As customer service expectations continue to rise across all business sectors, companies that respond rapidly and effectively to client queries stand head and shoulders above their competition.
Inter-Active Technologies general manager, technology, Mark Regensberg, says: "With the current economic climate and in a world where the shortest distance between two points is the click of a mouse, you have to have the edge. Success is all about being competitive. Twenty years ago, loyalty to a brand or organisation was handed down from father-to-son. Nowadays, it's a commodity."
Call centre and communications experts Inter-Active Technologies, in conjunction with enterprise software and knowledge management specialist eGain Communications, is in the business of ensuring that its customers offer the best possible communication channels to their clients.
eGain sales director Ray Connolly explains that the fit between the two companies is "perfect", transforming traditional call centres, help desks and Web customer service operations into multi-channel customer interaction hubs. "The concept of one unified platform for multi-channel customer interaction and knowledge management enables improved customer experience, unified multi-channel customer service, end-to-end service process efficiencies and enhanced contact centre performance."
According to Regensburg, Inter-Active Technologies works on three main tiers: "We act as service providers of contact centres for companies; we consult within a company's own contact centre; and we provide a variety of products that are call-centre centric. eGain is a standalone platform comprising a complete suite of customer service and contact centre software, which transforms a traditional call centre into multi-channel hub."
Inter-Active Technologies' focus is on handling customer interactions and ensuring its clients' systems integrate effectively with its solutions. "Customers tell us what is important for them, how they communicate with their customers and the channels they use. We have taken their input over the years and developed applications that stay ahead of where their markets are going," says Connolly. "There's a great deal of inefficiency in customer communications, and customer service is often an afterthought."
Both Regensburg and Connolly have found that even while offering an online customer contact point, many large corporations still deal with e-mails queries in a primitive manner. In many instances, their knowledge base does not enable their contact centre staff to respond effectively to queries.
"When a customer phones a call centre, he or she doesn't want to be the 'glue' between the problem and the solution. If their call is constantly escalated to another department, and they have to explain their issue again and again, your customer service is ineffective," Connolly notes. "That same customer could be sending a mail, too, in the hopes of finding a solution - and most corporates are not good at e-mail management, either."
When using eGain Mail, a tracking number can be assigned to each mail and the contents interrogated. The call centre agent can then prepare valid information from the knowledge base and send a response almost immediately. Used correctly, eGain cuts costs while increasing call centre productivity, as evidenced by the success of Inter-Active Technologies' partnership with cellular communications giant MTN.
Regensburg says that MTN's customer mail division was the first group in the organisation to implement eGain Mail - a 100% Web-based solution - with an initial group of 20 e-mail agents using the system in 2007. "The reporting structure particularly impressed management and the rollout of further licences was implemented. By automating certain tasks and routing e-mails correctly, time taken to handle queries has been reduced and agents have been freed up to focus on the vital task of responding to client queries effectively."
MTN also implemented Rightfax, integrating both inbound and outbound faxes into the system, and then integrated the ability to access the eGain address list into their Outlook global address list.
Connolly says eGain offers tremendous opportunities for efficiency with measurable ROI. "Call centre agents can't choose which mails to respond to and all mails can be tracked, creating an audit trail. The e-mail management system dovetails perfectly into the next channel of communication, like telephonic or online chat facilities."
Regensburg believes that customers should be able to decide how they want to communicate with a company - whether by phone, e-mail or chat. "It's about agents giving the right answer, first time - regardless of the communication channel the user chooses. However, without proper management of the connection, customers start walking away."
"What's more, we build a knowledge management base, which every agent has access to," says Connolly. "This enables our clients to take the best practise of everything they do and combine it in a solutions basket. They can gather and analyse information about customer bases; for example, how many times a particular customer has been in touch with the company or the status of a customer's order. This improves consistency and quality-of-service and gives a view of the customer and the manner in which they require service. To add to this, companies are able to see how their agents are performing and what issues customers raise often. They can then take action where necessary."
From design through to implementation, technical support and knowledge base authoring, Inter-Active Technologies takes ownership of every project. Due to the fact that the system is browser-based, clients can design their own user interface. "It's out-of-the-box customisation," says Regensburg. "With the dark cloud of recession looming over companies globally, it's vital to look after existing customers. Those companies that do will reap the rewards."
Inter-Active Technologies' solutions are all about optimising the workforce, reducing operating expenditure, measuring the quality of the interaction, increasing the revenue across various streams within the business and optimising debtor collection applications.
"Where call or contact centres were traditionally seen as cost centres, these technologies create efficiency in customer service, which is a highly valuable commodity," Connolly concludes.
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