Kaiser's Secret To Customer Satisfaction: Its People.

Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management, August, 2004 by Rutkowski, Therese

Based on the premise that knowledgeable and happy call center agents deliver the best customer service, Kaiser Permanente is using online agent training to help agents build member loyalty.

Conventional management thinking says: Labor is expensive, and automation reduces that expense. Although in many cases this statement is true, competitive advantage in the area of customer service isn't a simple matter of replacing people with technology.

At least it's not that simple to Robb Munson, vice president of membership administration at Kaiser Permanente, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit health plan that operates in nine states and Washington, D.C.

Munson, who until recently managed two large call centers in California and six others in...

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