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Development of International
Call Center and Corporate Call Management Integration
Plan, U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
The USPS customer care vision is to make postal
services available to customers, anytime, anyplace,
regardless of how the customer chooses to do business
with the Postal Service. The Corporate Call Management
(CCM) program is the central 1-800 number for
customer support within the USPS and the International
Call Center (ICC) handles domestic and international
inquiries from both domestic and international
customers. The USPS wanted to integrate the ICC
into the CCM network in order to achieve operating
efficiencies and improve customer service levels.
ICF International analyzed the USPS ICC operations
and developed a tactical plan to integrate the
handling of those calls to the CCM network. This
entailed the identification of five ICC services
to be integrated, as well as the prioritization
of integration based on the level of urgency associated
with each service.
Call Center Benchmarking
Study, U.S. Postal Service
A key dilemma in the development of the USPS Corporate
Call Management was identifying the optimal corporate
support staffing levels and sources (internal
vs. external). Based on predetermined criteria,
ICF International identified companies to benchmark
and, using a combination of on-site and phone
interviews, conducted interviews with key call
center personnel within each of the organizations.
The data was then analyzed using quantitative
and qualitative analysis to compare and contrast
the structure and organization of various corporate
support groups. Once the optimal support structure
was determined, an evaluation of third-party call
center vendor services was conducted. This provided
the USPS with valuable insight into the economic
and noneconomic benefits and pitfalls to outsourcing.
In addition, the data was used to benchmark and
identify best practices among leading call center
organizations.
Call Center Design,
Site Selection, and Implementation, U.S. Postal
Service
The USPS was interested in developing several
centralized call centers to provide better customer
service and lower support costs. The USPS needed
assistance in all facets of call center concept,
design, and implementation. The consolidated call
centers would be among the largest call centers
in the world in total seats, call volume, and
number of customers served. ICF International forecasted
call demand by identifying call drivers, analyzing
the customer base, evaluating call types and duration,
determining current call volumes, and projecting
future volumes. Requirements for deploying multiple
call centers, including disaster recovery, redundancy,
call center integration and call overflow, and
economies and diseconomies of scale were identified.
In addition, site selection analysis based on
several inputs was conducted, including demographics,
wage rates, labor availability, union issues,
local and state government incentives, Inter Exchange
Carrier (IXC) infrastructure, call demand patterns,
financial cost/benefit analyses, and outsourcing
evaluation.
Evaluating Call Center
Software for the Business Systems Network, U.S.
Postal Service
The USPS Business Services Network (BSN) initiative
provides customer service to the Postal Service's
premier accounts. The BSN wished to purchase commercial
off-the-shelf (COTS) software systems to assist
in the management of their customer service issues
to potentially replace the existing customized
system. The customers of the system were both
USPS employees and thousands of large mailers.
To meet this challenge, ICF International developed
a master list of operational requirements and
prioritized them. The initial list of COTS providers
was pared to a "short list" of four
systems. These four systems and the existing software
system were evaluated against the requirements,
and one of the COTS systems was selected. The
system was customized to meet the specific requirements
of the BSN, and training was developed and delivered
to the customer service representatives.
Customer Contact Center—ENERGY
STAR® Program,
U.S. Department of Energy
The Department of Energy needed to provide information
services for customers and stakeholders (both
government and industry) regarding the ENERGY
STAR® program.
ICF International developed and operated a customer
contact center, which included the development
of complex contact systems for the stakeholders
and customers. The center offered multiple mediums
of contact, including telephone, e-mail, fax,
and postal mail in a blended inbound and outbound
environment. In addition, we supplied support
in the areas of marketing, program data, and customer
contact tracking.
Development and Implementation
of Customer Management Strategy, U.S. Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), Electronic Tax Administration
(ETA)
IRS Electronic Tax Administration (ETA) contributes
to the overall mission of the IRS by facilitating
the shift of critical resources from processing
paper to providing customer service. ETA's overarching
strategic goal is to have 80 percent of all tax
returns filed electronically by the year 2007.
The Assistant Commissioner of ETA asked ICF International
to develop and implement a customer management
strategy to ensure that ETA will meet its strategic
objectives. We performed a comprehensive review
of ETA's business strategies, services, programs,
operating procedures, organization structure,
staffing, and technology resources to determine
whether they are properly aligned and sufficiently
leveraged to achieve the ETA's stated customer
objectives. We conducted a gap analysis and developed
recommendations to eliminate the gaps in functionality
and performance between best practice customer
management and ETA's current reality. These recommendations
included the definition of several customer management
principles (e.g., performing customer segmentation,
customer account identification and selection,
implementing a national and field-based account
management program, creating channel management
programs, developing technology based CRM tools,
development of customer and marketing databases,
etc.). We developed interim, midterm, and long-term
implementation projects for closing the gaps and
conducted human, technological, and organizational
realignments.
