A WEEK IN THE LIFE...
Diary of a top tech engineer
Technical Services is the newest division of NEC, offering specialist bespoke integration with NEC system installations. According to engineer Daniel Arkley there’s no such thing as an average week, so we asked him to keep a diary of a particular project from start to finish at ethical pet insurance company Animal Friends.
Two weeks before installation I set off to Animal Friends in Amesbury, a short journey from home. They are among the top pet insurance providers in the UK and also donate profits to animal charities around the world. So far, £415,000 has been donated. I’m going for a requirements meeting at the HQ to find out what they want from the solution. When I meet the team it seems that reporting is the order of the day. A lack of visibility means that some departments have no way of knowing whether all calls are answered, and how quickly. They also want bespoke integration with their CRM and web-chat functionality, which is where we come in. We liaise with the CRM developers to plan how we can make the NEC UCB application talk to the CRM, and vice versa. Everyone is excited by the prospect of the business improvements that UC will bring.
Monday: Battling with technology as well as the elements Despite the driving rain I arrive on site bright and
early, along with the Global4 engineers. The premises resemble something of a building site, a common symptom of moving to a new HQ. It’s quite cold throughout the building, so I’m glad of the coffee when we arrive. We work with Global4 engineers along with the Animal Friends IT department to install the SV8100 and the UCB server. We need to test it, but no phone lines are installed yet. Luckily, we can overcome this by using loop backs, simulating calls over ISDN. Some of the requirements have altered from those initially discussed. We have a quick catch-up meeting and
clarify things. I add to my existing notes to make sure that I’ll be addressing all of their needs once the bespoke integration is underway.
Tuesday: Integrating with social media
The installation of the system is completed and with the MyCalls application in place customer service levels can be viewed and improved upon. This will allow staffing levels to be re-evaluated in order for resources to be utilised at the busiest times. This will really help Animal Friends make better use of their team. We work on the specialist bespoke integration of NEC’s UCB application,
Dan Arkley
enabling the queuing of web chats and emails. Now, agents can deal with these in the order that they arrive, as they would with calls. After a short break for lunch, we ensure that UCB can seamlessly integrate with the CRM system already in place to provide screen-pops with incoming calls. This will be a great way for the company to effortlessly improve service levels. Animal Friends were keen to market their social media presence online. We added a social media trawler which can find comments about Animal Friends online and feed them into the UCB server as tasks. This will allow the agents to respond to the comments. This is a first for NEC Technical Services, so a great moment of accomplishment for us.
Live web chat helps improve customer service
Wednesday: An impromptu training session Back onto site for final checks and everything is working as it should. A final sign off is given by Animal Friends that everything has been implemented to their specifications. A couple of the staff were on holiday when training took place, so
Animal
Friends were keen to
market their social media presence
I take them through a quick demo of how it all works.
Thursday: Last minute calamities overcome Go-live day saw a slight hitch when a site contractor kicks a plug socket, which knocks out the power. Something of a frenzy ensues working with the IT guys to get the problem fixed. Sure enough, within no time we’re back up and running. With the system live and the job complete it’s time for a quick coffee break while saying goodbye to the team at Animal Friends before driving to our headquarters for a meeting. The project has been challenging but rewarding. n
32 COMMS DEALER JULY 2011
www.comms-dealer.com
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