Customer Satisfaction with DTCC Holds at 91% for Third Year Running
Overall customer satisfaction with DTCC has been posted at 91% for the third year in a row, according to results from the 2008 customer survey, which was conducted at two intervals: in February and in June. Based on comments from the respondents, the high level of overall satisfaction was due in large part to DTCC’s customer service/relationship management efforts, communications, responsiveness, customer-centric orientation and the quality of its personnel.
Here are some representative verbatims from the people who participated in the 2008 survey.
- DTCC helps me reduce my operating costs; helps me communicate with my customers.
- They add value and reduce risk.
- They are unbiased in their problem solutions, good thought leaders and solution-focused.
- They are constantly reevaluating and thinking entrepreneurially; they don’t rest on their laurels.
- DTCC is in tune with customer needs and provides solutions. Very results-focused and professional group.
- The services are embedded and fundamental to the services we offer.
- Highly competent, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude.
- They listen.
Industry benchmarks
DTCC’s satisfaction ratings compare favorably within the financial services industry. “DTCC exceeded the industry average for 13 of 14 comparative metrics and met the industry average for the remaining metric,” according to the Melior Group, the independent marketing research and consulting firm that conducts DTCC’s annual survey. Last year, DTCC exceeded the industry average for 11 out of 14 metrics.
For overall satisfaction, 2008 marks the fifth consecutive year DTCC has exceeded the industry average.
Altogether, 717 customer contacts took part in the 2008 survey, for a response rate of 22%, also above the industry norm.
Longstanding dialogue
“DTCC’s ability to support the industry, day to day and in times of market turbulence, is based on our continual dialogue with customers,” said Donald F. Donahue, DTCC chairman and CEO. “By understanding their business priorities, we can leverage DTCC’s strengths in terms of automation, standardization, risk management and economies of scale to deliver services and capabilities that meet their needs and contain their costs.”
Donahue added that the enterprise-wide reliance on quality programs, such as Six Sigma, Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), helps ensure DTCC meets its commitments to the industry. “We have embedded a quality mindset across our organization,” he said. “The quality filter brings rigor, standards and accountability to all aspects of the business, helping us cut internal costs, increase quality and achieve efficiencies, while using metrics to track results.”
The annual survey is one of DTCC’s primary tools for obtaining metrics to track customer satisfaction, added Paula Arthus, DTCC managing director, Relationship Management. “The survey results help us assess customer perceptions of DTCC; measure satisfaction with products, services and customer service; gather intelligence on emerging industry needs; and identify areas we need to target for improvement,” she said. “We carefully analyze the data – both the scores and the customer comments – and then develop metrics-driven action plans to address customer concerns.”
Key ‘relationship attributes’
For the 12 key “relationship attributes” evaluated in the 2008 survey, customers expressed the highest satisfaction with integrity: 94%.
“DTCC’s reputation is built on integrity and reliability,” said Donahue. “Our customers count on us to handle critical aspects of their business, cost-effectively and reliably, and DTCC has demonstrated during 35 years of operation that it fulfils this mandate with the utmost integrity.”
All the relationship attribute satisfaction scores remained steady or increased from 2007. Ratings include:
- Transaction processing capabilities: 93%
- Commitment to quality: 90%
- Communications with customers: 86%
- Effectiveness in reducing risk: 85%
DTCC chairman and CEO
When survey respondents were asked to identify issues of concern to their firms, one customer answered this way: “Risk, risk, risk.” Another said, “Risk management architecture and risk exposure, especially with credit environment that we are in today.” Indeed, risk was a prevalent theme this year.
“Risk has always been a priority for DTCC,” said Donahue. “We fully share the industry’s sense of urgency about managing and mitigating risk and, over the past five years, we have significantly upgraded our risk capabilities to help the industry manage heightened risk. Going forward, we will be well positioned to use the knowledge gained from the recent market turmoil to further fortify our risk infrastructure.”
Concerns about pricing
Pricing was another concern cited by survey respondents.
At the same time, customer satisfaction with DTCC’s efforts to help them understand its pricing strategy was on the low side, at 74%. This score marks a 7-point improvement from 2007, when satisfaction was 67% for this category.
