In the Nigerian Electric Power Industry, the only model of service management that is mandated and monitored by the industry regulator is complaints management in a bid to ensure optimal service quality to consumers but this model is not comprehensive enough to deliver on the requirements of this industry and so new procedures have to be found that can bring about the change required. ITIL is a public framework describing Best Practice in IT service management that delivers exceptional results for the governance of IT and focuses on the continual measurement and improvement of the quality of IT service delivered, from both a business and a customer perspective. This paper proposes a unified customer service management paradigm that attempts to deliver Service Availability and Improvement alongside ensuring Service Quality that promotes customer satisfaction through the implementation of an adaptation of portions of the IT service management framework as defined by ITIL for the Nigerian Electric Power Industry

1. A Unified Customer Service Model
Optimizing Customer Service Quality for the Nigerian Electric Power Industry through the implementation of an ITIL
based Service Management Paradigm
Femi Akin-Laguda | 29.04.16 | ICAITM 2016 | AICC, Accra Ghana
Paper ID: ICAITM160055

2. INTRODUCTION
 For the Nigerian Electric Power Industry, primarily at the distribution end of the value chain, the
quality of customer service is inseparable from the core focus of the business process as the
deplorable quality and condition of service in existence for decades has done immeasurable
damage to customers’ confidence
 It is, therefore, imperative that the model of customer service implemented succeeds in rescuing
the situation by delivering exceptionally customer satisfaction metrics in a bid to push back from
the precipice.
 An exploration of what such a model could be is the focus of this paper
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3. THE ITIL FRAMEWORK
 This paradigm is built on an adaptation of portions of the service management framework as
defined by ITIL to the specific needs of the Electric Power Industry.
 ITIL is a public framework that describes Best Practice in IT service management. It provides a
framework for the governance of IT and focuses on the continual measurement and improvement
of the quality of IT service delivered, from both a business and a customer perspective.
 This focus is a major factor in ITIL’s worldwide success and has contributed to its prolific usage and
to the key benefits obtained by those organizations deploying the techniques and processes
throughout their organizations.
 Organisations that include major government agencies such as the US Army, Navy and IRS; and
private companies including British Airways, VISA, P&G, Sony, Toyota, Disney and many others.
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4. REQUEST, INCIDENT & PROBLEM
MANAGEMENT SYNERGY
 Request Management, Incident and Problem Management form a triumvirate of customer service
models for a holistic customer-centric offering
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REQUEST
MANAGEMENT
• Service Availability
• Service Delivery
• Uniform & Optimized
Customer Service Request
Management Policy
INCIDENT
MANAGEMENT
• Service Quality
• Complaints
Resolution
• Effective grievance
mediation with quick turn
around time
PROBLEM
MANAGEMENT• Service
Improvement
• Complaints
Prevention
• Proactive and Reactive
prevention of potential and
occurring issues
Key goal
Focus
Result

5. INCIDENT/COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT
 An incident is an unexpected disruption of service or reduction in the quality of service to the
customer that needs to be resolved immediately
 Incident management, therefore, are the activities of an organization to identify, analyse, and
correct disruptions of service or reduction in the quality of service to restore service quality to
required levels according to the SLA.
 It is important to note that Incidents, however, are not the same as problems. A problem may cause
an incident and re-occurring incidents usually indicate an underlying problem.
 Regulations by the NERC dictate that a customer complaints unit is mandatory for all electricity
distribution companies, therefore, our focus will be on the other models that will add critical value
to our paradigm
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6. PROBLEM & REQUEST MANAGEMENT
 A problem is the root cause of multiple incidents and may in itself not cause a disruption or
reduction in the quality of service
 Problem Management includes the activities required to diagnose the root cause of incidents
identified through the Incident Management process, and to determine the resolution to those
problems.
 A request is a formal application from a customer for a service to be provided; usually low risk,
frequently occurring, low cost, low impact changes to the customer’s service offering
 Request Management includes the activities required to promote superior unified customer
satisfaction, attain service level targets, articulate and route requests to the service provider, ensure
accurate and timely communication of status and closing or escalation of requests with user
consensus
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7. REQUEST MANAGEMENT PROCESS
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• Customer applies for a service
• Details are logged as a Service
Request Record
APPLICATION
• Service request record matched
to Service Catalogue Record
• Execution, Duration and Service
Fulfilment group is determined
EVALUATION
• Request is assigned to fulfilment
group
• Assignment is acknowledged
ESCALATION
• Service is provided with SLA
parameters
• Stakeholder informed on
completion
EXECUTION
• Final Quality Check
• New Service catalogue Entry is
made if required
CLOSURE AND
REVIEW

