AMRUT MODY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

TOD_524 Operations Management

Comfort Class Transport

Submitted To: Prof. Aravind Panicker

Submitted By: Team Mobileaty

Name Roll No.

Yash Shah AU2014009
Hardi Patel AU2014017
Shubhi Jain AU2014019
Jyotsna Jeswani AU2014027
Ishpreet Kaur AU2014047

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1. What are the immediate to short term plans of Comfort Class Transport? What are
the most critical dimensions of performance of this business?

Short Term Plans for Comfort Class Transport:

 Separate CSRs: The first step the Boston Call Centre should take is that they should
have different CSRs for different customers segments i.e. for individual customers
and corporate customers. Different Representatives should be there for different
segments which will make the tasks easy.
 Staffing: Currently, the Boston CCT Call Centre should realign its staffing because
as mentioned in the case on some days many representatives had the day off and on
some days the call centre was fully staffed irrespective of the peaks and troughs of
the business. Hence, this created unawareness among the representatives about the
happenings in the call centre.
 NR time: The Boston Call Centre should perform a meticulous scrutiny for the
Representatives No. 2 and 3 because, it is clearly mentioned in the case the CSRs
should not spend more than 5 minutes per half hour on Not Ready.
So, it’s an 8 am to 6 pm job where 1 hour is given for lunch. So, it’s a 9 hour job.
Reps can take only 10 min for NR in an Hour. So, in 9 hours it’s around 5400
seconds, they can use Not Ready option. While Analysing Exhibit 4C we found that
Representative No. 2 and 3 are spending 8228 and 7210 seconds respectively hence,
the company should found out the reason for the same to gain insights on the working
of their employees.

 Hiring: The Company should hire part-time employees during the peak hours i.e.
around 11 Am to 4 Pm. Half-Hour Number Number
Ending of Calls Abandoned
11:00 AM 31 4
11:30 AM 32 11
12:00 PM 36 16
12:30 PM 22 8
1:00 PM 20 7
1:30 PM 25 6
2:00 PM 29 8
2:30 PM 40 12
3:00 PM 51 14
3:30 PM 46 12
4:00 PM 34 8
Average 33 10
Total 366 106

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 Looking at the Table above (Information is taken from Exhibit 3 of the Case) we can
say that there are 33 calls on average in half hour slot and from that 33 in every half
hour 10 calls are abandoned. So, it will be beneficial for the company to hire part
time employees. Moreover, they can do so because as mentioned in the case there is
a space available in the call centre room for an additional four cubicles.
 Clarity of Roles: The Company should assign particular person for specific tasks.
Because currently, the CSRs are jumping between the tasks. And also the fact that
the Special Project which includes checking bills, updating customers profile can
take 40 hours per week which is the work equal to the work of single employee.
Hence a particular person should be assigned for the same so that there is more clarity
in the roles.
 Clear Policies: The Company should make clear policies of Logging in and out
because as of now the employees have no clarity on the same.

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The most critical dimensions of performance of this business:

 Customer Satisfaction: Customer Satisfaction- Customer’s experience with the

quality of the service provided to them plays a crucial role on the basis of which a
customer decides whether to continue with the existing service or not. Thus, it is
quite important for any business to satisfy the basic needs of the customer that is
claimed by the business and that are to be provided to them along with that handling
the complaints of the customers with a reassurance of no repetition of the same is
equally important so the customers are not lost to the competitors.
 Time: Time is the very important dimension in this business. The lesser time taken
to resolve the customer’s queries or time taken by the CSR to complete a call will
lead to higher customer satisfaction. But in this case as shown in Exhibit 4A the
average wait time is 128 seconds while the average wait before the abandonment of
call is 60 seconds. Hence, this is leading to customer dissatisfaction.
 Conformance: Conformance means how a business meets specified standards in
providing the said services. In the case of Comfort Class Transportation the company
needs to provide comfortable and high class transport services to its customers and
thus the company services must be accurate in finding the airport pickup locations,
must provide clarifications on the pricing and billing information and must try to
avoid anything due to which the customer makes calls at the call centre.
 People: Employees are the valuable assets of the business. They ensure the seamless
working of the various processes of the business. Hence, it is necessary that
employees should have the clarity of their roles and processes in the organization. In
this case the employees were confused especially regarding the logging in and out of
the portal. Moreover, there were no performance evaluations done by the CCT which
would have either motivated the employees to do well or would have helped them to
improve their performance.

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2. Analyse the demand and capacity utilization at the class centre and try to determine
the scale of the problem

From Exhibit we can know daily demand, abandoned calls and we can analyse from that daily
calls received were 492 but only 402 calls were answered and thus remaining 90 calls were
abandon. As average abandoned calls rates to 22% which is 5% higher than the industry call
rates. And on an average 15 calls per Representatives are abandoned.

% of Abandoned calls = Number of abandoned calls/Total Number of calls.

