3M South Africa and Enterprise Solutions, (a business unit of the Siemens Information and Communication Group), have challenged existing virtual call centre paradigms with the implementation of an Aspect Call Centre solution at 3M.
"This makes 3M the first South African company to have a virtual call centre which uses a single analogue line from head office to reach agents country-wide. There is no need to link regional call centres via expensive lines. Cost savings to us are considerable and service levels to customers have improved measurably," says Naven Naidoo, Customer Service Manager at 3M South Africa.
The Aspect solution integrates all enterprise resources (front and back office databases, telephony servers, e-mail servers and Web servers) into a complete customer relationship management solution. Intelligent call routing automatically directs calls to the individual 3M agent who will best meet the specific caller's needs. The systems screen synchronisation mines information from 3M's legacy database and displays it on the agent's desktop as customer calls are answered. Interaction between agent and client is enhanced as agents no longer need to access data manually.
"More than 95% of calls are answered within 10 seconds by the agent who is best equipped to meet the individual callers requirements. The abandoned call rate has dropped from 15% to less than 5% since Aspect went live at 3M in early April. Aspect is capable of bringing that figure down to zero," says Naidoo. "3M invested much time and energy investigating the range of call centre products on the market," Naidoo explains. "Siemens' Aspect solution was a natural choice for us. It gave us everything we needed, in a single system, and it proved cost-effective too."
At present, Siemens, in global partnership with Aspect Communications, is the only Aspect Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) agent and engineer in SA.
With Aspect, 3M agents log onto the system on a soft phone. Aspect establishes a dial-up voice link on a single analogue line, while the Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) function (including a 'Screen-Pop') accesses 3M's data network to bring relevant, useful client information to the agent as the clients call comes in. Twenty-eight local 3M agents and three remote agents have been equipped with a soft phone, full CTI functionality and the latest technology. Calls are now routed direct from 3M headquarters in Johannesburg to the branches.
The solution also links to 3M's Hicom PABX to give agents access to the back office. Aspect's relationship portal forms the software foundation for an effective eCRM strategy by integrating front-office, e-commerce and multimedia contact resources into one centrally-managed e-business system. Extensive reporting allows 3M to manage and schedule resources more effectively, while ongoing business changes can be incorporated into the system on a day-to-day basis. The Aspect portal will, in future, be Web and e-mail enabled to give 3M's customers and agents a complete multimedia contact centre.
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Siemens I and C Group (Siemens Telecommunications Pty Ltd) Siemens Information and Communications Group (I and C) in SA is a leading provider of voice and data networks with a comprehensive portfolio of IP-based products and solutions for enterprises, carriers and service providers. It is an integral part of the Information and Communications (I and C) business segment of Siemens AG, which also comprises Information and Communication Mobile and Siemens Business Services. The I and C Group is divided into Carrier and Enterprise Solutions which focus on providing customised solutions, including the integration of products, systems and technology, to suit both business and individual needs. With a strong foundation in the mobile networks arena, which includes established GSM infrastructure, products, solutions and services for the Next Generation Internet, and electronic business solutions, Siemens provides the full spectrum of mobile business solutions, allowing users to communicate and be connected to information and services any time and any place.
Further information about Information and Communications is available at: http://www.ic.siemens.com/networks/index.htm
Enterprise Solutions
Enterprise Solutions is a division within the Siemens Information and Communications Group (I&C). There are over 1 million customers in 160 countries for this division. With 70 million connections and 2.5 million Hicom communication servers, Siemens is a key player in this highly competitive and dynamic market. New convergence solutions such as HiPath convergence architecture, provide customers with an end-to-end strategy for integrating voice and data networks on the basis of IP protocols.
The spectrum of products offered by this division included PABX systems, contact centres, digital, analogue and IP compliant terminals, as well as specialised business solutions for the hospitality industry, telephone management and a variety of cordless solutions.
Enterprise Solutions also offers professional services, consulting and integration services.
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