AAA Oregon/Idaho Case Study

AAA Oregon/Idaho is a non-profit organization providing travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services to more than 620,000 members in the two-state region. A core commitment of the company, as reflected in its mission statement, is to provide its members with quality service. Every year AAA members rank the customer service they receive, providing the company a clear indication on how well it is achieving this goal.

A large share of meeting this service commitment rests on the shoulders of the company's 95 customer service agents that handle about 1.5 million calls a year. AAA wanted to have a system in place that would enable them to accurately plan and manage service delivery while helping them maintain control of service related operating costs. The IEX TotalView® Workforce Management system lets them do that, and more.

"According to our members, customer service has improved steadily since the implementation of TotalView," said Call Center Assistant Manager, Lindy Nelson. "Not only have we improved service to our customers, we have consistently risen in our service ranking among all AAA organizations nationwide."

The contact center's average speed of answer (ASA) improved 60 percent, going from 120 to 48 seconds, and overtime costs were reduced 20 percent once TotalView was installed. During the second year with TotalView they have continued to see improvements. Their ASA has now dropped to 21 seconds.

"The TotalView system enables us to accurately predict call volumes and effectively schedule our staff. We are able to consistently maintain our ASA much lower than it was before we had TotalView," Nelson said. Since customers generally spend less time in the queue, AAA has also saved money on telecommunications services.

Real-Time Adherence
AAA attributes a large share of its improved customer satisfaction to the implementation of the TotalView Real-Time Adherence feature. This feature helps AAA managers quickly identify agents that aren't adhering to their schedule and ensure issues are resolved quickly.

"TotalView has helped us realize the important role adherence plays in our staffing plan," said Nelson. "More awareness in our leadership group and frontline staff has led to an increased sense of accountability. Prior to installing TotalView, we didn't have an effective way to measure adherence. Since then we've significantly reduced the amount of non-productive time spent by our agents."

WebStation™
The TotalView WebStation feature has helped AAA further enhance its schedule adherence results by keeping agents up-to-date on their schedules and break times. WebStation also gives agents and team leaders easy access to performance statistics and overall averages. Previously, this information had to come from printed reports generated by managers. "Now agents are more independent and efficient," Nelson said. "WebStation has raised performance awareness and expectations significantly, which has brought a sense of friendly competition to the contact center."

Vacation and Holiday Planner
The TotalView Vacation and Holiday Planner feature provides agents further autonomy while improving the center's efficiency. On days such as holidays, when the contact center does not need to be fully staffed, this feature helps Nelson easily calculate appropriate staffing levels in advance and lets agents see available days for vacation time. "This feature makes planning agent time off quick and easy," Nelson said. "I can plan headcount for any day of the year in a matter of minutes. Our agents can tell at a glance if a particular day off is available and then request it online."

Improvement All Around
TotalView helps AAA deliver on its promise of providing quality service to its customers by making sure the contact center is always adequately staffed. AAA Oregon/Idaho has seen customer service levels rise consistently, while at the same time saving money by spending less on overtime wages, non-productive agent time and telecommunications expenses.

AAA Oregon/Idaho credits TotalView® with:

• Reducing overtime expenses by 20 percent
• Lowering ASA from 120 to 21 seconds
• Improving schedule adherence
• Streamlining the vacation planning process