Customer Satisfaction Survey 2010 – Analysis Report
OCTOBER 2010
Contents
Executive Summary 3
1. Background 5
2. Responses 5
3. Results 6
3.1 Overall Satisfaction 6
3.2 Customer Overview 6
3.2.1 Types of customers 6
3.2.2 Size of organisation 7
3.2.3 Job Roles 7
3.2.4 Knowledge and Level of Interaction with ECO 8
3.2.4.1 Further analysis and comparison of customer knowledge depending on size and nature of business 8
3.2.4.2 Analysis of how customers determine need for a licence 9
3.3 Customer opinion and expectations of our service delivery performance 9
3.3.1 Satisfaction with service provided by ECO Staff 9
3.3.2 Opinion of response to delay in licence processing in case of significant delay 10
3.3.3 Customer Expectations of Licence Processing Timescales and Communication 11
3.3.4 Customer Expectations depending on type of customer 12
3.3.5 Satisfaction with ECO communications 13
3.3.6 Satisfaction with the SPIRE system 14
3.3.7 Satisfaction with ECO services and information 14
3.3.8 Opinion on ECO’s handling of customer complaints 15
3.4 Suggested Service Improvements 16
4. Conclusions and Response to Comments 17
4.1 Immediate Service Improvements 17
4.2 Action Plan for further service developments 17
Customer Satisfaction Survey 2010 – ACTION PLAN 18
Appendices 26
Appendix A – Charts 26
Appendix B – Sample cross-section of comments 34
Appendix C – Customer Survey Questions 39
Executive Summary
Background context
The Export Control Organisation (ECO), part of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), provides the UK’s statutory “strategic” export licensing service. This is a requirement for the export or trade in military and dual-use items, in line with the UK’s international commitments.
The ECO is responsible for processing licence applications – balancing the need for a fast and efficient service for exporters with the need to conduct appropriate checks and assessments.
One of the similarities between government and the private sector is that neither can survive without customers. Most successful businesses have learned that their survival depends on knowing what their customers need and the level of service that they expect. The same holds true for the public sector. Customers of public sector organisations, such as the ECO are coming to expect a high level of service and professionalism for their taxes.
The ECO works hard to provide the best possible licensing service, within the legal constraints that the service operates. Within this context, it is recognised that excellent customer service is about learning from customers. The Customer Satisfaction Survey is one of the main mechanisms of getting feedback from users of the service.
Main feedback
Results from the 2010 Survey show that:
Overall satisfaction with the ECO is high with 67% of survey respondents expressing satisfaction with the ECO’s services.
Other key insights gained from the survey include:
· Staff are appreciated and valued for delivering a professional service. Respondents rated staff as courteous (84% satisfaction), helpful (73% satisfaction) and knowledgeable (63% satisfaction)
· SPIRE (ECO’s licensing database) is judged to be easy to use (75% satisfaction)
· The licensing process in general is communicated well (64% satisfaction)
· The final licensing decision is communicated clearly (87% satisfaction)
· Customers are informed and aware of licensing terms and conditions and their responsibilities as licence holders (87% satisfaction)
· Dissatisfaction is often linked to experiences and perceptions of processing specific licence applications. Only 4% of respondents are strongly dissatisfied with ECO’s services, but this rises to 21% of those who have not had a satisfactory response to a significant licensing delay. These dissatisfaction levels are less marked in the case of more experienced ECO customers, but it is an issue for all categories of customers.
The survey also provided customers with the opportunity to raise comments. As a result, a number of suggested service improvements have been provided which can be broadly grouped into the following categories:
· Speed of Licence Processing – Timescales and Targets
· Communication about the progress/delay in licence processing
· Relationship Management of companies
· Consistency of Licensing Advice
· Open Licensing
· Charging
· Guidance issues and customer training needs
· Improving the ECO Helpline
· Improving the ECO Website
· Improving the Checker Tools
· Improving the usability of SPIRE
· Tone and attitude of customer communications
· Staff Knowledge
· Staffing Levels
ECO Response
In response to this feedback the ECO is now actively taking a number of steps including:
Immediate Service Improvements
Some ongoing changes that we have implemented since the 2010 Customer Survey was issued, in order to improve the ECO’s service are:
· Issued update guidance about End-User Undertakings including providing an EUU Checklist form
· Reviewing with industry the content and usefulness of information available on the ECO pages of the Businesslink website.
