Momentum Life, South Africa`s fourth largest insurance company, has become the third company in the FirstRand group to go live with the Apropos all-media contact centre solution from CCH Enterprise Solutions. The insurance giant views the software as an integral part of its next phase of business growth.
The site is CCH Enterprise Solutions` largest in the country, with 103 agents taking around 6 000 calls a day at the Centurion-based head office. Momentum Life was merged with Southern Life in 1997 to form the current company, which today has about 1,25 million clients. After two years of integrating all activities, systems, processes and data, the company has embarked on its next three years of growth, with product innovation and service the key business drivers. Apropos plays a foundational role in delivering both aspects.
"Momentum Life has a long track record of product leadership and excellent customer service," says Danie Botes, CEO of Momentum Life. "Now, with the companies merged, we are structuring the company accordingly and implementing the appropriate technology to support this strategy."
The business improvement measurable Momentum Life aims to achieve is that all processes and business functions are executed three times faster and with a 300% gain in productivity.
Apropos, with its tight integration into Momentum Life`s Line of Business and AWD workflow system, carries the potential to play a spearhead role in the delivery of this goal, says Botes.
Apart from the 6 000 voice interactions a day - including direct calls, voice mail, abandoned callback and interactive voice response - the interaction centre also processes 500 e-mails a day, all responded to within 24 hours. In addition there are up to 5 500 other customer interactions, including fax, mail and customer walkins. The non-voice interactions are managed through the AWD workflow system, making its integration with Apropos a major business benefit.
"We named our medium-term project Mission Impossible 4," quips Botes. "That`s where we integrate all customer interactions through Apropos, and then re-engineer the way interactions take place so as to obtain the productivity gains we`re seeking."
In March this year Momentum Life began the process of identifying the appropriate technology to support its new business drive. Apropos won through against a number of other bidders and went live after a three-month implementation process. This was conducted by CCH Enterprise Solutions, which won the contract based on its ability to develop and maintain long-term relationships and identify and fulfil Momentum Life`s business needs.
The implementation was the first integration between a Siemens Hicom switch and Apropos in South Africa, and only the second worldwide.
"Too often contact centre implementations are constrained by what technologies may be used," says Sophie Hasell, Apropos product manager at CCH Enterprise Solutions. "The integration capability and flexibility of Apropos were major factors in Momentum Life`s decision."
Hasell adds that the all-media capabilities of Apropos will be pushed in the near future, including Web-based client self-service.
The Apropos team at CCH Enterprise Solutions delivered the project in three months, despite the risks and challenges involved, including Momentum Life`s move into a new building, brand new infrastructure, and a new PBX with no track record of running against Apropos.
"Despite all these factors, we have enjoyed a successful implementation," notes Botes.
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