Sony 2013 Annual Report Download - page 49

Responsiveness and Customer Service
Sony continually strives to take customer viewpoints
into consideration to help improve customer satisfac-
tion around the world. Its first Customer Information
Centers were established in 1963 in Japan, and thereafter
expanded their function worldwide to respond to cus-
tomer inquiries. For Sony employees and sta of service
partners involved in customer service, Sony provides
ongoing training to ensure that issues are addressed
swiftly and eectively. Sony also uses the Internet and
various emerging social media platforms to communicate
frequently and directly with customers. To ensure timely
access to easy-to-understand product and customer
service information, Sony works to enhance the content
of its websites, enabling the download of manuals
and software updates and providing frequently asked
questions (FAQs) and other information about ways to
use and enjoy Sony products and services. To further
bolster customer satisfaction, Sony is responding to the
increasingly diverse needs of its customers by, among
other initiatives, providing live chat capabilities on its
websites.
Customer feedback helps Sony improve its products
and services. To this end, opinions about products and
reports of malfunctions received from customers by Sony
Customer Information Centers are shared with related
departments, ensuring that prompt improvements in
product quality can be made. Internally, a Quality Hotline
and a dedicated quality website serve as important
mechanisms through which employees can submit
comments about product and customer service quality.
Currently, there are more than 5,300 Sony customer
service locations, including Sony service stations and
authorized repair agents worldwide, allowing Sony to
respond promptly to customer requests. Sony is working
to shorten repair times and reviewing repair fees and
repair service reception procedures in dierent regions
with the ongoing goal of enhancing overall customer
satisfaction.
Enhancing Usability and Accessibility
Sony products are used by a diverse range of customers
not only in Japan, Europe and North America, but also in
other parts of the world, including emerging economies.
Sony thus recognizes that it must accommodate
definitions of “usability” that vary in dierent cultures
and lifestyles. To this end, Sony conducts user tests on
an ongoing basis in Japan and a variety of other markets,
including India, China and Brazil, as part of the product
development process. These tests are aimed at improving
such attributes as viewability, comprehensibility and
responsiveness.
Sony’s commitment to usability also extends to
including features that make its products accessible to
as many people as possible, including the elderly and
individuals with disabilities. One recent example of
advances in accessibility is the Reader™ eBook reader.
This device features an e-paper display, which replicates
the appearance of ink on paper and enables users to read
comfortably for long periods with minimal eyestrain, and
allows users to adjust text size as needed.
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