Transcript Slide 1

APPA Business & Financial Conference
Interactive Voice Response Systems:
Inbound & Outbound Capabilities
Presented by Christie Rodriquez
IVR Coordinator, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
Austin, TX
September 25, 2007
About SMUD
–
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
–
6th largest publicly owned utility in the country (customers served)
–
Sacramento County & a portion of Placer County
–
900 square mile service area
–
Over 540,000 customers
–
2,300 employees
• 700 non-represented professional & supervisory
• 800 represented physical force
• 800 represented clerical and technical employees
– Mission
• To empower our customers with solutions &
options that increase energy efficiency, protect
the environment, reduce global warming and
lower the cost to serve our regions.
Major Touch Points
Web &
Kiosk
IVR
Outbound
Calls
Completed
Contacts* 16%
Completed on
Web 35%
Transfer to
Agent ~60%
E-mail to
Agent
Residential
Contact
Center
45%
2006 Statistics
*Customer must perform at least one transaction and hang up in order to be considered “Completed in IVR”
Route to IVR
payment option
Commercial
Contact
Center
4%
Structure
Residential Services
– 115 Seat Contact Center
– 7 AM to 7 PM Monday – Friday
– ~1M contacts per year
Commercial Services
– 8 Seat Contact Center
– 8 AM to 5 PM Monday – Friday
– ~72K contacts per year
IVR
– 2 Technology Developers
– 1 Business Liaison
– 24 hours a day 7 days a week
– ~320K contacts per year
Technology
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Intervoice IVR
Siemens PBX
Genesys Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
Integrated with SAP Customer Service System
21st Century High Volume Call Answering (HVCA)
West Corporation Proactive Customer Contact
Custom Developed Softphone
Integrated with Kubra (payment processing system)
Oracle DB
Outbound Collection Calls
Process Flow
provides a
West Corp. creates a custom
1. SMUD
2.
single XML file
parser that would ingest the
to West Corp.
file and parse it into several
smaller files based on SMUD
specifications.
Corp.
3. West
places the
call
to the customer.
4.
Customer
calls SMUD’s
toll free
number.
This is an important
message from SMUD
your electric service
provider. Please call our
office at 1-888-847-7683
to speak to a customer
service representative.
5. The
call is answered by SMUD IVR.
[813] You have
reached SMUD's
customer service
department.
[XXX] Please
enter your 10
digit home
phone number.
[753] Please
enter the
numbers of your
street address
Authenticate
success?
[XXX] Our records show that
your account is past due. To
avoid disconnection you must
pay <$xxx.xx>. To pay this
amount in full press 1. To pay
a different amount press 2.
1
[816] To pay by check press 1. To
pay with credit card press 2.
2
[XXX] Enter the amount you want
to pay. Use the star key in place
of the decimal point.
Stats
– 1,000 accounts p/day
– 1,400 calls made p/day
– 76% successful contact (<1% pay on initial contact)
– 33% result in inbound calls
– 29% disconnected for non-payment
No
Warning Message.
Customer has option to change
amount.
Yes
Warning
message
needed?
IVR Functionality
2007 YTD Automated Transactions
–
Account Balance - 66%
–
Check By Phone - 8%
–
Report Outage - 6%
–
Credit Cards – 5%
–
Payment Arrangements - 5%
–
Assistance Program Info - 4%
–
Stop Service - 2%
–
Miscellaneous Programs/Services 2%
–
Office & Pay Station Info - 1%
–
Report Meter Read - 1%
2007 YTD IVR Completed Contacts
19% Residential English
15% Residential Spanish
9% Commercial English
5% Commercial Spanish
19% Total (all customers & languages)
Financial Transactions
Account Balance
– First option in menu (highest volume)
– Commercial & Residential customers
– English & Spanish speaking customers
– Not provided if disconnected for non payment
– Messages based on specific account status
– Past due
– Not past due
– Payment arrangements
– Credit on account
– Account paid in full
– Last payment amount
– Date last payment received
– Proceeds to payment options
– Make a payment
– Make payment arrangements
Stats
– 311K transactions p/year*
– 80% success rate**
Payment Arrangements
– Commercial & Residential customers
– English & Spanish speaking customers
– Not provided if disconnected for non payment or
in danger of disconnect
– Not available to customers on Budget Billing or
Custom Due Date programs
– Balance must not exceed $600
– Cannot have any current installments
– Installments w/in the last 6 months have all been paid
– Oldest amount due cannot be older than 3 months
– Customer can chose to extend for 1-2 billing periods
– If 2 billing periods, amount is divided and customer is
informed of specific amounts
Stats
– 24,000 transactions p/year*
– 17% success rate**
* Transactions p/year estimated based on actual stats from Jan-March 2007 **Success rate based on Residential English transactions as of June 2007.
Payment Transactions
Check by Phone
– Residential customers only (due to fee structure)
– English & Spanish speaking customers
– Account cannot be disconnected for non payment or
have “Do Not Accept Check / ACH” indicator
– Transaction can be turned on / off as needed
– Checking account info is stored for future use
– Name on check must be the same as name on acct.
– If no checking info is on file the customer is asked:
– Where is check # located in the line at the bottom of
the check?
