Conduit Collaborates for Agent Experience

As the voice of the company, the customer service agent plays a critical role in impacting customer experience. Therefore, it is now more critical than ever that contact center providers think outside the box on how to empower agents to have engaging interactions and partner collaboratively with clients on enabling this capability. HfS recently learned of one such example, where a major European government entity engaged with Conduit Global to provide more than a standard contact center service for its healthcare appointment line.

For a number of reasons, being on either end of a healthcare appointment line can be a frustrating experience. Matching schedules, one person on the line dealing with perhaps the stress of being ill, and many other factors add up to stress. Agents juggling inefficient systems only exacerbate those issues. In this instance, agents were using an outdated call logging application. Multiple sign-ons, file corruption, an unfriendly UI, security concerns and reporting that was misaligned with business needs were all issues plaguing agent and customer experience for this crucial service. Starting as a traditional BPO engagement with 200 contact center agents, Conduit Global changed the game by sitting down with the client to really understand its customer base and how they could create a customized technology solution together to solve a specific business challenge.  

Conduit Global’s approach to the partnership exemplifies the collaborative engagement ideal of the As-a-Service Economy. Conduit had the expertise and deep knowledge of the client’s challenges and priorities, and then built a solution including complementary technology and labor.

Conduit Global engaged with the client in a collaborative development process to create a new call-logging platform. The heavy engagement from both sides included bringing together both IT and line of business managers at the client as active participants in the process. Workshops and site visits were carried out to facilitate discussions to understand the business priorities, in particular the data captured and reporting needed. Conduit Global developers also sat with agent stakeholders and observed the existing application in detail while Conduit Global began designing the replacement application. As the project reached each design iteration, the stakeholders were once again involved and reviewed the documentation.

The end result was a seamless transition from the incumbent call logging technology to Conduit Global’s application. The vastly improved functionality has a similar user interface, so there was no need to retrain agents. The comprehensive call-logging suite includes screen and call recording, call encryption, and a more robust and intelligent call-handling platform.

The Conduit Global solution addressed all of the issues with the prior system. Notably, it enabled a much more sophisticated and efficient way to log customer information and also provided single sign on. Agents no longer had to use outmoded methods like Excel sheets to juggle customer data. The elimination of these critical issues largely improved efficiencies on the back end of the call, resulting in a better agent and customer experience.

This medium-sized firm provided not just bodies but a full solution for the client. It might be that Conduit Global’s relatively smaller size, in a market filled with contact center behemoths, enabled it to more nimbly and effectively address such a customized client request. This Conduit Global client engagement showcases the collaborative engagement ideal of the As-a-Service Economy. The engagement went beyond just answering telephones and focused on the technology and consulting capabilities that show what intelligence and innovative thinking in collaboration with clients can produce.