case study - customer research
The Brief
Roke is a leading innovative solutions provider, contract R&D business, and niche product developer. The company has a diverse customer base operating in a variety of sectors - from Air Traffic Management to Homeland Security. According to Roke, “Our engineers work only on the tricky stuff. That's why we're called upon repeatedly by our clients when they need a difficult problem solved quickly and with a solution that's in-tune with their own systems.” Customer service is crucial to Roke’s offering and this is why they commissioned Nova Connection to find out how they shape up against their competitors and how they can deliver even better customer service in the future.
The Outcome
We discovered that Roke scientists and engineers were
highly regarded for the quality of their technical work
and for their innovation – scoring better than almost
all of their competitors. In order to be “best in
class” some areas for attention were identified in
non-technical domains such as account management,
project management and soft skills. It would have
been easy to overlook these areas as Roke scored
similarly to their competitors.
Methodology
We worked closely with Roke scientists, engineers and marketers to develop an understanding of their capability and the major issues faced by the business. A semi-structured telephone interview of 20 minutes duration was then developed and piloted. An incentive was offered to customers for participation, which resulted in Roke making a donation to Cancer Research of £1050 - £25 for each of the 42 interviews completed. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data were obtained.
The analysis showed Roke how they performed against
their major competitors in eight key areas such as
innovation, quality of technical work and value for
money. The use of metaphor provided fascinating
insights into clients’ perceptions of the organisation.
The report was summarised with clear conclusions and
recommendations.
Client Feedback
As a technical organisation working in a diverse range of sectors, we were impressed with the way that Nova Connection quickly developed a clear understanding of our business model and key issues. This enabled them to ask the right customers the right questions and subsequently collect the most useful data.
Interviews were carried out in a timely and highly
professional manner, and any problems were ironed out
quickly and effectively without damaging customer
relations. We were impressed with the level of
service we received from
As a result of the survey, we have been able to make
an informed decision about the best way to
restructure our business to ensure that we continue
to exceed customer expectations. We have made three new
board appointments to drive forward our levels of
customer service and it is now a major area of focus for
the business. We would not hesitate to use
Colin Quinney, Sales and Marketing Director
Roke Manor Research - a Siemens company