Just thought we'd share this article in the Australian Financial Review (you may need a subscription to read it) to share some insight on what's happening at Optus. You can also read the Optus Media Release.
Here's a summary of the article:
By DAVID SWAN, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
DECEMBER 2, 2020
Optus is shifting every one of its customers to a new ‘Community of Experts’ program.
Australia‘s second largest telco says it has learned from one of North America’s largest telcos, T-Mobile, in a years-long project in which customers will be assigned a specific multidisciplinary team responsible for any queries.
Announced this week, Optus says that within six months every one of its customers will be
transferred to the new program, which it hopes will help customers avoid being bounced around
between chat bots, frustrating phone menus and seemingly random customer service
representatives. Optus customers will be connected to the same support team for every query they have.
Optus Vice President of Customer Care, Mark Baylis, told The Australian “We are reinventing our contact centre end-to-end, from the technology we use, to the way we reward our people, to the way we bring digital to life in every single interaction. This is unique to Optus and is core to us creating lasting customer relationships."
“Contact centres are notorious for bumping customers around, not taking ownership and putting
the problem on the customer. We knew that if we get our customer service right, our customers will be happier and we can create a better relationship with them. It was a huge change for us to make.”
Mr Baylis added that the telco‘s Community of Experts journey began 18 months ago, which started with a visit to South Carolina to better understand the T-Mobile business transformation.
He said on arriving back to Australia the company quickly began to experiment with its own
community model, and saw immediate benefits, with customer experience satisfaction lifting by 10 points and customer transfers reduced by 50 per cent.
“We knew we were onto something with such promising results, so quickly expanded into our
overseas teams, setting up a total of 5 communities. This continued to go from strength to strength, showing our customers were happier and our people ‘Experts’ loved it,” he said.
During the peak of COVID crisis, Optus rapidly expanded its Community of Experts across all of
care operations, in Australia and our global operations, spanning some 3,500 people.
“This is the single largest transformation our Customer Care teams have experienced,” he said. ”The undertaking was mammoth and something we continue to refine and mature today. Community of Experts continues to mature, with new skills, new people and new processes coming into Communities every three weeks."
“It’s exciting to see the positive impact this change has had on our customers, our people and our
business. It really is the future of building lasting and trusted customer relationships.”
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