Best Practice Case Study Improving Agent Performance
1. Best Practice Case Study Presentation :
Improving Agent Performance with
Knowledge Management and CRM
Co-Presenters:
David Agnew, Director of Information Technology,
Suddenlink Communications, Inc.
Mark B h
M k Behrens, P id t
President,
TriSynergy Consulting LLC
Monday,
Monday April 14, 2008
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2. Session Focus
Knowledge Management and CRM systems are
•
key tools to improve customer service and
agent performance.
These projects are
•
often risky and very expensive
It is possible to capture these benefits q
p p quickly
y
•
and affordably.
In this case study we’ll share an approach that
•
works!
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3. Take-aways
Leverage consultants to accelerate requirements and
1.
design process, and to support scarce internal
resources in developing training and acceptance
testing. Leverage modern system development tools
and techniques to support rapid development.
Conversion should be a phased process! Some content
2.
can be easily eliminated with an initial review. Make
sure that there is an incentive for the CSR to use the
system - convert data that is widely used.
Selling your success – building and maintaining buy-in
3.
and momentum are critical steps!
d t iti l t !
Technology is not enough – People and Process are
4.
the keys in the Knowledge Management lifecycle
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4. About TriSynergy Consulting LLC
We focus on contact center strategy, operations, and
technology projects. Our services include:
Contact Center Assessments
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Continuous Process Improvement Facilitation, Analysis, Design, and
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Implementation
Contact Center Strategy and Planning
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Contact Center/Self Service Technology Planning and Vendor Selection
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CRM/KBMS Technology Planning, Requirements, Design, Vendor Selection
•
Contact Center, Self Service, and CRM Technology Project Management
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Contact Center Site Selection
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Contact Center Outsourcing Assistance – Evaluation, Selection,
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Implementation, Relationship Management
Speech Analytics
•
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5. Practical CRM
CRM has implications for strategy, culture, organization, and
•
workflow. The CRM rubber meets the road in your
ability to leverage your contacts with your
bilit t l tt ith
customers – marketing, sales, customer service,
consolidation, portfolio management…
The
Th sum of the contacts and the related experiences – f both
f th tt d th ltd i for b th
•
the business and the customer - constitutes the relationship
between the business and the customer
Ideal: each contact with you increases and reinforces the
•
value you bring to your customer
Ideal: each customer-related activity you perform can use
•
and/or add to the knowledge you have about your customers
To achieve the ideal… CSR’s have to have the tools,
•
confidence, and knowledge necessary to do their jobs and
meet customer needs!
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6. What is Knowledge Management?
Process: Creating a framework that effectively
•
identifies and organizes knowledge employees and
customers need to make informed decisions about
products and services.
Technology: A system/repository that helps
•
companies meet business objectives by simplifying
the bli ti
th publication, storage, and retrieval of complex
t d ti lf l
business process and procedure documentation for
employees and customers.
py
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7. About Suddenlink Communications
Unlocking Opportunities In the Home, Workplace, and
•
Communityy
Suddenlink Communications™ is a top-10 U.S. cable
•
broadband provider, supporting the information,
communication and entertainment demands of approximately
1.3 million customers.
In a growing number of markets, Suddenlink offers digital TV,
•
high-speed I t
hi h d Internet and telephone service f th h
t dt l h i for the home and d
office.
Along the way, we have invested hundreds of millions of
•
dollars to upgrade the facilities we have acquired, bringing
advanced services to a long list of cities and towns, often for
the first time in the history of those communities.
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8. Why Did We Do This?
Growth through acquisition took Suddenlink from 350,000 to over
•
1.3 million subscribers over the space of a few months
Over 1000 CSRs, five call centers, two different billing systems
CSRs centers systems,
•
over a dozen different KBMS, multiple systems for technical
troubleshooting, no CRM tools
Mounting challenges with agent attrition, training time, service
•
levels, repeat calls, customer satisfaction
No standard process or dedicated resources for identifying a
p yg
•
knowledge need, creating content, maintaining content, replacing
outdated content
New and complex products being added and rolled out to
•
customer quickly, increasing demands on agent knowledge.
Overflowing calls between contact centers more difficult because
•
the
th agents have to learn to navigate multiple systems.
th tl t it lti l t
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9. Business Objectives
Simplify complex business process for Suddenlink customers and
•
employees.
Increase re en e b making it easier for c stomers to make a
revenue by customers
•
purchase decision and employees to sell the highest value
products.
