Case Study: ArrowXL

CUSTOMER PROFILE

01 THE BEFORE

A difficult lift

Logistics company ArrowXL previously ran its business on several standalone systems for contact center channel management, plus a bespoke CRM system. As frequently happens in such environments, over time each system became siloed and increasingly difficult to maintain and integrate with other software. The resulting data discrepancies made it difficult for ArrowXL to optimize its internal practices around more efficient workflow.

02 DESIRE TO CHANGE

Looking for a fresh start

As ArrowXL’s business grew, the limitations of its existing software systems became more apparent. Some systems simply did not exchange the proper information, while others were coming out of a paid contract period or could not scale properly with the company’s needs. “There was a definite realization that we were on standalone systems that weren’t fit for purpose anymore, not since the growth that occurred post-pandemic,” said Paul Hulmes, ArrowXL project manager.

The company made several attempts to better integrate the components of its previous enterprise technology stack. “We went on a journey to get them to try and talk to one another, and it didn’t go as planned,” Hulmes said. “They could talk, but they didn’t do what we needed them to do. Hence the need for a new solution.”

A newly arrived CIO at ArrowXL took the company into a wider technology transformation that included the complete CX, service, and CRM stack. “It was clear that the systems we had in place, while they had done us proud, were not only lacking in scale and reach to support our ongoing growth, but also lacked investment into innovation,” Hulmes said.

03 THE SOLUTION

A new platform for years of sustained growth

ArrowXL consulted multiple experts to evaluate vendors and collect information before selecting NICE CXone. Leadership wanted a simplified application architecture that would house order management processes in the new CRM deployment, would be delivered from the cloud rather than on-premises, and significantly improve the speed and accuracy of wider systems integrations. “Price wasn’t necessarily the biggest factor we were looking for. Functionality is the biggest driver, and we wanted 24/7 support, high levels of availability, and a roadmap of new functionality and features,” Hulmes said.

CXone went live in the ArrowXL offices in March 2024 in a festive launch-day atmosphere. Earlier, leadership turned to employees to gather requirements and input in workshop sessions, both live and over videoconference, to build use cases and acceptance criteria to then share back with those stakeholders. The organization also lined up less than 15% of the agent pool to be “champions,” and help support and train other agents. “We wanted a partner with a positive reputation to work with to deliver that solution. And we had good experiences throughout the whole sales process with the team at NICE,” Hulmes said.

Beyond the power user champions, NICE delivered training and workshops for ArrowXL which enabled team members to become subject matter experts. The team set up workstations within the contact center to invite colleagues to ask questions, learn more about CXone, and drive user adoption across the contact center. A customer-facing self-service bot with programmed conversational capabilities now takes on many basic tasks formerly handled by agents and has helped raise ArrowXL’s profile on multiple social media platforms.

To keep daily operations at peak efficiency, CXone provides insights through enhanced reporting and dashboarding, along with digital wall charts. Reports are shared beyond team leaders down to the individual level and encourage stakeholders to evaluate their performance against peers. “In the past we were flying a bit blind, so the visibility through CXone is really beneficial,” Hulmes said.

04 THE RESULTS

Rapid payback and a sturdy base for future growth

Shortly after deployment, ArrowXL recognized 10% in labor cost savings, along with productivity gains as the average agent can now handle two additional contacts per hour. “The team has seen significant efficiency gains through the automation of repetitive tasks in CXone, and we will be able to invest in the future by moving more vendors and capabilities into CXone,” Hulmes said. “And this platform will require less effort to manage the infrastructure, while letting us introduce quicker changes to remain competitive and relevant.”

CXone’s enhanced reporting has enabled the team to gain greater insight into organizational performance and individual agent strengths and to share best practices across the contact center. Agents are now coached with real-world positive and negative calls when needed. Better coaching and access to organizational wisdom has improved first-contact resolution for ArrowXL’s digital channels, which helps the company pursue more digital-first business opportunities.” There’s been a noticeable difference in speed as agents find things more often. And less clicks equals less time on the phone, which equals a happy customer,” Hulmes said.

Because CXone supports omnichannel agents, ArrowXL has been able to take advantage of historical information across all channels when attempting to resolve a new or recurring issue. “Our customers wouldn’t necessarily know why, but the biggest help on the customer journey is now the agent has all the information in one place,” Hulmes said.

05 THE FUTURE

Making room for more

ArrowXL’s next phase with CXone will involve natural language AI which can truly serve a wide range of customer enquiries without the need to escalate. The use of Enlighten AutoSummary which leverages AI to capture agents’ notes including intents, actions, and outcomes is also expected. “Our phase two definitely involves AI and machine learning—new ways to get customers served with greater agent efficiency,” Hulmes said.

More outbound calling will come under the CXone umbrella using Personal Connection, and more employees are expected to learn additional skills and prepare for a truly omnichannel queue experience. ArrowXL expects this process to be more demandguided than supply-driven. “Multi-skilling is a journey that we are taking our agents on with us,” said Melanie Haseldine, ArrowXL business analyst.