Customer Success
Cross Country Group | Print |
When a telephone rings at the Cross Country Motor Club, chances are the person at the other end of the line is stranded, away from home and badly in need of help.

Cross Country Motor Club (CCMC) is the leading provider of automotive customer service programs in North America, with over 20 million motorists relying on their call center operations for fast, reliable roadside assistance. The company employs 1200 customer service representatives at three regional call centers to provide 24-hour, 365-day service to leaders in the automotive, insurance, financial services and traveler association industries.

"When a customer call is routed to one of our call centers, that person is typically facing a crisis," said Elizabeth Freeto, Assistant Manager of Operations Planning and Analysis with the CCMC's parent company, the Cross Country Group. "It can be something as simple as being locked out of their car while on vacation to more serious emergencies like mechanical breakdowns or accidents."

"Our customers need fast, professional and absolutely reliable assistance. It's our job to be ready to deliver that help," Freeto said.

A Unique Application

Cross Country employs Rockwell Galaxy's automated call distributor (ACD) technology to route and manage an average of 400,000 calls each month at regional call centers in Boston, Springfield, Mass. and Tucson, Ariz. For over 20 years, the company has provided toll free 24-hour-a-day roadside assistance to members of well-known auto clubs and associations, as well as directly to the membership of the CCMC in the U.S. and Canada.

The Cross Country Group also offers an innovative array of call center services which use in-vehicle and personal cellular Global Positioning System (GPS) and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies. These enhanced services include GPS tracking for roadside assistance and towing, "mayday" processing, vehicle security and lock/unlock remote control, trip routing and customized travel concierge and information services.

In addition to offering responsive call center services, CCMC also maintains a network of over 20,000 pre-qualified service providers. These regional operators offer a broad spectrum of services, from jump-starts and towing to automotive repairs and other assistance.

Automotive membership organizations also call on the Cross Country Group for a range of value-added services, including sales and service lead capture, consumer affairs inquiry management, recall campaign management and customer satisfaction program management.

The core of Cross Country's business, however, is fielding distress calls from motorists in trouble.

"A typical call center handles calls for sales or customer service and those are certainly important," said Freeto. "But because our calls are often emergency situations, we wanted a system that enabled us to maintain staffing levels for optimum service and economy. That's why we now use TotalView Workforce Management from IEX."

Ringing Up A Solution

The company had previously relied on a PC-based staffing software product. But due to massive growth in its number of subscribers and the volume of incoming calls, Cross Country managers soon recognized the need for a highly automated, network-based workforce management solution.

After reviewing the leading call center products now available on the marketplace, the company's operations managers chose TotalView from IEX. TotalView is the call center industry's most capable client/server workforce management system and provides comprehensive tools for forecasting short and long-term call volumes, scheduling, daily management, staff planning, team and group analysis, and database maintenance. TotalView operates on a UNIX server networked to one or more Windows PCs and can store and evaluate up to three years of call center activity data.

A Positive Assessment

According to Freeto, IEX's TotalView fundamentally changes the way in which the Cross Country Group handles its call center staffing and personnel requirements. Because the nation's travelers hit the road in greater numbers during the late spring, summer and early fall, these periods generate peak incoming call volumes at all three CCMC call centers. While travel and call volumes decrease during the winter months, the often harsh weather conditions during the colder months can increase the seriousness of roadside assistance calls.

Cross Country's call center managers utilize TotalView's data import and analysis features to predict fluctuating call volumes and coordinate staffing levels. TotalView also provides electronic updates on changing call volumes every 30 minutes, enabling managers to adjust quickly to meet these rapidly changing workforce demands.

Operational planners at CCMC appreciate the familiar Windows interface and intuitive structure of TotalView. The system also simplifies maintenance by evaluating call center activity data as it flows in from each site. Data that fails to meet pre-set parameters is automatically discounted before being accepted by the system, a safeguard which ensures the ongoing integrity of the TotalView database. Cross Country also makes increasing use of the system's powerful management information and reporting tools. Cross Country foresees continued dramatic growth in the scope and volume of its call center operation and expects to further refine its workforce management techniques to take full advantage of their TotalView system.

"Reliability is the number one issue when customers are depending on a roadside assistance service," Freeto said. "Our customers must be absolutely confident that when they call and need help, Cross Country will respond. TotalView helps ensure we'll be there when they call."

For more information about the Cross Country Group, please visit their website or call them at (781) 396-3700.