PacifiCorp Case Study
A Powerhouse of Operational Efficiency
US supplier of low cost electricity handling over 4.5 million customer interactions annually
The Challenge
Increased productivity, reduction in costs, and the continued adherence to sector specific regulatory demands compel utility companies like PacifiCorp to focus on customer service as their key differentiator to attract and retain customers. In 2002, PacifiCorp chose Sword Ciboodle as the technology to strip out unnecessary operational waste, and create an exceptional user experience with guaranteed returns for the business.
The Solution
Step one towards operational efficiency was to use Sword Ciboodle to create an intelligent unified desktop, arming agents with a 360 degree view of the customer from the get go. CTI integration replaced lengthy caller identification processes, with pre-populated screens enabling agents to immediately start resolving a customer’s inquiry. This allowed agents to offer a more effective, and personalized, service to the 10,000 customers they interact with on a daily basis. The second step at PacifiCorp was to eradicate time wasted by agents manually processing correspondence. Each day, PacifiCorp was sending up to 600 customer letters, which was taking agents, on average, 20 minutes per item to process. Using Sword Ciboodle’s intelligent desktop to integrate and route correspondence around the organization, PacifiCorp was able to remove unnecessary touch points and process steps.
The Results
PacifiCorp now save at least 30 seconds on 60% of inbound calls where the customer is successfully matched. Significant time and cost savings were also made via the IVR, as where previously the call center handled 100% of all outage calls, now around 40% are dealt with without any agent intervention. The intuitive interface and reduction of manual processes has lowered agent training time from 6 weeks to 4 weeks, and helpful scripts provide new agents with in situ prompts, as well as ensuring that regulatory compliance is followed.
Having set out to deliver exceptional customer service, and improve operational efficiency, PacifiCorp was delighted to win the North American Contact Center Service Quality Award for Excellence. The project was delivered on time and within budget to 320 users across two call centers, and today Sword Ciboodle continue to work with PacifiCorp to enable them to achieve ongoing operational excellence.
Benefits
- 33% reduction in agent training time
- 12% reduction in operational costs
- 30% improvement in call answering times
- Winner of the North American Contact Centre Service Quality Award for Excellence
Solution Highlights
- Users: 320
- Channels: contact center, IVR,web and email
- Process: billing enquiries, payments and amendments, change of tenancy & customer establishment, correspondence handling
- Integration: TIBCO, Outage systems, FileNet, Dispatch management systems, Genesys, Avaya
The project was delivered on time and within budget. Sword Ciboodle was
instrumental in the delivery and implementation of most of the project initiative and
we are obtaining the return on our investment.