Spescom DataFusion, the contact centre operation of multinational technology innovator Spescom, has deployed the latest Avaya MultiVantage Solution at the International Colleges Group (ICG). ICG is a leader in providing customised distance learning solutions.
According to ICG IT executive, Corne Dreyer, a new scalable solution was required that provided stability, improved call centre functionality, advanced call routing and detailed management information and statistics.
"Our business is customer-driven. Hundreds of current and prospective learners phone the call centre every day and we need to ensure we are offering the highest level of service," says Dreyer.
"The Avaya MultiVantage solution includes features like back office telephones and voicemail while the Call Management System (CMS) offers advanced statistic reporting capabilities.
"The technology allows us to analyse telephone calls and determine time taken to answer, overall duration, agent performance, number of transfers, as well as whether the call reached a successful conclusion. We are also able to establish how many calls were dropped, that is calls lost before an agent could answer.
"We have an outbound sales call centre in Johannesburg, where the majority of learners are based, and an inbound service call centre in Cape Town at our head office. A call is received on our toll-free number and is routed to the agent best suited to the service required for the specific call, in either contact centre.
"With the deregulation of VOIP in February, we investigated linking the two call centres through our wide area network (WAN) in an effort to reduce telephony costs. The feasibility study yielded positive results and we decided on Spescom as a technology provider with their Avaya MultiVantage solution.
"We are very impressed with the Spescom team and their level of commitment. The implementation took place seamlessly and they provided us with excellent training, clear strategies and together we have achieved a lot in a short space of time, all without a single minute downtime in our call centre."
Dreyer adds that future plans include adding a caller identity database to the call centre technology, allowing agents to recognise learners and have instant access to their records thus offering the best level of service.
According to Spescom senior executive, Interactive Solutions, Paul Fick, a primary processor was installed in the Cape Town contact centre and will be linked to the Johannesburg site through an IP link.
"This will ensure the software platform sees the call centres as one virtual unit. The information gleaned from both sites is automatically integrated and presented as one set of data, thus saving time and effort.
"The Johannesburg site is equipped with a redundant processor that will activate automatically should the WAN link fail. The call centre is thus able to function independently until the link is restored. The Johannesburg call centre is also capable of handling all calls should the Cape Town site experience problems.
"The Avaya platform also offers disaster recovery capabilities to ensure that all data is safe."
Fick concludes that the centralisation of the two sites is cost-effective and ideal for the sharing of skills and resources.
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