Relationship between business process improvement and customer satisfaction at vietnam international bank (VIB bank)

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH - NGUYỄN THANH HÀ RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT VIB BRANCH MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA CẢI TIẾN QUY TRÌNH KINH DOANH VỚI SỰ HÀI LÒNG CỦA KHÁCH HÀNG TẠI CÁC CHI NHÁNH NGÂN HÀNG QUỐC TẾ (VIB) LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH HÀ NỘI - 2018 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH - NGUYỄN THANH HÀ RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT VIB BRANCH MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA CẢI TIẾN QUY TRÌNH KINH DOANH VỚI SỰ HÀI LÒNG CỦA KHÁCH HÀNG TẠI CÁC CHI NHÁNH NGÂN HÀNG QUỐC TẾ (VIB) Chuyên ngành: Quản trị kinh doanh Mã số: 60 34 01 02 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS TRẦN HUY PHƯƠNG Hà Nội - 2018 DECLARATION The author confirms that the research outcome in the thesis is the result of author’s independent work during study and research period and it is not yet published in other’s research and article The other’s research result and documentation (extraction, table, figure, formula,and other document) used in the thesis are cited properly and the permission (if required) is given The author is responsible in front of the Thesis Assessment Committee, Hanoi School of Business and Management, and the laws for abovementioned declaration Date: Jan, 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I have gained huge knowledge, skill and insights from my MBA course The course raises my capacity of administration and management up to the next level I am now very confident in my position of management I would like to extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to all those who have made this Thesis to be possible I woud like to express my great gratitude to my supervisor Ph.D Tran Huy Phuongfor her useful comments, remarks and engagement during my process of doing this master thesis Also, I would like to give my sincere thanks tocustomers of VIB, in my survey, who have willingly spent their precious time joining the interview Sincere thanks are extended to the Faculty of International Training Vietnam National University, Hanoi for equipping me with huge knowledge and skills through various interesting and practical subjects I also would like to thanks my classmates for their friendship and reciprocal encouragement to make our class time to be unforgettable time Lastly, I would like to give my great thanks to my family who always standby me during the past two years and encourages me to keep moving from the beginning of my study TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES i LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS ii INTRODUCTION 1 Background to the study Statement of the problem Objectives of the study 4 Research questions Significance of the study Overview of research methodology 6.1 Data collection 6.2 Data analysis method Scope of the study Structure of thesis Chapter 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ON CUSTOMER SERVICE PROCEDURES AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT COMMERCIAL BANKS 1.1 Research overview 1.2 Basic concepts 12 1.2.1 Customer 12 1.2.2 Customer service 13 1.2.3 Procedures of customer service 13 1.2.4 Customer satisfaction 14 1.3 Role and characteristics of customer service procedures 14 1.3.1 Role of customer service procedures 14 1.3.2 Characteristics of customer service procedures 15 1.4 Relationship between customer service procedures and customer satisfaction 16 1.5 Influence of factors of customer service procedures on customer satisfaction 17 1.5.1 Time of procedure implementation 17 1.5.2 Human resources in procedure implementation 18 1.5.3 Convenience of procedures 19 1.5.4 Safety in procedure implementation 19 1.5.5 Flexibility in procedure implementation 20 1.6 Experience in designing customer service procedures to improve customer satisfaction at some commercial banks 21 1.6.1 Experience of BIDV 21 1.6.2 Experience of Vietcombank 23 1.6.3 Experience lessons for VIB 26 Chapter 2: REALITY OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARD PROCEDURES FOR CREDIT AND CREDIT CARD GRANTING SERVICES 27 2.1 Overview of Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank 27 2.1.1 The formation and development process 27 2.1.2 Business mission and function 29 2.1.3 Organizational structure 30 2.1.4 Distribution system 30 2.1.5 The results of the banking business 31 2.2 Reality of customer satisfaction toward procedures for credit and credit card granting services 32 2.2.1 Overview of procedures for credit and credit card granting services 32 2.2.2 Analysis of factors affecting procedures for credit and credit card granting services 45 2.3 VIB General assessment of credit and credit card granting procedures at VIB 56 2.3.1 Factors making customers satisfied 57 2.3.2 Factors making customers dissatisfied 57 2.3.3 Causes of factors making customers dissatisfied 58 Chapter 3: SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE PROCEDURES TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT VIB 60 3.1 Development orientation of VIB 60 3.1.1 General development orientation 60 3.1.2 Development orientation of credit and credit card services at VIB 61 3.2 Solutions to improve credit and credit card procedures to enhance customer satisfaction at VIB 63 3.2.1 Specific solutions 63 3.2.2 Supporting solutions 66 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 72 REFERENCES 74 APPENDIX 76 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: No of survey’s responses for required competencies Table 2.1: Business results of Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank 31 Table 2.2 Lending process description 36 Table 2.3: Credit card process description 