CRM in Action: Getting Resolution Right--on the First Call

Challenge: Jefferson Pilot Financial is a provider of universal life insurance, annuities, and employee benefits. With a bustling business growing at a rate of more than 15 percent each year, the company realized that the task of balancing service levels with company costs needed to become a top priority. JP Financial wanted to maintain low operating costs, while sustaining content, satisfied customers. Solution: This happy medium was achieved with the help of call center software from Genesys Telecommunications. Jefferson Pilot Benefit Partners, a division of JP Financial that markets group (nonmedical) and worksite insurance products, used the Genesys Enterprise Routing, Internet Contact, Outbound Contact, Workforce Management, and Expert Contact solutions to keep its customer service up to par. "We are able to query our own internal administrative system to get all of the key information on a specific customer or broker, and route that particular phone call to the appropriate person to handle that type of account and that type of customer," says Susan Harpster, vice president of client management for JP Financial. Benefits: Two of the most tangible results are a 90 percent first call resolution rate, and the reduction of customer call handling time by 20 seconds. Additionally, the company has maintained a call-abandonment rate of 2 percent or less. With a real-time, complete view of the customer JP Financial is now able to access all the customer information when the call comes in, which has cut costs associated with additional human resources. This success has prompted JP Financial to provide an Internet contact solution piece to its customers, scheduled to launch by the beginning of next year. It also plans to use the Genesys Workforce Management solution to create a more efficient alignment of agent schedules to call volumes, to improve workforce strategy objectives.