Improve customer communication and tracking

In the early to mid 1990’s, Philly Coke began realizing that they needed to improve their customer communications. Results of numerous focus groups indicated that customers were frustrated because they were forced to call different numbers for different issues. Like a majority of bottlers in the industry, Philly Coke provided customers with one number to order products, another number for billing questions, and yet another number for equipment issues. Philly Coke decided to simplify this process by implementing a Customer Communications Center where a customer could call one number for every issue. Additionally, Philly Coke wanted a way to track every customer and every issue – a capability that would give the company valuable information to improve business processes.

Because Philly Coke’s Customer Communications Center would serve as the front line of communication to all of their customers and would interact with a variety of organizations within the company, they required a powerful software solution capable of meeting complex business needs. Philly Coke chose TELE-SCOPE, an award winning, CRM software solution by VisionWare, Inc., a Texas-based company specializing in industry-leading CRM solutions.

TELE-SCOPE – a better view of the customer

Philly Coke began their Customer Communication Center project in the fall of 1996 and installed TELE-SCOPE shortly thereafter in 1997. Marianne Flynn, Supervisor of the Customer Communications Center for Philly Coke worked at the center for about six months prior to the installation of TELE-SCOPE.

“TELE-SCOPE has made a major difference in the Customer Communications Center,” explained Flynn “Now we have a permanent record of every single time a customer makes contact with us, which is a huge benefit to our sales staff. Prior to TELE-SCOPE, we had no way of knowing how many times customers called in, what issues they had in the past, or even how much product they routinely ordered.”

According to Kevin Fiely, Manager of Systems and Programming, at The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company, they realized pretty quickly that their existing business applications were not flexible enough for a call center environment. “Our agents needed an application that would give them a full and complete view of each customer and important information to effectively deal with every issue. We looked at several software packages, both AS/400 (iSeries) and network-based, but ultimately choose TELE-SCOPE. After visiting another Coca-Cola Bottler who was using TELE-SCOPE, we had a very clear picture of the power and flexibility of the software. TELE-SCOPE provided us with all of the functions that we were looking for at the time: order entry, call tracking, ACD, screen pops and IVR. In addition, it was extremely flexible in interfacing to our existing business applications,” concluded Fiely.

Fiely went on to explain that Philly Coke wanted something that would quickly display information to the agent, without going through three or four applications to get to it. For example, using TELE-SCOPE’s caller ID capability, an incoming call is routed to a telephone agent and immediately all the relevant information about that particular customer will “pop up” on the agent’s screen. Relevant information includes the date of the last order, description of products normally ordered, complete account and financial information, likes and dislikes, previous delivery date and product information.

Margaret Bailey, call center manager at The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company, explained that the most significant improvement they have seen since installing the software is that the company is now better able to track all calls. "During our peak season, we receive approximately 20,000 calls per month that include simple order requests, service calls, calls from potential customers, or current customers calling to check on their order status. We can now track these calls and use the information we gather to make better business decisions," Bailey explained. "For example, if we have information telling us that out of the 250 service calls we've received, 200 pertain to coolers, we can immediately identify and correct the problem."

Robust features provide a powerful solution

According to Fiely, Philly Coke’s initial priority was to track calls and get a better picture of the many calls that were coming into the center. “We later implemented some TELE-SCOPE value-added enhancements such as lead generation, customer service and equipment surveys, and process improvements. The IVR feature of the software allows many of our associates to enter orders or survey an account using a telephone. It also gives our merchandisers access to information about delivery schedules.”

Bailey appreciates that the agents’ screens are 100% customizable. “For example, we can put absolutely any piece of information about an existing account on TELE-SCOPE’s Demographics screen. There are no constraints in field size or format. We can also add icons so agents can quickly view a variety of facts, such as if an account is a new customer, if they have equipment, or if they are a cash-only customer. By having access to this knowledge, the agent can more effectively conduct business.”

TELE-SCOPE also helps Philly Coke design dynamic survey scripts. The system is set up so that when the telephone agent asks the first question, other appropriate questions appear based on the caller's answers. These features provide better service to customers and allow a telephone agent to effectively ‘upsize’ a typical phone call.

Philly Coke plans to expand their use of TELE-SCOPE this year by adding the software’s Web Transaction server. “This feature will allow us to track issues that are created by our Customer Communication Center and will automatically send the information to other areas of our business for resolution,” said Fiely. “The implementation of this feature should improve the turnaround time for all issues, resulting in even better overall customer service.”

Up and running quickly, easily

TELE-SCOPE is easy to use and easy to change, depending on the needs of a company. “From an administrator’s standpoint, the tools and framework of the software allow us to make changes with ease,” explained Fiely. “VisionWare is very committed to making sure that their software is flexible enough to adapt to our business processes rather than requiring us to change our business processes to adapt to their software.”

