Its relationship with Siemens began in 1999 with the introduction of intelligent voice routing technology to divert customer calls received by stores to a central call centre.
With 70 per cent of telephone queries coming through to the right person first time, and in-store staff able to concentrate on offering a better service to customers, Comet made huge cost savings and greatly improved the productivity of its people.
Two years later, the call centre had evolved into a fully-fledged customer information centre employing over 400 people responsible for customer service, home shopping, general information and internet sales.
Convinced that the call load could be handled even more effectively by sharing expertise and cross-training its staff, Comet commissioned Siemens to introduce skilled-based routing software which sends calls through to appropriately skilled agents when a team is busy.
At the same time, Siemens installed new workforce optimisation software that allowed Comet to operate three shifts per day more smoothly and effectively and to take into account individual working preferences.
The customer information centre’s turnover has gone from nil to £100 million in four years, and the next five years look set to bring further revenue increases and customer service enhancements.
| “We have seen the benefits of working with Siemens as a systems integrator over the past six years.” |
| Jason Greenwood |
| Business Solutions Manager |
| Comet |