Techno Brain BPO / ITES CASE STUDY. Customer Service & Contact Centre Efficiency Improvement.

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1 Techno Brain BPO / ITES CASE STUDY Customer Service & Contact Centre Efficiency Improvement

2 Delivering Superior Customer Services to our Corporate ISP Clients (Largest ISP Provider in Kenya) Introduction When you provide technical & customer services to corporate customers around Kenya & to the global market, your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform has to be better and should be capable of delivering superior, speedy, and reliable assistance. We work with the Corporate Client to develop a robust Call Inflow Monitoring Platform which can be embedded with their CRM. This helps in managing and expanding customer service load within its Retail Customer Division of the Client as Fiber Optic Cable (Seacom) has started increasing their customer base. Company Ranked one amongst the best BPO Companies in East Africa, Techno Brain BPO, offers a comprehensive array of value additions & services to our esteemed Customers, with offices in more than 10 countries around the world. Challenge In May 2010, our ISP Client faced with a rapidly expanding customer base and the need to boost Productivity without increasing front line resources. Techno Brain BPO team began searching for specialized tools / methodologies to help manage the Retail Division call centre. Businesses are always striving to increase efficiency. However, an even more practical impetus drove Techno Brain BPO, process forward. Key Results An increase in first call resolutions from 11% (May 2010) to 66% (Dec 2010) A 16% decrease in average call handling time 94% of calls are picked up within 5 seconds An increase in the overall customer satisfaction rating to 71% (Survey conducted by third party for Client) Increased efficiency gain in the agent-to customer ratio No staff expansion while the customer base almost doubled Techno Brain BPO team began searching for specialized tools / methodologies to help manage the Retail Division call centre. Businesses are always striving to increase efficiency. However, an even more practical impetus drove Techno Brain BPO process forward. We were planning to increase staff in the call centre, says one of our client representatives, who are one of the major decision makers. First Call Resolution (FCR) has been found to be the single most important key challenge to Improve Customer Satisfaction. The absence of First Call Resolution has been found to account for a minimum of 30% to 40% of a company s call expenditure. So by focusing on this issue you will get the best of both worlds improved productivity and improve customer satisfaction.

3 After reviewing a number of potential solutions, Techno Brain BPO chose to concentrate on the Root Cause Identification for REPEAT Calls Once in place, Techno Brain BPO Knowledge proved itself almost immediately. Post the implementation of the steps to reduce Repeat Calls using basic steps the measure turned the Challenge to a success factor. We were in control of the calls, and our agents were able to handle the Call effectively to resolve it in first step. The customer service agent was dictating the pace of the call, and we were solving problems without any repeat calls in most instances. Implementation A critical component of the Techno Brain BPO system is the analysis of the existing incoming call flow data to identify repeat callers. A research was performed month on month by making outbound calls to understand the company primary, secondary and tertiary issues of the Customers. The research also included analysis of all cases logged in the Service Request Manager (SRM) in the systems and their root cause. The calls are logged in SRM, and then we query the knowledgebase to find the solution to the customer s issue, explains Joseph Kimani, who manages the call centre s technical infrastructure. Techno Brain BPO s Management Information System (MIS) team worked closely with the ISP Customers to develop an easy solution mapping to reduce repeats cases and also to reduce multiple cases logged in the SRM for the same issue. This reduced the Turnaround Time on resolving customers issues. Calls are reviewed by the operations, training & quality teams individually and then are calibrated regularly to better customer delivery. The call audit trail of the problem resolution process is also documented effectively. Results Only five percent of the call centers in the benchmarking study are at the world class FCR rating of 80% or higher. Achieving 80% or higher FCR rating typically results in an average of 1.2 calls needed to resolve customer s inquiry or problem. Again, the average call center FCR rating is 67%, resulting in an average of 1.6 calls needed to resolve the customer s inquiry or problem. As you can see, there is a big difference between a world class performing help desk and an average performing Customer Care Helpdesk.

4 Listed below are the top 10 best practices we share at our Customer Care Helpdesk to convert the helpdesk to a world class FCR driven process: Management Is committed to improving FCR and it is viewed as the most important measure. Awareness All levels of employees are aware of the business case to improve FCR performance. Goals and Accountability Employees at all levels are accountable for achieving FCR goals. Goals are a part of their performance appraisals. Resolution Outcome Customer Service Representatives (CSR) take ownership for resolving their own customer inquiry or problem calls. Call backs are promised and done. Ten Plus Calls Call center management evaluate source of error for ten plus calls. Accountability of the issue is taken by the Supervisor and issue is dealt with the Client or faster resolution. Customer is also kept informed periodically. Measurement FCR is measured frequently (one in a fort night), consistently, and is determined by the customer. Reports are shared fort night on FCR performance with the teams. Coaching & Calibration Supervisors are trained to coach CSRs on how to improve their FCR performance. Periodic calibrations are done to ensure effectiveness in the process. A 3 tier feedback mechanism is followed for effectiveness. Hiring & Turnover New CSR hires are based on having a predetermined FCR profile and call center management focuses on reducing CSR turnover. Call Flow Customer calls are effectively and efficiently managed (such as call routing, script, and desk top applications) for achieving FCR. Recognition & Incentives incentives. CSRs are recognized frequently for achieving their FCR goals and are paid

