Case Study: Telecom

Resolution-based approach drives reduction in email volumes for Indian telco

HGS reduces FTEs and improves first-contact resolution despite increasing volumes

Overview

Seeking an experienced BPO partner to assist with improving the customer experience, effectively managing increasing volumes, and improving resolution times, an Indian telco engaged HGS to provide pan-India customer care with 630 FTEs. HGS handled incoming phone queries, requests, and complaints (QRC) as well as emails across multiple client business lines — including mobile postpaid, prepaid, and tele media (broadband and fixed lines) —without interruption while transforming the operation from a transaction-based operation to a “resolution-focused” operation.

90%first-contact resolution (FCR) rate achieved

380process improvements (45+ suggestions) for the client in 3 months

28%reduction in FTEs due to a shift to a “resolution-based” approach

Client background

The client is a telecom leader based in India servicing customers in all major Indian languages.

Business challenge

The telecom industry in India is increasingly competitive, with companies stepping up offerings to meet escalating customer service expectations. Faster, one-time issue resolutions and getting the Right Answers Fast® are key requirements of a satisfactory customer experience today.

The client was looking for a partner to handle and provide optimum customer experience to its customers with better issue resolution. The client was facing difficulty with satisfactory customer issue resolution, as there was a need for multiple client contacts to address and fix one problem. This was not only affecting the customer experience but was also increasing the volumes handled by the client. The client wanted HGS to address and resolve these issues:

Low first-contact resolution (FCR)
Reduce repeat transactions through process reengineering/calling as a service
Reduce email volume through strategic insights on customer needs/issues

The solution

Reengineered the process

HGS placed process reengineering at the core of service delivery for this client as a part of our efforts to improve FCR. We reengineered the client’s issue resolution process by conducting a “waterfall study” that focused on analysing the repeat emails and building a “five ’why’ questions” approach to eliminate a repeat transaction/email. This approach helped us understand the top drivers behind receiving repeat emails on the same issue and work toward getting it right the first time and reducing the repeat email volumes.

Transitioned the client from a transactional to a “resolution-based” approach

We moved the client from an earlier transactional approach that was focused more on dealing with and closing customer transactions than proper issue resolution. HGS began making outbound calls to gather complete information for resolution and we also validated service requests to reduce invalid requests. The transition to this resolution-based approach was crucial to increase focus on and improve the FCR, reduce repeat email volumes, and optimize headcount.

Established exclusive CEET desks to resolve critical customer issues

HGS set up dedicated Customer Experience and Excellence Team (CEET) desks for resolution of critical queues for example with those with regulatory impact. These desks are set up across lines of business (LOBs) to follow up on critical cases with internal client stakeholders for quicker resolution/exception. When such critical issues crop up, the CEET desks get in touch with the relevant stakeholders in the client’s organization and expedites the resolution of the issue for the customer. This reduced the turnaround time for customer issue resolution.

Results

90%first-contact resolution (FCR) rate achieved

380process improvements (45+ suggestions) in 3 months

28%reduction in FTEs due to a shift to a “resolution-based” approach

27%reduction in average email volume

50,000extra emails/month handled due to the consolidation of queues by other partners – all without affecting efforts to streamline

2008start for this longstanding successful relationship

Global locations

USA • UK • Canada • UAE • India • Philippines • Jamaica