A TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER’S
C-LEVEL ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
IMPROVES CALL CENTER PROFITABILITY
Background
The 500+ seat call center customer specialized in debt collection, medical notification and seasonal political polling, and used two Tier 1 and three Tier 2 carriers. Approximately 90% is predictive dialing using a combination of Dialogic TDM and next generation VoIP systems. Expansion included a multi-year lease, a floor plan with desks and computers, phone deployment and a new 300 megabit fiber optic using a local cable company. Initial turn up went well, however, issues began being reported as capacity was activated: deteriorating call quality, failing calls to certain regions, poor drop ratios and sales-to-call ratios, and one way audio. As profit and call ratios were being negatively impacted, they addressed the post-expansion issues with each of their five VoIP carriers. Only Televergence (TSI) diagnosed and resolved the issue.
Challenges
Both Tier 1 carriers assumed the customer-facing performance issues were on the customer’s end and provided little technical support. Within a week, both Tier 1 account managers dismissed the issue as a nuisance customer with a poor technical understanding. The Tier 2 carriers included a regional CLEC whose experience was limited to TDM and whose switch vendor focused on theoretical issues such as calls per second and the customer’s VoIP hardware (they suggested the customer install multiple DS3 loops to carry traffic into a platform in which they had more experience); and an exclusively VoIP carrier with a “no skin in the game” infrastructure and a “best attempt” call completion philosophy which negatively impacted the customer’s low sales-to-call ratio and operator wait times. TSI identified and resolved the issue of one way and poor quality audio on a majority of peak time calls. We maintain redundant fiber connectivity, a Cisco based network, a Lucent TDM/SONET network, colocation space and a Dell blade server infrastructure. Voice-related issues are tracked at a signaling and packet media transport level. Customer issues are resolved by a U.S. based, 24/7, Network Operations Center and technical team. This single control-of-infrastructure enabled ownership of identifying and resolving the issues. To avoid the bandwidth costs of handling full call audio, most carriers only touch the signaling and allow audio to directly connect between the customer and the upstream endpoint. In contrast, TSI proxies all VoIP media, which allows an inspection of audio and the identification of issues not often “seen”.
Solutions
Simulated calls revealed that packets were being throttled from the customer’s connection at only 10 megabits per second between the carrier and upstream IP connections, even though their enterprise grade fiber connection should have guaranteed priority network placement. They also were not aware that traffic shaping and throttling may apply to their connection and traffic. The solution included TSI’s utilization of our BGP relationship with upstream carriers, which forced their ISP to seek alternative routes that were not throttle enabled. Then we reviewed how throttling was being achieved. While their predictive system did not have access to g729 or g723 codec licenses, TSI maintains transcoding hardware and public domain codecs were applied to every call, regardless of final destination networks.
Results
Today, their existing connection completes calls without hitting their ISP’s traffic shaping limits and they are investigating a new fiber provider. The value of a Telecom Voice Carrier’s ability to complete calls is equally paralleled by the call center’s comfort level with the carrier’s C-Level and 24/7 Technical Teams’ call center traffic expertise and dedicated resources to efficiently diagnose and resolve issues. VoIP call centers interconnected with large carriers should evaluate a smaller carrier such as TSI and the value of our C-Level Account Management.
About Televergence Solutions
Televergence Solutions is a telecommunications carrier who attributes over 30 years of success to quality and competitively priced products, complemented with C-Level Account Management and Customer Service. The company was founded and is managed by the CEO, Deb Ward, whose integrity and reputation is exemplary in the telecommunications space. She is the first and current Chairwoman of INCOMPAS (formerly known as Comptel), the industry’s leading competitive telecommunications trade organization. TSI’s CTO, David Deutsch, has extensive technical expertise in the call center telecommunications space, as recently demonstrated with a call center customer who was unable to get a financially impacting problem diagnosed and resolved with its Tier 1 and Tier 2 carriers. David manages the Company’s fully staffed, U.S. based Network Operating Center (NOC). The Company’s technical team is familiar with most legacy and nex-gen platforms; including Dialogic, Acculabs, Brooktrout, Nortel, Avaya, and Asterisk. The company maintains an on-premise TDM to SIP conversion capability for legacy platforms and offers a loan equipment program for TDM to SIP conversion customers who otherwise qualify. Our portfolio includes High Call Completion and High Call per Second Capability Inbound Toll Free and Outbound Long Distance with a“Free Trial” offer to pre-qualified candidates. Leadership and membership roles are maintained within numerous Professional Trade Organizations, including American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), INCOMPAS (formerly known as Comptel), Marketing Research Organization (MRA), National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Professional Association for Customer Engagement (PACE), Telecom Associates and Women In The Channel (WIC).