Gareth Wood is SSE’s Customer Service Director and helped launch the SignVideo partnership earlier today. We asked him to explain some of the extra steps we’re taking for our customers.
At SSE, customers are at the heart of everything we do. You may be familiar with our ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ values. Each year we publish a ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ statement which sets out the commitments we’ve made to improve customer service and reflects the principle that every decision taken by SSE should consider the impact on all of our customers because – without customers – there is no SSE.
If we, as a company, are going to truly reflect these values every day we have to make sure it is as easy as possible for customers to get in contact with us. It is vital that no one is left out and no group of customers is left in a position where they are getting a worse service than their fellow customers.
As such I am delighted to announce that we have now launched a British Sign Language video service to help those to use British Sign Language (BSL) speak to our customer service agents. Today, we had the pleasure of welcoming Justin Tomlinson MP, Minister for Disabled People, to our call centre in Havant to show him just what that looks like and how it can help our BSL customers.
The SignVideo service allows our customer service agents to make and receive BSL interpreted video calls so they can effectively and effortlessly communicate with BSL users. This happens through a professional, fully qualified BSL interpreter and the service is available instantly on tablets, smartphones, computers and laptops. It is an additional service we are providing for BSL customers to compliment the more traditional methods of communication such as email and letters.
Service providers like SSE need to think hard about how we can make life easier for all our customers and this new service means the 150,000 people who use BSL in the UK can now choose to contact us, live, just like any other customer.
We are very proud of our approach to customer service and of the way we are adapting our business to make our services more accessible for customers. This new service is another fantastic change that makes a real difference to customers whose needs were not being fully met by the traditional services offered through our customer service centres.
But it is just one of the many ways we are improving our customers’ experiences. SSE published its updated Treating Customers Fairly Statement in August 2015, announcing a number of improvements and commitments in addition to the SignVideo service.
We have worked closely with the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling University to prepare a guide for all employees to assist in dealing with customers with dementia as well as a booklet containing practical tips for those caring for someone suffering from dementia. We have developed an enhanced Disability and Equality Act training package for customer service and sales employees to ensure that our teams are better equipped to identify vulnerability, are able to adapt our service to ensure all customers are given the support they need, and have a sound understanding of the legislation. We have also reviewed our processes for translating communications into different languages and providing an efficient translation service for calls, helping us communicate more effectively with customers for whom English is not their first language.
Customer service really is at the heart of everything that SSE does. Without our customers we are nothing and we owe it to all our customers to make sure that everyone, no matter their situation, is able to contact us with whatever query they may have. It’s just another reason why we’re proud to make a difference.