Web self-service portal reduces pressure on UK call centre and cuts operational costs for education technology specialist

Windsor, UK – 28th April 2009 – Education technology specialist Promethean has reduced calls into its UK and North America call centres by more than 50%, by boosting its online customer service with nGen Knowledgebase. Using the intuitive knowledge management tool, Promethean has introduced web self-service portals for worldwide customers, which support five languages.  As a result, the company is able to handle a growing number of customer queries without increasing headcount and also reduce operating expenditure, as the cost for handling a customer query online can be as much as 20 times less than telephone. 

Promethean’s team of 25 customer service agents provide after sales support for over 300,000 customers worldwide, but with call volumes reaching hundreds per day due to extraordinary sales growth, call abandonment rates were around 50% and customer waiting times could be up to 25 minutes. Language skills were also limited within the customer services team.  The deployment of nGen Knowledgebase has enabled the company to roll-out five web self-service portals with support for English, French, German, Spanish and Mandarin; offering 24/7 assistance to all customers, in their native language, regardless of their location.

The web self-service portals, powered by nGen Knowledgebase, contain over 500 articles to enable customers to search for answers to their questions online quickly and easily. The websites currently receive more than 13,000 hits per month, more than a 200% increase on 2007, and the number of incoming queries to the call centre has reduced by over 50%. 

In addition, Promethean is using nGen Knowledgebase to capture and present current, relevant information to the customer services team through an agent interface, ensuring accurate and consistent responses to all telephone and email enquiries.  The customer service team is actively encouraged to help build the knowledge base and develop content, with employees writing their own articles and translating documents from English to local languages.

According to Graham Redfern, Corporate Support Manager for Promethean, nGen Knowledgebase has played a pivotal role in driving efficiencies in the customer service operation: “As our business continues to grow, we are always looking for ways to streamline our internal processes. Being able to handle more customer enquiries without increasing headcount was a central part of this, and is exactly what nGen Knowledgebase has allowed us to do. Our agents are now empowered to continually evolve and develop useful content, which will in turn improve and optimise the experience of our customers.”

Following the success of nGen Knowledgebase, Promethean is looking to introduce more ways to boost its online customer service, including a Live Chat function, providing as many routes as possible for the customer to contact them, at any time, from anywhere. 

“Customers are increasingly turning to the web to communicate with companies and brands, but the online visitor expects the right answer to be available immediately, which puts pressure on businesses striving to improve the customer experience,” commented Matthew Haines, European Managing Director of nGenera CIM. “Fast and effective online customer service can be a key differentiator and Promethean is actively demonstrating how self-service for both customer and agent can reduce strain on the contact centre, increase productivity and enhance the consistency of customer communications.“