A leading global energy solutions provider.
Connect improves customer service at a leading global energy solutions provider.
Connect and Genesys fuelled success for one of the world’s leading multinational oil and gas companies. The company has operations in more than 80 countries, providing their customers with fuel and oil products for transportation, energy for heat and light, and retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday needs.
Their contact centre operation encompasses two large teams, including various process and functional teams that support operations in Asia, Europe, Australia, Americas, South Africa, fulfilling vital customer service functions across several customer segments.
These services encompass classic customer service and support functions for the company’s consumer market, coupled with business-to-business and supplier management support and credit and collection services.
The contact centre also handles order-to-cash processes for motor oil products and processes wholesale orders for refineries in the US.
The business need.
Previously, the contact centre operated an on-premise Genesys Engage solution that was implemented and supported by Connect.
The contact centre continuously embraces change for the betterment of customer service and in this spirit, evaluated the current solution. The solution was hosted on local infrastructure in contact centres at multiple locations, in addition to infrastructure from telephony providers to deliver voice capabilities, with three voice points of presence (PoPs) around the globe.
“On top of that, we had integration with Salesforce CRM. Our users needed a single application to foster efficiency. While we created a useful widget, there was an opportunity to create a fuller user interface experience. We noted another opportunity in that we were using a separate platform for call recordings” explains the team.
At one point, the company’s contact centre was running 17 application packages alongside Genesys Engage, using them in various combinations to access the functionality users required.
The team adds that they were managing different regional versions of certain apps, with each requiring certifications to continue use. “Every time we upgraded an application, it was necessary to update the certification of our 900+agents.”
In addition, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone home, the contact centre embraced adaptability to oversee a solution that was currently not prepared to support remote working. Despite facing challenges with voice quality, the contact centre was dedicated to managing the influx of over 100,000 calls received monthly.
The solution and its dependencies on various components, like MPLS circuits, VPN software, and identity platforms, provided further opportunities for improvement. Management and maintenance efficiency were challenging, especially troubleshooting when connecting home and office networks.
“With the contract coming to an end, we used the opportunity to find a solution that offered a better fit with our requirements and was easier to handle and manage. After analysing our requirements, we released a request for proposals (RFP) in 2021,” continues the team.
Connect responded to the RFP and, along with other service providers, was invited to showcase potential contact centre solutions.
“Our dedication to maintaining comprehensive and efficient processes within our contact centre resulted in an extensive list of requirements, including email and voice enablement, which were the most important engagement channels, also workforce management, which was a standalone application by date, and integration with a cloud-based Salesforce CRM solution we implemented at the end of 2021,” elaborates the team.
The solution.
Following extensive internal discussions, in early 2022, the contact centre chose to continue with the Genesys platform as the cloud solution offered the best fit with the RFP requirements. It was also the only offering that the analysts deemed capable of handling the company’s sophisticated routing.
“We selected Connect as our preferred implementation and support partner as we had a track record with the company. We had built a good working relationship with the team and wanted to continue with the partnership,” says the team.
“We recognised the complexity associated with transitioning platforms during a crucial phase of our contact centre journey and thus opted to maintain our partnership with Connect. Our decision was rooted in a deep sense of trust in Connect’s ability to effectively execute and align with our strategic objectives. By leveraging their expertise and commitment, we remained confident in achieving our desired outcomes.”
Connect assisted the customer with the solution architecture and collaborated with various streams within the company, including the change, internal service and process teams, to transform the contact centre operation to make the platform work for users.
“Critically, Connect collaborated with the Salesforce process team to integrate the CRM solution into Genesys Cloud and also helped integrate our telephony services across the solution.”
While the team describes the planning and implementation process as a demanding period, the solution deployment was complete in just six weeks. “The cut-over happened between mid-August and early October 2022, when we went live with the final team in Australia.”
During those six weeks, the contact centre and Connect teams impressively deployed the Genesys Cloud solution across four continents and five customer service centres with over 900 users, supporting 30 languages, over 300 mailboxes and about 100 direct customer lines.
The outcome.
“It required a massive joint effort, but in the end, we made the impossible, possible and I consider it a career highlight for everyone involved.”
The team believes a major factor in the successful implementation was having Connect staff on hand who had previously worked on the Genesys Engage platform.
“It was extremely helpful as they had experience and insights that supported us through the planning and implementation phases.”
Since going live, the contact centre says that the global contact centre operation is more efficient and effective. “The team performs the same tasks because our processes did not change. The integration enabled by the Genesys Cloud solution means users now log on and have access to everything they need in one place, which saves us around 60 hours a day on average. Since users are in a hybrid working model, they are not dependent on a VPN solution when working from home.
The Salesforce integration enabled agents to see and use only one platform as a Single UI. It also includes features like call recording and workforce management which were only available as standalone software previously.
Transitioning to the cloud also allowed the contact centre to extend support from 24/5 to 24/7 and increased routing efficiency.
“From a routing perspective, we are now utilising our full functionality, which is something no other contenders in RFP process could deliver,” explains the team.
The contact centre has also added additional features, including customer identification capabilities, secondary keyword screening, and now offers estimated call time and call backs, which customers appreciate. The team is also finalising a list of features they want to add in the future, which they will discuss with Connect at their annual innovation workshop in March 2024.
“More importantly, we have not had a single major issue with the contact centre solution since we went live – 2023 was stable for the Salesforce and Genesys support teams at the company,” says the team.
“This serves as a tangible benefit for our tech support teams and our users, enabling them to focus on their core priorities and perform their jobs efficiently and effectively, which ultimately delivers strategic benefits for the contact centre contributing to overall productivity and success that is driven by the company’s commitment to adaptability and transformation.”
About Connect.
Connect combines global contact centre and customer experience (CX) expertise, deep domain knowledge, and unparalleled industry skills to make the complex, simple. We specialise in combining the most relevant technologies and services from leading vendors and platform providers to create opti-channel engagement solutions, orchestrating frictionless experiences and simplifying complex communication challenges. Connect stands out for our proven track record, implementing solutions that consistently earn industry accolades, showcasing our commitment to excellence and innovation.
With a footprint in key markets such as the United Kingdom, South Africa, USA and India, we bring global expertise to organisations seeking transformative solutions.www.weconnect.tech
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