Achieve an impressed contact center quality via UI renovation, and dramatically improves CX with BELLSYSTEM24's consultation

OPTAGE Inc.

Contact Center
CRM Consulting
Software/ Communication

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Information tools aligned with each customer's unique situation
Improve CX by giving the accurate answer to the customers' real concern
Transformation for the impressive contact center support

Issue

Solution to each customer without waiting time
Smooth and stress-free support with impressive CX
Increase loyalty by improving CX

Installation Survice

Consulting & analicys

Visualized the issues (expectations and its gap) raised by customers and developed the support functions for agents

We realized: Customer Charts that keep track of each customer's circumstances and construction histories，Call-flow-type Knowledge that visualizes troubleshooting methods that enables any agent to respond skillfully，and Fee Calculation Tool that informs the changes in payment fees on time.

Results

Positive words such as thank you increased significantly in customer feedback
Increased the retention rate of new agents by implementing digestible call flow functionality
New agents turns into experienced workforce in short time

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Most households in Japan now have an Internet connection. There are numerous inernet service providers, and each company offers a variety of services in an effort to increase customer satisfaction. As service systems become more complex, the nature of customer inquiries is also becoming more diverse. The key to getting a high market share in the line business is to respond promptly and accurately to individual inquiries and to give customers with stress-free satisfaction. Optage Inc., a major internet service provider of FTTH (Fiber to the Home) lines in the Kansai region, came up with the idea of understanding the individual circumstances of customers with different usage and household composition in order to increase their satisfaction. BELLSYSTEM24 helped them to create a system that responds smoothly and accurately to customer inquiries to the call center without keeping customers waiting.

Impressive experience realized by CX that is personalized to each customer

Interviewee

Mr. Kenichi Yamagata
Mr. Makoto Eguchi
Mr. Takuya Kawajiri

Optage Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Optage”) is an Internet service provider affiliated with Kansai Electric Power and boasts one of the largest market shares in the Kansai region. Since 2001, Optage has been offering “eo Hikari,” a FTTH (Fiber to the Home) line service using its own high-speed and high-reliability optical fiber network. It also provides fiber optic line services under other companies’ brands in partnership with major home builders, condominium developers, and mobile phone operators.
It is now important for fiber optic line providers to be able to provide “service of impressive quality” by accurately and quickly solving inquiries and troubleshooting from existing customers.

“From the perspective that we also need to place more emphasis on 'customer-oriented service,' we decided that we needed a system to improve customer experience (CX),” said Mr. Yamagata of the Customer Support Department, Consumer Business Development Division, Optage. The information in the company’s conventional core system was primarily focused on streamlining procedures and tasks related to its core operations. Although it also contained customer information, it was not necessarily in an easy-to-use condition for the communicators who actually responded to customers at the customer service desk.

Fiber optic line providers have a wide range of customers with a wide variety of uses. Whether used for work or simply to watch videos, usage varies from customer to customer. In addition, some customers have extensive IT knowledge and do not need basic explanations, while others find it difficult to solve problems without step-by-step explanations, starting with how to use a computer or smartphone. Optage realized that it was necessary to understand the circumstances of each customer and further improve the quality of customer service. They thought it would be better to develop their own CDP (Customer Data Platform) that would allow them to integrate and manage data related to their existing customers, and they began exploring the implementation of such a platform in late 2016.

Consultation in collaboration with on-site staff, UI proposals in line with actual conditions

Optage selected BELLSYSTEM24 from several candidates in a competition to build a communicator support system for its customer service desk.
Several companies, including BELLSYSTEM24, are contracted by Optage to provide customer service call center operations. The experts in BELLSYSTEM24’s consulting department researched and examined how communicators in call centers could satisfy customers who had made inquiries. While conducting surveys and interviews with Optage’s call center communicators, they also analyzed qualitative data on the types of questions the communicators were actually receiving.
We devised and proposed to Optage a UI (User Interface) that organizes information sources that lead to the company’s goal of “Improving CX,” organizes necessary functions according to specific inquiry scenes, and displays them on a computer screen or a tablet terminal operated by the communicator.
“BELLSYSTEM24’s proposal was based on a close collaboration with the call center staff who deal with the customers and on an accurate understanding of their actual operations, and specifically depicted the “ideal UI” required for customer service. We felt that other companies were proposing features that were somewhat distant from the needs of the field. Therefore, we decided that it made sense to award the contract to BELLSYSTEM24.”

