It started as a limited-scope engagement: Help a client overcome specific contact center challenges as they arose. Fix a flawed process here, streamline there, and eke out some cost savings. Modest tactical wins were followed by bigger ones.

But that was only a glimpse of what was to come for TTEC’s client, a major health insurance provider.

Right out of the gate, a revamped knowledge management system consolidated five platforms into one and generated a $1 million ROI. Next came an open enrollment project that increased sales conversions 29% and slashed cost per enrollment by 45%, feats made possible with innovative technology and a skilled offshore workforce supported by a robust knowledgebase, customized training, and real-time, AI-powered coaching.

With each subsequent success, momentum around its overall member experience accelerated. TTEC’s impact on more operational areas grew exponentially and the plotline changed. What started as a standard SLA with clearly defined tactical lane markers evolved into a far-reaching, strategic partnership that today is crafting a roadmap for growth not merely for the year ahead but five years into the future.

Transforming a fledgling client-vendor relationship into a genuine strategic partnership would not have been possible without mutual trust, investment, and a sharing of risk that comes with adopting bold process changes and advanced technologies.

The shift from a reactive to proactive culture took time and stamina. It was not without hiccups or detours. However, the healthcare organization and TTEC committed to a digital transformation that would preserve high customer satisfaction scores and secure that good standing in perpetuity.

Over a few years, the healthcare organization adopted an agile operating environment, data-driven processes, and innovative technology solutions from across TTEC’s Engage and Digital offerings. Expectations were high: grow revenue and membership, reduce costs all while holding sacred one of the client’s top mission metrics: customer experience. Nothing short of a “wow” personalized and connected journey would do.

The challenge

With 11 distinct business units spanning both consumer sales and member services, the massive healthcare organization was weighted down by legacy processes and siloed data repositories. Lack of data access and analytics, automation, intelligent tools, and poor integration across operations put important insights out of reach of decision-makers.

Without the benefit of visibility into the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of its operations and technology infrastructure, management based many strategic decisions on historical benchmarks rather than forward-looking metrics. Although the company excelled in certain areas and customer satisfaction was the envy of competitors, money remained on the table. Resources were not optimized, the chief of which was data.

Our solution

In order to hit targets, goals and objectives, TTEC and the client agreed they needed to better understand data. Not just data on file, but the data that was missing, conflicting or misleading. Wrestling data into meaningful insights that guide smart decisions would unlock new opportunities to grow revenue and save costs all while building the member base, retention, and loyalty.

The partners embarked on a number of data-driven projects to enhance contact center operations, customer experience, lead generation for B2B and B2C sales, and omnichannel capabilities. A sampling:

Analytics: TTEC customized and implemented its Humanify Insights Platform (HIP), a cloud-based system providing a 360-degree view of customer needs, behaviors, and preferences. Information was aggregated from across multiple systems including the customer relationship management (CRM) and Cisco Voice platforms, among other sources.

An earlier analytics initiative to grow the SMB and enterprise sales pipeline identified new prospects and determined optimal channels to leverage for each—at the height of the pandemic.

People: TTEC overhauled an unwieldy knowledgebase (6,300 pages of resources) that went largely untapped, giving associates easier access to the most relevant, updated information via a new KMS Lighthouse platform.

TTEC revamped the client’s interactive voice response (IVR) system to screen and route to the proper associate customers coming from voice and chat channels. A separate undertaking deployed associates more strategically during open enrollment, with a TTEC-trained offshore team handling basic, pre-sales support calls that freed up onshore licensed agents to focus on conversions. These strategies not only drove productivity for the contact center but enhanced the member experience because callers were quickly connected to the associate best-equipped to address their specific needs, rather than endure a circuitous series of transfers before finding the right associate.

Technology: AI training was rolled out to deliver role-playing exercises so associates could practice new skills and receive real-time feedback and coaching.

The results

The HIP centralized analytics platform improved sales processes, reduced acquisition costs and eliminated unqualified sales leads, enabling the salesforce to focus on the most promising opportunities. A big win was shifting from quarterly reporting to daily reporting that revealed important insights, faster.

The advanced analytics initiative designed to source new SMB and enterprise prospects generated more than 1,300 sales qualified leads. The resulting new insights enabled the client to create 10 industry-specific marketing campaigns, whose success led the client to expand the program and its partnership with TTEC.

The optimized KMS eliminated more than 90% of unused support material by weeding out redundant and inaccurate content. The customer and associate experience improved, too.

Another people win occurred with TTEC’s flexible staffing model, Humanify@Home. Expanding the work-from-home team from 68 to more than 200 associates drove a 73% increase in member enrollments and a 39% drop in cost per enrollment.

The updated IVR eliminated nearly 100% of misdirected, nonsales calls and increased enrollment applications 39% over the year prior. Licensed sales agents were able to focus on engaging qualified consumers, improving conversions. Call wait times plummeted.

The offshore model delivered $47,000 in annual savings plus a $1.2 million reduction in staffing and training costs. The offshore pre-sales team maintained a 96.9% service level and a 94.1% QA score, far exceeding the 85% goal set.

Associates whose training included TTEC’s AI-powered RealPlay Bot performed 11% better than new hires who didn’t have access to the interactive technology. RealPlay trainees also earned compliance scores 8% higher than associates trained using conventional methods.