Merchants and CLEVVA ensure service desk agents diagnose and resolve correctly

OVERVIEW

Merchants’ Service Desk Facility in Randburg, Gauteng, supports 28 blue chip end user computer service desks for the Dimension Data Global Service Centre. The Service Desk offers Tier 0 to Tier 2 Technical Support with 200 seat capacity delivering complex technical support to the end users.

To service the wide range of possible queries, specialised teams were set up. The IVR system ensured upfront query categorisation so that specific calls were channelled to specific agents.

The service centre traditionally faces a number of cost and service quality challenges

THE CHALLENGE

The service centre traditionally faces a number of cost and service quality challenges that need ongoing urgent attention. These include:

• The varying call volumes across different query categories result in sub-optimal workforce utilisations, with certain specialist teams being idle while other teams are overwhelmed.Given the specialised nature of the calls, agents cannot easily be transferred across teams.
• The 8 week training period for new agents, and many agents taking a further 3-6 months to be deemed competent on the floor. This lead time reduces the reaction time of the service centre to respond to changing customer demands.
• The agents’ attempts to diagnose the root cause of the customers’ queries, and then looking to apply the relevant procedural guidelines to resolve the query in line with company policy.
• The second tier transfer – whenever an agent is unable to effectively resolve the query – to a diverse team of specialists to resolve.
• The complex nature of most calls resulting in a sizable percentage of calls being transferred to the experts (second tier). This behaviour is influenced by the agents’ fear of making a mistake, given the stringent requirements being placed on resolver groups across all disciplines.
• Frequent policy, procedure and escalation changes that agents need to know and understand
• The variance in detail and quality of free text call reports, making follow-ups and reporting difficult.

THE PROCESS AND SOLUTION

The management team looked for a “Super Brain” solution that would deliver on the following key requirements:

• Ability to have multi-skilled teams, capable of handling any call category
• Improvement in first contact resolution
• Improvement in call reporting
• Improvement in client service ratings
• Reduction in errors
• Reduction in the time it takes to get a new agent performing effectively

In order to implement the Super Brain” solution decision navigator, Merchants had to make a fundamental shift in its service desk operation, giving its people the customer experience skills over product and technical knowledge skills.

As a CLEVVA partner, Merchants chose to deploy the former’s decision navigator as the solution, and a small team of internally trained CLEVVA authors worked with the service desk teams to capture all the diagnostic logic that the few experts were applying to resolve all known query types. The team initially leveraged the detailed process documentation available on the knowledge base, but found that much of the implied logic was missing. This was then filled in during workshops with key subject matter experts within the business.

Merchants had to make a fundamental shift and give its people the customer experience skills over product and technical knowledge skills

The resulting solution is accessed by the agents via an icon placed in their taskbar, and the navigator is either viewed via a Stay-On-Top window to the right or as a maximised window viewed on an adjacent screen.

The logic allows all agents to diagnose the root cause of any inbound query, and to effectively resolve it while working on the operational CRM system. The CLEVVA summary report ID is then copied into the CRM call report field to offer the call details for the Quality Assurance team.

Ultimately the SMEs are mapping the logic used within the contact centres to establish a more ‘intelligent’ digital brain capable of handling more contextual combinations and getting more accurate decisions and actions in less time.

From a speed to competence perspective, the navigator is an intuitive system that allows our agents to change their behaviour, becoming Customer Engagement experts facilitating great conversations coupled with the necessary solutions.

THE RESULTS

1. First contact resolution dramatically improved with agents enabled to resolve all known call queries themselves.
2. Training was reduced by 40%, primarily in the areas focused on the policy and procedural details normally required to resolve service desk queries.
3. The training focus shifted to call handling skills, where agents could focus on optimising the call experience.
4. Agents were capable of handling any query type covered by the navigator. This allowed for easier deployment of agents to meet changing call volumes.
5. Because the problem and solution domains are contained within the system, an agent can be moved to any area regardless of product knowledge.
6. The CLEVVA summary provided at the end of every call detailing every question asked, every answer given, and every action taken replaced the need for free text summaries. This meant accurate call reporting that lowered quality assurance risk. This data was also exported into various reports to analyse call trends.
7. The solution also ensures that the product knowledge stays with the content centre service provider.

As a result of these outcomes, phase 2 is being planned which includes the deployment of customer self-service (via a web portal) leveraging off the same logic.

CLEVVA enabled the Merchants Service Desk operations centre team to deliver a consistent, compliant level of service to all end users without the historic risk of varying agent knowledge and experience.

No matter who answered the call, the end user would be asked consistent questions, offered consistent answers and experience consistent outcomes. With the future deployment of customer self-service, this fundamentally changes the service desk’s ability to deliver a cost-effective and consistent service across a growing and demanding end user base.

The navigator is an intuitive system that allows our agents to become Customer Engagement experts facilitating great conversations coupled with the necessary solutions.

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