Alchemer Strengthens Amdocs’ VoC Program

Amdocs is a software and services provider to some of the world’s largest communications and media companies. With the mega-companies it services, it’s essential that Amdocs fully understands if it is meeting the needs of its customers and if there are ways to provide better, more efficient service, because even one customer of that size represents a significant amount of revenue.

“We wanted to take our voice-of-the-customer program to another level,” says Tzachi Ben-Sasson, head of global voice of the customer at Amdocs, which is headquartered in Chesterfield, Mo.

“We wanted to work with someone who had some flexibility because we do [voice of the customer] differently than most other programs that I know of,” Ben-Sasson said. “People equate voice of the customer to the customer survey. We do that too, but that’s not our main channel of feedback for voice of the customer.”

Amdocs, instead, likes to hear from executives, who are less likely to respond to web surveys. “And we wanted more than just scores and one-liners. We wanted to get examples of interactions and experiences,” Ben-Sasson says.

Amdocs needed a technology platform that could integrate with its legacy data systems while at the same time letting it customize the voice-of-the-customer (VoC) information by horizontal and vertical segments and shift with different business needs and as different technologies evolve.

Amdocs started searching for a new VoC platform about 18 months ago, using a thorough vetting process that included live pilots. It eventually selected the Enterprise Feedback Platform from Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo).

The solution from Alchemer was more flexible and easily provided the detailed information that Amdocs sought, according to Ben-Sasson.

When asking for feedback from a customer, Amdocs might request input about specific products or services, using different terminology with different customers. Or it might want more generalized or complex insights. But either way, it needs insights to be usable. The Alchemer solution is flexible enough to handle these different nuances, according to Ben-Sasson.

“We treat all our largest strategic accounts as a universe in itself,” he says. “We have at each and every given moment of time accounts that are in the process of being surveyed.”

Amdocs ensures that customer feedback is collected and analyzed from all stakeholders throughout each of its customer accounts. Survey data collected via email is supplemented with one-on-one interviews for a perspective encompassing both qualitative and quantitative data.

Survey results go to individual account managers, who are responsible for resolving any issues that are uncovered. Amdocs then conducts a follow-up survey to ensure that issues have been addressed.

Amdocs started using Alchemer in October 2021 and collected feedback from 1,669 respondents, which resulted in more than 60 account improvement plans to truly take action on the feedback.

Since then the Amdocs VoC response rate has risen to 60 percent, far superior to the industry average of only 11 percent to 20 percent (depending on the survey).

“The only reason a customer will engage in such a survey is if they know that their feedback is being addressed,” Ben-Sasson says.

The hit/engagement rate is 30 percent, compared to 20 percent before Alchemer.

The cost of conducting the surveys has also dropped by 20 percent since the move to Alchemer.

Ben-Sasson hopes to further strengthen Amdocs’s VoC program by better integrating Alchemer with its own business intelligence and other systems to provide predictive and perhaps even prescriptive analytics that could provide early indicators of customer areas that need immediate attention.

The Payoff

Since implementing Alchemer's Enterprise Feedback Platform, Amdocs has seen the following results:

• a 60 percent response rate, compared to the industry average of 11 percent to 20 percent;
• a decrease of 20 percent in VoC survey cost; and
• a hit/engagement rate (those who actually open emails) of 30 percent, up from 20 percent.