Study case
Process and task mining to optimize the B2C customer service center
Identifying best-use practices aimed at increasing efficiency will be essential to improve the customer experience, satisfaction and engagement
The challenge
A global Tier 1 telecommunications provider is undergoing a deep transformation process focused on internal digitalization. The main challenge lies in finding a solution to identify, diagnose and optimize customer service processes.
When optimizing processes at a customer service center (voice channels as well as written mediums), it is essential to rely on technologies like process mining. This technique helps us gain a completely objective and comprehensive understanding of how workflows are being carried out in order to identify areas of improvement and quantify the impact of potential inefficiencies.
We face three challenges:
Building stronger relationships and engagement with customers.
Making processes more efficient.
Improving the customer experience and satisfaction.
The solution
We used Process Mining technology to increase operations efficiency and improve the service quality perceived by customers. The key processes for the project were:
Phone channel: invoice queries, order sales and deliveries.
Written channel (WhatsApp): general customer service queries.
This tool, developed by Celonis, offers real-time data analysis for identifying and eliminating weak points in processes. It uses proactive information that prioritizes actions to address those weaknesses.
Process mining makes it possible to perform an analysis by extracting the event logs available in a company’s information systems. This helps to identify, monitor and improve processes in real time.
Task mining, on the other hand, creates a log of the work that employees do on their computers (tools used, screen clicks, copy/paste, etc.) to create a comprehensive view of the process.
These technologies have made it possible to identify areas of improvement and define the necessary corrective actions, which will be documented in the transformation plan for the process. The areas of improvement include:
Having an accurate view of the processes and all their variants.
Identifying sticking points and root causes of inefficiencies.
Establishing metrics and KPIs throughout the process.
Measuring and subsequently shortening customer service times.
Automating processes for optimal execution.
Creating standardized processes.
Improving customer satisfaction.
Eliminating rework and improving efficiency.
The result
We created a quantified end-to-end view of all the processes analyzed, which included identifying agents’ usage behavior of tools during calls. We also analyzed how agents interact with customers via written channels.
This allowed us to identify improvement initiatives geared toward optimizing the customer experience and improving the efficiency of internal operations.
Some of the key aspects are:
Identifying best practices in the use of tools to shorten call times whenever possible, resulting in the corresponding savings and improved efficiency of customer service operations.
Identifying areas of improvement when replying to customers via written channels by analyzing the differences between the expected happy path and the potential variants within the process.
Analyzing agent activity and productivity in real time, and identifying the root causes of rework and inefficiencies in daily operations, thereby lowering the costs incurred for customer service.
Identifying repetitive tasks that could be automated in order to save time and lower operating costs.
Measuring process adherence and identifying training activities by agent group.
As a whole, these proposals represent over €2 million in annual savings, of which more than 50% have been obtained through initiatives being implemented by the telecommunications provider.
