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Human Resources
A joined-up approach to transforming CX
Taking a collaborative approach to drive CX transformation in Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.
When Ahmad bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi was named Minister of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) in 2018, he saw that the ministry needed to be transformed into a modern public service provider.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 set out a plan to diversify the Saudi economy and reduce the kingdom’s reliance on the oil and gas sector. HRSD was to play a key role in achieving several Vision 2030 goals. Minister Al-Rajhi knew that delivering on these goals would require a new mindset and a cultural shift within the ministry, from being an internally focused bureaucracy to an agile, customer-focused unit. Improving customer experience (CX) would be the key to this.
When Mohammad Al Jasser joined the ministry in February 2019 as Assistant Minister for Shared Services, Al-Rajhi asked him to prioritize CX.
This initiative was part of a package of reforms, including digital and HR transformation, and had the potential to revolutionize how HRSD served its customers and beneficiaries, with the chance to improve the daily lives of thousands of people.
A strategic approach to CX
As Al Jasser explains, improving CX required him to start from scratch: “There was a level of ambition and vision-setting from the Minister. I had to start from the ground up, hiring the right team, developing the roadmap, proposing it to the minister, and getting his feedback.”
He began by setting up a CX deputyship (a first for any Saudi government entity) and hiring three key executives: Abdulaziz Al Shamsan as deputy minister in charge of the deputyship, Abdullah Al Yami as general director of customer experience, and Tareq Al Ghamdi as general director of customer care.
The deputyship then began the process of developing its strategy and roadmap. This required extensive consultations with stakeholders within the ministry, especially the 18 deputy ministers. Gradually, the deputyships came to understand and warm to the idea of a CX focus. As Al Jasser observes, “I could see that several leadership teams were starting to get on board with the idea of CX and how it contributes to their outcomes. But there were still some big questions concerning who does what and how to advance together in the same direction.”
It was clear to Al Jasser that, without proper oversight mechanisms, all the strategic work would go to waste. He set up two oversight committees. The first was the CX Steering Committee, headed by the minister. Its role was to determine the overall direction of CX within the ministry and to drum up the required support for its initiatives.
The second was the CX Executive Committee, headed by Al Jasser, which was to oversee the implementation of a coordinated CX strategy across different deputyships. According to Al Jasser, the objective was for each deputyship to create a dedicated team to work with the newly established CX Center of Excellence.
Pushing the CX boat out
As a CX expert, Al Jasser knew that to build and maintain momentum, he had to launch several initiatives while still developing the strategy and governance development work. These would both showcase early successes and also help uncover issues and roadblocks. Al Jasser piloted his CX approach via three key initiatives:
1. Understanding the customer mindset
The CX group began by putting the ministry’s customer research data to more effective use:
“The measurement team asked customers about their satisfaction with the services we provide. The team found that there were a lot of issues. They would send [their comments and complaints] to the departments concerned but found that, in most cases, nothing happened. We began to identify challenges and issues and then shared these with different departments in the ministry, along with our recommendations for how to fix them.”
Al Jasser knew that no meaningful CX improvements could be made using the top-down, hierarchical approach often associated with public-sector organizations. He ensured that every deputyship understood the importance of working collaboratively with the central CX team to enhance their CX offering.
Over time, the CX group strengthened its ability to capture customer data through various channels, including post-service surveys, interviews and focus groups, and usability surveys. The group also became more proficient at processing and analyzing this data to identify ministry-wide issues.
2. Developing internal capabilities to launch a call center
In 2020, the ministry faced a customer-service crisis. The social development, labor, and civil service sectors each had a call center, which were outsourced to an external provider. Owing to budgetary limitations, the ministry decided to cap the number of transactions that it would handle. Unfortunately, this meant that it failed to serve more than 50% of its customers.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, to minimize costs, the ministry decided to build internal call centers staffed by its own employees. It was agreed that the ministry would use the globally recognized COPC (Customer Operations Performance Center) Customer Experience Standard to measure the quality of service in its digital and non-digital touchpoints. Most importantly, Al Ghamdi, who spearheaded this initiative, chose ministry employees who had demonstrated a customer-focused, team-oriented attitude. He organized extensive training for these employees to ensure that they had the skills they needed to succeed.
The ministry established nine call centers. Al Ghamdi led by example, visiting each region, sitting with the agents, learning with them, picking up the phone, and serving customers.
3. Working through complex problems
One of the ministry’s most challenging projects involved working with the Ministry of Labor, which was responsible for ensuring that firms complied with labor regulations.
One of the issues was that penalties were not proportionate to the size of the firm: the fines levied on small firms with four or five employees were the same as those for firms with over a thousand employees. With assistance from the CX Center of Excellence, the deputyship decided to re-engineer this system.
The second was the CX Executive Committee, headed by Al Jasser, which was to oversee the implementation of a coordinated CX strategy across different deputyships. According to Al Jasser, the objective was for each deputyship to create a dedicated team to work with the newly established CX Center of Excellence.