42 Table 2.4: Assessment of customer on time service performance 47 Table 2.5: Activity of training of human resources at VIB 49 Table 2.6: Assessment of clients in human resources at VIB 50 Table 2.7: Customer reviews of convenience 52 Table 2.8: Customer evaluations of safety 54 Table 2.9: Customer reviews of flexibility 55 i LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS Chart 1.1: The process of credit services deployed in BIDV 22 Chart 1.2: The process of implementing the credit card service in BIDV 23 Chart 1.3: The process of credit services deployed at Vietcombank 26 Figure 2.1: Organizational structure of VIB 30 Process 2.1: Current Lending Procedure Part A Generate Leads & Perform Sales 34 Process 2.2: Current Lending Procedure Part B Manage Originations 35 Process 2.3: Current Lending Procedure Part C Process Contract; Process Collateral; Disburse Fund 35 Process 2.4: Current credit card granting procedure Part A Generate Leads & Perform Sales 40 Process 2.5: Current credit card granting procedure Part B Manage Originations 41 Process 2.6: Current credit card granting procedure Part C Process Contract, Perform Collateral; Disburse Fund 41 Figure 2.2: Average transaction processing time 46 ii INTRODUCTION Background to the study Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase Everyone in the organization is providing one or all of these- perhaps they recognize which ones perhaps not Kurtenbach (2000) explains that those who are successful in customer service rank their customers experience as the top priority Ettore (2001) is of the view that, concentrating on current customer’s information can and should be obtained to better understand their view of the service provided The quality of service provided determines the level of satisfaction of the customer even though what is seen as quality by one customer may not necessarily be quality to another Customer satisfaction is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation In a competitive marketplace where a business competes for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy Customer satisfaction is an asset that should be monitored and managed just like any physical asset The relationship between customer service and customer satisfaction is a vital one banking services Two groups can be switched together depending on each period and changed velocity of market For example, credit card process can be treated as a special In detail, three major changes can be implemented: - Process Contract stage should be move to be processed earlier The contract can be composed by Branch and sign off at proposal step The reason is Credit Card product is quite simple and basically Branch’s official can estimate the limit of customer By the way, the approver level will act the role to accept or decline the limit, no much more approval condition following - Process collateral should be moved to Card Operation team That means Card Operation will act two tasks including Process Collateral & Card Issuance based on one request of Branch It would save time in whole process - As mentioned above, card is simple & familiar product so that should implement the model to support appraisal & approval, we call ―Score Card‖ The next point we will discuss more detail Implement scorecard tool to save the time of review, appraisal and approval Based on the 20 years lending historical data, VIB can identify and measure the risk of some specific lending segmentation (E.g.Staffs loan, Credit card, etc.) via a portfolio of parameters And of course, this model should only apply for some standardize products or segmentation For others or non-standardize, the traditional process still supports The expectation is Branch only need to fulfill some defined input then the scorecard will provide the result including limit, conditions as approval decision On this way, about 70% of customer request can be solved quickly and easily Naturally, the model should be maintained and adjusted time by time to catch up the market However, that is the task of back end team of Bank Under the view of customer & front end business, it improves the quality of service significantly The sample is VP Bank has implemented successfully the scorecard model for auto loan from 2016 Implement automation system to replace a half of human tasks in process Some tasks can be considered as: - Lead collection: Almost the lead is come from the development of existing customer relations of Sales guy However, the huge leads can be mined efficiency from other sources such as cross selling among branch & department, digital banking, call center, partnership For these sources type, it is required a tool or system to manage - Pre-Qualify: Branch runs prequalify for hundreds of customers per day However, almost of result is used for one time and one purpose only With a tracking tool, one result can reuse efficiency to save time and cost Besides, it is also available to other purposes such as management, audit, report etc - Supporting automation system for whole process: Automation is engaging technology to things for reducing the level of human intervention Automation has become a great tool almost in all industries due to the numerous advantages it offers, and the banking industry cannot afford to execute its duties without it Some advantages can indicate as: o Improved Efficiency: There are benefits because you experience fast and efficient transactions and compliance Besides reduced risks of human error o Increased Productivity: It eliminates the tedious, repetitive, and cumbersome tasks such as paperwork often associated with the banking process o Improved Personalization: Increasing personalization boosts customer response and conversion rates and increases returns on marketing investment As we discuss above, Score Card should be implemented But it would be greater