This telecommunications provider is a dominant force in its region, offering a full suite of broadband and telephony services to mobile, residential, and enterprise customers across the Middle East. As products and services became more sophisticated, customers required more technical support — much more than the company’s old contact center model was equipped to deliver. The transformation of its broadband services contact center required a complete shift of the organization’s vision, strategy, and operational structure; but most importantly, it meant a dramatic shift in the skill set and mindset of the center’s 700 employees.

Our solution began by first ensuring that customer-facing associates had the right information available to resolve increasingly difficult customer issues. Data from 22 systems was consolidated into one screen, providing associates with a clear picture of the customer’s history and product suite, as well as immediate access to technical support information. An intensive training program was launched, to arm associates with the skills needed to use the new flow of information to effectively troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues. After training, contact center associates could handle more complex issues than they were previously able to address. For instance, an associate who used to handle basic broadband issues could now debug a DSL gateway, handle IPTV systems issues, and help customers with hardware and applications troubleshooting — all on one call.

As part of the sweeping change, the company worked with us to find an ongoing way to leverage its own data more effectively. A team of engineers was created to perform regular root cause and trends analyses not only in the contact center, but across the entire service support chain. Key performance indicators that directly impact the customer experience are now consistently measured and refined.

The improvements have provided the company with more insight into its own operation, better tools to address customer issues, and more empowered employees who improve every customer interaction. First call resolution shot up 22% shortly after the program launched. A customer feedback loop was initiated to target further program enhancements, and the company is now rolling the initiative out to other business units.