The quiet quitting and post-Covid-19 staff issues are causing a quiet crisis. Failures in “customer relationships” are harming customers and suppliers. What’s happening? What can be done about this today?
The push for ‘personalized service’ and customer relationships managed by cloud-based “customer relationship management’ has led to failures. Telephone numbers (and ignored voicemails) have changed due to the transition to remote and hybrid workers. Individual emails have been abandoned with no general mailboxes to get critical product and service notices. (Examples abound). Contract renewals, service contacts, and ‘authorized named’ have simply vanished or been responsibilities moved to groups no longer staffed. Now let’s talk about essentials.
Low-volume, absolutely critical, materials (products) and services have ground many enterprises to a halt. The “supply chain” issue can be as simple as
· No one renewed a service contract
· A “regular delivery” didn’t get a purchasing confirmation
· A critical early-order window was missed
Logistics issues have compounded simple paperwork and contact errors. In short, no one at the supplier knew whom to talk to. Calling the “800” numbers led nowhere. As a customer, the supply chain/procurement folks had the same frustrations trying to reach people at the supplier who had the necessary contacts and authority to get orders fulfilled (or even placed). Missing a few kilograms of vital materials can bring down a billion dollars of production. The breakdown of “personal relationships” meant critical supply chain linkages had also broken down.
What to do today:
1) Have experienced staff look at production, quality paperwork, and critical materials to make sure there are contacts, and backup procedures, to reach critical suppliers. (Do you know these critical suppliers for low volumes/once-a-year purchases? Do they know how to reach you?)
2) Set up “role-based” emails/contact info for supply chain, logistics, regulatory compliance, and escalation paths. Explain to suppliers that abuse of escalation is fatal to their relationship. (Do the data integration/exchange technical folks have paths to reach their counterparts?) (purchaseconfirmations @ myenterprise.netxxx could save production)
3) Improve the process by assigning this regular update to somebody – anybody really – who can prevent a production shutdown by keeping the contact info up-to-date.
4) Schedule contact sessions with critical vendors/distributors and the design/engineering and operations staff who need updated contact information. The “relationships” work in a customer’s favor as much as the supplier's. Get training, and problem-solving, and see what the industry knows by taking the time to gain value from the suppliers.
5) And, most importantly, look for these problems inside your enterprise today. The problems are already there. The countdown timer has reached zero, and the boom will follow soon.
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