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Interview with Christopher Rastin on Trends in Service Excellence in Germany and the Publication of ISO/TS 23686

2022/12/23

ISO/TS 23686 (Service excellence — Measuring service excellence performance), which has been under development at ISO/TC312/WG1 (Principles, model and measurement), was published on October 6, 2022.

■Background of Standard Development
The development of this standard was driven by the idea that in addition to analyzing the voice of the customer, it is necessary to standardize a measurement system for service excellence to detect weaknesses in the organization.
Originally developed in WG3 (Measurement), of where France was the convener, it was decided that it was necessary to create ISO/TS 23686 (Measurement) based on ISO 23592 (Principles and Models), which was being developed at the same time, so in 2019 the development of ISO/TS 23686 was we paused and waited for ISO 23592 to be published. Subsequently, at the 6th General Assembly in January 2021, it was approved to transfer the convenership from France to Germany and the WG in charge from WG3 to WG1, and to resume development.

■Outline of ISO/TS 23686
This standard specifies indicators and methods for measuring service excellence performance. It provides a set of approaches that can be used to measure the performance of service excellence, particularly those elements that have the greatest impact on superior customer experience and customer delight*. (Note: Four dimensions and nine elements of the service excellence model described in the basic standard ISO 23592:2021.)

■Interviews
In this issue, we interviewed Mr. Christopher Rastin of E.ON, a major German energy company, who is the TC312/WG1 project leader, about the trend of service excellence in Germany and the publication of ISO/TS 23686.

Japanese Standards Association (JSA):
Tell us about yourself.

Mr. Christopher Rastin (Mr. Rastin):
I (Christopher Rastin) studied psychology and criminology at the University of Ottawa and spent my early career conducting research on offender treatment programs and offender profiling for the Correctional Services of Canada and Indigenous policing services by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 2013, I moved from Montreal to Dusseldorf and since 2018 has been with E.ON conducting brand and customer experience research. Since 2022 I lead the Global Research & Insights team of E.ON.

JSA:
Now I have a question about ISO/TS 23686. For what purpose was this standard developed?

Mr. Rastin:
This standard was developed to provide a base template for the development of service excellence programmes across multiple industry types while also providing the flexibility for implementation in a tailored way for those industries. The standard provides a core set of principles on which to focus to ensure that all core requirements of a service excellence programme are addressed and measured, and enable the opportunity for those measurements to be turned into improvement action strategies.

JSA:
How can companies use this standard? What are the key points of the standard and the purpose of its development?

Mr. Rastin:
Companies can use this standard as a base template to develop a measurement strategy from the base up or to modify and adapt their service excellence measurements to ensure that all aspects of their service excellence strategies are being addressed.

JSA:
Next, I have a question about E.ON: What kind of company is E.ON? Please give us an overview of the company.

Mr. Rastin:
E.ON is one of the largest operators of European energy networks and energy-related infrastructure, as well as a provider of advanced customer solutions for more than 50 million customers. With a total of over 75,000 employees, we are represented in 15 countries. By focusing on two sustainable growth areas and with the acquisition of innogy, we are ideally positioned to drive the energy transition in Germany and Europe.

JSA:
What are some of the initiatives in e-on related to the theme of this standard, "measurement"?

Mr. Rastin:
Our measurement themes consist of measuring and modelling our brand and customer experience performance, with these measurements leading to interventions to improve our performance (customer experience strategies, brand campaign implementation, etc. These strategies are monitored and measured to assess performance and efficiency.

JSA:
What results has E.ON achieved with the initiatives related to "measurement" described in Q2? (I ask this question because I want to know more specific information about the initiatives in E.ON)

Mr. Rastin:
E.ON has expanded its commodity customer numbers by over a million since 2020, showing that consumers see E.ON as a reliable and trustworthy partner in the markets. Moreover, E.ON has continued to expand its energy solution sales (electric vehicle charging, solar panels) as a result of our customer focus. Our customer research has enabled us to understand more specifically what we do well and what we need to improve in order to improve customer loyalty and their preferences.

Profile of Christopher Rastin
Global Insight & Customer Experience, Global Research & Insight Leader for E. ON, one of Europe's leading energy companies, headquartered in Germany, supplying electricity and gas.
Work on developing and implementing models, including market segmentation logic, and setting up and running net promoter scores and systems (including driver analysis and causal modeling).
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