The company’s nationwide network of more than 70,000 distribution locations and 130,000 reload sites serves the estimated 68 million underbanked consumers who do not have a traditional bank account or who rely on alternative financial services. In 2008, the client decided to transition its inbound customer service f rom in-house operations to a provider to drive down costs. Goals for the move included improving the customer experience while d riving more business. The company also hoped to attain better forecasting abilities and a wider strategic perspective.
Sutherland implemented an end-to-end customer lifecycle management solution that serves consumers, corporate paycard operations, and back-office correspondence via voice, email, and fax channels. The team processes and responds to customer emails, while providing customer care for the client’s commercial paycard product. Sutherland adapted processes to the client’s proprietary customer account management tool. Measures taken included:
- Helping the client build and maintain a knowledge base now used by agents to shorten response times and ensure adherence to proper procedures
- Implementing process improvements such as improving the call flow and agent scripts, which reduced handling time from 8 minutes to 6 minutes
- Analyzing causes of customer dissatisfaction to improve net promoter scores (NPS)
- Implementing daily coaching and monthly incentives to improve performance
- Initiating process governance and strict performance management
Services encompass transactions related to general purpose reloadable (GPR) cards, Western Union, PayPal, Brinks, Turbo Tax, and more. The agents handle:
- Card acquisition/order and activation
- Account/card status and setup/maintenance
- Transaction inquiries and issues
- Authorization release and disputes
- Funding/direct deposit
- Account closures
Process and domain excellence and Sutherland’s strong data analytics capabilities have driven measurable improvements in average handling time (AHT) and NPS across business lines, reducing costs, and improving the customer experience. Sutherland upgraded the client’s business continuity measures, offering the ability to scale and deliver anywhere on the planet or in the cloud.
