Why conduct internal customer satisfaction research?

Motivated and enthusiastic staff are the beating heart of any organisation. They are the organisation's capital and are responsible for ensuring that optimum services are provided to external customers, patients, clients or students. One of the key roles of organisations is to create a pleasant working environment to ensure that staff can carry out their work without inconvenience. A pleasant working environment also helps ensure that staff are committed and motivated.

Support services, such as Facilities, ICT, Communications, HRM, Strategy & Policy play an instrumental role in providing this pleasant working environment. Internal customers are the key users of these support services. These services must respond effectively to their wishes and needs, whilst at the same time reflecting organisational objectives and the objectives of specific departments.

The internal customer satisfaction research focuses on the internal customers of support services, central services or Shared Service Centres. The research may be conducted for a single central department, or for several at the same time. This depends on the size of the organisation and the structure of these departments. The research provides valuable information on the satisfaction levels, wishes and expectations of internal customers. What is their experience of the services and how can these be improved and enhanced?

The research is also fully customised and focuses on the entire process of the support department that the internal customer deals with. It not only covers the process, but also the issue of human contact. In addition to the overall level, a distinction is drawn between specific customer groups in order to ensure improvements can be targeted. The research also takes account of the department's objectives and image.