Case Study: Consumer electronics
Nearshore solution drives innovation and cost transformation
Client gets business continuity, improved performance, better CSAT, and lower costs with a Jamaica-Canada solution
At a glance
- Locations: Jamaica and Canada
- Number of FTEs: 102
- HGS Canada: 10 bilingual (English and French) agents and 1 advocate for back-office operations.
- HGS Jamaica: 92 agents (7 back-office, 5 chat, 5 bilingual, and 75 English-speaking agents)
- Services: Customer care support, tech support, tier 2 tech support, back office, voice, inbound sales, email support, and chat
Business challenge
At the outset of this partnership, HGS was challenged with building a service that first replicated the as is support model for business continuity and then driving performance results greater than the current state in regards to first contact resolution (FCR), average handle time (AHT), and connection rate. As such, HGS engaged subject matter experts and a strong solutions team to build a solution that includes digital tools to drive business continuity and critical support. The solution improves key service level performance factors that focus on driving customer satisfaction while keeping client cost drivers in mind.
The solution
Implemented nearshore operations to drive cost containment
How we do it
HGS moved El Paso, Texas, services to Jamaica, for a nearshore solution that delivers significant cost-containment. The move happened in two months, with a seamless transition at the same level of customer care excellence despite inheriting a significant service backlog from El Paso and social media complaints due to turnaround time (TAT) and company process issues. Jamaica is an attractive destination for customer care, for many reasons. Team members are English-speaking, and there is low attrition due to a competitive incentive package and emphasis on hiring of skilled and motivated employees.
Business result
To reduce turnaround time, live calls are taken by supervisors instead of queuing cases. This helped to reduce the queue numbers, with a back-office team to combat the back-logged cases. As a result of these combined efforts, we were able to achieve the correct turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours.
Scale to align with client growth
How we do it
HGS has more than 40 years of innate product knowledge and customer care expertise to share. We have leveraged that knowledge to support this client’s aim to double in size. HGS has worked closely with this client partner to provide plans to scale to extra volume. This includes incentives to handle scale and volume with agility and vertical knowledge.
Business result
We have successfully ramped staff to our current number of 102 FTEs, with training and strategy set to support future expansion.
Staff with knowledgeable SMEs
How we do it
We have recruited staff with existing CE knowledge, including leadership within the Jamaican market. These team members are incentivized with good pay and benefits structure. Additionally, we have been able to leverage staff from our long-time partner purchased by this client. As a result, we have highly experienced agents with broad expertise to cover the CE verticals of growth for this client.
“Our agents have very strong technical backgrounds,” says Scott Yates, HGS Client Services Director. “What differentiates these Jamaica team members is their ability to deescalate the tensest situations. They have very high emotional intelligence, and they balance that with strong product knowledge. They handle upset or anxious customers very well.”
Business result
To support this staff, we created a knowledge base covering all servicing procedures. Staff members are sent daily updates at the start of all shifts, with question-and-answer sessions provided on new processes and updates. Additionally, a sign-off sheet tracks the agents who received and understand the updates. Then, the updates are streamed on a main television at the site, as well as posted in the cubicles as well as on a workplace notice board. Frequent monitoring calls ensure the correct information is being disseminated and identify anomalies for immediate correction.
Results
In April 2017, during contract renewal, the client expanded the business to Canada impressed with the amazing work being done in Jamaica. Today this partnership continues to thrive, with early tracking showing that the location change will be a significant transformation driver. HGS continues to educate agents on the use of the knowledgebase so they can readily find information and solutions, for an eventual significant AHT reduction, as well.
24-48 hoursturnaround time achieved
102FTEs engaged
Recruiting staff with CE and Jamaica market expertise
“The agents in Jamaica provide some of the best customer service and they can de-escalate customers very well. Since the beginning of the campaign in Jamaica, we have had a very low attrition level, which makes us think that the agents are extremely committed to our campaign.”
— Call Center Supervisor Client
