July 2009 results


NCFE's customer satisfaction survey at an all time high

 

 At NCFE, service really does matter to us so we're delighted that we've achieved our highest ever customer satisfaction score of 86.6% and a place among the UK's top performing companies. In fact, we achieved the highest score from companies within the education sector surveyed by The Leadership Factor in the last 5 years!

 

A huge thank you if you were one of the 220 customers contacted by The Leadership Factor and asked to give your views.

 

Of the 21 areas surveyed, all but 5 achieved an average score of over 8.5/10, with 'helpfulness of staff' and 'clear points of contact' achieving the highest scores of 8.95/10 and 8.88/10 respectively!

 

NCFE Chief Executive, David Grailey, said; "Our unwavering commitment to exceptional customer service means we'll always have staff with the right skills, attitude and training. I'm delighted that our customers are experiencing a high level of service day in day out.

In the current economic climate, it's too easy to cut back on customer service. We're proud to buck the trend and are continuing to invest heavily in improving our products and service as a result of our customers' feedback."

 

Education Sector Satisfaction IndexTM League Table:



Here's a taste of some of the comments you made:

"The website gets easier and easier to use and it was easy in the first place!"

 

 "It would be nice to see more in the NCFE portfolio"

 

"Communication is better and email alerts are more frequent and more relevant"

 

 "The external moderators have been fantastically helpful and supportive and have excellent subject knowledge"

 

"I am impressed with what I have seen of NCFE and I would like to do more work with them"

 

 "We had mixed guidance from the moderators"

 

"NCFE is an excellent awarding body, they're genuinely interested in what we do and communication is good"

 

"I am unable to talk to specialist staff as they are frequently busy"

 

"As an organisation I have found them so helpful and proactive with the changes in the structure of the qualification and I hope they continue that"

 

"I like the idea that we have a named person and the members of staff are very well trained and good at customer service"

 

Despite this fantastic score, we're not complacent!  Here are some of the areas we're planning to improve this year as a result of your feedback:


 •           Problem solving ability

We're working to ensure that we have a robust system in place to deal with problems when they occur, including an effective feedback mechanism.

 

•           External moderation

We're planning to review our external moderation process particularly focusing on clarity about the process, consistency of requirements, guidance for tutors and moderator availability.

 

 •           Certification

We're going to work on online certification, improving turnaround times and generally streamlining the process.

 

 •           Communication and ability to be proactive

Following the work we did last year to improve the way we keep you up to date with changes to qualifications and services, we want to make more improvements in this area and initiate more contact with you to inform you of changes. We'll continue to send more updates by email, which most of you say you prefer, and it helps us to do our bit for the planet by reducing the amount of paper we use!

 

 •           Availability of specialist staff and support

We're planning to develop and populate a bank of specialist contractors to work on sector related issues that we can access quickly to respond to your queries. We'll also develop the product knowledge of our staff in-house to enable them to support you with specialist queries.

 

 •           Online and website

Following the improvements we made last year to the portal and the website, we plan to continue to work on our online services and the website to keep you up to date on developments and make life even easier for you!

 

Our next survey 

The Leadership Factor will soon be carrying out a 'tracker survey' to check how we're getting on with the improvements we're making.  In early November, they'll be contacting 50 customers and asking for their views.  If they do get in touch with you, it'd be great if you'd spare about 10 minutes to take part.

 

Even if you're not contacted as part of the survey, you can email feedback@ncfe.org.uk with your comments or suggestions at any time, or just pick up the phone and tell us.