CASE
STUDY
Trusted transition and service delivery in
partnership with Samsung
Services
„„ Customer Service and Support
2
Case Study
Samsung
Samsung: delivering successful transition and great
customer experience
Introduction
Transition: fast, safe and successful
Samsung is the world’s 8th most valuable brand
(Interbrand 2013). The service they deliver to
their customers needs to reflect the quality of
their products and the profile of their brand.
Samsung initially required 70 advisors to cover the peak period across their
smart mobile operations (smart phones and tablets). Samsung confirmed
Capita as a partner to support their operations through the peak period
in mid-November. The initial group of 15 advisors started training on 1
December and were taking live calls on the new operation on 15 December.
Samsung lacked confidence in their incumbent
supplier’s abilities to ramp up for their peak
contact period over Christmas and New Year,
and needed a partner who could mobilise quickly
to successfully deliver this service. During the
second half of 2013 Capita and Samsung entered
into discussions, resulting in Capita being
awarded the contract to deliver peak operations.
At this stage it was clear that Capita shared
Samsung’s vision of omni-channel delivery and
best practice service. Consequently, Capita were
invited to bid for all of Samsung’s UK customer
service and technical support operations.
Through a competitive process Samsung felt
Capita understood their aims best, namely:
„„ Perform the basics brilliantly
„„ Create a genuine omni-channel service model
with a single view of the customer
„„ Use service led insight to drive customer
service improvement and sales growth
Samsung could see valuable difference between
our proposal and that of the incumbent and
another bidding outsourcer. Based on this,
Samsung awarded Capita a five year contract
to run all of their UK customer and technical
support services.
Following the initial team going live on 15 December, all other groups went
live on 23 December. The teams were in place ahead of the peak period of
queries from people receiving new Samsung products for Christmas.
Key to achieving these demanding timescales was putting a strong project
team in place from an early stage. Throughout initial discussions and
transition we adopted an ‘open door’ policy for Samsung giving full access to
experts across our business and ensuring full transparency of our proposition.
From receiving the confirmation by Samsung, the contact centre was set up
and technology operational within a month.
Hitting the ground running
It was crucial that when the operation went live advisors were properly
equipped and trained to handle customer queries. Strong operational
management was in place to lead the teams, as they headed straight into
the peak contact period. Capita achieved this through stringent recruitment,
updated training and effective teams.
Recruitment
The adviser role on the Samsung operation is a demanding one, therefore
strict criteria were agreed and a specific role profile developed. The role is
technically challenging and it was also required that potential advisors had
a passion for Samsung products before being offered a role. However, to
ensure a great customer experience we recruited for customer service skills,
knowing we could provide training to deliver technical skills.
Training
Training would be crucial to the success of the operation, both from a
technical and brand delivery viewpoint. To ensure the go live dates were
met the training material was updated and rewritten while being delivered.
Feedback from the first team to complete training helped identify the
areas requiring updates. This together with ongoing support from Samsung
enabled the material to be rewritten for the following training groups.
Strong Teams
It was important to have experienced leaders on the operation to drive
performance from day 1. We handpicked an Operations Manager with a
background of working in a dynamic and fast moving environment akin to
Samsung. The four Team Leaders were selected from other Capita operations
and brought a strong operational knowledge. Advisors were recruited
externally and each Team Leader joined their team through the training
process creating a strong team bond ensuring success when they went live
on the operation.
SPCS110113LR | © Capita 2014
3
Case Study
Samsung
Operational Success
Continued Improvement
Initially, the operation handled a third of all calls
related to the Samsung Galaxy product, though
this quickly increased. Significant improvements
were seen as advisers reached full competency
and service delivery surpassed that of the
incumbents:
Alongside delivering a successful transition Capita have proactively
approached Samsung with insight and improvement to support a continued
improvement of customer experience.
„„ By the second month of operation advisors
were significantly ahead of average handling
time (AHT) targets
„„ From go live calls answered (PCA) target was
achieved with 99.9% of calls being answered
against a PCA 20 target of 85%
„„ During the first two months advisors
increased both first call resolution (FCR) and
customer satisfaction scores, ahead of the
expected speed to competency. For example,
FCR was 91% against a target of 70%
The operational teams from Capita took a hands
on approach to ensure KPI’s were met. This has
been supported by Samsung who have provided
a range of incentives to support the success of
the operation, including Smart TV’s, tablets and
phones.
Capita’s quality of delivery during the peak
period was cited as a key reason why we were
selected to take on their full UK customer service
and technical operation. In early February, Capita
were awarded a five year deal with all services
switching from the incumbent to Capita by12
May. This includes mobile, audio visual, printers,
escalations, B2B (hotel TV, printers, large
format displays and air conditioning) and home
appliance. It includes handling contacts by phone
and email, as well as social media listening.
The operation increased from 1 line of business
to 11 and grew its initial peak delivery state of 70
advisors to 350 FTE in just eight weeks.
99.9%
Of calls answered against target of 85%
91% FCA
against a target of 70%
SPCS110113LR | © Capita 2014
One area of improvement has been in supporting faults. Previously, if a
product needed to be sent for repair to an authorised service centre, it
could have taken up to eight days before a response could be provided to
the customer. We identified this as being inefficient, too much customer
effort and damaging to customer experience. By working with the service
centres, redesigning the process, and helping them to understand customer
expectations, we have been able to reduce this to 14 hours.
From an advisor point of view, we have also highlighted a series of
improvements for Samsung’s knowledge base. These changes help advisers
provide up to date information quickly and easily, therefore delivering a
better customer experience. Samsung fully support this initiative and are
actively making changes to the system based on our recommendations.
Capita have appointed a Team Leader as our knowledge system expert to
smoothly manage these changes into the operation, and provide ongoing
feedback.
Through process improvement we are also reducing the transfer of calls to
second line complaints. We have put in place a robust process and given
advisors and managers increased empowerment to rectify customer issues
before transferring. We are now transferring less than 1% of calls, down from
double digits with the previous incumbent. This is delivering both a better
customer experience and reduced costs for Samsung.
Partnership success
The transition of the Samsung operation to Capita has been successful for
both organisations. It has been a collaborative partnership which has ensured
a smooth transition and a successful operation.
This approach has yielded great results, Samsung’s external Customer
Satisfaction Survey awards white flags for exceptional calls. These are
rare, but our advisors received a significantly higher number (while still in
transition) than comparable periods with the former incumbent.
Significant investment has been made into the branding of the operation.
Samsung products are available for advisors to see and try, further
supporting brand engagement and improvements in customer experience.
Through continued insight, operational delivery and collaborative working
the partnership continues to successfully deliver.
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