Sony Computer Entertainment Revamps PlayStation® Customer Service Service Management Sales, Marketing & Relationship Management
Challenge: Integrating service desk and repair functions to enable proactive customer service and communications.
Solution: FrontRange Solutions HEAT, customised and integrated by Veridian and selected by Stellar Call Centres.
Background
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCE Aust.) is responsible for sales, marketing, distribution and network support for the PlayStation®, PlayStation® 2 and PlayStation® Portable products in Australia and New Zealand.
Challenge
With a strong customer service focus and the impending launch of PlayStation Portable, SCE faced the challenge of scaling its customer service operation to meet its growing needs. Prior to March 2004, one vendor handled both the customer service desk and repair functions for SCE Aust.
As John Wilson, Service and Support Manager for Australia and New Zealand at SCE Aust., explains, After a six month analysis, we decided to split the functions in order to optimise the service delivered from both the call centre and the repair centre. Splitting the vendors created the need to introduce higher levels of scalability into the system, both from a pure IT perspective but also to enable faster input and logging of customer information from multiple entry points, including the call centre and our consumer web site.
"However, splitting the systems also posed a range of technical and customer-facing issues, foremost that we would need a fully-integrated backend system between the now separate customer service desk and repair operations."
With a complete vendor and system overhaul on the cards, SCE Aust. took the opportunity to define a highly customised set of requirements for its ideal backend solution.
"We required a solution where we could add products and new customer registrations easily, have escalations built in and provide a foundation to really improve the level and value of customer service to consumers," explained Wilson.
"At the same time, we also needed to maintain the positive attributes of the SCE brand itself because when consumers buy PlayStation products, they trust the name and the professional level of service it implies. This meant the system interface, particularly on the consumer facing enough to be customised to maintain the consistent PlayStation branding and style."
Sony also required a solution with extensive self-service support capabilities.
"We find a lot of consumers prefer to search online for technical resources rather than call a helpdesk. Providing these resources is particularly important to us because we find some consumers may not be as experienced with the more complex set-up aspects of PlayStation 2, such as networked gaming, so providing access to technical resources up-front is very important to ensure these consumers can still get connected," said Wilson.
Solution
After tendering solution suites from four consortiums, SCE Aust. selected Stellar Call Centres and systems integrator, Veridian, who deployed a customised version of FrontRange Solutions HEAT to act as a self-service backend to au.playstation.com and in SCE Aust. call centre operations. The implementation began in March 2004, and was completed over a five-month timeframe. The system is used to support both Australia and New Zealand consumers.
"Given the specific nature of our requirements Veridian were engaged to taylor HEAT to our specific business requirements," explained Wilson.
"We were impressed that Veridian were able to deliver an all encompassing end to end solution given the level of customisation that was required . Our expectation levels were quite high, but Veridian has created an impressive solution to our needs and from our perspective it has definitely been well-received."
Results
Since implementing HEAT, SCE Aust. has not only achieved seamless backend integration between the customer service and repair systems, but also with its consumer database, which collates information from consumers who register consoles via the au/nz.playstation.com web site.
This has enabled SCE Aust. to take a more proactive role in communications with consumers, both from a marketing and customer satisfaction perspective.
"On the marketing side, when a consumer is identified at the call centre, the HEAT system automatically scans our consumer database for any registration and preference information. The system can then notify the call centre agents of new game releases in the consumers particular genres of interest, promotional items or events that match the consumers profile," said Wilson.
"From a customer satisfaction perspective, the service and repair system can now generate regular, automated updates to ensure consumers are aware of the progress and status of their PlayStation console through the repair process. This not only represents a significant cost saving to SCE Aust. by cutting down the number of repeat calls placed by consumers in the repair cycle, but it also enables us to provide a more proactive, better level of service to our customers," explained Wilson.
In addition, using the HEAT Self Service Module as the backend engine of the au/nz.playstation.com web site has further streamlined the repair business.
"Having a high level of technical support available to consumers, both through the web site and call centre agents, means we can reduce healthy PlayStation consoles being returned for repair because consumers may not understand how to get certain aspects of the service connected. By not incurring the cost of repairing normal consoles represents a significant return on investment.
"Initiating a self-service application, in many cases, also pushes the cost away from taking the enquiry at the call centre. We are not trying to drive consumers away from using the call centre " rather we find a lot of consumers just want to find the information fast and self-service enables them to do that," added Wilson.
Conclusion
Since splitting the customer service and repair systems in September 2004, SCE Aust. has achieved new levels of backend customer information integration between the call centre, repair business and consumer registrations database, enabling it to offer a better, more proactive and seamless customer service experience.
"We have achieved real and significant corporate and consumer benefits through the system" added Wilson.
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