1. Find The Better Way Strengthen IVR Self-Service MTA Conference May 10, 2005

2. 1 Premise Strengthen IVR Self-Service – What does it mean? After attending this seminar you will have an understanding of how to reduce cost to serve and enhance customer experience on your IVR platform.

3. 2 Customer Contact Has Changed The Internet and Cell Phones have created a more savvy customer wanting instant information. Customers require any time access. Customers demand contact options. The Customer Experience is a strategic differentiator regardless of channel.

4. 3 True or False? 92% of all customer transactions happen over the phone. Gartner, CRM Today 2004 TRUE!

5. 4 Self-Service Order online Banking at ATMs/ Kiosks Self check out lanes Turbo Tax! Travel Reservations Photo Development Self-Service is a customers expectation.

6. 5 Options Does providing self-service take away from a customers desire to interact with a human being? Can organizations predict when a customer will chose self-service over live help? What effect does it have on your customer relationship to provide a communication choice? Providing service options empowers your customer. ?

7. 6 Key Points – The phone is the most chosen communication channel for contacting organizations today. Self-Service needs to be an option for customers. Providing options empowers customers and enhances their service experience.

8. 7 How is this relevant? IVR plays a very critical role in providing service to your customers. Customers experience on the IVR influences their perception of an organization. The IVR is a customer communications channel - a touch-point for your organization.

9. 8 The IVR has Proven Value to Businesses Consistent Service Delivery Provides consistency unless programmed otherwise Media Channel Branding opportunity through hold music, voice talent, etc. Contact Center Support Provides operational efficiencies for the Contact Center Customer Relationship Information Utilizes customer data (pulls, gathers, & validates) Not all organizations recognize the value of the IVR.

10. 9 Why is this happening? Executive Direction $$$ invested elsewhere Little visibility to ROI

11. 10 Critical IVR Measurements Customer Experience Utilization Usability Cost to Serve

12. 11 Cost to Serve Datamonitor Forrester Research SearchCRM

13. 12 IVR Deployment – Lessons Learned More Customer Input & Feedback Keep Design Simple Better Promo of IVR Keep Current with Technology Ascent Group

14. 13 How do some organizations gather feedback? Installed surveys on the IVR Focus Groups Usability Labs Wizard of Oz Others?

15. 14 Utilizes 500+ participants providing statistically significant data. Provides recorded surveyed calls made on the IVR that can be accessed via the web. Establishes key performance indicators (KPIs) by providing a baseline and ongoing measurements. Meets Marketing Department research demands of specific demographic / geographic participants. Provides detailed and summarized results that can be grouped as desired. Identifies statistically reliable and relevant IVR process improvement opportunities to enhance usability. Measures all communication channels A Singular Approach

16. 15 The Method Setup Determine study participants Develop scripts and instructions (within data parameters) Determine channel and identify processes within it Select a process to study Create study questionnaire Measure Capture and catalog study results Consolidate resultsConduct studyCapture and catalog call recordings Produce baseline metrics report Evaluate Results, Develop Recommendations Prepare recommendations Review and prioritize recommendations Analyze study results Identify gaps and opportunities Develop Go Forward Plans Develop business case Develop high level project plans 3-6 Weeks Validate Repeat Measure Compare to Baseline Determine ROI Implement Develop Requirements Design Construct Implement

17. 16 Real Results Organizations working with this process and methodology realized the following results: (upon implementation of recommendations) 10% increase in one call resolution 22% increase in the usability of an IVR call flow 13% increase in overall IVR utilization

18. 17 In Summary Provides clear path and action plan to implement improvements to: –Enhance customer facing processes and procedures –Reduce cost to serve through increasing utilization & usability –Increase customer satisfaction Defines benchmarking strategy and methods Establishes operational performance baseline for continuous improvement

19. 18 Recognized Business Drivers Strategic Cost to Serve Customers is high Customer/Client Retention New Service / Product Launch Relationship of Performance Standards to Marketplace –Competition –Six Sigma / Other quality review Operational Increase in Call Volume Change in Technology / Infrastructure support Change to Contact Center staffing Customer Service provided across multiple channels - Branding - Process Enhancements

20. 19 Case Study #1 Industry: Insurance Application: Speech-Based Policy Information The client was building a new speech-based application for providing automated policy information to consumers. The client desired to measure the performance of the application and provide benchmarking as the final step before full deployment. The application was evaluated using 500 panelists selected from the clients customer demographic profile. Measure The initial evaluation found that the performance of the application was poor: –25% of callers reported the application was hard to use –17% reported unable to find the needed information to complete the assigned process –56% cited poor recognition of entered application commands –41% claimed a high degree of dissatisfaction with the application, and 29% reported it was the worst speech application they'd ever used. –31% of the callers could not complete the assigned process in the first attempt causing them to call back to complete the process or give up. Engineer & Implement Using the data and call recordings collected during the study, a number of specific issues were identified and fixed including prompting, error handling, and menu options. Validate Once the determined changes were implemented the Measure phase was repeated. 6% of callers reported the application was hard to use versus 25%. Only 7% of callers were unable to find the information they needed to complete the assigned process. Overall customer satisfaction increased significantly as 81% of callers were able to complete the assigned process in a single call reducing the cost to serve.

21. 20 Case Study #1 Continued Cost Savings The revised application resulted in much lower operational expenses than the original design, due to the significant improvement in callers ability to get the information they needed without talking to an agent or calling back. Over half a million $s annually in cost reduction Forrester Research SearchCRM.com

22. 21 Thank You Find The Better Way for your organization to succeed, contact Sue Fairchild 612.743.7810 susan.fairchild@ambientconsulting.com

23. 22 What is the Marketplace Saying? …most industries in the past couple of years have switched to self service…The bottom line is reduced costs, increased efficiency and productivity. But the other driving force – the one that will cause companies to fine tune their deployments – is customer demand for self-service. The Self-Service Movement Peppers & Rogers Group, July 2004 Given the history of the technology (IVR) and its potential, companies hoping to reap the benefits of IVR must understand that the customer experience is everything… The Customer Experience is It! The Ascent Group, Inc. 2003 Best in Class firms invest more heavily in customer-facing capabilities (Alerting, Self-Service, Case Management, IVR, Chat), while Industry Norm and Laggard companies invest more heavily in agent-facing capabilities (e- learning, recording / monitoring). Proactive Service The Next-Generation Contact Center Aberdeen Group December, 2004 Metrics will change focus from operational efficiency to customer effectiveness as customer service becomes a strategic function at the business level and starts to be counted as a revenue center, rather then a cost center. Gartner, 2004