Cell C has grown rapidly since its inception on 17 November 2001 and is now deploying more of the latest Spescom technology to support its call centre abilities.
Spescom, the multinational technology innovator, has been working with Cell C for some time, having provided the systems for the company's existing main call centre in Sandown, Johannesburg. This original project was a Greenfields development with consulting group Accenture as the main contractor, who selected Spescom DataFusion as the technology provider for an advanced 100-seat call centre.
Paul Fick, MD of Spescom DataFusion, explains the details of the initial project. "The first call centre included full voice recording and interactive voice response (IVR) facilities," he says. "Cell C also needed a predictive dialler system and full integration with the company's network infrastructure."
The first call centre deployment encountered a number of challenges on its way to completion. Firstly, delays in the licensing of Cell C resulted in a very limited amount of time between the order and the necessary date for going live. The contract was confirmed in late June 2001 with a fixed completion deadline of 21 November, the date for Cell C to start operations. Despite problems with supply of equipment caused by unexpected events, the deadline was met.
The first call centre was deployed in two stages. Phase one comprised the main system, voice recording, IVR and integration with the Cell C IT infrastructure. Then followed Spescom's first implementation of a predictive dialler solution in SA, to support the productivity of Cell C's agents by automating their outgoing calls. Such systems can increase an agent's productive phone time from about 15 seconds per minute up to about 55 seconds per minute.
Record deadlines met
Having achieved the original installation in record time under these tight deadline pressures, Spescom was the first choice for the June 2002 upgrade of the call centre with 124 additional seats and wallboards and, most recently, for the establishment of a second call centre in Midrand.
"The initial project and its subsequent expansion proved our ability to deliver," says Fick. "We were very pleased to be selected as the provider of the new equipment at the new Midrand site as well.
"Cell C has experienced such a rapid expansion of its services and the overall number of its subscribers that its customer care facilities have required equally rapid upgrades to cope with the increasing traffic. In fact, this is part of the company's long-term development of its customer care strategy.
"The new Midrand site will become the main call centre, with the present Sandown facility operating as a backup. This gives Cell C sufficient redundancy for handling peaks in call traffic as well as foreseeable increases in call volumes. It also offers the potential for disaster recovery, should there ever be a situation in which the services from one of the centres is interrupted by external factors.
"Both sites are using the market-leading Avaya equipment which Spescom has supplied and installed. The solution has been carefully designed to meet the complex needs of the customer for an efficient system which gives the best levels of service while still achieving an attractively low cost of ownership.
"The new site goes live during November 2002 and - based on the success of our previous installations for Cell C - we are confident that there will be a seamless transition with no disruption of the service provided to the cellular operator's subscribers. In fact, the only noticeable effect will be the improvement of the company's ability to handle its ever-increasing number of enquiries."
One of the critical areas for this Greenfields development was training of the Cell C staff. Spescom provided full education in the advanced technology of the call centre, while Cell C trained their staff in the soft skills required. The equipment consisted of DataVoice recorders and Avaya systems for the call centre, IVR and call management system.
"Cell C is a good example of planned, but rapid expansion," says Fick. "This illustrates what can be achieved with flexible systems that can scale to meet increasing needs. The company has a very progressive approach to delivering good customer service and the initial results confirm that the technological solution deployed has met these criteria.
"The number of abandoned calls - where customers hang up before being served - is a critical measure of this success. The figures are convincing, with minimal callers hanging up. Equally important is the improved efficiency of the call centre agents themselves."
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Spescom is a multi-national technology innovator with direct operations in the US, UK and SA.
The group is publicly listed on the JSE Securities Exchange SA (Spescom Ltd), and on the Nasdaq OTCBB : ALTS.OB (Spescom Software Inc).
Spescom addresses the information and communications technology market providing both products and solutions to connect to the network economy, as well as enterprise software to manage information and knowledge.
Specifically, Spescom provides solutions in the areas of access network; enterprise information management; multimedia transaction recording; broadcast; customer contact centres; and test and measurement.
Spescom markets its products worldwide through appointed partners and distributors under the eB brand for its enterprise software, and the DataVoice brand for its multimedia transaction recording solutions.
Spescom's global customer base consists of multi-national organisations including leading enterprises in the utilities, telecommunications, transportation, financial, banking and insurance sectors.
Worldwide, customers include Siemens, British Telecoms, Network Rail (formerly Railtrack), Lloyds of London, Barclays Bank, Abbey National Bank, WH Smith, Caterpillar, Bechtel, AmerenUE, Entergy, Bombardier, Ocean Energy, Sempra Energy, Telkom, SABC, Old Mutual, Eskom, Transnet, First National Bank.
For more information on Spescom, please visit www.spescomsoftware.com and www.spescom.com.
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