With a need to reduce the number of unnecessary calls reaching their contact center, Alliander worked with NTT DATA and Uniphore to implement a visual interactive voice response (IVR) solution for customer self-service.
The solution, which included WhatsApp integration, saw 66% of calls that met defined use cases being presented with a link to the self-service portal, and a 16% reduction in calls being routed to agents in the contact center.
Reducing unnecessary agent interactions
As a critical utility, Alliander has a high public profile. When there’s a problem relating to customers’ power or gas, they’re the first company people call.
However, many of these calls shouldn’t be directed to Alliander at all. The contact center also received numerous calls relating to queries that were easy to resolve but took up a significant portion of time. This resulted in longer waiting times for customers while making less time available for highly skilled engineers to resolve more complex issues. This affected both the employee experience and the performance of the business.
To address this problem, Alliander decided to implement a visual IVR solution that would allow customers to solve their issues, connect to the right provider or escalate to the right agent. Visual IVR would also make it possible to convert a voice call into a WhatsApp chat interaction, if agent support was still needed.
Driving customers to self-service options
As a trusted partner to the business, NTT DATA was asked to provide insights into the best strategy for this solution.
We assessed the Alliander environment and recommended the Uniphore U-Self Serve solution, which includes integration with WhatsApp.
When customers call Alliander’s national number, they’re immediately asked for their postcode and are offered the option to choose self-service. A link is then sent to their phone giving them direct access to the self-service site. The Uniphore solution covers the eight most common use cases, connecting callers to relevant self-service resources. If customers can’t find what they’re looking for, they can be put through to an agent at any time.
The NTT DATA and Uniphore teams designed and implemented the solution for Alliander within two months.
As the project progressed, additional use cases were identified and incorporated into the solution to ensure that Alliander was able to maximize the benefit from this project.
High customer adoption and lower call volumes
The visual IVR solution has delivered measurable results to the organization: 66% of customers whose requirements met the stated use cases received a self-service link, and 60% of those initiated the self-service process.
In addition, the number of calls directed to technicians in the contact center dropped by 16%. Average handle time also reduced, as they have more contextual information when they take the call. With fewer unnecessary calls reaching the contact center the agents can focus on applying their expertise to quickly resolve more technical queries.
About Alliander
Alliander is an energy expert with more than 100 years of experience. Every day, they manage the infrastructure that brings electricity and gas to millions of homes and companies in the Netherlands.
Industry
Utilities
Headquarters
The Netherlands