Design a contact center to meet the changing needs of customers
Improve business efficiency and reduce costs utilizing various solutions
Efficient collect and use of data
Establish a system that can respond to a sudden increase of calls without increasing costs.
Redirection of supports such as from phone to chat，phone to email.
Utilize data collected at the center
Contact center
Launched (two) contact centers for the launch of heated tobacco “glo™” to stabilize operations.
Omnichannel
Diversified customer touchpoints by redirecting customers to email，chat，and more，and by designing，implementing，and operating Chatbot
Set up large-scale contact centers in a short time and smoothly became advanced
Realized significant cost reduction and supports tailored to each user preferences through omnichannelization
Redirected about 50% of incoming calls to Chatbot by using IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and social media，improving work efficiency and accumulating data leading to efficiency improvement and analysis
Mr. Yasutomi Morita, Quality Manager, Operations Department
Ms. Tomomi Suzuki, Quality Assistant Executive, Operations Department
British American Tobacco Japan (hereinafter referred to as “BAT Japan”) started business with BELLSYSTEM24 in 2006. Mr. Morita of BAT Japan, who has been involved with BELLSYSTEM24 since around 2013, commented, “Each response, such as response quality, reporting, and escalation, is delicate and careful. For example, to prevent issues from being left unaddressed, we had established rules such as, ‘If two such problems occur, let us know,’ but as the operation period lengthened, the rules became more and more complex. I feel that only a company with many years of experience and know-how can operate with such precision while flexibly adapting to changing rules.”
In 2016, British American Tobacco decided to launch “glo™,” the company’s first heated tobacco, in Japan ahead of the rest of the world. At the time of the launch of the contact center, which is the point of contact for product inquiries, the head office in the U.K. suggested making it a global common vendor, but BAT Japan questioned the idea, recognizing that the Japanese market is unique for overseas manufacturers. "For example, if there is a problem with a product, foreign consumers are less concerned about it and are less likely to contact the manufacturer. On the other hand, in Japan, many consumers feel that “zero-defect,” that is, the absence of defective products, is a matter of course, perhaps due to their high expectations for products. The culture is significantly different,” explains Mr. Morita.
Conventional cigarettes are easy to enjoy and new products are not released frequently, so the number of inquiries from customers fluctuates little and the content is relatively simple. However, BAT Japan’s first heated tobacco product was expected to attract a lot of attention from the market, resulting in a surge of inquiries and also complicated inquiries about how to use the device and problems with it, since it is an electronic device. There was also a large-scale launch campaign planned, so it was obvious that it would not go smoothly if we left it to a vendor who did not understand the Japanese market. To continuously sell “glo™,” it is essential to turn inquiries into a better customer experience. That is why BELLSYSTEM24 was chosen as the contact center that could provide customer service appropriate for Japanese customers.
“Of course, they have a proven track record and trust in handling inquiries about cigarettes, but the biggest deciding factor was their accumulated know-how from supporting contact center operations in a variety of industries. As we were about to launch our first “device,” we expected that they would be able to provide us with expertise that we did not have at the time, such as know-how cultivated through supporting manufacturers of electronic devices and other products. We were also attracted by their full range of consulting services and IT solutions for advanced operations. We started with phone and email support, but we chose BELLSYSTEM24 with an eye to the future because it provides one-stop support from business design to operation and data utilization that supports chat and Chatbot,” Mr. Morita enthused.
The operation of the “glo™” contact center through the end of 2021 can be roughly divided into three phases. Phase 1 is from launch to stabilization. Phase 2 is improving the sophistication of the contact center. Phase 3 is operational efficiency improvement and data utilization.
As “glo™” sales began with limited sales in Sendai and gradually expanded nationwide, the number of incoming calls to the contact center also changed dramatically. "When the product was first released, sales exceeded our expectations, and there was a time when it was continuously difficult to obtain due to limited stock in stores. Then the number of inquiries such as ‘Why can't I buy it?’ and ‘Where can I buy it?’ surged. BELLSYSTEM24 had a variety of solutions in response, so we were able to rely on them with peace of mind,” said Mr. Morita.
Leading to a stable operation is the first priority for the launch of large-scale contact center.
BELLSYSTEM24 proposed the establishment of an operational design team called the “Knowledge Team,” which would plan various measures in close communication with BAT Japan and smoothly bridge to on-site implementation. The team maintained a certain level of response quality by creating FAQs and having frequent opportunities for communicators to share information, and successfully recruited and trained communicators in a short period of time by having two centers, thus ensuring stable operation.
In the next phase, what BAT Japan identified as a challenge was improving the sophistication and omnichannelization of its contact centers to meet the changing age groups and needs of its customers. To achieve this, we first began answering inquiries via chat. About a year had already passed since the launch of “glo™” and data on inquiries had been accumulated, which was applied to the chat as well, ensuring a smooth transition. Furthermore, in order to handle inquiries after the launch of new products, we proposed redirecting them from phone support to email and chat support using IVR (Interactive Voice Response). If an inquiry arises that cannot be handled by the communicator, pressing the dedicated button sends the URL to the customer via SMS, redirecting them to email or chat support.
BELLSYSTEM24 also supported the construction and implementation of Chatbot, an AI-based automated response system. Starting with a question-and-answer type of inquiry response, we have gradually made the scenarios more sophisticated and are now able to handle product replacements. "If we had asked an IT vendor, we would have had to go through a variety of processes, first having them understand our industry and corporate culture, then having them understand the content of actual inquiries, and so on. Whereas BELLSYSTEM24 already has enough prior knowledge input, and has accumulated knowledge such as ‘this kind of question will follow this kind of question,’ so it was a great help in scenario construction,” said Mr. Morita. Ms. Suzuki also said, “We were able to quickly meet the needs of our customers who wanted to communicate with us via text rather than phone, thanks to our long-standing relationship and their know-how.” By the end of 2021, she said, they have become able to redirect about 50% of inquiries to text support via email, manned chat, Chatbot, and so on, resulting in significant cost reduction.
Work actively continues on new initiatives. A CRM system that automatically converts customer inquiries into text and displays the answers is scheduled to be fully operational in 2022. Not only does it allow even inexperienced communicators to respond smoothly, but it also has the advantage of automatically keeping a history of various inquiries.
“The contact center receives tens of thousands of inquiries per month, and by accumulating this history as data, it can be used for various analyses. We will further accelerate the cycle of understanding customer feedback from data analysis and applying it to product development and various measures,” said Mr. Morita.
British American Tobacco Japan
Corporate website：https://www.batj.com/
A Japanese subsidiary of a global cigarette manufacturer headquartered in the United Kingdom. Representative brands include Lucky Strike, Kent, and Camel. In 2016, the company was the first in the world to launch the heated tobacco “glo™.” Sales for FY2020 are 25.77 billion pounds (worldwide). The number of employees is about 750 (as of December 1, 2021).
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