Auomated survey email generation capability now available

A new feature is available for clients that take advantage of CSI’s automated survey offering.  Call center management can now receive email notifications with specific feedback from customers that have had unsatisfactory caller experiences. The emails are automatically generated based on business rules that can be customized for each client situation.

This new feature gives call center supervisors a means to monitor and manage agents to improve their performance.  The Agent ID is included in the email along with the date/time stamp of the survey results so the supervisor can go directly to the appropriate agent for coaching and access the call recording of the event if necessary for training purposes.

Our outsourcer clients like this feature because it helps them manage to their service level agreements (SLA) with their end customers. Outbound surveys are the “canary in the coal mine” for call centers. Surveys can detect where problems may lie and gives the call center the ability to quickly get a fix into action before it’s too late.

Convergys Intervoice Acquisition Thoughts

On Wednesday, Convergys announced that it had acquired Intervoice. Many of our customers and partners have asked us for our thoughts on the acquisition.  We are very excited about this transaction for the following reasons:

The acquisition validates the market trend that positions contact automation as the most critical technology in the call center.

This acquisition signifies a major shift in the contact center outsourcing market. Contact automation/IVR is now recognized as its most critical technology, requiring specialized, expert attention to ensure that consumer enterprises are optimizing their customer service investments.  Convergys is investing $335 Million to build out a complete customer relationship story that integrates contact automation/self-service and live agents.  This is a huge commitment to contact automation by one of the world’s largest call center outsourcing companies. For our industry, this transaction confirms the importance of telephone self-service solutions as the means to delivering high levels of customer satisfaction. This acquisition raises the profile of the IVR and contact automation as the most critical piece of technology in the call center industry.

Improving contact automation is critical to every company’s success and demands attention. CSI is the leader in this space.

CSI invented the contact automation concept Continuous Improvement supported by six critical Centers of Excellence.  No company on the planet approaches contact automation with the level of detail and focus of CSI, from our attention to application development, monitoring, reporting, return on investment analysis, and integration. We help call centers save millions of dollars by improving their contact automation rates.

The rest of the call center outsourcer industry will need to build out their contact automation positioning.

Convergys’ actions will force the other contact center outsourcers to take a harder look at their contact automation strategies around the IVR.  Our commitment to working with partners has proven to be the best solution for consumer enterprises that need to ensure the highest level of customer service.  We look forward to working with our partners to continuously improve their contact automation strategies.

Holiday closing problem solved

All CSI clients have call centers that close for holidays and/or emergency purposes. Holidays represent a specific challenge for IVR and Call Center integrations because every call center closes for different holidays - sometimes, not deciding until the day before.

CSI has added functionality to its IVR Solutions Manager that lets call center managers log-in and, in real-time, dynamically update the call center hours for each call center(s) that services each of their IVRs.  Further, a “Forced Open” or “Forced Close” is available for emergency or non-holiday closures or support hours. The combination of these two features allows the Call Center Manger to better manage the end-to-end customer experience.

Saving Money on HSA Programs

CSI launched a Health Savings Accounts (HSA) IVR in September, 2006 with many automated features. Account balance and recent transaction information were the most commonly accessed features by callers.  The client was very satisfied with the CSI account team, the ease of launch, and the savings they were seeing in the call-center as the result of increased automation.  Also, they were now offering their customers a service they didn’t have before: after hours and weekend self-service, as the IVR is always available.

To build on that success, the CSI Continuous Improvement and Account Team engaged the client to review IVR performance data and worked with the call center to understand the activities performed by agents. The team identified three key areas that could be automated within the IVR to further save agent talk-time. The three new features identified and subsequently integrated into the IVR were: 

• Automated PIN Change Requests
• Playback of key Mailing Date and account Activation Date information for new enrollees
• Ability to review address on file settings and hear instructions on how to change them if necessary

These changes netted significant savings for this customer.  40% of PIN change requests are now processed through the IVR, yielding an 8.5% increase in containment, bringing the overall containment rate to 62.5%.  This increase in automation is saving our client 12 agents or $350,000 annually. This customer has consistently maintained a 94% customer satisfaction rating by their customers when they made the switch to CSI and through this additional functionality being implemented.

FAQ about the Social Security debit card program

USA Today published a FAQ this morning about the Social Security debit card program this morning. The very question hits on the IVR portion that CSI is running for SSA.