when Score Card is integrated into an automated system It is not only save time but also to control the risk of implemented in wrong way 3.2.2 Supporting solutions 3.2.2.1 Solutions on time of implementation At present, VIB has fairly complete credit/ credit card procedures.However, to shorten the implementation time and enhance customer satisfaction, the system of credit/credit card should be simplified to further minimize the waiting time of customers To this, VIB may consider applying the following measures: For large and long-standing customers of VIB:Whenever there are needs to use products, VIB can simplify the analysis and approval which are conducted through multiple levels and stages to speed up the procedure, create the credibility, satisfaction of customers, and commitment to use services for a long time - When carrying out credit/ credit card procedures at VIB, customers’documents usually have to go through the approval level The waiting time for approval usually takes up half the time of the procedure Therefore, in order to shorten this time, VIB should assignstaffs specializing in approving credit/ credit card documents and set a specific time frame in the dayfor specialized leaders to focus on solving problems arising in the implementation of credit/ credit procedures to shorten the waiting time of customers, creating customer satisfaction with the services provided by the bank 3.2.2.2 Solutions on human resources Human resources are always the decisive factor in any business activity of the bank Therefore, the training and retraining of staffs, especially credit / credit card staffs, must be carried out regularly This is an indispensable activity for the bank's long-term business This aims at minimizing risks due to subjective reasons and improving the efficiency of credit/ credit card granting procedures VIB is a bank with a team of highly qualified staffs who are trained through both formal and in-service training courses in banking industry in general and credit operations in particular However, due to the complex nature and daily fluctuations of the market economy,credit/ credit card granting activities are becoming more diversified and complicated, rapidly changing compared to the adaptability of credit staffs Therefore, for the credit staffs to complete their assigned tasks and apply the most effective and safest procedures in credit/ credit card granting activities, first of all, the bank must have a strict and synchronous management structure, always sticking to the actual situation, building a team of solid and enthusiastic staffs with good professional qualifications and knowledge To this, the bank needs to conduct the following things: - Regularly organize professional training courses on new accounting regimes, technical methods for project appraisal, and methods of analyzing economic activities; supplement legal knowledge and update new policies of the Party and State in each period - Recruit new human resources with good professional skills,good levels of foreign language, informatics and other social knowledge, good moral quality, and stable thought - Develop a long-term human resource plan; arrange and rearrange the staffs to promote the strengths and reduce weaknesses of each employee; adopt policies to support and encourage in terms of both material and spiritual life in order to raise the responsibility and working capacity of each person; create a consistent and efficient working apparatus Thus, the specialization of credit staffs’ rights and responsibilities will contribute to lightening the burden on the staffs and increase the sense of responsibility of the credit staffs with their assigned tasks, helping to complete the work better and ensurethe safety in the implementation of procedures 3.2.2.3 Solutions on convenience Currently, the credit / credit card granting procedures of VIB has to go through many stages with many paper work, and the process of credit/ credit card approval has to go through various levels of authority and depends on the subjective opinions of leaders of many leaders This makes it difficult for customers to use the bank’s services The problem raised for VIB is that in addition to complying with credit/ credit card procedures issued by the Director General, it is necessary to simplify the credit/ credit card granting procedures to reduce the workload,facilitate customers’ access to loans, and ensure business and consumption opportunities for customers To facilitate the credit/ credit card procedures at VIB, unnecessary paperwork should be eliminated A loan applicationdoes not necessarily follow the sequence of departments, especially when customers have had a long-term relationship with the bank The system of credit/ credit card procedures must be built in a frameworkso that the bank is easy to managecustomers while creating favorable conditions for customers in declaring information For contracts with pledges, collaterals or guarantee, the contents must be concise and brief; the method of dealing withguarantee assets must be specified in the contracts to avoid unnecessary later incidents Papers provingthe ownership and legal use of property should also be clearly stated in the contracts and included in the credit/ credit card contracts for managingand using when necessary In addition, the way to access customers’ documents should also be changed to create the most convenient conditions for customers when want to contact the credit staffs The bank should assign each credit staffs to be in charge of each field, area or each specific type of enterprise This assignment must be publicized so that when customers need to contact credit staffs, they can directly contact the responsiblepeople This is ascientific way of working that the bank should apply 3.2.2.4 Solutions on safety In order to improve the credit/ credit