One of the largest divisions of a major cable operator (serving over 540,000 subscribers). Division is a collection of geographically discontinuous systems distributed across a single state

14 autonomous call centers without shared processes or procedures. The current operation led to poor customer service as evidenced by the low sales rates, high error rates, poor service levels, and high abandonment rates.

• Two person project team led an eight week assessment of the division’s customer care operations
• Analyzed call center data across the division
• Conducted interviews of key personnel from senior management to frontline employees to gain perspective on current operations
• Performed ride-alongs with field technicians, participated in side by sides with call center agents, and observed supervisors and managers in action
• Reviewed and analyzed best practices across other divisions within the company

• Standardize Call Center and Field Operations
• Centralize Call Center Operations
• Build Customer Care support team
• Organizational Restructuring
• Technology Enhancements

A major provider of health insurance – member of a national association of health care plans. The company delivers individual and group health plans and third party administration services to large clients

Sales and enrollment process was overly complex, didn’t meet different needs of different customer segments

• Determine client expectations and appropriate metrics for the process
• Map core activities and develop “as-is” process maps
• Review process disconnects and design new “to-be” process maps
• Develop system requirements necessary to support re-designed process
• Create new roles, position descriptions, and organization charts for affected departments
• Develop implementation plan and business case for required investment

• Client implemented recommendations in Marketing, Underwriting, and Customer Service departments to improve service and reduce cycle time
• Customer Service recommendations reduced abandon rates from 12% to 2% and improved service levels without hiring staff
• Process analysis and business case justified necessary staffing increases and new positions in Marketing and Sales
• System requirements incorporated in RFP for new system by client’s IT department

A worldwide provider of industrial gases. The company supplies atmospheric, process and specialty gases, high-performance coatings, and related services and technologies to a wide diversity of customers.

• Call Center IVR underutilized and the customer needed a capabilities assessment of the new corporate IVR system to realize ROI on this capital investment
• Most process tasks were manual and the current Call Center system did not have automated event management capabilities
• Several non-integrated technologies and data sources were involved in the Call Center processes
• There were multiple and disparate channels of communications between the Call Center Agents, Customers, Drivers and Sales & Service account teams.

• Develop CRM Repository Requirements
• Conduct IVR Technology Stack Validation against Call Center “To Be” requirements
• Design 4 BPM “To Be” Call Flows utilizing BPM best practices
• Develop repository Vendor Selection Criteria for CRM/Repository
• Design Technology Stack Diagram “To Be” aligned with corporate technology roadmap
• Identify gaps between “As Is” and “To Be” states
• Provide Findings/Recommendations/Industry Best Practices for future improvement phases

• Identified non-value add Call Center process tasks and recommended improvements
• Identified process tasks to be automated
• Provided CRM/Repository Vendor selection criteria
• Leveraged existing corporate systems and data for recommended improvements
• Identified technology and process changes to monitor for business events and initiate real-time corrective actions

A major provider of financial services to students and education lenders. The company was operating 4 isolated call centers throughout the country. Growth through acquisition had created a customer service technology environment that was fragmented, outdated, and forced inefficient use of resources.

• All contact centers could work together as one
• Technology was scalable
• Technology could support not only the call center but non-call center employees and executives

• Working with client executives, the project team defined a vision for customer service and developed high-level technology requirements that support the vision
• The project team presented the business case to the Board and gained approval
• The team developed RFPs, facilitated vendor presentations, and negotiated contracts
• The team was also engaged to work with the vendor to implement and gain acceptance of the new solution

• In 5 months, the project went from initial discussion of vision to Board request for funding to receiving live calls in the first call center
• Second site was live and operational only 4 weeks after first site
• As result of having clearly defined vision and technology plan client was able to roll-out new solution to the remainder of the organization – over 2,000 employees, a total of 800 call center agents , adding WFM, predictive dialing, and QA monitoring- quickly, using internal staff, at significant savings (ROI to client from consultant services estimated at over 600%)
• Substantially increased customer satisfaction, improved calls/account ratio, and reduced cost of service/account by using improved management information capabilities