Just recently I was attempting to lift weights at the Level 3 corporate gym when I became mildly unsure that I would be able to put the bar back up on the rack. In a cool, calm, and collectedly strained tone (trying not to panic), I hollered out “hey bro – can you give me a spot” to the guy sitting nearby on a spin bike. Luckily he obliged, but then what he said afterwards was pure gold: he said “Yeah man, I just don’t lift weights. You know why??? Because they’re HEAVY!”…. I found this extremely funny and mired in metaphorical usefulness. Sometimes we avoid things that are too heavy.
The opposite is true as you move outside of the Level 3 gym and into the office environment. In fact, you’ll find that a LOT of heavy lifting has been going on. And none of the hard topics have been ignored. Anyone that has ever worked on integrations, mergers, or acquisitions will have an appreciation for the heavy lifting required to combine two (or more) companies into one. And as of today, Level 3 and Global Crossing became one.
As a core team member of the integration planning, I can say with confidence that our focus has been on one area: Customer Experience. Our CEO, Jim Crowe, recently stood up in front of all employees and said something to the effect of – “make no mistake on what I’m about to say: Level 3 will not prioritize saving a buck (integration synergies) over the experience or impact we’re making to our customers.” It was a special moment for the hundreds of employees in the room who are quite committed to the service experience.
So what can customers expect to be different from the new Level 3 this time around?
We’re Listening
Level 3 has put in place a number of people and tools to stay in touch with what our customers are saying – be it good or bad. For example, customer feedback is collected from surveys, twitter, blogs, Facebook, sales meetings, service calls, online web forms, executive check-ins, and more. We are listening for how we can improve and highlighting the things customers say we’re doing right. It doesn’t stop there. We are listening to our employees. They know the successes and struggles our customers feel every day. Employees can funnel stories or suggestions to senior management right on our internal homepage. In addition, there are internal social collaboration tools that have been put in place to capture these voices and ensure they get heard. Finally, our executive team is opening their doors for feedback more than ever, more on that in a minute.
We’re Adapting
Okay so we’re listening, but then what? First, we seek to understand our customer’s needs. We know that there are just as many differences in our customer’s needs as there are similarities. Sometimes customers want automation…sometimes they want that human touch… sometimes they want a blend… These are the types of challenges we are seeking to understand. As we listen we’re looking to understand how each interaction we have with customers can be easier for them even if it may not be easier for us. That’s the shift we are making. During integration planning, we took inventory of every single interaction we have with our customers. It was an outside-in type of project which gave us a list of everything our customers see, hear, and feel as they do business with the new Level 3. The outcome? An end-to-end view of our customer experience that we can use to adapt and tweak to create the intentional experience our customers are asking for.
We’re Committed
Have you seen the action film The Matrix? In that film, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) offers a choice of two pills to Neo (Keanu Reeves). The red pill takes will take him into a new world without the chance of return. The blue pill will allow him to continue his ordinary life. Neo chose the red pill and then he saves the world or something. Playing out the same scenario here at Level 3, we said the heck with it – we’re taking BOTH pills. We are COMMITTED to customer experience. We are committed to our current customers and we are committed to the new customer base that we inherit through our acquisition of Global Crossing. Internally, you can’t get but ten minutes into most executive meetings without the customer experience topic surfacing. I’ve been at Level 3 for nearly twelve years and over the last eighteen months or so you can feel the energy and culture really start to solidify on our customers. Adding fuel to that fire, Global Crossing makes us even stronger in this regard because they bring a culture that lives and breathes customer experience. And best of all, we put a C-level executive in place to help lead this charge for the new Level 3. Check out our Chief Customer Experience Officer, Peter Neill.
Let me just say one more thing: employees are excited! We want to show our customers that we can do this right! Sure, we’ll slip up and occasionally miss the mark, but it’s only because we are dealing with things that are HEAVY! Our customers can trust that we aren’t putting any weights down without first bulking up in the areas they’ve asked us to. Welcome to the new Level 3 and our hot new global bod!
Have ideas or feedback? We’re listening! Feel free to contact me using the comments section below, at Peter.Haid@Level3.com, 720-888-2363, or reach our broader integration team through our integration inquiry process.
About Stacey Sayer
Peter – I have followed Level 3 for quite some time. While there is always a lot of heavy lifting to be done you guys should be congratulated on the maneuvering you’ve done over the years to stay the course. Your focus on the customer experience will serve you well as you continue to realize the vision set forth in the late 90′s when PKS formed Level 3.
Warmest regards,
Bryan Surface
Bryan – thanks for the kind words and for following Level 3′s evolving story.