Reduce customer churn by allowing employees to access
•
effective retention information.
Increase the effectiveness of information rendered at the desktop,
•
allowing the operations to hire employees with less product
specific knowledge and technical experience.
Present the right data at the right time and in the right format
•
Have a measurable positive impact on campaign performance
performance,
•
customer service and operational efficiency.
Our original plan was to go live with a small pilot in September.
•
COO challenged us to go live in July to make solution available
before peak business cycle!
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10. Timeline
February – Obtain Executive Approval, Plan and Kickoff Project, Develop
1.
Deliverable Formats and Solution Proof of Concept
March – Draft and review requirements
2.
2
April – Draft and review design. Assess knowledgebases for conversion
3.
priority. Design and staff content management lifecycle process and
roles.
roles
May – Install technologies, begin development. Begin converting key
4.
content. Train content management administrators
June – Complete development, unit and system test, develop training
5.
and testing teams and tools. Continue content development.
July – Complete acceptance testing, train, roll-out, begin post-
6.
implementation support – in advance of peak sales period!
Following the pilot period, the solution has been rolled out to all centers and
content and functionality has been extended in successive phases
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11. Take-away 1 – Leveraged Approach
Leverage focused industry, CRM, and KBMS expertise from external
•
consultants to accelerate requirements and design process –
reduced project timeline by two to three months
months.
Leverage consultants to support scarce internal resources in
•
developing training and acceptance testing approaches and teams –
avoided threat of delayed implementation due to lack of available
resources
Leverage modern system development tools and techniques to
g y p q
•
support rapid development – reduced project timeline, contributes to
ongoing acceptance and enhancement
Existing billing system and support applications still in place
PeopleSoft Portal environment for rapid deployment, common employee
interface
Leveraged service-oriented architecture to access critical data quickly
Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS) 2007
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12. Take-away # 2 – Build Buy-in!
Build buy-in at all levels – corporate and regional executives,
•
contact center leadership, contact center managers, agents,
trainers, and process/content management specialists, IT
leadership, managers, and developers
Steering Committee of key executives
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Pilot implementation in one region but participation and input
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in requirements and design reviews and status updates by all
regions
Periodic reviews with regional executives
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Promotion of success of pilot followed by planned roll-out to
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remaining centers
Regular surveys to identify and prioritize enhancements
•
coupled with ability to quickly implement changes encourages
adoption and improvement
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13. Takeaway #3 – Phased Conversion
Careful planning – hard work!
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We had over a dozen systems with content that needed to be
•
converted
Some content could be easily eliminated with an initial review
•
either because of date or file type or name
Most systems still had substantial remaining content that
•
required review to determine if it should be discarded,
q ,
converted, or replaced
We chose systems that balanced the trade-off between
•
making a difference to the CSR and the effort required to
complete the conversion. We wanted to make sure that there
was an incentive for the CSR to use the system so we
converted data that was widely used.
y
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14. Take-away 4 - People and Process are
Keys!
Most organizations do not have dedicated content
•
management administrators, authors, owners, or process
administrators authors owners
managers already in place and waiting for you!
KBMS requires a content management lifecycle process
•
The process has to strike a balance between control and
•
flexibility, and in Suddenlink’s case, between centralization
and decentralization
Dedicating resources to content management is the best plan
•
for success
Suddenlink created a process owner to provide some
•
guidance and direction across regions, and then local content
administrators in each region .
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16. Account Services Tab
Tabbed
Links to other
interface for
common
easy navigation
applications
Common client
information
Direct links to
common
content
searches
Variable data
areas based on
CSR role and
task
Sample CSR Portal Screen
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19. Navigating KnowledgeLink
Once a subject is
•
selected a window
with information will
appear.
appear
Beside each
•
heading notice the
down arrow, this
,
down arrow will
allow you to
expand or minimize
the information
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20. Advanced Search Feature
The Advanced
Search feature
allows users to
refine th i
fi their
search.
This provides
the user with a
quick hit on
locating the
specific and
appropriate
content they
are searching
for in KMS.
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21. For More Information, Please Contact:
David Agnew
Director of Information Technology
(314) 315 9366
315-9366
david.agnew@suddenlink.com
Mark Behrens
President
(303) 689-0016
mbehrens@trisynergyllc.com
mbehrens@trisynergyllc com
Call Toll Free: 888-782-2520
Visit our website at:
www.TriSynergyLLC.com
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