Prospect, a professional trade union that focuses on representing scientists, managers, engineers, and a host of other specialists across hundreds of different sectors, recently made a change to their UC strategy. The group paired with GCI, a leading Managed Technology Service Provider to create a cutting-edge contact centre strategy based on the Enghouse Interactive Communications Centre.
The idea behind the new strategy is that the staff in the virtual contact centre will be able to offer more comprehensive support to more than 140,000 Prospect members, while the group continues to reduce their overall expenses. The system will replace a system of regional help-desks, and Prospect Union believes that they should achieve time efficiency improvements of at least 20%, while expanding their opportunities to offer more help to their customers, at a faster rate.
I spoke with Paul Xuereb, the Head of Information and Website Systems at Prospect Union, about the circumstances that sparked the decision, and where he expects the new collaboration to take the group in the future.
Why Did Prospect Choose to Create a Contact Centre System with GCI?
As a middle-sized trade union with 141,000 members, Prospect works to help members consistently with complex enquiries regarding all aspects of their professional life. For instance, their staff is there to handle questions about pensions, promotion procedures, company takeovers, maternity leave, and more. Currently, the group has around 14 sites, each featuring about 250 staff members on board to assist members as quickly, and effectively as possible.
Paul told me: "For the last year and a half, we've been planning to integrate a new phone deployment based on our decision to create the "TouchPoint" system. Basically, we've had TouchPoint in play for the last 3 months, and it means that about 10% of our staff now make up a contact centre for our members. The problem we had was that, as a union, we do a lot of mergers, and while our email is quite up-to-date, our phone systems were in serious need of an update."
With GCI, Prospect Union have been able to completely overhaul their communications strategy, replacing 12 disparate phone systems within 17 locations with the Skype for Business platform. This has created an incredible opportunity for the Enghouse Interactive solution, which can integrate natively with Skype for Business, and ensure that staff around the Prospect Union can dynamically work to assist members when, and where they're needed most.
Paul noted that Prospect had begun to look at communications programs last year, not necessarily with Skype in mind:
"When we went to our providers with the idea of a contact centre, they all spoke about third-party bolt-on options that didn't seem to give us a complete solution. So, we went back into the field. We've been dealing with GCI for nearly 9 years now, and last year, they brought Skype into their system and told us that we could use SfB too. Since we were already familiar with using Skype for ad hoc system, it seemed like the best solution moving forward."
What Was the Toughest Part of Your Digital Transformation Journey?
Obviously, overhauling an entire communication system, and switching from phones to Skype seemed like it must have been a huge task for Prospect. I was interested to find out how Paul felt about the experience, and what kind of challenges he had faced when it came to implementing the new strategy.
"We deployed over a period of about 10 weeks and trained staff individually in the new systems. For me, I think that getting the people and the training all on the right track was the toughest part. On top of that, taking away the actual desk phones and replacing them with headsets was quite a challenge too. People felt like they still needed a phone, but the truth is that they were just using these expensive devices as a fancy headset for Skype."
For Prospect, the purpose behind removing desk phones from the office was to save money. Paul told me that not only could they get Skype for Business headsets for cheaper, but they felt they were getting better quality too:
"Mostly, we've been focused on helping people to understand the changes that come with Skype for Business. There haven't really been any problems with the technology - instead, aligning the people and the processes have been the biggest part of the job."
Prospect felt that using GCI was an obvious solution when it came to adjusting their communication strategy, and Paul even told me that the company was the "best ISP we've ever used". Their information is now hosted off-site in one of GCI's data centres, and Prospect feels confident about working with the brand going forward.