Success Story : Government Michigan Economic Development Corp.,USA Success Story > Government > Michigan Economic Development Corporation Michigan Economic Development Corporation Lansing, Michigan www.michigan.org Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Government Customer Interactions ... 1,350 per month A s the American economy shifts from a reliance on heavy manufacturing to a future built on information technology, biotechnology, green technology, and services, the state of Michigan is taking steps to keep pace with the changing times. In response to the slowing growth of the Detroit-based automotive business, the state founded the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), which serves as a welcoming and helping hand for businesses seeking to grow in or relocate to Michigan. MEDC provides services ranging from site location assistance and job training grants to help with permits and tax abatements. It is a one-stop resource for businesses seeking to grow in Michigan. From its beginning in 1999, MEDC was conceived as a nonbureaucratic entity with a board of directors composed of business people, not civil servants. As the agency’s website promises, MEDC is designed so that its “policies and procedures meet the needs of the private sector.” One of MEDC’s chief priorities was to deliver – and develop a reputation for delivering – the key characteristic associated with private sector success: excellent customer service. It was this goal, and also a very business-like concern with expenses and the bottom line, that brought MEDC to Genesys. Challenges MEDC regularly sponsors promotions and other marketing and advertising campaigns to capture the attention of businesses and tourists. Michigan’s official tourist agency,Travel Michigan, is housed within the development corporation. Promotional campaigns Page 2 generate 1,200 telephone calls, 150 e-mails and 10 chat sessions per month.These inbound communications must be answered by MEDC’s travel and business contact centers, each of which employs six agents. “We wanted to make sure that we kept a record of our interactions, that we routed them to the appropriately skilled agent, and also that all the interactions were integrated into the database of our Siebel software,” said Tilak Mohan, Director, Customer Relationship Management, MEDC. The obstacle to achieving these goals was MEDC’s contact center application from Quintas, which was a division of Avaya. The Avaya system could not integrate with the Siebel application, and MEDC agents were forced to resort to a slow and error-prone series of steps to bridge the gap between the applications. “There were two things that were happening,” said Mohan. “One was that the agent always had to start one application first, then the second application. And then, as soon as the interaction was over, they had to cut and paste information from the Quintas desktop into the Siebel software, which is where we wanted all the interactions to be stored.” The Avaya solution to this problem only presented MEDC with new problems. When the Quintas application approached end-of-life, Avaya recommended that MEDC upgrade to a new version. However, the cost of the Avaya upgrade was too high, said Mohan. “And Avaya did not really impress us from the service perspective. Their outreach was not very good. And when we tried to get some more information, they were not very responsive.” MEDC decided it needed to undertake some due diligence before settling on a new contact center application. “With the Genesys Gplus Adapter for Siebel everything is seamless. Genesys automatically moves every interaction directly into the Siebel window and we are able to access the information without any problems at all. And when a company needs a response immediately the Customer Assistance Center agent is able - either through email, phone, or chat to create a service request and assign that activity immediately to the appropriate business development manager or other MEDC staff person” Tilak Mohan Director, Customer Relationship Management, MEDC Success Story > Government > Michigan Economic Development Corporation Page 3 Results • Attracted innovative Tesla Motors to build a new engineering and R&D center in Michigan by delivering comprehensive, fast, and personalized service • Boosted agent productivity and customer service quality through the seamless integration of Genesys and Siebel CRM • Transformed the contact center into an arm of the sales department so agents can notify salespeople about potential new business development opportunities • Provided companies and tourists the flexibility of contacting MEDC via telephone, e-mail, or Web chat • Offered management reporting on data from all multi-channel interactions Solutions At the same time that MEDC was weighing its options, Genesys was presenting a product demonstration at a sister government agency in Michigan. Mohan attended the demonstration, which led to MEDC becoming the first Genesys customer to integrate e-mail, Web chat, and voice with the Siebel Gplus Adapter. “We basically came away pretty much wowed,” said Mohan. “We thought that looked like a solution, because Genesys emphasized the fact that the Gplus Adapter would be able to accommodate Siebel.” The Genesys software suite, combined with the Siebel Gplus Adapter, answered all of MEDC’s needs.The agency implemented the Genesys Customer Interaction Management (CIM) Platform to capture, process, route, and report on all interactions, regardless of type. Then the modular approach of the Genesys application suite allowed MEDC to add all the additional functionality it needed: Genesys Inbound Voice for telephone calls, Genesys E-Mail for e-mail interactions, and