Bringing Smiles THE CHALLENGE

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1 CASE STUDY Bringing Smiles With the number of customers rapidly increasing, the service capability of the existing infrastructure at this Call Center was not efficient and needed upgrade. Customers were increasingly relying on agents rather than the IVR. As a result, performance levels were not up to the mark. Servion Global Solutions audited the existing Call Center design, processes, practices, and MIS. Launched in 1998, the service provider is a multi-partner consumer rewards program. Members of the program are rewarded with points for shopping at the stores of participating companies. These points can be redeemed for an extensive range of quality gifts totally free of charge. THE CHALLENGE With the number of customers rapidly increasing, the existing infrastructure was unable to handle the load. The service provider has a member base of over three million and is rapidly growing at a rate of 20,000 to 30,000 new members a month. These members redeem gifts using the following channels: Electronic Point Of Sale (EPOS) system Call Center/Member Service Methodology Self service - IVR On the spot at outlets Web self service On any given day the maximum number of calls that the center handles is 13,500 with monthly calls coming close to 174,536. With the number of customers rapidly increasing, the service capability of the existing infrastructure was not efficient enough and needed to be upgraded. Performance levels were also not up to the mark and had to be improved to optimize the investment made. O P T I M I Z I N G C O N T A C T

2 THE ANSWER Servion performed a GAP Analysis that focused on the resolution of issues by identifying the root cause of the problem. A unique 360 degree approach was employed to understand issues that involved: Discussions with Contact Center personnel Study of processes practiced in the Contact Center Study of utilization of resources in the Contact Center Study of technology deployed in the Contact Center Analysis of telecommunication costs Process GAP Analysis, Servion s consulting service, focuses on change or process re-engineering in organizations that wish to achieve higher productivity from existing people, technology, and infrastructure. Data and observations were gathered and analyzed to determine the GAP between the current and ideal states of contact for the Call Center. Key Observations Servion made the following observations: Call Center s hours of operation were insufficient members were unable to reach agents at all times Imbalanced channel utilization incoming call volume was higher compared to other communication channels ( was used only 10 percent of the time) Call Center was designed to handle calls in non-peak season. During the peak season, as much as 30 percent of calls were in queue, service levels dropped to 20 percent from 100 percent, and 44 percent of calls were not serviced. IVR did not have adequate number of channels. As a result, the number of calls that agents handled increased leaving the workforce tired and pressured. Intelligent interface between IT and telephone was unavailable resulting in higher operational costs. Agents were not aware of caller details/history and intelligent Call Center monitoring tools were not available to monitor real-time agent activity. IVR and ACD capabilities were underutilized Call Center reporting and monitoring was manual and call logging was not supported IVR design did not allow all members to use self-service options Proactive communication alerts were absent Member contact channels did not integrate with the backend system High volume of incoming fax

3 Recommendations Servion recommended the following based on the discoveries to bridge the GAP. Process Technology Snapshot Definity G3Si R5 Call Center Elite ACD BCMSVu Reporting tool Audix Voice Mail System Nice Voice Logger IVR-One CardSmart Web Admin BLIQ Intranet System Use Web self-service options for after office hours Depute few agents for after and before office hours Increase IVR utilization by educating customers about the IVR and by implementing CTI Implement CTI and channel manager with call blending across channels to effectively balance load reduce average call duration from the existing 2.5 minutes to 2 minutes monitor queue length at each level (ACD, IVR, e- mail, fax, and chat) to take remedial actions provide a single GUI view on Call Center performance for supervisors to predict and organize staffing requirements automate and enhance current reporting and monitoring Enhance solution for better response management by integrating it with the back-end system Implement Internet chat as an alternate channel to provide members with real-time interface Implement a fax server solution Implement automated alert and event notification system Anticipate and forecast incoming calls and accordingly plan for infrastructure changes Evaluate Call Center Workforce Management software for forecasting and scheduling of agents Call Center manager to identify existing agent skills and plan for skill-based routing based on member calling patterns and profiles Redesign backup support to handle demands during peak season System to support self-training models Real-time monitoring tools for supervisors so that they can identify mistakes and areas of improvement All members to be educated to use self-service options Inbound faxes to be received directly at the user desktop

4 Technology IVR to be upgraded to 45 ports Definity to be upgraded to support 37 agents and 90 incoming trunks Enable CTI link and install ASAI Core and Plus Software Redesign IVR port size to avoid call overflow Redesign and engineer ACD and IVR system Identify and change CardSmart and Web Admin software for effective integration and enriched functionality usage of above mentioned recommendations THE RESULT Post Servion s GAP Analysis the following changes are anticipated: Average call duration at IVR will increase from 1 minute to 1.5 Average call duration with agent will be 2 minutes Average call completion rate in IVR will be 50 percent Implementation of Servion s recommendations will result in: Reduced operational costs Retention of members Effective utilization of Call Center infrastructure Reduced cost of operation and increased customer satisfaction through channel manager s call blending and load balancing Reduced costs once members slowly migrate from traditionally telephony contact to other alternate channels Proactive alerts through the communication channel the member chooses reduces the number of routine calls being made to the center Enhanced IVR design so that 50 percent of calls can be serviced by the IVR itself

5 ABOUT SERVION Servion specializes in Customer Interaction Management (CIM) solutions that help organizations design and deliver superior experience for their customers. With its expertise spread across consulting, implementing and managing CIM solutions and technologies, Servion enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of customer interactions for over 600 organizations across more than 60 countries. On an average, Servion s solutions handle over 7 billion interactions every year across multiple channels and industry verticals, positively impacting customer satisfaction and contact profitability. For more information, visit O P T I M I Z I N G C O N T A C T Visit or us at: marketing@servion.com 2006 Servion Global Solutions. All rights reserved.