8. REQUEST MGT. BENEFITS & CHALLENGES
BENEFITS
1. Increased customer satisfaction
2. To articulate and route requests to the service provider
3. To ensure accurate and timely communication of status
4. Monitor metrics that indicate performance levels for customer satisfaction
5. Improved service availability, leading to increased revenue
6. Improved decision making from analysis of comprehensive information
CHALLENGES
1. Cost of implementation
2. Direct and Indirect Business Process Re-engineering Cost
3. Tools
4. Time
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9. PROBLEM MANAGEMENT PROCESS
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• Potential problems
are detected
• Initial Information
collected
• trends in the incident
data are assessed
IDENTIFICATION
• Problem is
determined to exist
• Problem is prioritised
• Workarounds are
designed if required
EVALUATION • Details are scrutinized
extensively
• Multiple solutions are
sought
• May require specialist
support
INVESTGATION
• Preferred solution is
selected
• Implementation
model is designed
• Performance metrics
are agreed
• Request for Change
SOLUTION
DEFINITION
• Solution is effected
• Change Management
policy is implemented
as appropriate
• Process reversal is
prepared
IMPLEMENTATION
• Implementation is
evaluated against
performance metrics
• Implementation is
accepted, re-
investigated or
terminated
REVIEW • Problem details,
solution,
implementation and
review are documented
• Problem is considered
resolved and closed
DOCUMENTATION

10. PROBLEM MGT. BENEFITS & CHALLENGES
BENEFITS
1. Reactive: Reduction in re-occurring complaints
2. Proactive: Prevention of complaints
3. Improved Customer Satisfaction
4. Increased Revenue & Fiscal Efficiency
5. Improved Lead Time and Implementation New Services
6. Improved Analytics
CHALLENGES
1. Cost of implementation
2. Lack of buy-in by stakeholders
3. Problem Management Expertise
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11. PROBLEM AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
 The primary goal of Problem Management is to find and fix the root cause of incidents and reduce
the impact on business.
 The goal of Change Management is to control and manage the implementation of approved
changes within an agreed structure.
 The relationship between these two service management techniques is that if the root cause of an
incident is discovered and a solution is found, the implementation of such a solution would require
careful management as it would directly affect the current operational model that is in place.
 Actually, Change management can be perhaps be referred to as the structured implementation
phase of the Problem Management process.
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12. SERVICE MANAGEMENT & THE CLOUD
 This service management paradigm being proposed seems unrelated to the technology concepts
being discussed at this conference but it is important to note that the platform on which to
effectively run the our Service Management Software solutions is quite obviously “the Cloud”
 This is because it allows the deployment of unified solutions across all locations, aggregates data
more efficiently, assures data integrity for analytics and ensures a more effective oversight of the
entire process
 “The Cloud” is by far the best platform to deploy, implement and manage distributed software
solutions
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13. CONCLUSIONS
 While this is by no means a perfect method of customer service management, the paradigm set out
in this paper takes on three strategies which are not novel in themselves but together create a
framework that can significantly improve the customers service experience for distribution
companies within the Electric Power Industry as they look to regenerate their customer satisfaction
metrics.
 Thank you for your time and attention
‘Femi Akin-Laguda
LinkedIn Profile Academia.edu Profile
femi.akinlaguda@yahoo.com
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