Case Study: Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia (RAC WA)

CUSTOMER PROFILE

01 THE BEFORE

Complicated and disparate systems create frustration for busy contact centers

RAC WA’s three contact centers are home to over 850 agents who provide service 24/7 by phone, email, and social media, along with hundreds of other employees who utilize the system for shift rostering, quality management, and analysis. The contact centers cover six different business pillars, 10 mechanic sites, and 10 member service centers. Each year, RAC WA agents handle around 3.5 million inbound requests and 5.5 million total interactions.

Before 2020, RAC WA was leveraging multiple platforms to help agents do their day-to-day work. This included an on-premises Cisco UCCE platform that was nearing the end of life. With separate platforms for webchat and email, agents’ processes were complicated. Agents had to repeatedly log in and out of different tools while on a single call, and managers had to field daily questions about applications and access. When RAC WA switched to remote work, previous issues with enabling work-from-home options were compounded.

02 DESIRE TO CHANGE

Moving to a cloud-only approach

In 2020, RAC WA kicked off an enterprise-wide cloud-first transformation. With the contact centers’ previous setup, there was plenty of room to improve. Platforms at the time limited automation opportunities with other areas of the organization, reporting was time-consuming and difficult, and the RAC WA member experience was fragmented as a result.

The need to align with the cloud-only strategy provided a unique opportunity to look for a platform that would consolidate decades of legacy systems and processes into something more agent- and member-friendly. Any new platform would need to comply with very specific regulatory requirements and preferably integrate quality, analytics, and workforce management into one place. It was a tall order – and after some rounds of research and evaluation, NICE emerged as the clear solution.

03 THE SOLUTION

Supporting an omnichannel experience

RAC WA selected NICE CXone as its new integrated platform. The rollout took place over an initial three-month period, followed by an 18-month phase-two period where processes and systems were solidified. Once onboarded with CXone, RAC WA agents had a “single pane of glass”— all member details and information in front of them in one platform. This is particularly beneficial on calls where the member needs roadside assistance, as the platform shows the agent the location of the vehicle and behind the scene processes can dispatch towing assistance within seconds. Supervisors also gained stronger visibility, and they are now able to see agent performance in real time.

This has improved RAC WA’s coaching approach. TVs have been installed across the contact centers to showcase performance and key metrics. Insights gained from the platform helped RAC WA simplify necessary scripts for calls, reducing the number of scripts by 90%; from 350 to just 30. Integrating CXone with the other systems RAC WA uses has had massive benefits. These benefits have included:

• Implementation of last call routing, which minimizes unnecessary steps for members calling back.
• Click to dial capability that allows other systems to dial through immediately.
• Credit card processing on CXone’s PCI-compliant platform.
• Lookups on the status of queues before offering web chat, ensuring members are only provided an offer when an agent with that skill is available.
• Automated caller identification to validate the member prior to speaking to an agent
• Analytics on call patterns provide insights to improve efficiencies across business units

RAC WA has seen several positive results thanks to these benefits and changes.

04 THE RESULTS

Reduced call handling time and more room for “value-add” activities

Since implementing CXone, RAC WA has seen improved agent performance, call handling, and member experience. Agents and supervisors can better collaborate on coaching thanks to more in-depth visibility of performance. The automated identification process, which validates the caller against the CRM, has led to a 10% reduction in average handling time. Additional features like the CXone locator feature show the caller's location immediately, along with automated roadside assistance capabilities, streamlines processes, and allows agents to handle more complicated queries. Interaction Analytics on contact center interactions analyze the cause of member frustration and identify call drivers and their impact on call volume and average handle time (AHT). This analysis has resulted in process changes, ultimately providing a more seamless interaction for members.

The contact center team relies less on IT, as much of the CXone platform can be handled in department. This has meant more flexibility and functionality for frontline teams. Technical staff who manage the contact center can now spend more time focusing on value-add for the business.

05 THE FUTURE

An SMS and digital channel-powered future

The organization is looking ahead to new ways to make agents’ lives easier and better serve members at the same time. SMS is an emerging channel for RAC WA, and multiple teams aid in transitioning a large percentage of contact volume to digital channels. There is major potential to free up agents’ time from simple processes on every digital channel, enabling them to put members first and spend time solving more complex human queries. RAC WA is also leveraging SMS for pre and in queue call processes and has sent hundreds of thousands of messages so far.

RAC WA is also planning to utilize more scheduling and forecasting features, focusing on giving agents the ability to self-flag coaching needs.