The challenge

A large Australian internet service provider partnered with TTEC to offer support when consumers had questions about their internet service. However, we noticed that many support calls required escalation to the government-owned network infrastructure company, delaying resolution by up to 15 days. Vital information, such as the customer’s modem details, were not being captured at the start of the process, resulting in further delays as this information was gathered later. Even worse, the average customer had to call the support team twice before getting their problems solved.

This level of service was damaging the organization’s reputation and customers were seeking out other providers as a result.

Our solution

We applied call demand analysis to identify opportunities for improvement that would have the highest impact to the client. The biggest issue was poor handover from first-line customer support to second-line resolution teams at the network owner. A deep dive exercise was carried out to identify the root causes and to develop potential solutions and recommendations.

Through a collaborative series of meetings with TTEC and the client centered around enhancing the customer journey experience, the team suggested an increase in manpower to handle escalations and to ensure that modem details were captured at the start of the process for a more seamless transfer. A business case on the proposed solution, with a full cost/benefit analysis, was approved by the client general manager with his complete buy-in and support.

TTEC led the collaboration between the support and operations teams. We provided all the details needed on the project to the client partner manager and general manager and reviewed all solutions prior to the changes being implemented. As part of the new solution, 60 new people were put in place, with additional localized support to proactively get customer details upfront whilst waiting for the automated modem detail capture, and then manage handovers to the network owner. This significantly increased the efficiency in the number of cases handled per month whilst improving cycle time and enhancing the overall customer experience.

The results

The forecasted improvements in customer service were rapidly delivered. End-to-end times between contact and resolution of issues reduced from 15 days to five days. First call resolution and NPS improved, and the fortified team was able to handle an additional 18,000 calls per month.

Fewer credits needed to be issued to customers for down time, and both the total number of consumer complaints lodged, and the value of compensation awards also fell. Even with the increased headcount, overall client savings totaled A$260,000 per year from the changes to the program.