Credit Card Payments
– Visa Consumer Credit Cards only
– Residential customers only (due to fee structure)
– English & Spanish speaking customers
– Account cannot be disconnected for non payment or
have “Do Not Accept Credit Card” indicator
– Transaction can be turned on / off as needed
– Credit Card info is not stored for future use
– Name on card must be the same as name on acct.
– Customer is asked for:
– 16 digit account number
– Different messages are played depending on the location
of the check #
– System confirms card is Visa
– Expiration date (mm/yy)
– 5 digit zip code
– Payment amount
– What is the 9 digit bank routing number?
– System re-prompts if not 9 digits
– What is the checking account number?
– Checking account # must be > 4 digits
– Value must be > 0
– What is the check number?
– What is the dollar amount?
– * used as decimal
– Amount >$0.00 & <$10,000
– Implicit verification of all data
– Payment posts w/in 2 business days
– Confirmation letter is sent to customer
Stats
– 41,000 transactions p/year
– 80% success rate*
– * used as decimal
– Amount >$0.00 & <$10,000
– Implicit verification of payment amount & last 4
digits of credit card only
– Error handling varies based on return code from
payment processor (card #, expiration date, zip)
– Payment posts w/in 2 business days
– Confirmation letter is sent to customer
Stats
– 40,000 transactions p/year
– 45% success rate*
* Transactions p/year estimated based on actual stats from Jan-March 2007 **Success rate based on Residential English transactions as of June 2007.
Assistance Programs
Limited Income & Medical Discount Rates
– Residential customers only
– English & Spanish speaking customers
– Brief message about program
– Application & qualifying guidelines sent to customer
Bill Payment Assistance
– Residential customers only
– English & Spanish speaking customers
– Brief message about program
– Telephone number provided for more information
Stats
Stats
– 10,500 transactions p/year
– 100% success rate
– 10,000 transactions p/year
– 100% success rate
Office & Paystation Info
Office Info
– Physical address
– Cross streets
– Lobby hours
– Mailing address
– Option to repeat
Paystation Info
– By zip code
– 1 to 3 locations provided
– Name of location
– Physical address
– Cross streets
– Telephone number
Stats
– 4,800 transactions p/year
– 88% success rate
* Transactions p/year estimated based on actual stats from Jan-March 2007 **Success rate based on Residential English transactions as of June 2007.
Lessons Learned
– Assign ownership
– Define responsibilities
– Establish a focus
– Cost vs. Customer Satisfaction
– Create a strategy
– Market Research
– Marketing Strategy
– Objectives
– Evaluation Process
– Learn best practices & human factors
– Enterprise Integration Group
– Incoming Calls Management Institute
– Sterling Audits
– SpeechTek
– Benchmark
– Ascent Group Inc.
– E-Source
– Adopt a philosophy & create guidelines
– Voice
– Pleasant & Professional
– Consistent
– Information Delivery
– Relevant Info (No Jargon)
– Quick Response Times
– User Friendliness
– Menu Options Consistent
– Concise Messages
– Specific to General
– Evaluate business rules
– Enhance reporting
Future
– Interactive Outbound Collection Calls
–
–
–
Add right party verify
Improve voice mail process
Connect to SMUD for payment processing
– Expand credit card options
– Enhance Financial Assistance Programs
–
–
–
Provide guidelines
Automate enrollment
Offer status information
– Leverage Genesys
–
Intelligent Routing within IVR
– Proactive Communication
–
Payment arrangement reminders
– Evaluate Speech Recognition technology
– Consider expanding Language Options
Extras
Infrastructure and Capital Project costs not included in cost per contact.
IVR Evolution
CCIP
• Brite Platform
• Expanded applications
• Screen pops
• Limited reporting
IVR Implemented
• CCS Firstline
1991
Enhancements
• Minor script changes
• IVR brochure created
• Spanish Focus Group
Enhancements
• Improved menu
• Added functionality
• Improved reporting
IVR Replaced
• Intervoice Platform
1995
1999
Satisfaction Survey
• By Quantum
Outage Redesign
• Eliminate TSR
calls after hours
Assessment
• By EIG
2000
Enhancements
• Replacement issues
• Spanish Automation
• Commercial Options
• Improved menu
• EnergyHelp
• Modify business rules
Telephone number
Update
• By Televox
IVR Replacement
• Intervoice Platform
• Improved reporting
• Standard Interfaces
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Baseline
established
15% increase
20% increase
15% increase
29% increase
21% increase
Reengineering
• Channel Management
• IVR Coordinator
• Web Coordinator
Cost Per Contact Model
• IVR
• Web
• Residential Contact Center
(Commercial added in 2004)
Complete Contacts
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
C/C
683,522
838,543
957,024
1,031,770
969,199
1,013,062
IVR*
128,418
148,260
178,620
206,070
265,651
320,790
*Customer must perform at least one transaction and hang up in order to be considered “Completed in IVR”
Usability Testing
• By Sterling
Audits
Satisfaction
Survey
Interactive
Outbound Calling
2007
Outbound Calling
• Collection Calls
Assessment
• By Sterling Audits
Cost Per Contact Model
IVR
• Telephone charges
• Based on % of completed contacts
• Maintenance agreements
• Payment processing fees
• Labor
• Supervisor
• IVR Coordinator
• Support Staff
• Advertising Staff
• Promotional materials
• Outside services
• Postage
Infrastructure and Capital Project costs not included in cost per contact.
Questions
Infrastructure and Capital Project costs not included in cost per contact.