Case Study: O'Brien Glass

Case Study Outline

The SMART Group was commissioned in 2008 by O’Brien Glass to provide an inbound sales and customer service centre solution to handle large influxes of calls that were received from customers. The O’Briens’ business model is greatly affected by events such as the weather (hailstorms, floods etc.) which generate large call spikes at certain times, along with day-to-day regular business that saw around 2000 –3000 calls being received on a daily basis.

Problem

The client operated its own sales and customer service centre, but could not handle the call volumes that were received.

Additional issues that were occurring were in relation to the quality of interaction, a lower conversion rate being achieved on prospects who called for glass replacement, and response times to Service Level Agreements for responding to faxes and emails received from customers.

Solution

The SMART Group developed a comprehensive inbound routing schema to ensure that calls were delivered to the most appropriate agents.

In order to handle call spikes, a dedicated team was set up in Sydney to handle the bulk of calls and day-to-day enquiries, with a multi-skilled overflow team operating in Melbourne that handled calls that were not able to be handled in Sydney.

Using sophisticated Genesys Workforce Management software, resourcing to the day-to-day call volumes was significantly improved, and with an extensive agent training regime, the quality and number of interactions that were handled per agent was increased in line with O’Briens Glass expectations.

In order to streamline the receipt of emails and faxes, a scanning solution was employed to ensure that all emails and faxes that were received were managed via a single-point case-management system – meaning that Service Level Agreements were met in relation to customers who opted to contact O’Briens via means other than phone call.

Finally, a 24 x 7 team of representatives were scheduled to cover call volume that was received outside of operating hours.

Success

• 800 –1000 calls being handled by the team on a daily basis.

• Higher quality of interaction being maintained and monitored through regular quality assurance processes.

• The construction of a 24 x 7 Contact Centre to handle calls outside of normal operating hours.

• Service Level Agreements in relation to customer emails and faxes now being met.

• Comprehensive Project Management processes saw the implementation go live on time and within budget.

• Ongoing relationship that will see The SMART Group and O’Briens Glass continually assisting the other to ensure the best possible customer experience.