One-stop customer service
Saffron Building Society (Saffron) is a mutual organisation with a network of 12 branches in the East of England and London. However, as a modern Society, Saffron is now projecting a national image and promoting a range of products to the entire UK market.
Their products regularly appear in Best Buy lists and Saffron also services intermediaries keen to use its products for their own customers. As a result, over recent years the Society has found that the volumes of new enquiries, existing customer requests and associated product requirements have increased rapidly. With their ethos of high quality customer care in mind, the Society sought a solution which would enable them to outsource their peak and out of hours traffic. However, as a progressive Society, they decided to remain open to other suggestions.
At this point they approached mplcontact, as an established provider of contact management solutions to the financial services sector. The Society learnt that there were not only a range of flexible outsourcing options available but also that mplcontact's own call centre technology, MPL intelligentContact, was now available as a highly cost effective solution to the front office/back office communication issues. All this plus the distinct advantage of a comprehensive audit trail for all interactions as well as seamless integration with mplcontact's centres for outsourced support and Disaster Recovery facilities.
Saffron decided that this “best of both worlds” approach suited their requirements and so, within weeks, the technology was installed, training completed and the first calls handled by Saffron’s own staff.
The application devised for Saffron covers a wide range of call types, from simple enquiries requiring data capture for fulfilment purposes, through to more complex issues where eligibility and ID may have to be verified.
All Saffron staff, as skilled users, have the same skill level within the call handling application. However, when calls are handled by mplcontact agents, the application recognises the different users and offers variants of the same application depending on their skill level. Some mplcontact agents have undergone additional training with Saffron staff and have an advanced skill level, allowing them to handle more complex calls.
Any changes made to the application are replicated immediately between call centres so that the next call handled always uses the most up-to-date information.
When mplcontact agents take calls and are unable to progress a call to complete resolution, a workflow object is automatically created to be presented to the next available Saffron member of staff. This facility seamlessly blends with inbound calls and has proven to be particularly efficient in allowing Saffron staff to prioritise tasks.
Andy Golding, CEO of Saffron comments “mplcontact services and technology have been an important component in our drive to create best-in-class customer service and we have been delighted by the commitment and responsiveness of their team”.
Benefits
- Cost effective – low cost implementation, easy to use optimised desktop, all wrap-up is automated, zero maintenance
- Unparalleled MI – modular integrated technology permits comprehensive MI from call receipt to resolution
- Integral business continuity – automated offsite data back up, seamless overflow & out of hours services on demand