Pushing the CX boat out
As a CX expert, Al Jasser knew that to build and maintain momentum, he had to launch several initiatives while still developing the strategy and governance development work. These would both showcase early successes and also help uncover issues and roadblocks. Al Jasser piloted his CX approach via three key initiatives:
1. Understanding the customer mindset
The CX group began by putting the ministry’s customer research data to more effective use:
“The measurement team asked customers about their satisfaction with the services we provide. The team found that there were a lot of issues. They would send [their comments and complaints] to the departments concerned but found that, in most cases, nothing happened. We began to identify challenges and issues and then shared these with different departments in the ministry, along with our recommendations for how to fix them.”
Al Jasser knew that no meaningful CX improvements could be made using the top-down, hierarchical approach often associated with public-sector organizations. He ensured that every deputyship understood the importance of working collaboratively with the central CX team to enhance their CX offering.
Over time, the CX group strengthened its ability to capture customer data through various channels, including post-service surveys, interviews and focus groups, and usability surveys. The group also became more proficient at processing and analyzing this data to identify ministry-wide issues.
2. Developing internal capabilities to launch a call center
In 2020, the ministry faced a customer-service crisis. The social development, labor, and civil service sectors each had a call center, which were outsourced to an external provider. Owing to budgetary limitations, the ministry decided to cap the number of transactions that it would handle. Unfortunately, this meant that it failed to serve more than 50% of its customers.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, to minimize costs, the ministry decided to build internal call centers staffed by its own employees. It was agreed that the ministry would use the globally recognized COPC (Customer Operations Performance Center) Customer Experience Standard to measure the quality of service in its digital and non-digital touchpoints. Most importantly, Al Ghamdi, who spearheaded this initiative, chose ministry employees who had demonstrated a customer-focused, team-oriented attitude. He organized extensive training for these employees to ensure that they had the skills they needed to succeed.
The ministry established nine call centers. Al Ghamdi led by example, visiting each region, sitting with the agents, learning with them, picking up the phone, and serving customers.
3. Working through complex problems
One of the ministry’s most challenging projects involved working with the Ministry of Labor, which was responsible for ensuring that firms complied with labor regulations.
One of the issues was that penalties were not proportionate to the size of the firm: the fines levied on small firms with four or five employees were the same as those for firms with over a thousand employees. With assistance from the CX Center of Excellence, the deputyship decided to re-engineer this system.
Al Yami, who headed the Center of Excellence, explains: “We spent two months working with senior officials from the deputyship to redesign the journey, identifying all the processes and services that we needed to refine. We carried out qualitative and quantitative research from which we took several recommendations, which we used to formulate a clear plan. Getting buy-in for this plan from the deputy minister was easy because we had worked closely with all the stakeholders throughout the process.”
By 2022, the ministry’s early CX achievements had won recognition both within the Saudi government and internationally. The ministry had moved up from Level 2 on the central government CX maturity index to Level 5. Individual recognition followed, with Al Jasser receiving the 2020 CX Leader of the Year Gold Award in the International CX Awards
The challenges ahead
Although he was justifiably proud of how far the ministry had come, Al Jasser knew that he could not yet claim comprehensive CX transformation. The early CX projects brought several issues to light. How quickly and effectively it overcame these challenges would determine the overall success of the CX transformation.
As Al Jasser looked ahead, he saw two key factors.
First, the ministry was in the process of outsourcing customer-facing services in the branches. It also planned to privatize the internal call centers. For Al Jasser, although this could improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of these functions, it introduced an additional layer of complexity and risk that would require careful management.
Second, a non-collaborative approach to CX transformation would continue to be limited to sympathetic pockets within the ministry. Transforming CX across the ministry would require that ministry officials were less territorial and would work together to break down siloes to develop a joined-up, customer-centric approach.
Key takeaways
1. Don’t be afraid to start from scratch
When Al Jasser was tasked with improving CX, he rebuilt the offering from the ground up. This involved hiring the right team, developing a roadmap and strategy, and consulting key stakeholders to ensure that the transformation started on the right track.
2. Take a bottom-up approach
Al Jasser knew that no meaningful CX improvements could be dictated from above. He ensured that every deputyship was enthused about working with the CX team.
3. Lead by example
The success of the new call centers was partly down to Al Ghamdi’s leading by example. He visited each region and guided agents on how to prioritize customer satisfaction.
4. Work closely with your stakeholders
When working through issues in the labor sector, al Yami, as head of the CX Center of Excellence, worked in harness with senior officials throughout. This meant that it was easy to get buy-in from senior stakeholders when it came to implementing his plan.
5. Recognize that transformation is ongoing
Al Jasser knew that despite making excellent progress with the CX transformation, his work wasn’t over. A host of challenges, such as the complexity of using external providers and shifting the mindset of senior officials, remained to be overcome.
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