Bailey explained that Philly Coke agents appreciate how easy the software is to use and how it equips them better for each and every call. Agents have only one application that they need to be trained on, instead of having to learn different systems for ordering, billing, service issues and so on. “A new agent can be up and running in 15 minutes. When we change a sales campaign, it takes us a matter of minutes to implement a new script. The new script automatically reminds the agent that a new item is available and that a certain customer has not yet purchased it.” Bailey went on to comment, “The flexibility of the software is amazing. Instead of asking if we have the capability to do something, we ask how do we want it done.”

ROI: More productive agents, improved customer retention

TELE-SCOPE has greatly enhanced productivity, allowing for a blended call center. If an agent is making outbound calls and inbound call activity surges to a predetermined level, TELE-SCOPE immediately places the agent into the appropriate queue in order to receive inbound calls and handle the additional volume. In contrast, the majority of today’s call centers with “blending” capability require the intervention of a supervisor to manually switch the agents from outbound to inbound and back.

TELE-SCOPE, on the other hand, has the capability of true dynamic blending of interactions on a per request basis without the need for manual intervention. This “set it and forget it” process for scheduling agents has allowed Philly Coke to keep down the need to hire additional agents during peak times. This feature has also improved the skill set of their agents. “The ability of the agent to toggle screens within one software package also decreases the average handling time per call. The end result is that each agent can effectively handle more calls on a daily basis,” said Fiely.

Each agent’s productivity is also enhanced by various features of the software that allow management to track performance, correct bad practices, and take advantage of best practices. A ‘Daily Agent Summary’ records each individual’s performance and productivity for the day. An ‘Agent Activity Monitor’ enables the supervisor to monitor the phone and desktop activity of each agent in real time. The ‘Agent Statistics’ feature shows the agent’s real time results, which creates friendly competition among agents. The ‘ACD Statistics’ feature displays the number of calls in each queue, making certain that agents are being utilized where they are needed. The system is also used to track log-in, break and log-out times of each agent.

Philly Coke has used TELE-SCOPE to improve business processes by implementing programs such as ‘Equipment and Customer Service’ surveys, a ‘Lead Generation’ program, and issue tracking reports. Fiely added, “Our Service Levels and productivity have increased because agents are more experienced in both the company’s business practices and the use of the TELE-SCOPE system. TELE-SCOPE allows the agent to review the previous order, and subsequently have a better dialogue with the customer in order to increase sales. Screen pops can be set to alert agents that they need to inform customers of any new products or offers.”

According to Flynn, “TELE-SCOPE is a powerful tool for everyone involved with the customer sales and service process. It has allowed us to improve customer retention -- issues are resolved quickly instead of escalating, which translates into better overall customer service.”

The call center of the future -- today

TELE-SCOPE provides companies such as Philly Coke with an invaluable tool to better serve their customers. From the ability to run unlimited campaigns with infinite scripting capabilities, to a complete contact management database with expansive real time access to external databases and legacy systems, TELE-SCOPE provides call centers with a total customer care information system. Outbound dialing, full inbound ACD, DNIS, ANI routing, real time call blending and IVR capabilities are all available in the system. TELE-SCOPE integrates these interaction transport facilities seamlessly with back-end processes for order entry, billing, delivery information and service issues, sales presentations and surveys. All of the features needed to effectively run a customer care center are available in one integrated tool for the agent’s desktop.

Philly Coke has been successfully using TELE-SCOPE since 1997, and the company is thrilled with the results. “TELE-SCOPE has allowed us to achieve our goal of providing better customer service,” concluded Fran McGorry, CFO, The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company. “Instead of having several different phone numbers, our customers now have a central point of contact for every issue, including order taking, service, or equipment processing. The software not only allows us to provide better customer service, but also enhances our business processes and decisions. VisionWare understands the complexities of our business, allowing us to effectively capture and track customer data and turn that data into useable information that can improve our business.”

Located in the heart of Northeast Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company (www.phillycoke.com) is proud to be the third largest African-American owned business in the country. As the 4th largest distributor of Coca-Cola products nationwide, Philly Coke serves 5.6 million consumers and garners $400,000,000 in annual sales.

VisionWare, Inc., (www.visionware-inc.com) based in Ft. Worth, Texas, is a supplier of CRM-enabling software and services designed to manage multi-channel customer interactions, thereby providing the highest level of customer service available. VisionWare, Inc. acquired TELE-SCOPE in 2001 from Davis Software, a Dallas-based systems integrator, who originally developed the TELE-SCOPE product in 1988 as a software product for call centers.

###

For more information contact VisionWare, Inc. at 1-800-373-2668 or visit the web site at www.visionware-inc.com.