Accenture uses a unique blended learning solution to help
Telstra’s retail operations become more customer-centric
Client background
Telstra is Australia’s leading
telecommunications and information
services company. It offers a full range of
telecommunications services, including
more than 8.3 million fixed line and 12.2
million mobile services to customers
across the country. Employing more than
39,000 people worldwide, Telstra handles
over 300,000 calls daily at its contact
centres, and operates and maintains
11,000 telephone exchanges. In fiscal
2011, the company handled 3.6 billion local
calls, 5.4 billion national long-distance
minutes, 9.9 billion text messages and
more than 13 billion mobile voice minutes
– reaching A$25 billion in sales revenue.
Business challenge
Telstra Country Wide (TCW) is the face
of Telstra and manages more than 5,000
points of presence through Telstra retail
stores, licensees and dealers across the
country. The previous induction program
was limited in its delivery of baseline
product knowledge and alignment with
Telstra’s objectives. In addition, new
retail staff were inducted in metropolitan
locations while staff from rural areas
often missed out.
The program’s inconsistency and other
limitations impacted Telstra’s retail
customer experience. The program’s
limitations also contributed to attrition
that exceeded industry standards.
To retain its competitive advantage
by improving speed to competence,
enhancing customer centricity and
enabling successful retail footprint
expansion, TCW partnered with Accenture
to redesign and implement the Platinum
Induction program for its retail workforce.
Accenture redesigned the induction
curriculum in order to develop a
consistent solution that would improve
training effectiveness and achieve
significant improvement in the speed
to competence for new trainees. A
highly experienced team of Accenture
consultants redefined training blueprints
and operational strategies to ensure the
training was positioned for success.
How Accenture helped
The induction is co-facilitated by an
Accenture instructor and by a Retail
Capability Specialist. These specialists
are a group of top talent store staff
seconded to provide retail coaching and
experience. This program design element is
consistently called out for its effectiveness
in equipping new staff for day one.
The three-week Platinum Induction
program developed by Accenture focuses
on enhanced customer service and
productivity levels for people at Telstra’s
retail outlets. Accenture incorporated the
“Take ownership, Action commitment, Get
it right the first time (TAG)” philosophy to
align the program with Telstra’s business
strategy of putting the customer first.
To reach learners across Telstra’s
operations in Australia, Accenture
set up an extensive logistics network
that transports computer hardware,
telecommunications equipment and other
material required for the program across
the country. This allows Telstra to conduct
15 concurrent induction and other
training sessions across the country.
TCW expects the program to sustain
the company’s business strategy until
fiscal 2014. Accenture keeps the program
updated and relevant to the business
through an efficient maintenance process
that provides frequent critical updates.
High performance delivered
As a result of the Accenture program, the
trained retail staff demonstrated higher
productivity (30 percent) in their first few
weeks post training. Consequently, retail
stores with a higher percentage of trained
staff outperformed others in sales and
customer service metrics.
The program had a positive impact
on TCW’s retail effectiveness, and
more than 850 inductees were trained
through this program in fiscal 2011.
The numbers are expected to grow
again in fiscal 2012 in support of
Telstra’s retail footprint expansion.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with more than
244,000 people serving clients in
more than 120 countries. Combining
unparalleled experience, comprehensive
capabilities across all industries and
business functions, and extensive research
on the world’s most successful companies,
Accenture collaborates with clients to
help them become high-performance
businesses and governments. The company
generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion
for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.
Its home page is www.accenture.com.
The program also instilled greater
confidence among employees –
demonstrated by a 17 percent reduction
in attrition in 2011. Today TCW has a
well-trained team that meets Telstra
customers’ diverse requirements and the
company’s customer service objectives.
This brings the company closer to its
mission of delivering customer service
excellence, and understanding and
demonstrating value to its customers.
The Telstra-Accenture Platinum
Induction program was a finalist in the
“Organisational Learning Effectiveness”
category at the 2011 Australian Institute
of Training and Development (AITD)
Training Excellence Awards.
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