· Highlighting average time frames for licence processing of specific destinations (such as embargoed countries) in the Awareness Bulletin).
· Development of additional open licences for less sensitive goods and destinations.
Action Plan for further service improvements
We have devised an Action Plan to address other areas where either specific action is already planned or in progress and also recognising areas where there is scope for further investigation.
1. Background
This is a results summary of the 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by the Export Control Organisation (ECO), part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The summary is for internal ECO use only. Once the internal version has been agreed, a sanitised version will be produced, in consultation with LCG and Policy Unit, for publication on the ECO website.
As the UK’s licensing authority for strategic export controls, the ECO has to balance regulatory requirements with the needs of a diverse range of customers whose products are ‘controlled’ and therefore require a licence for export purposes.
As a service delivery organisation, the ECO is conscious of its remit to customers and continuously looks to improve, where possible, within the regulatory constraints of the export licensing system.
In this context, the ECO Customer Satisfaction Survey forms a vital aspect of ECO’s engagement and efforts to understand our customer needs and how to improve as a service, providing excellent value to both exporters and to the wider general public.
The 2010 survey was run from the end of January to April 2010.
Its launch introduced a number of changes to the way previous surveys had been conducted making it difficult to make direct correlations with previous outcomes. First, the questions have been extensively revamped since the last time the survey was conducted in Spring 2007. Second, the survey was also conducted for the first time via ECO’s export licensing database called SPIRE, which is the system used by customers to make licence applications. This meant that the survey was directly targeted at ECO’s customer base of licence applicants
2. Responses
The survey was issued directly via the SPIRE database into exporter applicant workbaskets. Details of the survey questions are at Appendix C.
Distributing the survey via SPIRE meant that a questionnaire was issued automatically to a licence applicant, triggered by the final licensing decision when applying for Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs). Additionally, the survey was also forwarded on request to individual exporters which potentially enabled ECO to issue the survey to our wider customer base of Open General Licence (OGEL) applicants.
As a result the survey was issued directly into 1618 individual workbaskets during the survey period (January to April 2010). A total of 657 individuals responded (with an additional 44 people declining to participate).
This meant that the survey resulted in a return rate of 41%, which we recognise is extremely high for these types of surveys. For instance, it compares to a return rate of 33% for the 2007 ECO Customer Satisfaction Survey. This could be due to a number of reasons, such as the high levels of engagement that we endeavour to have with industry and other stakeholders, because respondents want to provide more feedback or as a result of the new survey distribution method via the SPIRE system.
The method of distributing the survey means that there is an element of self-selection in the responses received, which mean that the responses are not fully representative. However, given the large response rate the responses provide a very good indication of areas for improvement.
3. Results
3.1 Overall Satisfaction
Respondents have a broadly positive opinion of the ECO. 54% (agree) and 13% (strongly agree) with the statement “I am satisfied with the overall service level ECO provides”. This corresponds to a large majority (67%) of respondents who have a positive attitude to the ECO’s service provision. (See Question 8).
This high satisfaction level is testament to the way ECO operates in a highly complex service delivery area – balancing the needs of exporters in selling and delivering products quickly and efficiently while meeting the UK’s international obligations and EU and national legislation surrounding sensitive and strategic goods exports.
3.2 Customer Overview
In order to gain a better insight into the nature of our customers, the survey asked all respondents about their business, size of organisation their organisational role and their knowledge and level of interaction with ECO.
3.2.1 Types of customers
ECO’s customers operate across a wide range of sectors and industries. Given the wide range of items that are subject to controls as listed on the UK Strategic Export Control Lists, this is unsurprising.
