logos, slogans, general headquarters designs, interior and exterior workplace decoration, as well as types, service quality, transaction styles Additionally, the advertising must be done synchronously and consistently throughout the system - Promoting co-contributions to social security and the community by implementing scholarship fundraising programs, organizing charitable sporting events, and sponsoring public projects Building and developing the bank's brand name should be done on a regular and continuous basis Vietcombank should pay more attention to marketing and consider it an important activity in its business and development strategy, bringing banking products and services to all customers, attracting customers to Vietcombank, and establishing a close and sustainable relationship between customers and Vietcombank 40 CONCLUSION It was an absolute worthwhile experience working at the Vietcombank HCM The friendly welcoming staff and the space they have created for a trainee/intern allowed me with ample opportunities to learn and know myself as a worker This experience brought out my strength and also the areas I needed to improvise It added more confidence to my professional approach, built a stronger positive attitude and taught me how to work in team as a player The primary objective of an internship is to gather a real-life working experience and put their theoretical knowledge in practice I am grateful to the entire team of Corporate Banking Services Department of the bank for their unprecedented support to make my working experience truly rewarding Especially working in this department made me realize my competencies and level of understanding regarding the human resources On completion of this internship period, I came to know about the importance of customer care and the role of Sale Agency in an organization As an intern, though I had a limited space to work, I still managed to grab plentiful of experiences I made the best of every opportunity I was given and made the utmost use of my abilities and knowledge to fulfill all my responsibilities I could implement my academic skills into practice and my efforts were highly acknowledged There is however some gap between our theoretical knowledge and real-life practice, yet the managerial level staff members are quite open towards upgrading current approach, which was extremely motivating Hence, I can sum up by saying that my internship experience was a milestone to my academic and professional experience I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that came along every single day I could also bring some minor improvisations during my internship which were able to leave their marks These lessons that I have learned will be a valuable one for my future endeavors as well 41 LESSONS LEARNED After the duration of internship at Vietcombank HCMC, I have gained some experience for myself that I think might be helpful for my future First, it is very important to condition and adapt my mind and my body to this new way of living Working is far different studying in university, not adjusting to the new schedule could mean that getting trapped in a cycle of no way out Being behind by not completing work on time and trying completing everything in one night made me frustrated and stressful To avoid this cycle, I had to come up with a list of must-to-do things as following: ask supervisor for an overview of what is expected to be done; familiarise with new things that I make interactions with daily; not rush, just give the body and the mind time to get used to things Secondly, being on time is unexceptable It is not simply how much time that I have to work, it is also about the reputation – the way people look at me Thirdly, separation between work life and personal life makes me feel more prfessional Human connections at work are not the same as in university, people come to work with the mindset to work, so they mostly talk about work and sometimes joke a bit Fourthly, looking for a mentor will solve half of the problems at work Working is not simply utilizing theories learned from textbooks, it is actually accumulating experience; so, an experienced mentor would be necessary I think these are the 04 things that I learned from the internship program 42 REFERENCES David, F R (2019) Strategic Management: A Competitive Advantage Approach, Concepts and Cases, 17th edition Pearson Denomme, D (2021, December) Customer Overview & Concept Retrieved from Study.com: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-customer-definitionoverview.html Dharmadipsinh, G (2018) Comparative Analysis Products and Services for Axis Bank Duc, D V (2022) Deputy Manager (N N Thuy, Interviewer) Hoang, N N (2022) Officer (N N Thuy, Interviewer) Jr, S (2002) Organizational Behavior 7th Edition Paul, A (2021) The Human Resource Management Practices in Social Islamai Bank Limited Vietcombank (2022) Retrieved from https://portal.vietcombank.com.vn/about/Pages/Home.aspx? devicechannel=default 43 APPENDICES Appendix 1&2 Evaluation of S, W, O, T from officers Importance Weight Factors Rating Science and Technology development 4 The need of POS terminal is increasing 4 Likelihood to attract high-class customers 4 Competition from competitors 4 New comers into the market 4 4 Focusing more on organizations than individual customer Technology is getting more complex 4 High-quality requirement 4 Strong and stable financial resources 4 Great human resources 4 10 11 Qualified and enthusiastic leadership 4 12 Legitimate reputation and brand name 4 13 Variety of products and services 4 14 High-quality products and services 4 15 Product diversity 4 16 4 17 Delays to wait for IT department to solve software problem Long wait-time due to many procedures 4 18 High cost 4 (Source: Designed by author) Appendix Customer question booklet Factors Employees instruct customers entirely and understandably Employees have positive attitudes with customers Services are served on time Employees are knowledgeable and always ready to answer customers’ 44 Rating Total point questions Customers feel that information is highly secured Short wait-time Employees react quickly precisely whenever their and customers inform having problems Employees are well dressed when they meet up with customers Customers feel respected and fulfilled after every care time Customers will recommend VCB’s services to friends and family Customers feel connected to the support agency (Source: Design by author) 45