card granting procedures of VIB, in the coming time the bank should continue to research and apply new technology and create more value added products and services At the same time, the bank should focus on the safety and security of customers’ information in the age of digital technology nowadays In order to create the basis for ensuring safety in credit/ credit card granting procedures, VIB should organize a management structure of strategies, thereby developing suitable human resources (with good skills, cognitive, and business culture); upgrade IT platform; havea plan of managing network security risk; classify customer for easy management In addition, VIB should promote cooperation with retailers to expand the capacity to serve the search and digital application of customers, ensuring network quality, convenience and safety Invest in new technologies to automate the procedures such as credit approval, credit card issuance, etc to shorten the waiting time of customers and improve employees’ productivity, minimize risks as well as improve safety in the operations Implement the most advanced system of customer relationship management to help the staffstake best care of the customersthrough all channels such as Branch or Call Center; anticipate customers’needs for products and service to provide prompt and accurate advice - Develop risk management solutions, fraud prevention solutions, Basel II to help the bank improve the stability in the financial system; forecast and provide solutions forrelated risks such asmoney laundering, fraud prevention to enhance the safety of the bank when providing credit/ credit card services VIB should continue to invest and apply the foundation and architecture of its technology to ensure the security of information, which can support high levels of business growth over the years In each stage of the credit/ credit card procedures, VIB has to invest in information security solutions as well as conduct security andtesting procedures Comply with international information security standards such as PCI DSS in the area of credit card issuance, or the application of many-factor authentication technologies by leading security companies such as RSA 3.2.2.5 Solutions on flexibility The characteristics of the credit and credit card granting procedures at VIB are multi-stage and through many departments, so sometimes there was lack of consistence between the credit department and credit support department, which affected the time and flexibility in the deployment procedures Therefore, to increase the flexibility of the procedures, it is necessary to further improve the combinationbetween departments to the smooth, accurate and timely information between related departments - The staffs of customer service department after contacting and researching customers and their partnersneeds to send detailed reports to the management to be able to grasp the situation of customer relations,finance,business plan of customers, and relationship and the level of confidence of customers in their partners This way, the customer servicestaffs will have the quickest information and guidance from the management to gain certain flexibility in the credit/ credit card granting procedures, especially the process of credit appraisal and analysis - Appraisers and reappraisers as well as managers and supporting specialists in the credit/ credit card appraisal procedureshould have timely feedback to the relevant departments if they find any arising issues that may affect the benefits of customers or the bank so that the departments can timely handle the problems At the same time, notify and coordinate with customers to solve problems in the quickest way to ensure proper implementation general procedures as well as the service quality of the bank and ensure the benefits for both customers and the bank CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusion The purpose of the research was to find out whether the excellent customer service promised by VIB bank, is being practiced in the branches to the satisfaction of customers From the findings above, the customer service provision promised by VIB bank is being delivered to the satisfaction of the customers in all branches Customers are also loyal to the VIB and will continue banking with them due to the excellent customer service provision Even though there are few barriers to customer service provision from the bank It has not negatively affected the service provision promised by the bank and so satisfaction of customers is also not affected In conclusion, the researcher can confidently say that good customer service provision will positively affect satisfaction of customers and that is the case in the branch of VIB bank Recommendations Customer service is very important issue as far as service delivery in today’s industry is concerned More so when competition is so great in the banking sector of Vietnam To stay competitive, service providers must set goals alright which is in the form of promise to customers But to be ahead of competitors or to remain in competition service providers must give more than the expectation of customers so as to delight them Customer service of VIB branch should put other customer service strategies that will delight customers in place Example; notification of any transaction on customers’ accounts should be linked to cell phones of customers Management should supervise the customer service personnel closely so that anyone who does not have good customer relations is taken from that department Internet banking or online channels are of much concern to both the external and internal customers of VIB bank so it must be looked at and improved if possible Working plan of tellers must also be provided to make clearly daily and weekly Further research can look at the management’s point of view as far as