Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 78 | Page 55

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling

Open access fibre network provider , Frogfoot Networks invests in Customer Experience Department

Frogfoot Networks , a licensed open access fibre network provider , has invested in a Customer Experience Department aimed at helping end users on the network with their challenges . By working closely with Internet Service Providers , ISPs , the ultimate aim is for individual customers to have to put as little effort as possible when it comes to solving their connectivity problems .

“ Frogfoot did not have a presence when it came to servicing the end-customer ; what we had was a Network Operations Centre , NOC aimed at servicing the ISPs on our network . This initiative gives end users the ability to directly contact us across various platforms , where we assist them where we can , or get the relevant ISP involved to ensure resolution . This is not something that Frogfoot had to do , but believe that as a customer-centric organisation , supporting the end user is the right thing to do ,” says
Dheeraj Gowrie , Executive for Service Assurance at Frogfoot Networks .
Gowrie says that ISPs have traditionally been tasked with providing customer service , and that this is an expensive undertaking , with providers having to hire people , support them with the necessary systems and more . This partnership approach to customer service will bolster the ISPs service capabilities and ensure that the volumes of queries across multiple channels can be addressed . This is especially useful for smaller , niche ISPs as it helps them to extend their support to end customers .
Gowrie says that a major challenge that previously existed was that support staff had to work with 7 or 8 different systems – ticketing tools , calling tools , network monitoring tools , ISP logging tools – all of which led to slower service to customers
Dheeraj Gowrie , Executive for Service Assurance at Frogfoot Networks
and longer queues of those waiting to be serviced . Switching to a modern CRM system meant that there is now a single interface that brings together all of these tools , which together with improved processes have made customer service staff far more efficient and cut down turnaround times .
“ This has also integrated all of our communications channels , be it voice , email , or social media . In this way , regardless of which channel the customer uses , their interactions are presented to our agents in a unified view and are treated with the same urgency . The system further provides customer service staff with a history of past engagements across channels so that they are empowered to deal with the customer and their query ,” says Gowrie .
He adds that the new system allows for the creation of dashboards that can be shared with ISPs so that they can also monitor the status of queries from their customers , while Open APIs can be used to enable seamless integration between the ticketing systems of Frogfoot and its ISP partners . p
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