With a small customer service team, it is critical to be as efficient as possible in order to maximize productivity.
But as our subscriber base continued to grow, we recognized an opportunity to simplify both CX and many of our internal business processes. Customers increasingly expected digital self-service options, faster issue resolution, and greater visibility into their accounts without needing to contact us directly.
At the same time, we wanted to remain true to our mission of being the easy-to-do-business-with company. To achieve that, we needed better automation, more streamlined workflows, and tools that would empower customers to manage their services when and how they preferred.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE?
A: After a few weeks of watching and learning how we operated it was clear that some things needed to change, with the understanding it couldn’ t all happen at once. Call volume suggested we needed to increase the size of the team, but before that we had to eliminate as much inefficiency as possible.
Reducing after-call work( ACW) offline time for order entry was the first area of focus. Every minute we spend in wrapup is a minute we are unavailable to service our customers.
While we still use this time when necessary, our improved ability to multitask has helped us reduce our ACW to less than 50 % of what it was before.
Next, we upgraded the call center with dual monitors at each workstation, which in itself was a great improvement. With the work we do, we often use many different applications and / or webpages within a single customer interaction.
When you have one screen, having to click back-and-forth between windows takes up time. But when you have two screens, you can have more windows open in front of you at the same time. Now that my team also has laptops, we even have some that use the laptop screen as a third monitor.
Although each of these changes helped us improve simply by putting focus where it was needed, the true improvement came when we switched billing systems. That occurred beginning in 2023 as part of an overall evaluation of how technology could help us automate routine processes, modernize our operations, and better support our long-term growth strategy.
To accomplish this, we embarked on a significant business transformation initiative that included implementing a new billing and customer management platform, expanding self-service capabilities, and providing employees with better tools to support customers.
8 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
Our goals included:
• Simplify customer interactions.
• Increase customer self-service options.
• Reduce manual processes.
• Improve operational efficiency.
• Create a more seamless CX.
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MAINTAINING CUSTOMER( AND AGENT) CONNECTIONS
Maintaining continuous and reliable connections is critical for all organizations, including when disasters threaten and strike. But especially so for“ last-mile” telecommunications companies that provide those vital links to homes and businesses.
So, we asked Earl E. Smith Jr., Home Telecom,“ How does your company enable business continuity and disaster response for your customers and employees, like your contact center agents? Also, how do you keep them informed of what is happening and next steps?”
“ When it comes to disaster response and / or business continuity, the easiest thing I can say is we are going to get it done,” says Earl.
“ Our operations team starts planning and preplanning from the very moment we know that there is a possibility that we could be impacted by a disaster.
“ Even for those situations where it isn’ t something you can prepare for, we have an extensive set of guidelines that tell us what needs to happen and who the parties responsible are.
“ It doesn’ t matter if we have to have planning calls at 5 in the morning or 10 at night; we plan ahead so that we can be safe and be prepared to provide our consumers the quality of service they expect.”
Home Telecom has also invested tens of thousands of dollars to enable its customer service and support teams to be able to work remotely in the event it is not safe to travel. Or like when school and daycare closures have put its team members in a bind that prevents them from making it into the office.
“ As soon as we know there is a chance of an event, we advise our frontline teams to take home their laptop bags and necessary equipment to be able to work remotely if needed,” says Earl.
Before Home Telecom determines whether to have its teams return to regular operations, it has team members, even its top leadership, who check roadways as well as its structures.
“ I literally mean all the way up to the top,” says Earl.“ We have actually been on conference calls while even our COO and VPs are out surveying the area. It’ s things like this that I think truly set Home Telecom apart and make it a great place to work.”