Mr. Yamagata of Optage explains the deciding factor in adopting BELLSYSTEM24’s proposal as follows. A truly communicator-friendly UI rests on three pillars: (1) a “customer chart” that shows each customer’s form of residence (condominium, detached house, etc.), household status, installed services, and past installation and inquiry history, (2) “response flow-type knowledge” that shows how to respond to each type of inquiry, and (3) a “fee calculation tool” that displays new fee calculation information when new services, options, or other items are added or proposed.

The UI not only displays customer information, but also shows the response flow in a form linked to the content of the inquiry, enabling smooth and accurate response even for novice communicators. In addition, the “customer chart” has a space for the communicator who handled the inquiry to write his/her remarks about the customer. For example, they can write, “The customer who made this inquiry does not easily understand technical terms, so use simple terms when explaining."" Then, even if another communicator handles the customer’s inquiry later, he/she can respond to the customer using simple terms. The “customer chart” also keeps a history of past inquiries, what types of terminals were used, what types of problems were inquired about in the past, and how they were solved. Therefore, even if a new communicator is assigned, he/she does not need to ask about previous issues one by one, so the customer can get to the core of a new problem without waiting. This is reflected in positive reactions from customers, such as “Thank you” and “I'm glad we were able to solve the problem so quickly,” which shows that it is not only reassuring but also impressive. In November 2019, almost two years after we started the research and consulting, the communicator support system was implemented after several tests. “Even if a different communicator is assigned, he or she can see the historical information at a glance, and therefore does not need to ask the same questions over and over again,” said Mr. Eguchi of the Support Management Team in the Customer Support Department, explaining the situation after starting operation. “We don't have to keep customers waiting and we are able to find the cause of problems quickly and accurately.”

More positive customer reactions and more motivated communicators

How has customer satisfaction improved as communicators have been able to respond to each customer with a better understanding of his/her circumstances? Mr. Kawajiri, a member of the Support Management Team in the Customer Support Department, feels that the response has been good, saying “I feel that the number of positive words such as ‘thank you’ and ‘helpful’ from customers has increased significantly.” According to a survey by BELLSYSTEM24, the appearance rate of positive words from customers has increased since the implementation of the new UI, and the communicator’s response has become smoother, making it possible to introduce new optional functions to customers. “We are actually seeing an increase in additional contracts for the use of options,” said Mr. Kawajiri, which is a sign that new results are beginning to appear. There is also an effect of stimulating communicators’ motivation and willingness. Mr. Yamagata said, “Our communicators are highly enthusiastic to begin with, but the new UI has increased the number of positive words they receive, and in some aspects, their motivation has increased even more. I thought that improving the CX (customer experience) would lead to improved loyalty, that is, longer-term contracts with customers, and would be a driving force to continue to support those who want to work as communicators in the future."" In these days when it is difficult to attract people to call centers, if even beginners can talk to customers in the same customer service flow as veterans and satisfy the customer, it will help reduce the turnover rate of communicators and provide opportunities for them to work while being satisfied in the workplace. Mr. Yamagata expresses his expectation that customer data, which can now be easily grasped through “customer charts” and other means, “can also be used as a tool for line installation, maintenance, and sales in the future.” They are trying to further refine their operation methods through repeated verification with BELLSYSTEM24, with a view to a future in which they can increase satisfaction by serving each customer not according to a manual, but with an understanding of his/her individual circumstances.

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OPTAGE Inc.

Corporate website：https://optage.co.jp/

An ISP (Internet Service Provider) of the Kansai Electric Power Group, which is one of the largest in the Kansai region. Deploys the “mineo” brand in the mobile phone business. The capital is 33 billion yen (100% owned by Kansai Electric Power), and the sales for the fiscal year ended March 2021 are 260.8 billion yen. The number of employees is about 2,700 (as of April 1, 2021).