Genesys Web Media for Web chat sessions initiated on the MEDC web site. Today, MEDC enjoys a single agent desktop that integrates inbound voice, e-mail, and chat interactions. All of these multi-channel communications appear under a Genesys toolbar located inside the Siebel software, thanks to the Gplus Adapter for Siebel. In addition, this complete solution did not come with the drawbacks that characterized Avaya, said Mohan. “The cost of the upgrade was not that high, and Genesys was very responsive.” Results A key objective of MEDC is to impress the business community with its efficiency and service, so that companies view it as one of the benefits of doing business in Michigan. Genesys allows MEDC to accomplish that objective. In January 2007, the governor of Michigan announced that Tesla Motors, Inc., developer of an electric car that was one of Time magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2006,” would invest nearly $48 million to build a new R&D and engineering center in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The official press release credited the business win to service offered by MEDC, which “convinced Tesla Motors to select Rochester Hills” over competing sites. The Tesla win is an example of how important it was for MEDC to increase agent efficiency, reduce customer response times, and improve the ability to dispatch MEDC representatives to businesses that need hands-on assistance. Today, when MEDC receives inquiries from companies or prospective tourists, Genesys routes all interactions – voice, e-mail, or chat -- to the appropriate contact center and the appropriate agents within each center. Integration with Siebel negates the need for agents to cut-and-paste information between application screens and lets agents focus on boosting Michigan’s business development. “With the Genesys Gplus Adapter for Siebel, everything is seamless,” said Mohan. “Genesys automatically moves every interaction directly into the Siebel window and we are able to access the information without any problems. And when a company needs a Success Story > Government > Michigan Economic Development Corporation Page 4 Solutions • Genesys Customer Interaction Management Platform captures, processes, routes, and reports on all interactions • Genesys Inbound Voice manages all incoming calls and delivers callers to the right agent • Genesys E-mail allows agents to respond to customer e-mail inquiries with the same personalized service as traditional voice interactions • Genesys Web allows agents to respond to customer chat requests • Genesys Gplus Adapter for Siebel is a prepackaged integration that combines the Genesys real-time interaction suite with Siebel eBusiness applications response immediately the call center agent is able – either through e-mail, phone, or chat – to create a service request and assign that activity immediately to a salesperson.” Perhaps the greatest benefit of the new Genesys-Siebel integration is the way the contact center has become an arm of the sales function. Now, when a company needs a fast response from MEDC, the call center agent is able to record that information, create a service request, and immediately assign the activity to the person responsible for the account.The assignment shows up in the salesperson’s To-Do list, and the sales rep is then able to contact the customer. The success of the Genesys application was underlined in July 2007, when MEDC introduced the Defense Contract Coordination Center (DCCC), a new program that helps state businesses win Genesys Worldwide Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company, is the world’s leading provider of contact center and customer service management software — with more than 4,000 customers in 80 countries. Genesys software directs more than 100 million interactions every day, dynamically connecting customers with the right resources — self-service or assisted-service — to fulfill customer requests, optimize customer care goals and efficiently use agent resources. Genesys helps organizations drive contact center efficiency, stop customer frustration and accelerate business innovation. For more information: visit us on the Web: www.genesyslab.com, or call +1 888 GENESYS (1-650-466-1100). 2847 v.1-08/08-U.S. defense contracts. Adding the new service highlighted Genesys’ own commitment to customer service. “When we added the DCCC we had some issues and Genesys was able to help us immediately,” said Mohan. MEDC is also using the Genesys CIM platform’s built-in reporting capabilities. The agency generates monthly reports that track how many calls, e-mails, and chats it receives. It also analyzes the productivity of individual agents. But the main benefit of Genesys is how it supports MEDC’s core mission.“We try to respond to requests within 24 hours, and with Genesys we can live up to that commitment,” said Mohan.“Companies are extremely happy with the response that we give them. Our technology allows us to really take care of our customers.” Americas Corporate Headquarters Europe, Middle East, Africa EMEA Headquarters Asia Pacific APAC Headquarters Genesys 2001 Junipero Serra Blvd. Daly City, CA 94014 USA Genesys House Frimley Business Park Frimley Camberley Surrey GU16 7SG United Kingdom Genesys Laboratories Australasia Pty Ltd Level 17, 124 Walker Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia Tel: +1 650 466 1100 Fax: +1 650 466 1260 Tel: +44 1276 45 7000 E-mail: info@genesyslab.com Tel: +44 1276 45 7001 www.genesyslab.com Tel: +61 2 9463 8500 Genesys and the Genesys logo are registered trademarks of Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby recognized. © 2007 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.