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siptel keeps London landmark on top of their communications
A major London landmark and tourist attraction decided to upgrade their communications, to ensure that their customer service matched the success of the attraction itself. The results have delighted the staff and, more importantly, the customers.
Their Systems Manager commented, “When we first opened, we estimated that we would receive about two million visitors per year, but we actually welcomed 3.3 million people in the first year. Inevitably, this meant that our original booking system was insufficient.”
Originally, the attraction handled the overwhelming majority of reservations through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system: only the most complex of bookings were taken by agents. Recognising that IVR was not always the most appropriate means of handling calls - especially for customers with specific or unusual requirements - they introduced an online booking system, a valuable alternative to the IVR system which was taking 12,000 calls a day. With the online system operating effectively, there was a discernible gap between the options available online and those available by phone. The Systems Manager and his team were determined to rectify this. “Very simply, we wanted to offer an improved service to people booking by phone. This meant being able to hold customers in a queue so they no longer had to call back. At the same time, we hoped to fulfil more complex ticketing requirements. Finally, we wanted to help customers who were stuck on the IVR system so that their bookings weren’t lost.”
From the management perspective, there were some key requirements too: understandably wanting increased information about the bookings they were taking and call patterns. In short, the company needed a more professional contact centre. They drafted in the help of siptel to enhance their call handling strategy and to help them deliver a more effective and personal customer service. siptel provided some strategic direction and consultancy for the contact centre, as well as providing call centre agents with technical training to help them gain maximum benefit from the diverse functionality of the new technology.
They liked the way the Avaya worked and the capabilities it offered, so the Avaya Communication Manager was installed, which acted as the platform for both the contact centre and the general office telephony. The Avaya Call Management System provided the call management capabilities, which immediately made a difference to the way the business handled interactions, as well as enhanced reporting functionality. The Systems Manager commented, “From the day the Avaya system went live, we implemented 0870 numbers for all the key lines: no matter where we might move in the future, those numbers will stay. Also, we gave everyone direct dial-in numbers, something we previously couldn’t do. But most importantly of all, we were now able to use the contact centre software to dramatically improve the way calls were handled.”
The Avaya system has also allowed them to offer a range of advanced booking options: calls coming through on certain numbers are routed to agents dedicated to helping them plan their trip in a way that suits the caller best. The call centre agents are now better able to up-sell and cross-sell an exciting range of new products to customers, ensuring better customer service. The Systems Manager continued, “There are a range of calls we receive which demand far more than a set of simple questions: customer service calls, bookings for disabled visitors, group reservations and corporate client calls. These represent the majority of calls we handle in the centre and we are committed to a 95% call completion rate, with all calls answered within 30 seconds. We’ve succeeded in reaching these targets.”
The contact centre technology has proved an asset in other areas too. “We’ve actually reworked our contact management across any area where we deal with the public. For instance, the HR department runs a ‘hotline’ to provide information on job opportunities while the press office has call centre functionality. What’s more, we’ve configured the system here so that if there is no reply within a couple of rings, the system diverts very rapidly to voicemail.”
The system now uses live call handling instead of IVR, and is capable of dealing with around 2,500 calls per day in peak season. The system more than measures up: “We haven’t had any problems since the system became fully operational. It just runs like clockwork”. The Systems Manager estimates that in the future, this will amount to something in the region of 450,000-500,000 live calls per year, with 98% of those calls answered within just 20 seconds.
siptel maintain the Avaya Communication Manager remotely, providing 24/7 support and very tight response times. They also provide ongoing Account Management, assisting with Moves, Adds and Changes when necessary.
