Modernizing Our Call Centers for Better Customer Service
Modernizing Our Call Centers for Better Customer Service
We’re delighted to be able to serve our customers with a new state-of-the art phone system that has all kinds of cool bells and whistles to enable our client support agents to provide the best service and call experience possible.
When buying a new cell phone, you must decide on the physical phone to choose, the operating system you want, the data plan, and more. Then you’re confronted with a dizzying array of add-on accessories and new apps to download.
If you think purchasing a new cell phone is complicated, try selecting and implementing a phone system that will meet the needs of multiple call centers, hundreds of employees and tens of thousands of customers! That was the challenge facing Mitchell 1 more than a year ago when researching solutions to provide upgraded applications and capability for our customer call centers: specifically, the technical support, customer service, product content support, and SocialCRM teams.
To define the requirements and search for a solution, the Mitchell 1 leadership team took a customer-first approach, keeping the needs of our customers in mind each step of the way. Some of the hot items on the wish list included shorter call wait times, faster transfers with account information included, improved sound quality, and easy access to customer call history.
Once the requirements were identified, front-line managers began shaping the system configuration, a vendor was selected, and the design and implementation phases began. Hardware to support the system was installed in December 2014, and by March 2015 the system was ready for testing and the call center personnel started a course of extensive training on the new system.
Almost exactly a year after beginning the process of accepting vendor proposals and bids, the state-of-the-art Cisco Unified Communications solution was fully installed and all systems were go. The big moment came on April 28 when the new system went live. After all the hard work and build up, the transition went so smoothly it was almost anti-climactic!
The new system offers significant improvements in many areas, with some key direct and indirect benefits for our customers:
- Faster call answer time
- Improved call clarity and quality
- Account information presented to the agent with interaction history
- Transfers between call centers includes customer information
- Callers are presented with expected wait times or position in queue
- Call monitoring by supervisors for continuous quality & training purposes
- After-hours voice messages are now left at the call center instead of with the operator
- Call recording on all customer telephone interactions
So, next time you call Mitchell 1 on the main telephone number (888-624-6742), you’ll have a bit of insight into what went on behind the scenes with the technology connecting you to the right person to assist you as quickly as possible.