Q: Who’s eligible for the Direct Express debit card?

A: Anyone who receives Social Security or Supplemental Security Income benefits can get the card. But the card will be most helpful to the 3.9 million recipients who have no bank accounts and don’t qualify for direct deposit, one form of electronic payment. The Treasury Department has mailed information about the card to recipients in 10 states and will expand to the rest of the nation later this year. Sign up by calling 877-212-9991 or going to www.usdirectexpress.com.

Social Security checks now offer debit card option

Featured article in this morning’s USA Today talks about the exciting new Social Security debit card program. All contact automation for this program is handled by Contact Solutions.  

A new debit card being offered by the Treasury Department gives nearly 4 million recipients who have no bank accounts an alternative to paper checks that they must cash, usually at a price. The new debit card, issued by Comerica Bank, was quietly marketed to nearly 3.5 million recipients of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income this spring. It’s now available to any benefit recipient via usdirectexpress.com.

More importantly: The new debit card will eliminate the need for consumers without bank accounts to use costly check-cashing services, the Treasury Department says. It will also save the government money. The Treasury estimates that if all 4 million recipients without bank accounts signed up for the card, it would save $42 million a year.

NE state launches “Premium Billing” application

CSI was engaged to create an IVR to provide enrollment and information for applications and participants of a public health insurance program for low and medium income residents of a New England state. The IVR launched with the several self service functions, the ability to intelligently route calls to four enrollment centers, and also provided FAQ information on letters received.

Due to the success of the IVR launch, CSI was asked by our client to add new functionality - dubbed Premium Billing - to allow callers to retrieve their current balance by entering their account or social security number.  In addition, if applicable for each caller, a breakdown of previous payments and their payment options (including automated payments). 

Immediately following the launch, the state sponsor included an insert in their paper bills explaining the new functionality and included the IVR toll free number. Using 1Q08 containment data, the call center is expecting to save $55k annually, breaking even on implementation costs in 4Q08.

Expanded IVR Services Helping Airlines Raise Customer Sat

Good article on www.SpeechTechmag.com about how some of the airlines are expanding their IVR capabilities in light of how necesary cost cutting has reduced the customer amenities they were offering. The article is right on target and we have first hand evidence of how contact automation can increase customer satisfaction in this space. 

The days of JetBlue’s free in-flight movies are gone. Even more rare: free meals on board. Given the high price of fuel and security, airlines have reduced in-flight amenities and staff to stay profitable. To ensure that this apparent lack of customer service in the air isn’t preceded by a poor customer experience on the ground, many airlines are expanding their basic self-service interactive voice response (IVR) systems to help customers manage their travel plans. Additionally, letting customers do more on their own without a live agent is helping rein in contact center costs.One of the biggest opportunities for speech in the travel industry is an IVR that allows travelers to check the status of their flights, using speech recognition to collect a flight number and arrival and departure information. Only 30 percent to 35 percent of the world’s airlines offer this service, according to Daniel Hong, a speech industry analyst at Datamonitor. “Penetration among airline carriers has not hit saturation yet,” he says. “There are still a lot of opportunities for airlines to capitalize on speech.” Rest of the article.

Toll Free Airlines Links

Here’s a list of airline toll free numbers. The web site is called Toll Free Airline. Dozens of toll free numbers and links to airline web sites ranging from African Safari Airways to Yemen Airways can be found at www.tollfreeairline.com.

Time Says “The End of Customer Service” is Near

By the skyrocketing numbers of calls that come into our shared IVRs, we agree. Time published an article recently spelling out the top ten trends for the coming decade. One was the end of customer service.

Only now are technology and public sentiment aligning to truly shift the responsibility of collecting goods and services to the consumer. Consider the last time you rang up your own purchase at Wal-Mart, checked into a hotel at a kiosk or bought a ticket from a machine in the lobby of a movie theater. Companies love self-service for the money it saves, and with consumers finally playing along, the need to interact with human beings is quickly disappearing. 

The other 10 Ideas That Are Changing The World are:

The End of Customer Service

The Post-Movie-Star Era

Reverse Radicalism

Kitchen Chemistry

Geoengineering

Synthetic Authenticity

The New Austerity

Mandatory Health

Re-Judaizing Jesus