Case Study: Telecom

Consolidating outsourcers results in happier customers and cost savings

Fortune 500 telecom provider optimizes operations by transferring volumes to HGS

Overview

A mature, successful, sophisticated telecom and broadband provider streamlined and contained costs by engaging HGS to help with consolidating 7 outsourcers to 3 BPOs, retaining customers, reducing repeat calls, improving customer satisfaction, and improving both mean time to resolve and first-call resolution.

5%reduction in customer churn

~10%reduction in repeat calls

7.95+average CSAT score

Client background

This client is a US-based internet service provider (ISP) and a leading provider of advanced network communications and technology solutions for consumers, businesses, enterprise organizations, and wholesale customers across the US. The client offers bundled services, including broadband, security solutions, voice, and digital TV to consumers along with data, cloud solutions, unified communications, and managed services to business and enterprise clients. The client was looking to evolve and grow, through a merger, acquisitions, and service expansion while cultivating a best-in-class customer experience through network and people.

Business challenge

The client employed HGS to achieve better organizational efficiency and consolidate 7 outsourcing partners to a lean 3. Supporting this contract required flexibility, on the behalf of the chosen outsourcer partner, to quickly take up new tasks, queues, channels, and assignments, while delivering consistent performance on the baseline. HGS ended up doubling the size of its agent pool in short order and supporting a wide array of technologies, products, queues, and issues, including:

UNE, DSL, T1, DS3, and Ethernet
Integrated service down, intermittent, data down, latency, packet loss, voice down, cannot receive/cannot call out, carrier term, call quality, routing issue, and feature troubles
L1 to L3 technical support, issue resolution, and coordination with different vendors
Scheduling field tech dispatch and assisting field tech remotely to resolve customer issue
L1 troubleshooting on customer surveillance, alarm, and repair tickets
Coordinating with vendors for top customers and escalating as needed for resolution

The solution

Improved customer satisfaction

To increase customer satisfaction, HGS set up a resolution desk team to provide quick resolutions to customers. We reviewed aged tickets to guide us in providing the correct resolution. We made efficient use of skills-based routing to allocate cases to the right agent. Once an issue is resolved, we call back the customer ensure that the issue is resolved to their satisfaction. Consistently meeting and exceeding the CSAT goal for over 18 months, HGS has been recognized as a leader across all centers and providers.

Improved mean time to resolve

The resolution desk team played a major role in meeting the mean time to resolve (MTTR) metric. Their expertise significantly helped to eliminate the cases within (or well under) the stipulated timeframe. Aged ticket reviews and allocation of cases based on the skillsets helped to meet and exceed the desired target. Consistently meeting and exceeding the case resolution timeframe for more than two years, our efforts and commitment to quick and accurate issue resolution resulted in HGS showcasing the best score across all sites.

Reduced customer churn

To help reduce churn and improve loyalty, we designed processes when customers faced a delay in order completion. We initiated an aggressive and effective escalation process within the vendor network to ensure appropriate expectations on order completion dates. As demonstrated by a 5% reduction in customer churn, customers appreciated our proactive communication and coordination efforts.

Reduced repeat calls

To address a high level of repeat calls, HGS committed to first-contact resolution (FCR). We created a plan of action to address underlying issues based on trend analysis. We executed a customer blitz campaign to address all opportunities leading to repeat calls and cases. Based on these initiatives, we redesigned processes (e.g., callbacks) to reduce repeat callers. By deliberately focusing on issues that drive repeat calls or invalid call direction, HGS reduced repeat call types by approximately 10%.