NETONE Industry: Leading cellular network operator in Zimbabwe Key Solution: Interactive Intelligence EIC call centre solution

Business Challenge

NetOne was established as the first Zimbabwean cellular operator in 1996. A call centre was not established at the launch of service in 1996, but came later in 1999. During the intervening period between start of cellular service in 1996 and the launch of a call centre in 1999, Net*One relied on conventional landline numbers for subscribers to contact the company for help (this call was paid for by the client).

As this was the first time cellular services were available in Zimbabwe, users were poorly educated and there was a vast information chasm. Complex customer assistance was required for subscribers to set up their cellular services. Failure to provide comprehensive customer service, due to either internal or external inadequacies, would result in NetOne creating a negative perception around their newly launched service. NetOne took a pioneering step towards counteracting this when they became the first Zimbabwean cellular operator to install a customer service call centre, called OneHelp 123, in 1999. This centre was the "key communication tool between network and clients," according to Memory Ndoro, Marketing Director at NetOne.

By 2004 caller volume had radically increased, and customers were not receiving a level of service acceptable to NetOne. Their goal was to "be more customer focused in our service delivery" and to increase the ease with which their customers could contact them, commented Memory Ndoro.

Solution

NetOne's subscriber base grew to the point where the original call centre system was simply too small to handle the incoming volumes. The call centre's software also required an upgrade, to facilitate NetOne integration of the call centre system and the customer administration and billing system. This integration would enable the call centre attendants to gain instant access to customer records and therefore respond to queries promptly and with the correct information. The stage for the upgrade had now been set and was implemented in March 2004.

The upgrade was made to Enterprise Interaction Centre, from the original CyberCall system, enabling NetOne to continue servicing the needs of a customer base that had grown to 120 000 clients. More importantly, One.Help now had the tool to develop its services and provide more intuitive and customer-focused services.

To assist in decreasing caller volumes that had since risen sharply as a result of the radical growth in subscriber base from 500 clients in 1996 to 120 000 in 2004. To achieve this reduction in volume of calls, an Interactive Voice Response system (IVR) was installed that offered clients in the queue, immediate information on the most frequently asked questions, such as diverting calls, activating call waiting and Short-message (SMS) centre numbers.

The IVR was created based on information obtained from agents as well as analysis of calls using the voice recording functionality of the Enterprise Interaction Centre.

Why Enterprise Interaction Centre?

NetOne wanted to supply a "one-stop-shop communication service to its customers," says Ms Ndoro, and needed a system to support this vision. In spite of the many challenges faced by NetOne and other Zimbabwean companies in obtaining foreign exchange, NetOne was determined to obtain the much-needed Enterprise Interaction Centre (EIC) upgrade to maximise their existing ATIO implementation.

EIC is PBX based and ideal for small to medium sized enterprises, and provides IP PBX call processing, basic automated attendant, voicemail or unified messaging, Follow-Me, built-in fax server, informal call centre or basic automatic call distributor (ACD) functionality, Web chat and Web call-back and real-time presence management.

NetOne needed to improve the interaction and level of service their customers experienced, as they now operated in an industry where other strong players had closed the gap to NetOne. NetOne sustains the widest geographic coverage of all Zimbabwe cellular service providers, but needed to upgrade its customers perception to maintain a perceived competitive advantage.

Enterprise Interaction Centre was chosen because it offered email, fax and SMS functionality. This was in line with NetOne's goal of reaching out to their subscribers through effective communication that worked homogenously to deliver a comprehensive service to their customers through various channels.

Result

The EIC implementation was the catalyst to a complete redesign of NetOne's call centre. The agents themselves were involved in streamlining processes, planning IVRs and redecorating to establish an ergonomically correct call centre. As a result, they are empowered and knowledgeable about the services that they are able to offer to NetOne clients.

Ms Ndoro plans to implement benchmarking in the OneHelp 123 call centre, as well as quality control, to ensure that the call centre develops and improves. Through maximising Enterprise Interaction Centre, they are confident that in spite of their harsh environmental conditions, they will be able to deliver excellence.