% of Abandoned calls = 111/496 = 22%

From the Exhibit 4c we can interpret the efficiencies of the representatives:-

Total working seconds daily= 9hrs*60*60 = 32,400 seconds.

Total Logged in = 155430 seconds.

Thus, Average would be 155430/6 = 25,905 seconds.

Efficiencies of Representatives:-

For Rep 1:-

= 34446/25905 = 133%

For Rep 2:-

=24,448/25905 = 94%

For Rep 3:-

=19,416/25,905 = 75%

For Rep 4:-

=23,468/25,905 = 91%

For Rep 5:-

= 27,932/25,905 = 108%

For Rep 6:-

= 25,720/25905 = 99%

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 Rep % of employees logged
in out of 32,400 seconds
1 133
2 94
3 75
4 91
5 108
6 99

From this we can interpret that 5 Rep are efficient for around 90% and more time.

Particulars % of Seconds
Wait Time 26.46%
NR time 16.82%
Talk time+ Hold time 23.72%
DN In 14.65%
DN out 19.27%

Working of the table:-

As the total seconds of waiting time is 51,432 seconds which then averaged by 6 Rep would
give average waiting time as 8,572 seconds (51,432/6). Now % Waiting time in seconds =
8,572/32400 = 26.46%

As total NR time is 32,706 which then averaged by 6 would give us 5451 seconds and now
calculating % NR time in seconds = 5451/32400 = 16.82%.

And same method for the rest.

Thus we can see that the problem here is waiting time if the management manages to reduce
the waiting time of the calls. And this leads to extension of phone calls as most of the customers
would be complaining about the waiting of the calls or abandoning of the calls.

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3. To understand the scope of the problem, try to understand the financial implication
of the cost of an abandoned call. Also, calculate the marginal cost and marginal
contribution of incoming calls, and try to estimate the no. of CSR's to be added if no
change in the process is made.

Financial implication of the cost of an abandoned call

Expected Amount Reality Amount

Total Calls 492 Total Calls 402
Avg. Calls Per CSR 82 Avg. Calls Per CSR 67
Total calls of a CSR for whole 21,320 Total calls of a CSR for whole 17,420
year year
Cost per call per CSR $1.83 Cost per call per CSR $2.24

Calls of cost abandonment = 2.24-1.83 = $0.41

As the calls are not answered on time, the company will have to stand a cost of $0.14 more.

The expected revenue rate will be 90*120.26*260 if calls were answered.

Where,

90 is the number of calls abandoned.

120.26 is the average revenue.

260 is the number of working days.

So, it comes to $28, 14,180.9, which is the loss faced by the company because of not
answering the calls on time.

Working Notes

 Average calls per CSR

492/6
82
 Total calls per CSR
82*260
21,320
 Cost per call per CSR

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 39000/21320
1.83
 Average calls per CSR
402/6
67
 Total calls per CSR
67*260
17420
 Cost per call per CSR
2.24

Marginal Cost and Marginal Contribution of incoming calls

Total Revenue $ 1,25,70,008

Less: Variable cost $ 65,36,403
Contribution $ 60,33,604
Less: Fixed cost $ 48,00,749
Net profit $ 12,32,855

 Average revenue per call

Total revenue/Total call of whole year
 Marginal contribution of incoming calls
$120.26
 Marginal cost per call
$2.24

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Expected number of CSR’s to be added if no changes are made

No. of additional Additional revenue Additional cost No. of additional

employees per year calls
1 17,95,715.00 41000 67
2 35,91,430.00 82000 134

7 CSR generated a Total Revenue of $1, 25, and 70,008.

Each CSR generates revenue of $17, 95,715.

The revenue remains the same for every additional CSR assuming conditions to be the same.

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4. Identify the key issues in operation of a service process.

The company's general manager is worried about a major problem that the company is facing
and that is expected to affect the company's efficiency. Though the clients have given the
company high marks for the service offered by the drivers and the quality of the vehicles, but
there is a problem with the company's Boston call centre.

The call centre’s ability, on the other hand, is a major concern, as the call centre only has eight
employees who are responsible for interacting with customers and handling all
communications with current and prospective customers. Hence, the underperformance by the
call centre would result in a large decrease in the company's revenue and a drastic reduction in
the customer base.

These eight employees oversee interacting with potential customers and informing them about
the company's services. Apart from that, these individuals oversee arranging pick-ups and
advising consumers on pricing as well. These call centre staff, on the other hand, confirm all
appointments and assist consumers with billing questions. With such a complex set of
responsibilities, it becomes difficult for representatives to respond to and customer efficiently
and on time. Therefore, consumers have begun to complain about the long wait times required
to reach customer service representatives, as well as the problem of calls being dropped. This
is causing significant customer loyalty problems with the call centre, as well as a threat to the
company's customer satisfaction gained through its fleet of vehicles and drivers.

As a result, the general manager is very worried about these issues, as it will lead to other big
problems with far-reaching implications. The customer service call centre’s weak performance
would hinder the company's growth plans and restrict the opportunity of company to reach new
and profitable markets.

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