CSI Helps HSA Call Center Reduce Agent Talk Time and Headcount

Contact Solutions engaged in a detailed analysis of one of its Health Savings Account (HSA) clients to eliminate and shorten calls in the contact center last spring.  Several new capabilities to include in the IVR were identified: 

·         User ID and initial Web password retrieval

·         Greater tax liability information that parallels what is available on the Web

·         Restructured and more detailed FAQs

These new abilities were added principally as customer friendly enhancements; although they would help contain a fractional percentage more calls as well.  The changes were combined with a wholesale scrub of the call-script to provide more consistent messaging and menu prompts to result in both a more functional and satisfying IVR call-experience. However, during an on-site review, CSI was able to work directly with the BPO’s technical staff that manages the agent desktops and determine screen-pops had not been introduced into the call-center because of a technology hurdle.  CSI was able to help our client overcome that obstacle quickly and implement CTI. This enhancement is important for two reasons:

 

1. Caller Satisfaction – the need to restate identifying information to an agent after having just entered it in an IVR is a huge complaint of callers; AND, when agents have to key in identifying information, mistakes are made frequently; resulting in slow calls and a frustrating call experience.
2. Agent Costs – it was estimated that agents spend an average of 15 seconds per call collecting and retyping information that a screen-pop could readily provide.

Results: The contact center reports that about 35% of Web One-Time Password requests are now handled within the IVR.  The IVR is automating one of the top 5 call-types callers speak to agents about.  The contact center also reports that, with the screen-pop of caller information, average Agent Handle Time is down from 406 seconds per call to 382 seconds.  This translates into headcount savings at the contact center and, when combined with the increased automation, provides a savings of over $90,000 annually.

Application takes 100M calls…..at a 97.7% automation rate – wow

As announced in a recent press release, we have processed over one billion calls – a milestone by any measure. 

Today we are proud to announce that a single application has passed the 100 million call mark, in fact, the application recently took over 9 million calls in a single month.  This Benefits application has outstanding performance; a 97.7% automation rate,  even though callers have the option of a live agent!

As a testament to our Continuous Improvement Methodology, two days after taking over this application in 2007, we implemented an ‘auto host gateway switchover’ function that had been performed manually by the previous vendor for at least 3 years.    Since then the application has gone through 34 updates and new releases, leading to today’s 97.7% automation rate. 

Even with that success, we have not stopped.  We continue to add improvements to the existing application, and add new applications to help this agency automate more functions, for example a new ‘Lost and Stolen’ cards application. 

Further proof, Continuous Improvement is more than a slogan at Contact Solutions.

VXML Multi-Site Redundancy

Recent platform activities at Contact Solutions have expanded our VXML footprint to our Sunnyvale, CA location. Introducing VXML systems in to our California data center gives us a true multi-site VXML choice for our customers. As we continue to build out the VXML service offering at Contact Solutions it is critical to overlay all of the important service features our customers have come to expect.

In Business Week article, Gartner predicts 3X growth for Cloud Computing – Why?

Business Week featured an article last week titled, ‘How Cloud Computing Will Change Business’ http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_24/b4135042942270.htm.  It offered interesting, even encouraging, insight into the move to On-Demand Services.

 

In the article Gartner says Cloud Computing ‘may be the largest growth opportunity since the Internet boom’.  In fact, Gartner predicts the market for cloud products and services will vault from $46.4 billion last year to $150.1 billion in 2013.  That’s 3X growth in 4 years! 

 

So why is that?  Well, in our case, if you had a contact center and needed an IVR – and if you’re taking inbound calls, making outbound calls or sending text messages, it’s clearly a necessity – you have two options:

 

Option 1

Buy all the hardware and software required, pay for the professional services to develop the applications (and that ain’t cheap), and then turn it loose to greet your most prized possession – your customers.  And the guys and gals in IT taking care of it post-deployment are the same folks tasked with keeping your ENTIRE network running.  How much attention will it get from those professional services guys who’ve since moved on to the next billable project, or your IT staff also tasked with keeping the whole infrastructure running?

 

Option 2

Skip all the capital investment in hardware, software, professional services and on-going annual maintenance fees, and buy per-call, only what you need.  All while knowing the systems are safe-guarded by a vendor whose livelihood is dependent on making sure all the pieces and processes are in place to ensure your customers get 24 x 7 service.

 

Given the options, the Gartner growth estimates for Cloud Computing make sense. 

 

However, there is a big flaw in the options described above.  Let’s say you go with Option 2, because of the brilliant arguments outlined above, and the vendor has a strict SLA in place to ensure calls are taken 24 x 7– seems like a big improvement over Option 1, and it is. 

 

But remember that your customers want a live agent above all else.  They only go for self-service if it’s quicker and better than an agent, or if forced.  The professional services guys you’ve paid to deploy your applications do what they can to ensure your customers will opt for self-service.  But when they have moved on to the next project, who’s ensuring your applications continue to be optimized so that callers will continue to chose self-service? 

 

Option 2 is a clear winner over Option 1 for most businesses today, and the reason Gartner is projecting such aggressive growth.  But even better, is a business partner incented to make sure the self-service rates continue to grow, and not remain stagnant or decline, over time.

 

Business Week goes on to say this move to Cloud Computing is “…one of those turning points where small companies can explode onto the scene while industry giants miss out.” 

 

At Contact Solutions, we’re are exploding, because we haven’t forgotten that businesses only invest in contact automation to save money – so we’ve built a business whose growth is dependent on making sure they do – on a regular basis, not just after the initial deployment.

You must sharpen the self-service saw to provide better service

“I don’t have time to sharpen the saw.  I’m too busy sawing!”  This line from Stephen Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” highlighted the importance of continually preserving and enhancing our assets.  While Covey was focused on personal assets (i.e. skills, knowledge, etc.), the concept of sharpening the saw applies to the technology we use as well.  Often, when analyzing call center environments for our clients, we find that the business leaders are so busy delivering quality services at a competitive price that they don’t have time to focus on the efficiency and productivity of their automation tools.  Outsourcing the voice portal service to companies, like Contact Solutions, allows companies to focus their attention on their core business while we continuously monitor and make improvements to the contact automation solutions.  On average, each of the applications we provide for our clients has an average of 6 releases applied to it each year.  These changes translate to 10’s of millions of dollars of measurable savings for our clients each month.

Outbound calling system with ‘personal touch’

Recent R&D activities at Contact Solutions have opened the door to a more efficient outbound calling system for contact center agents responsible for reaching out to customers on a daily basis.   Contact Solutions is piloting a new outbound capability that allows agents to apply the “personal touch” while navigating large dial lists through a web interface.   This new capability will eliminate the initial delays and silence customers often experience when predictive dialing systems reach out to them.     Instead customers will be greeted immediately by a friendly agent decreasing the number of hang-ups these systems often experience.

< 1% Host Failures for 2 years

People often ask me what “else” our Continuous Improvement process applies to besides the IVR script. We recently did a study on the company-to-date performance of our host integrations.  We known integration failures are a leading cause of frustrated callers and additional transfers to agents. In August 2006, we added a new feature to our platform that monitors each and every host transaction request we make.  We were able to identify countless issues with remote hosts and resolve them. The result? An average transactional failure rate of less than 1% across all applications on our platform.