Companies in the Telecommunications industry live or die by the relationships they build with their customers. To keep subscribers happy and loyal, business leaders need to ensure they’re going above and beyond to address all of their needs. This means having the right CX technology in place isn’t just a recommendation; it’s a must.
In today’s unpredictable world, the best CX solutions need to be innovative, agile, and capable of adapting to suit virtually any environment. This is something the leading telecoms brand, Cincinnati Bell, discovered for itself when it began to see a massive increase in call volume and demand during the pandemic. To stay ahead of the curve the historical company needed to act fast, and implement a solution with infinite scalability.
Avaya, one of the market leaders in communications technology, had the perfect solution available. Here’s what happened when Cincinnati Bell embraced the benefits of Avaya OneCloud CCaaS.
Adapting to New Challenges During the Pandemic
The residents of Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio have relied on the high-quality communications services offered by Cincinnati Bell for more than 145 years. Originally introduced in 1873, the company is one of the most historical in the American telecoms landscape. However, it doesn’t allow its heritage to prevent it from adapting to an ever-changing marketplace.
For years now, Cincinnati Bell has prioritised a strategy of constant innovation and evolution to ensure it can continue to compete with new and emerging telecoms brands. When the pandemic hit in 2020, and companies started shutting their doors, this future-focused approach proved to be crucial to the brand’s continued survival.
According to VP of Contact Centre Operations for the company, Christina Neises, the challenges of the pandemic hit Cincinnati Bell on two fronts. First, the brand noted the continued safety of its employees was a paramount concern to the business. The team knew it needed to empower employees to work as safely as possible from a distance, so they could avoid spreading the virus further.
Unfortunately, at the same time as the switch to remote working was taking place, the company was also facing a rapid increase in demand. Call volumes increased by more than 50%, placing additional pressure on existing teams trying to adapt to a new way of work. The company knew it needed to figure out a solution and fast to empower their employees, and continue delighting customers.
Thanks to an existing relationship with the leading communications brand, Avaya, Cincinnati Bell was already equipped with the partner they needed to make an important change to their technology stack. They approached Avaya searching for a solution they could implement quickly and effectively for a new age of work, and discovered the OneCloud CCaaS platform.
Navigating the Crisis with Avaya Technology
The stay-at-home orders in Ohio towards the beginning of the pandemic caused a rapid surge in calls from subscribers, looking for help with maintaining high communication connection quality. Users needed to ensure they had the right solutions in place for work, school, and entertainment.
According to a Cincinnati Bell survey, around 35% of new residential internet customers didn’t even have a service provider before the pandemic. As new consumers were quickly embracing new forms of communication and connectivity, business users were rapidly upgrading their bandwidth and service requirements too.
Fortunately, Cincinnati Bell already had a fantastic relationship with Avaya, and a communications partner named “STARTEK”, so they didn’t have to handle the new challenges alone. The teams from both companies quickly joined forces to help the communications brand roll out a solution.