Customer Success
| UPC Nederlands | | Print | |
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Multichannel telecommunications provider UPC Nederland B.V., which delivers television, broadband and telephone service to over 3 million customers in the Netherlands, committed to sweeping changes in its workforce management procedures and saw quick payback both in terms of cost savings and customer satisfaction. Before implementing the IEX® TotalView® Workforce Management system company-wide, UPC attempted to manage its workforce requirement with a collection of systems, including other workforce management solutions and homegrown spreadsheets. UPC decided it needed a more robust solution, one with reliable simulation modeling to generate accurate future schedules and one that could easily integrate with the company's virtual ACD. This solution uses a single switch to deliver calls to five internal and outsourced call centers throughout the country. Prior to installing TotalView, UPC scheduled agents by region, with no central control over forecasting or planning. This resulted in inconsistent precision and accuracy throughout the UPC customer care organization, no adherence oversight and overall inefficiency rates as high as 35 percent. "Most of our capacity discussions were made on an ad hoc basis, and based on gut feelings," says Marco Vermeer, manager of planning and reporting at UPC. "Therefore, we were trapped in a circular course, continually lowering and then raising staffing levels." When it became clear that UPC's scheduling difficulties were leading to unnecessary expenses and having an adverse impact on customer satisfaction, the company decided on a strong and rapid overhaul of its workforce management systems and processes. Improved Customer SatisfactionThe company integrated TotalView and a consistent workforce utilization plan across all of its internal operations. They now use TotalView to provide a clear and robust demand plan to outsourcers and overflow specialists. "By implementing TotalView, we were able to gain control over our operation, and by being in control we were able to break out of the downward spiral of customers becoming more and more dissatisfied," Vermeer says.Realized Substantial Cost SavingsSince the implementation of TotalView the UPC subscriber base has grown considerably. "This year, we had a more than 30 percent increase in call volume over last year. But our operational expenses stayed the same," Vermeer says. "And our service level is stable at 80 percent in 30 seconds."TotalView was also central to an internal reorganization project which resulted in significant savings, and helped smooth out the bumps in a customer migration project that increased forecasted call volumes by as much as 50 percent in some product lines. Efficient use of staff through TotalView has helped the company realize significant cost savings on an ongoing annual basis. "Like most projects focused on quality improvement, at first we experienced a significant increase in actual handle time (AHT) before we saw a positive payoff on call load. But because of the TotalView system’s payback, we were able to handle this significant AHT increase within budget while realizing substantial annual savings," Vermeer says. "We are proud of what we have accomplished in a short time. Last year, UPC won the National Contact Center Award," Vermeer says. "But most of all, we have experienced an enormous rise in customer satisfaction, which is priceless." Client Profile:Company: UPC Netherlands A leading provider of telecommunications services serving the Netherlands Benefits
“We are proud of what we have accomplished … We have experienced an enormous rise in customer satisfaction, which is priceless.” |