Comcast Corp., the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider, has demonstrated a fresh commitment to customer service with the creation of a new customer experience position.
In a Sept. 26 blog post, Comcast President and CEO Neil Smit wrote that Charlie Herrin has been named SVP Customer Experience, and will work across all business units to “reimagine the customer experience and ensure that we are delighting our customers at each touch point.”
This announcement comes as Comcast has received recent negative attention for a customer service call that went wrong and viral in July, as well as being in the spotlight for its proposed $42.5 billion merger deal with Time Warner.
In his blog post, Smit admits that while Comcast has made progress when it comes to customer service, the company “needs to do a better job to make sure those interactions are excellent…from the moment a customer orders a new service, to the installation, to the way we communicate with them, to how we respond to any issues.”
Herrin comes to this new role as a 15-year veteran of Comcast, most recently working as the SVP Product Design and Development. In that role, he led the design team in development of X1, a breakthrough entertainment operating system that brings internet and TV together and allows customers to access high-speed entertainment across all screens. Herrin and his team received the 2011 Emmy Award for outstanding achievement for the Xfinity TV iPad app, and a 2013 Emmy Award for the X1 user interface.
As SVP Product Design and Development, Herrin also spearheaded the company’s initiative to deliver a consistent user experience across platforms. This primes him well for his next role as SVP Customer Experience, and also supports why Smit stated in his blog post that “anyone who knows or has worked with Charlie has seen first-hand his unwavering commitment to the customer.”
Smit provided examples of how Comcast has been working to become more customer-centric, citing new tools in call centers to help employees provide better and faster service, shortened technician appointment windows, new self-service apps providing increased interaction choices, and improvements to service centers across the country.
Though Comcast may be headed in the right direction, Smit acknowledges that it could be some time before the company has fully realized its customer service goals.
“Transformation isn’t going to happen overnight. In fact, it may take a few years before we can honestly say that a great customer experience is something we’re known for,” Smit wrote. “But that is our goal and our No. 1 priority … and that’s what we are going to do.”