Rogers Corp., Canada’s largest telecom provider, has a new CEO, Guy Laurence, who intends to bring the company’s customers back where they belong: front and center.
“We’ve neglected our customers, and we’ve let our legacy of growth and innovation slip,” Laurence told reporters in Toronto on Friday. “The plan I’ve laid out will significantly improve the experience for our customers and re-establish our growth by better leveraging our assets and consistently executing as One Rogers.”
That plan has been dubbed Rogers 3.0 by Laurence, who is a former Vodafone U.K. executive.
Laurence’s plan revolves around restructuring the company, revamping management, enhancing customer service to a very high level, and sparking company growth.
In the latest J.D. Power survey, Rogers was once again rated at the bottom in customer satisfaction.
“All customer experience functions including customer care call centers, field operations, go-to-market, and online channels will be brought together into one team reporting to the CEO,” Laurence said. “This is a pioneering company. We believe in innovation.”
Besides being a wireless carrier, Rogers’ assets include media, publishing, radio, home services, entertainment, and sports franchises. Laurence wants all of these assets under one umbrella.
Laurence plans to implement a seven-point plan:
- Be a strong Canadian growth company
- Overhaul the Customer Experience
- Drive meaningful growth in the business market
- Invest in and develop our people
- Deliver compelling content anywhere
- Focus on innovation and network leadership
- Go to market as One Rogers.
“We have to untangle the cold spaghetti, we have to clean up the customer experience, we have to go to market with fewer innovations,” Laurence said.
Laurence’s restructuring impacted company founders’ children, Melinda Rogers and Edward Rogers. They were removed from the daily operations of the company to focus on the company’s “long-term” direction.
Rogers Corp. announced plans to launch a co-branded credit card program in conjunction with its new loyalty program: Rogers First Rewards.
When Rogers Corp. announced in April 2013 plans for the new loyalty program, Nadir Mohamed, the company’s outgoing President and CEO, said at the time that the program would help enhance customer relationships.
Mohamed told shareholders that while it’s important for the wireless, cable, and media companies to look at the customer experience holistically, “there’s no question we need to significantly improve customer service. We need to help our customers better understand what they get when they sign up and we need to do a better job supporting them once they do. This is a key priority for me and the executive team.”