Home - Key Findings - Lessons Learned - Process - Prototype Walkthrough

Key Findings

Over the course of nine months, the team from the HCII employed a variety of methods intended to define the work process, as well as the breakdowns, in the current system used by Wachovia's PSRs.  By observing the PSRs work with their current toolset, there were some key findings which were addressed in the prototype.

Reliance on Presumed Knowledge

The role of Personal Service Representative requires an abundance of training and practice to master.  Bank policies, account fee structures, and other information changes based not only on a customer's specific relationship with the bank, but also based on federal and state based regulations.  This knowledge is stored in a number of different documents, some of which can be conflicting or outdated.  Therefore, to avoid these systems, the PSRs will often jot down notes or simply memorize it, increasing the possibility that they are giving out incorrect information.

Reluctance to sell new Products and Services

From observing PSRs taking calls from customers, as well as interviewing them about their personal preferences, it was clear to the team that while the bank encouraged them to sell new products and services, this was a low priority.  When investigating the root cause of this issue, it was found that PSRs did not like to sell either because it was too hard to analyze which products or services would benefit a customer, or because they didn't feel they had the right information to successfully make a sale.

Information relevant to task too dispersed

The common tasks which PSRs perform during the course of a call required them to access a number of different screens, and search for the information in disparate places each time.  In a lot of places, common customer-level information was repeated on every screen, causing clutter and distracting the PSR from the task at hand.