5 Call Analysis Process Driven Call Analysis Quality Team (Soft & Tech Skills) Call Analysis Quality Team (Soft & Tech Skills) Outcome of Call Calibration Action points with Stakeholders Performance Improvements Effectiveness of Operations Professionalism of Agents Customer Satisfaction Overall Delivery Performance Improvement in FCR Increase Business Opportunities Priority of key issues for Customer Resolution Investing in quality management will help to turn call centers from a cost to a profit center. Techno Brain BPO has a robust quality management system which helps us to increase Customer Satisfaction... Quality management driven by analytics Quality management not to be limited to the agents performance We use Quality Management tools to identify First Call Resolution as the single most important area for improvement in Customer Satisfaction and all Service Level Agreements (SLA). Customer s feedbacks help us to make frequent changes in the system for higher effectiveness. Techno Brain BPO s customer service team quickly achieved gains in virtually every SLA metrics of process performance. The existing staff could manage more than 40% of additional inflow of call volumes on a daily basis with the highest First Call Resolution moving from a mere 11% to 66% in 6 month duration. We dictated the pace of the call and were able to provide consistent answers to the customer. We went from solving about 11 percent of calls at first point to solving around 70 percent of all calls without requiring an escalation.

6 SLA METRICS & IMPROVEMENTS ITEM May '10 Jun '10 Jul '10 Aug '10 Sept'10 Oct '10 Nov '10 Dec '10 Additional call volume handled compared to May 10 0% 33% 6% 40% 93% 65% 65% 66% First Call Resolution 8% 11% 44% 55% 61% 66% 65% 66% Average talk time - secs FCR Time Frame Graph 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% 11.00% May 10 First Call Resolution - May 10 till Dec % 61.00% 66.00% 65.00% 66.00% 55.00% 44.00% Jun 10 Jul 10 Aug 10 Sep 10 Oct 10 Nov 10 Dec 10 FCR Time Frame

7 Agents discover knowledge is a good thing Techno Brain BPO asserts, the positive reception of Knowledge by the call centre team played a key role in improving the ISP Client customer satisfaction scores. Before the implementation, overall satisfaction with the helpdesk hovered around 89%. In the last survey conducted it was around 97%. Knowledge cases are structured so that agents can drill down multiple levels and quickly find the solution to a problem. The more experienced an agent is, the more efficient they can be. Ultimately, we re working toward a system that will enable any agent to answer any question on any product. Proving the ROI: Doing more with the same This has completely reduced the cost of additional agent investment by our Clientele which was supposed to be done. Both the client and Techno Brain BPO express their enthusiasm for the changes brought by calculating FCR & working toward it. We have seen effective operations management and SLA achievement without much difficulties post this exercise. This has also given a moral boost to the employees since repeat callers are avoided with huge cost savings to the client, General Manager Techno Brain BPO declares. The ISP Company has become a valued partner and is looking forward to benefitting from that partnership for years to come. We are currently on expansion for new products & extended Corporate Customer Support & sales for the same client. We ve seen quantitative & qualitative improvements amongst our team of agents and performance increase across almost every operation. CEO - ISP Client

8 TECHNO BRAIN BPO / ITES Ltd. P.O. Box nd Floor - Office Block, Tuffsteel Campus (Next to Tusky's head quarter 400 mts away from City Cabanas) Mombasa Road, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: / 8, (USA) [email protected] Tanzania PO Box 10295, Plot Number 532, Msasani Peninsula, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Tel : / Fax: [email protected] Ethiopia P.O. Box 2535, Code 1250 KT12 Building, Ethio-China Friendship Road (Wellosefer) Addis Ababa Tel : /14 Fax: [email protected] India II Floor, S.V.Square, Road No.36, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad Tel : Fax : [email protected] Kenya P.O. Box th Floor, Eco Bank Towers Muindi Mbingu St, Nairobi Tel : / Fax : [email protected] Malawi Plot No 3/772, Area 3,Private Bag No 2625 Kamuzu Procession Road HAYAT building, Lilongwe Tel : Fax : [email protected] Mozambique Av. OUA nr NUIT Maputo Tel : Fax : [email protected] South Africa 6th floor, South Wing, Sandton City Office Towers, Cnr. Rivonia & 5th Str. Sandhurst 2196, Johannesburg Tel : /5291/5306 Fax : [email protected] UAE P.O. Box Ras Al Khaimah Dubai Tel: Fax: [email protected] Uganda P.O. Box 33339, Unit 13/14 1st Floor, Metropole House Entebbe Road, Kampala Tel : / Fax : [email protected] USA 1 Innovation Way Delaware Technology Park Newark, De USA Tel : Fax : [email protected] Zambia P.O. Box 33522, Plot No. 179 Luanshya Road, Lusaka Tel: Fax: [email protected]