Quality in customer care

A t the start of the 7th IQS Breakfast Meeting of IQS AG in Zofingen: "We'll start a quarter of an hour later so that everyone has time for breakfast. Nobody dares to eat anything during the presentation anyway".

Which brings us straight to the topic, because IQS boss Hans-Peter Kost demonstrated cultivated - well - customer care with his statement. He spontaneously gave his 20 or so guests a little more time to "settle in". This creates goodwill and paves the way for the subsequent business part.

The list of participants at the 7th Breakfast Meeting (see box on p. 24) reads like a diverse who's who of Swiss quality managers and "their" companies. The common feature: all companies use the IQSoft quality management software.

Idea management 8 a.m.

No sales meeting. No commitment. Just up-to-date information on the topic of implementing electronic idea management. Would you drive several hours for that? The 20 or so participants at the IQS Breakfast Meeting thought: Yes. And some of them even travelled from the Grisons to experience what the IQS team had to offer them.

They were not disappointed. This may have been partly due to the breakfast served. But ham, cheese and jam, fresh espresso, croissants and bread rolls, yoghurt drinks and fruit juice are also available for breakfast in the good restaurant around the corner.

Above all, however, speaker Rolf Bischof, Head of the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) at the Migros Lucerne Cooperative, convinced the audience with a gripping practical report. The committed, often even enthusiastic Bischof impressively showed his audience how idea management at Migros Lucerne led to clear six-figure savings and more - and that in just a few months.

Practical experience instead of technical instruction

Tool of choice: the IQS AG Idea Management Tool, one of the modules that is independent of the 

Successfully managing ideas

IQSoft, which has now been installed thousands of times. With the help of this tool, employee ideas are promoted, recorded, tracked, implemented, thanked and rewarded. We have already reported on this in MQ and the corresponding "technical" information can be found on the company's website.

The focus at the IQS Breakfast Meeting was different. Bischof did indeed demonstrate the tool "in action" with live access to the Migros intranet. However, the focus of this morning was on the practical phase beforehand and on the questions: "How do I get this up and running, what are the possible problems and what are our first results? In other words, high-quality client events provide information and insights that are hard to come by elsewhere. Accordingly important: the choice of speaker.

New position at Migros Lucerne

In the spring of 2012, Rolf Bischof, formerly QM Manager at cheese specialist Baer AG in Küssnacht, applied for the position of QM Manager at Migros Lucerne. Let's get it straight from the start: nothing came of this position. But Migros Lucerne recognized Bischof's potential and offered him a new position: Head of KVP. Rolf Bischof didn't think twice and accepted immediately.

His presentation made it clear to the 20 people in the audience why. The Migros CVP leader is no friend of half measures. When he took up his post, he himself defined what he expected from the management. And not without reason. Bischof explained to his listeners: "Look, one of the basic requirements is the support of your work by the GL. You need that if you want to make sure across the company that employee ideas are welcomed and noticed. Also absolutely essential: your collaboration with your company's IT department. For understandable reasons, they're not necessarily keen on integrating new, 'foreign' software into the system. Make it clear to key people what it's all about - and that it can be done."

Introduction for 6'000 employees

Migros Lucerne initially wanted to use the idea tool - it has been in use for several years at the Migros production companies Frey (chocolate) and Delica (coffee and more) - only at the operations center. Bischof took a deep breath and recommended the introduction for all 6,000 employees of Migros Lucerne. Bischof: "I really wanted everyone to be able to participate. But then there were one or two sleepless nights for me and the thought: does this really work?" It works, despite initial reservations on the part of the employees. Their fear: New ideas for process improvement could lead to job cuts. Bishop insists, "That's not the idea at all. We just want to make everything more pleasant for everyone."

Appreciation is everything

To this end, he had his own posters and postcards printed for departments without PC access - immediately after the tool was introduced electronically - and these are now available everywhere in the company, according to the motto: Give us your ideas and you'll see that we won't let them go to waste.

Appreciation is therefore a top priority. This happens on two levels:

1. edit and implement

Bischof records all written inputs himself in the QM tool. As a result, they have to be edited - for which IQ Soft is quite generally famous and notorious - because they simply no longer disappear from the system - and everyone can see what happens to "their" idea - or not.

Bishop: "There are people who really want to get something off their chest. These people need a platform. And they want feedback,

With the people on the front lines

see that something works. An electronic tool is ideal for this. "

2. thank and reward

And how do you get people not only to participate, but to stay on the ball for "their" Migros? By the bosses thanking their idea providers with a handshake. In addition, there are small monthly prizes, selected at random from absolutely everyone who submits something. And ultimately, Migros Lucerne shows special appreciation to its staff with larger payouts when something really saves money or - just as important - contributes to better hygiene, safety and more pleasant teamwork. In numbers: IQSoft idea management has been running at Migros Luzern since July 2012, and at least 384,000 francs have since been saved. A coincidence? Bischof: "Not at all. We have also only recorded a part of the financial optimizations. And that is not always the first goal. In the case of safety in particular, it's all about what doesn't happen. Every solution should eliminate a cause. And who knows best what is possible and, above all, necessary? The people on the front lines."

From 2 to 296

Skeptical? Already been to this point, already tried, no success? Bischof specifies: "The previous feedback form - two pages - generated two responses per year. And now? 296 inputs in four months. And that's despite the fact that only 4.4 percent of our employees participate at all. To be sure, the low participation disappoints me. We're still working on that, although a marketing expert would probably tell me that this response rate is quite respectable! In any case, the important thing is that an electronic assistant like this must be simple and logical, at all levels. For everyone."

What does the software provider do?

A great advantage in any meeting with existing customers: You don't have to sell your service because it's already known and proven. Which, as just shown, gives you the opportunity to focus on other aspects of your product or service. And you can unceremoniously show what is important to you personally. Michael Kiel, Software Development Manager at IQS AG: "My enthusiasm for idea management runs deep and has never left me. And this is our first tool that really the 'last person standing' can have access to. Really very satisfying for all of us. " A milestone.

Conclusion

The 7th IQS Breakfast Meeting was an example of excellent customer care (see tips): no pressure, no sales pitch, no chi-chi. Instead, coffee, croissants and information that really deserve the name. That, too, is living quality management. The participants obviously appreciated that. After all, they are all busy professionals. And they are often simply fed up with anonymous advertising mails and marketing calls.