New call system means a better customer experience


Sure is changing the way it handles calls at its contact centre to improve the service it provides to customers.
The company has introduced a new call management system that will enable enquiries to be directed to the most appropriate department or operators more quickly.
The contact centre provides 24 hour support to Sure customers in Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, and receives more than 30,000 calls per month. It handles all enquiries across the company’s full range of services, including domestic fixed line and broadband to mobile and business services.
It also provides lifeline services such as emergency calls and operator services.
With the new interactive voice response (IVR) system, customers will be able to choose from a range of options depending on the nature of their call. This will help to reduce the time taken to resolve the majority of enquiries.
In addition, around 10% of calls received at the contact centre are for named individuals at Sure, which in future will be routed to a new automated system. This will ensure operators are available to deal with other customer requests.
Sure’s Director of Customer Operations, Mark McConnell said the company had invested more than £90,000 in introducing the new system, which would benefit customers.
“Our goal is to improve the service experience for all customers. By directing calls better callers will be able to talk to the most appropriately skilled operator, and that way the majority of enquiries will be resolved more effectively,” he said.
“Earlier this year we introduced an IVR system for top-ups, which has provided greater choice for Sure pay as you go customers. They can now top up for themselves using a credit card simply by dialling 177 from their mobile, whenever they need to, without having to wait to speak to an operator. That has proved extremely popular, and now more than 60% of those calls are being handled using the IVR system.”
To develop and implement the new system, Sure worked with Volt Delta International, one of the world’s leading suppliers of contact centre systems. Mr McConnell said that for most services, callers will not have to go through more than two or three steps before being directed to the person they need to speak to.
“The brief to Volt Delta was to design a system that is simple for customers to use with the minimum number of steps before speaking to an operator that can help,” he said.
Emergency services, which use the 999 number, will continue to be given priority and answered by call centre staff separately.