The USKO One Call Centre, fully-operational since December, is living up to the high expectations of its users, and has vindicated Usko`s strategic decision to invest over R8-million in advanced Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) technology.
USKO One is one of the first South African IT companies to implement CTI technology. It will provide integrated services to customers, and will expand soon into fully-fledged Enterprise Customer Management.
USKO One is the central platform for the implementation of full-scale Enterprise Customer Management systems at USKO. Currently, the system is handling 2,000 calls a day with ease. There is capacity in the system to expand by up to 25,000 calls per hour, as required.
Paulo Froes, Group Executive of USKO`s Corporate Managed Services is delighted with the improvements Usko One is delivering in customer communications: "The introduction of the system has been very smooth and it has already resulted in a drop in abandoned-call rates from 40 percent to under 4 percent.
"Adding to this already substantial improvement in our customer service, is the fact that we are also meeting our goal of resolving 80% of clients queries during the course of the call."
Global Internet Access (GIA), a division of USKO, is currently the largest user of USKO One. John McDonald, GIA`s General Manager, agrees with Froes: "USKO One has solved pressing communications problems for GIA. Our old systems were overloaded, and were crashing several times a day.
"About 20% of calls were not getting through to our Help Desk at all. USKO One has solved these problems, and the change-over was absolutely seamless.
"In addition, GIA Help Desk staff find the new system has transformed the quality of their working life. The operation of the system is superb, and the quality of sound through the headsets is far higher than was previously possible."
Measurability is another benefit USKO One is providing to users. McDonald adds: "We have been able to identify areas where staff need further training to reach the levels of efficiency we require.
"The ability to accurately measure staff performance is extremely valuable, and more efficient use of manpower will allow us to expand into other services."
Automatic Call Distribution is vital for organisations such as USKO. Froes comments: "According to their requirements, customers all over the country are automatically routed through to the correct service or data location. In our networking business, the ability to e-mail individual and group messages automatically is crucial.
"We will extend this service to international locations during 1999." Integrated Voice Response is another major benefit for USKO. Although client line identification is unavailable outside the cellular network, if clients supply their personal code to USKO One, the system will display relevant client-data before we even answer the call.
"Post-sales service is harder to deliver than pre-sales, but this is the key to keeping customers happy," adds Froes.
The multi-skilled agents who operate USKO One aren`t idle when lines are free. A Predictive Dialler facility will search the database on given criteria. For example, if more than three service-requests were logged in a month, the system prompts unoccupied agents to make a pro-active support call.
"We are still in the implementation phase and other elements of this integrated system will go live at different intervals throughout the year, at which stage we will then be well-positioned to offer these major technological advantages to other clients," concludes Froes.
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