“We’ve made progress in this critical area, but we need to do more. We need to give customers greater clarity about our pricing structure and their net cost of doing business with DTCC,” said Arthus. “Our goal is to simplify our billing and reporting, and improve communications and transparency regarding net customer costs.”
This year, DTCC made two changes to its pricing policies that address these issues, according to Arthus. “For NSCC and FICC, we now return any revenue above a targeted margin level the next month, with the balance of the excess revenues going back in the annual rebate in March of the following year,” she said. “Also, we will begin giving firms an estimate of their annual rebate in December, so they can accrue for it before closing out their year-end books. Planning for improved billing and MIS is also underway.”
Problems and resolutions
Problem incidence increased in 2008, with 29% of customers experiencing problems with transactions processed through DTCC (whatever the ultimate cause), compared with 24% in 2007. When asked to describe “significant” or “moderate” problems encountered, survey respondents most often cited information quality (such as late, missing or incorrect data) or technology (connectivity, outages or downtime).
“Clearly, we need to redouble our efforts to address the slippage,” said Arthus. “This is obviously easier if DTCC itself is the cause of the problem, and tougher to do if the problem originates from outside DTCC, such as from a paying or transfer agent. Whatever the cause, however, this will be an area of focus in 2009.”
Despite the higher incidence rate, satisfaction with problem resolution improved this year, with 52% of survey respondents expressing satisfaction with DTCC’s ability to resolve their problems (vs. 47% in 2007). What’s more, satis-faction with the resolution of “moderate” problems rose markedly.
“DTCC not only maintained the gains in satisfaction achieved last year relative to the resolution of problems, but engineered a 15-point increase in satisfaction relative to the resolution of moderate problems (from 29% in 2007 to 44% in 2008),” wrote the Melior Group in its analysis of DTCC’s survey results.
Dissatisfaction with problem resolution declined on an aggregate level to 18% in 2008 from 30% in 2007, with the greatest improvement in the category of “signi-ficant” problems.
“The survey indicates that customers are satisfied with the handling of their problems when the resolution is speedy and the person addressing the problem takes ownership for it, providing good communication from start to finish,” said Arthus.
“Conversely, the absence of these factors leads to dissatisfaction, which tells us exactly where we need to focus to further strengthen our problem resolution capabilities.”
The timeliness of communications is another essential component of problem resolution. In fact, being proactive in letting customers know when problems arise emerged as a key driver of customer satisfaction in 2008, according to the Melior Group. Indeed, when respondents were asked to describe the actions they would most like DTCC to take to improve problem resolution, better communication was at the top of the list.
“The survey results show that customers feel better served when we are proactive in letting them know about a problem and keeping them up to date on progress in resolving the issue,” said Arthus, noting that DTCC will continue to strive to improve the timeliness and content of service disruption/outage communications in the coming year.
Talking to the customer
“Good communications make good partners,” said one customer in the 2008 survey.
This year, customers expressed 86% overall satisfaction (same as 2007) with DTCC’s communications vehicles. “Customers are moderately to highly satisfied with DTCC’s communications vehicles on virtually all attributes tested,” summed up the Melior Group. Ratings covered the website, Important Notices, the @dtcc newsletter, service disruption/ outage communications, the Development Agenda, the annual report and product brochures.
Customer comments included: “They are good listeners and good commun-icators.” “Communication has improved.” “Continue to keep clients informed.”
While overall satisfaction with comm-unications remains high, many customers continue to ask for more. Here are a few comments:
- More frequent communications on high-level initiatives.
- More contact and communications in general.
- Communicate more broadly in the industry what they do, what they have done, what they are planning to do – beyond the web site.
Products and services
DTCC received an 88% rating for the breadth of its product/service line (vs. 92% in 2007). Satisfaction with actual products was mixed, ranging from highs of 93% for Settlement-Related Services; 92% for the Global Corporate Action Validation Service and 90% for Continuous Net Settlement to a low of 66% for Non-Cede & Co. Custody Services.
Arthus noted that business managers for each product area are studying the survey results for their areas of the business and developing action plans to address customer concerns. @