Mobile Phone Service Process Hiccups at Cellular, Inc.

1. INTRODUCTION Customer-facing processes need to operate flawlessly in organizations. Each process failure threatens the perceived quality of the firm. Process failures can be complex considering that business processes transcend departments and highlight the interdependent nature of an organization. A failure can cascade into other problems, demonstrating that problems also transcend organization departments. This case is useful to demonstrate the interdependent nature of an organization, the detail needed to understand a process, process execution failure, how failures can cascade from a 'small' problem, and the role of information technology to assist process success (or failure). This case considers the procurement process at a mobile phone service provider. This case considers customer satisfaction and business process problems. These problems occur when a customer goes online to engage a new cell phone service provider and to purchase a new phone. When an online promotion advertised a phone at a lower price, the potential customer's attempt was subsequently rejected by the automated procurement process and a series of cascading process failures follow. These events actually occurred and the customer's letter duplicates the letter received by the CEO. The case is significant because (1) it introduces students to the details of a business process, (2) it demonstrates that both process and cascading process failure transcend an organization's departments, and (3) it demonstrates how IT can affect the business both positively (the online procurement opportunity) and negatively ('forgetting' to remove the expired advertisement). 2. CASE TEXT Cellular Inc. is a leading mobile phone service provider with offices worldwide and annual revenues of almost $50 billion. [The name of the company and details of the corporation have been modified for anonymity. All details of the case events themselves occurred in real life as reported in this case study.] The company was founded in the southeast US in the early 2000s and rapidly became the leading US mobile phone provider. At the time of this case, its subscriber base was over 50 million individuals. In the middle of this year, Cellular was removed from the New York Better Business Bureau (BBB) due to a large number of complaints that were not handled to the customers' satisfaction. Cellular is trying to overturn this ruling and is in the process of restructuring its customer care procedures. The company received more than 14,000 documented complaints against Cellular in its last annual quality report. The most frequently reported complaints included over-billing, poor customer support, number portability, and network reliability issues. In contrast to poor customer support, the company maintains excellent relationships with its employees. Recently, the Communication Workers of America union, which represents over half of all Cellular employees (total employees = 74,200), recognized the company for excellence as a union employer, much in contrast to its main competitor whose reputation was as an aggressive union-buster. 2.1 Cellular President Calls Staff Meeting Ed Whatodo, president of Cellular, has called a cross functional team meeting with representatives from every major department in the company to address a major customer support issue. With subdued exuberance, he began, "Hello everyone. As president of Cellular, I am quite proud of the working relationship we have developed internally. We have earned a reputation as an employer where management and employees work together to meet each group's annual goals and objectives. We are a leader in our market segment and continue to build on that base. I am confident that we can meet our corporate objective of becoming the largest mobile phone provider within the next three years." "In order to do this, though," his voice becoming more somber and slowing his speech slightly, "we must recognize that we are missing the boat sometimes in our interactions with those who will ultimately take us to the apex of this market. …