The survey indicates that a large proportion of our respondents are from the defence (19%) and aerospace (15%) industries and 19% of respondents are manufacturers.
Beyond these sectors that are perhaps most associated with the need for export controls, the survey confirms the diversity of ECO’s customer base. ECO’s customers include a large proportion of so called “dual-use” companies (in other words companies making products for both civilian and military markets). For instance, ECO customers operate in a range of industries, such as:
· Electrical/Electronic Equipment and Components
· Oil and Gas
· Chemical
· Telecommunications, Computers, IT Services
· Transportation Services
Additionally the “other” category includes exporters from an even broader range of sectors as well as individuals (such as military vehicle and firearms owners and a non-governmental organisation). (See Question 1).
ACTION POINT
In the light of this feedback, the ECO is building on our existing relationships with trade organisations and also planning to increase our awareness raising activities in targeted sectors, in co-ordination with relevant sector organisations.
See: AP4b
3.2.2 Size of organisation
This is the first time we have examined the size of companies in our customer base and the responses to this survey indicate that the vast majority of respondents applying for licences are Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs).
40% of ECO’s respondents are small companies (with 1 to 49 employees), 42% are medium sized enterprises (50 to 499 employees) with only the remaining third working in larger companies of 500 employees. Only 7% of respondents have over 2500 employees. (See Question 2)
3.2.3 Job Roles
We also wanted an understanding of who completed the questionnaire. Of all survey respondents, 27% were executives or senior managers, 43% were in a supervisory, export control level function and 30% were administrators.
While this is not a scientifically based question, the results indicate that responsibility for export controls cuts across organisations and in the majority of cases and regardless of the size of the respondent, key responsibility sits at a relatively high level in companies. (See Question 3).
3.2.4 Knowledge and Level of Interaction with ECO
Respondents were asked to indicate their level of knowledge of dealing with the ECO ranging from a novice to very experienced level (Question 4). At one extreme, roughly 26% of all respondents defined themselves as “novices” to export controls, compared to 16% who categorised themselves as “very experienced”. (See Question 4). The responses overall indicate that the majority of individuals who responded (74%) who have contact with ECO are either fairly experienced or very experienced in the export control process.
Collectively, the responses to these initial customer overview questions put into context the range of knowledge and background of ECO’s customer base and the continuing need for a more targeted awareness programme.
Respondents were also asked (Question 5) about the number of Standard Individual Export Licences (SIEL) applied for during the past year. The vast majority of respondents made under 20 SIEL applications last year. 39% said they had made 1 to 5 applications and 32% had made 6 to 20 applications – meaning 71% of respondents use the SIEL route to apply for at least some of the licences they need.
The ECO also issues a concessionary form of licence, called an Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL). The eligibility criteria for an OIEL specify that an exporter must have a track record of at least 20 relevant SIEL applications in the preceding year or a sound business case. According to the survey responses (Question 5), using an OIEL might potentially be an option for the 22% of respondents who made over 20 applications in the past year. (See Question 5)
ACTION POINT
This indicates the scope for ECO to make more companies aware of the advantages of open licences. See: AP2
3.2.4.1 Further analysis and comparison of customer knowledge depending on size and nature of business
The results were also analysed further to see what correlations (if any), there were between an exporter making a large number of SIEL applications (over 50 applications per year) and the respondent’s sector of operation.
Respondents who apply for multiple SIELs, tended to be from what might be considered the “traditional” licensing sectors such as Defence (53%), Aerospace (40%) and Marine (19%), as compared to the general sector breakdown of respondents.
Looking at the results in more detail, 21% of the respondents from the defence and aerospace sector indicated that their company employed over 2500 people. In comparison, the broader results show that only 7% of respondents employ over 2500 people.
The results indicate that respondents in these larger companies in the defence, aerospace and marine sectors were generally either satisfied or highly satisfied with ECO’s service.