Aspect Software, the world's largest company focused solely on the contact centre, announced today that MTN, a South African communications company, has seen significant contact centre management improvements in its customer service operation since migrating to session initiation protocol (SIP)-based voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and consolidating sites, using Aspect Spectrum ACD.
With approximately 1 600 seats, MTN now boasts one of the largest IP contact centres in Africa.
MTN was operating three contact centres - Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal and Polokwane - to serve its pre-paid customer base, with each site having its own Aspect Spectrum ACD.
Since the migration to SIP-based VOIP, these sites have been consolidated into the Johannesburg location, and by implementing VOIP links to the other branch offices, the agents now work remotely as an extension of the Johannesburg system. This virtual contact centre approach has enabled the company to increase the efficiency of its contact centre workforce and deliver a better customer experience.
Karen Brits, manager of telephony systems at MTN, said: "Before moving to VOIP, we were utilising multi-site routing, which proved to be ineffective for us due to time limitations.
"By creating a virtual contact centre, we were able to overcome the challenge, and can now better manage our pool of agents across each centre to ensure that the right agent is always available at the right time, and to give our customers the quality of service they deserve."
In addition to Aspect Spectrum ACD, MTN uses other Aspect Software products, including:
* Aspect EnsemblePro, a unified platform which offers inbound, outbound and blended multi-channel contact (voice, e-mail, Web and fax), while delivering queuing, routing, reporting and agent empowerment capabilities in a single product.
* Aspect Unison Predictive Dialer, an outbound customer contact product that integrates with existing voice and data systems and offers campaign development tools, predictive dialling, call blending, a browser-based agent desktop, real-time statistics and historical reporting.
* Aspect eWorkforce Management, a contact centre product that enables accurate planning, efficient management and optimal performance of multi-skilled, multi-channel, multi-site and outsourced staffing resources.
"MTN is clearly embracing technology as a means of providing a competitive edge," said Ralph Breslauer, executive vice-president of sales and marketing at Aspect Software. "Recognising that SIP-based contact centre technology can not only enable them to successfully elevate the level of service they provide to their customers, but also offers them opportunities to enhance business processes, increase flexibility and reduce costs."
Prior to implementing the virtual contact centre, MTN's Johannesburg agents were available between 7:00am and 11:00pm, Polokwane agents from 6:00am to 11:00am, and KwaZulu-Natal agents were available 24 hours a day. Each time one contact centre required a change in its operating schedule, MTN had to make extensive changes in its contact centre systems.
"Now, using Aspect eWorkforce Management, we are seeing a huge positive impact on how we manage things like schedule changes. It's as easy as knowing agents are available if they are visible online," said Brits. "In our virtual centre, scheduling is simpler and the VOIP migration has made the contact centre completely flexible."
"Aspect Software enables organisations to implement IP when, where and how it will benefit them most. MTN had a smooth, seamless migration to SIP-based VOIP using its existing Aspect Spectrum ACDs," said Henry McCracken, Africa regional sales director for Aspect Software. "Now, MTN has the choice and flexibility it needs to deliver a consistent customer experience and achieve its customer interaction strategies, while leveraging its investments in other technologies. It's the ideal combination."
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