CRM Strategy Refinement and
Contact Center Planning, General Services Administration
(GSA), Federal Technology Service (FTS), Heartland
Region
The General Services Administration (GSA), Federal
Technology Service (FTS), Heartland Region, wished
to refine their CRM strategy by implementing a
customer care center to improve marketing, sales,
and customer service. A customer care center implementation
plan was delivered with both strategic and tactical
recommendations. Three levels of customer care
were recommended to meet their goals, including
Web-based self-service as the first tier of support,
customer care center for mid-level support, and
one-on-one account management for large account
customers. From a CRM perspective, the customer
care center offered customers another way to interact
with FTS and provided FTS with another vehicle
to offer improved customer support.
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Assessment of Customer Service
Processes and Best Practices, U.S. Postal Service
The USPS Business Services Network (BSN) initiative
provides customer service to the Postal Service's
premier accounts. Although the BSN was initially
well received by customers, its future role was
uncertain given the absence of a clear strategy
and dramatically inconsistent operating procedures
across its regional BSN centers. The USPS wanted
to understand how it compared to companies known
to have proven results in providing world-class
customer service and how that service created
value for both the company and its clients. To
meet this challenge, ICF International audited operating
procedures, conducted interviews with best-in-class
organizations to determine their customer management
strategies, and conducted focus groups with existing
customers to discuss their experiences with the
BSN. The findings from these activities were leveraged
to identify improvement areas and create an implementation
strategy to improve sales success and customer
service.
Developing a Marketing Information
System, U.S. Postal Service
Faced with true competition for the first time
in its history, the Postal Service's marketing
organization found it had very little information
on its largest customers, such as their characteristics
and purchases. The Postal Service needed better
information, both to understand the underlying
reasons for the erosion of its customer base and
to support a totally new focus on marketing. ICF International surveyed the USPS field-marketing organization
to determine their needs for the establishment
of an Account Management Information Systems to
track customer information. These efforts led
to the creation and development of a database
that provides the marketing department with critically
useful business, economic, and demographic information
about the top USPS 16,000 customers.
Customer Segmentation Analysis,
U.S. Postal Service
The USPS was in a market development effort to
capture new customers and increase volume from
existing customers. This created the need to identify
and target customer segments that were receptive
to new products, services, and initiatives. Then
efforts could be focused on the principal customer
contact channels to reach the segments with enhanced
products or services and new initiatives. Fifteen
business customer clusters were identified and
grouped based on their mailing intensity. ICF International profiled each cluster to include relevant
mailing characteristics, product usage, financials,
contact channels and typical customer industry
types.
Developing a Customer Service
System—Direct Link, U.S. Postal Service
Direct Link was designed to support the processing
of very large business mailings for the U.S. Postal
Service. These mailings generate over $18 billion
in revenue per year, and each one generates an
enormous amount of paperwork that is burdensome
for the mailers to produce and nearly impossible
for the Postal Service to use efficiently. ICF International consultants were responsible for helping
the Postal Service create the vision for Direct
Link and then turn it into reality. We documented
their business process and created visualization
for how the process could be automated and enhanced.
We gathered detailed requirements from the Postal
Service and then translated them into specifications
for implementation. In the latter half of the
development, ICF International performed system testing,
customer acceptance testing, and acquired and
installed the hardware for placing the Direct
Link application at three sites. We also developed
a training package, including a hands-on training
presentation and user guide.
Feasibility Assessment for
Customer Service Outsourcing, U.S. Internal Revenue
Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) toll-free telephone
operation involves call sites staffed with telephone
automation technology and customer service representatives
to answer account-related and technical tax law
questions. To reduce operating costs while maintaining
or increasing customer satisfaction with the tax
law assistance provided, the IRS wanted to explore
the alternatives to internally handling these
calls through a third-party outsourcing vendor.
ICF International utilized a four-step process to
develop recommendations to the IRS' request. The
research identified the processes and best practices
for successfully outsourcing technical services
and addressed the data requirements of outsourcing
activities related to government agencies. In
addition, the research revealed several improvement
opportunities for performance and cost control,
as well as the best practices for workforce management,
agent training, technology integration, and disaster
recovery activities.
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) ENERGY
STAR® Program
The EPA needed to provide information services
for customers and stakeholders (both government
and industry) regarding the ENERGY
STAR® program.
ICF International developed and operated a customer
contact center, which included the development
of complex contact systems for the stakeholders
and customers. The center offered multiple mediums
of contact including telephone, e-mail, fax, and
postal mail in a blended inbound and outbound
environment. In addition, ICF International supplied
support in the areas of marketing, program data,
and customer contact tracking.
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