customer service provision in VIB bank is concerned, for comparison REFERENCES [1] Adams B Steven, Yan Dong, Martin Dresner (2012), Linkages between customer service, customer satisfaction and performance in the airline industry: Investigation of non-linearities and moderating effects, Transportation Research Part E 48 (2012) 743–754 [2] Dei-Tumi, E (2005), ―Customer Service is an Attitude, not a Department‖, 16th edition, pp 34-35 [3] Enyonam Afi Ako-Nai (2011), Effect of customer service on customer satisfaction A case study of Fidelity Bank, Adum, Kumasi, A Thesis of University Of Science and Technology, Kwame Nkrumah [4] Gan et al (2006), A Survey of Customer Retention in the New Zealand Banking Industry: Banks and Bank Systems; J Bus Res., 1(4): 83-99 [5] Looy et al (2003), Services Management; An Integrated Approach Great Britain: Pearson Education Limited 2nd edition [6] Levitt (1983), After the Sale is Over; Harvard Bus Rev., pp 87-93 Morgan NA, Eugene WA, Vikas M (2005) Understanding Firms, Customer Satisfaction Information Usage; J Mark., 69: 131-151 [7] Krishna, Jacob Alexander and Mihir Dash (2012), Basic customer service and its impact on customer retention, Working Paper, Universidade Potiguar, Natal – RN/ Brazil [8] Olowokudejo & Adeleke (2011), The relationship between customer focused service and customer satisfaction in the Nigerian insurance industry, African Journal of Marketing Management Vol 3(11), pp 287-294, November 2011 [9] Rust and Chung (2006), Marketing Models of Service and Relationships; Mark Sci (provide page numbers) [10] Sara Qadeer, (2013)Service quality & customer satisfaction, Research methods for business Students England: Printhall [11] Bùi Thị Trang (2017), Impact of customer service quality on customer satisfaction at Vietravel Ha Hoi Tourism Company, Master Thesis, National Economics University [12] Zeithaml et al (2006), Services marketing; integrating customer focus across the firm Singapore: Mc-Graw hill 4th edition [13] Varki & Colgate (2005), The Role of Price Perceptions In An Integrated Model of Behavior Intentions;‖ J Service Res., 3(3): 232- 240 APPENDIX SURVEY ON CREDIT/ CREDIT CARD GRANTING PROCEDURES AT VIB Dear Customers, In order to continuously improve the quality of credit and credit card granting procedures at VIB, I would like to collect the assessments of customers on the factors such as implementation time, convenience, safety, flexibility, and quality of the bank's staffs during the delivery of services It is hoped that customers’ comments will help the bank improve its procedures of service deployment All information provided by customers will be kept confidential and only used for research purpose and not for any other purposes! Thank you very much for your cooperation Part 1: Personal information Name: ……………… ……………………………………………………… Address/ Phone number: ….………………………………………………… Number of questionnaire: ……… Survey date: … /… 2017 Part 2: Evaluation contents Please select the levels of evaluation according to the two contents: The first content is the assessment of the actual situation of service deployment at VIB The second content is the expected level that customers want to have in the implementation of services in the coming time In which, = Strongly disagree, = Disagree, = Neutral, = Agree = Strongly agree Facto r Items You not feel impatient while waiting for Time transactions at the bank of The time of processing credit documents proce according to the bank's listed procedures is dure reasonable imple The waiting time for the bank is not too long ment You not have to come back many times to ation deal with credit procedure/ credit card granting procedure of the bank Staffs receiving credit/ credit card documents have good communicate skills Staffs receiving credit/ credit card documents Hum an have knowledge and skills in dealing with the work involved resou Staffs receiving credit/ credit card documents rces always satisfactorily resolve relevant problems in the documents Credit / credit card staffs are always friendly and courteous when receiving documents Conv The bank always pays attention to modifying/ enien renewing procedures to help customers carry Actual Expecte mean d mean 5 out simple and convenient transactions ce The procedures of processing credit/ credit card documents are simple and not cumbersome You not find it difficult to complete your credit/ credit card documents at the bank’s request You can easily find out about the credit/ credit card procedures on the bank's website Your credit/ credit card documents are free from errors or loss The method of providing passwords (OTP, Safet y token key, etc.) of the bank to ensures high security The bank always ensures the confidentiality of your credit/ credit card information The credit/ credit card staffs are very flexible to help you solve your problems within the regulation framework of the bank Flexi bility The bank's regulations on credit/ credit card procedures have high flexibility The bank disburses or issues the credit card to you before the time of disbursement if you fully complete the required documents and the bank’s procedures Thank you again for taking your time to complete this survey! ... relationship between customer service and customer satisfaction andthe relationship between customer satisfaction and performance of organizations operating in the aviation industry in the United States... framework for customer service procedures, customer satisfaction and the relationship between customer processes and procedures with customer satisfaction Analyzing, assessing customer satisfaction. .. CREDIT AND CREDIT CARD GRANTING SERVICES TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT VIB Chapter 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ON CUSTOMER SERVICE PROCEDURES, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER