KPN – Brochure 2019

The digital transformation of customer service P ROJ E C T PA RT N E R S

The digital transformation of customer service WRITTEN BY D a l e B e n to n PRODUCED BY A n d y L l oyd

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Martijn Franssen, Director of Digital Transformation, discusses how KPN’s digital transformation looks to deliver the best omnichannel experience to customers

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s the largest telecommunications provider in the country, KPN is well and truly the network of the Netherlands. For more than

135 years, KPN has set out to provide secure, reliable and future-proof networks and services to ensure that everyone is connected anytime and anywhere.

As with any technology company, the key to remaining successful has been one of evolution. Over the years, KPN has continuously evolved as a company, in order to continue to provide the services that its customers demand and the network that the Netherlands needs. Though the digital transformation is nothing new, it undeniably defines the conversation for many industries and definitely increases the pressure within KPN to continue - and even more to speed up - the adaptation process. “In order to fuel the transformation journey of KPN, we have to listen more carefully to what’s going on in the market.

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KPN

Martijn Franssen, Director of Digital Transformation

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KPN and Telecats win Customer First Partnership Award For over 10 years KPN and Telecats have been working together to continuously innovate and improve customer service for joint customers and KPN Customer Service itself. Since last year we have changed the way we work together: from a customer-supplier relationship to a partner model in which time-to-market and innovation are paramount. We work together in one scrum team, working in sprints on innovation, development and improvement.

30 seconds AHT per call;

KPN’S CUSTOMER SERVICE de-

correctly using speech recogni-

partment is the point of contact

tion, resulting in far fewer calls

for both private and business

being transferred. This has a

customers. Millions of KPN’s

positive effect on both customer

customer contacts take place

and employee satisfaction. With

Voice Response System (VRS)

by phone and increasingly via

the help of speech routing, we

has increased to 15%;

digital channels such as live chat

have set in motion a movement

and social media. This makes

within KPN Customer Service

in significant savings over the

customer service an important

where we no longer route a

past year; and

source for KPN when it comes

customer contact directly to

to improving service.

an available customer expert

the NPS was also met, increas-

only, but directly direct it to

ing by 17 points over the same

improve KPN’s service to the

the best solution. This can be

period.

customer, we are constantly

a customer expert, but also a

looking for smart ways to sur-

voice driven self-service tool,

Martijn Franssen (KPN)

prise the customer. KPN has a

a reference to a specific online

“Telecats’s innovative solutions

clear technological vision. KPN

page, or a live chat if the call

are technically in line with the

is on its way to ‘conversational

center is busy.

future architecture needed to

In order to continuously

service’ in which, in addition to

By routing calls using speech

• The number of redirected calls has been reduced by 20%; • Self-service capacity in the

• The new collaboration resulted

• The objective of not affecting

implement KPN’s digital strat-

automating the dialogue, it also

recognition, real-time informa-

egy. There is a real “cultural

aims to apply as much intelli-

tion is also available on possible

fit”. Telecats radiates a flexible,

gence and resolving power as

trends and the most frequently

modern approach in everything.

possible. An important step was

asked questions. In addition to

The obtained results are proof

the very successful implemen-

the standard daily, weekly and

of this unique collaboration.

tation of speech routing with

monthly reports, voice recogni-

With a clear voice for Customer

partner Telecats.

tion provides insight into cus-

Service in this collaboration, the

tomer service per subject. This

customer has become the basis

tomers to state a question in

collaboration in the past year

of innovation in the field of cus-

their own words. 90% of all

has proved to be successful because:

tomer contact. KPN and Tele-

questions can be classified

• Speech routing with CTI saves

cats place the Customer First!”

Speech routing allows cus-

www.telecats.com

We live in the information age. Our customers have become streetwise; they

of customer service.

“Having worked with KPN previously,

possess more knowledge around a busi-

so much had changed in the company

ness than ever before, and, more impor-

by the time I returned, particularly when

tantly, they are more demanding as they

it came to internal culture,” explains

can move to competitors at the click of a

Franssen. “The company has become

button. As such, we have to think about

smaller, more lean and mean. Working

how we can retain them. This places

in silos is history, it has become much

greater emphasis and responsibility on

more open and collaborative. But also, the

customer service. Because who else

years in between have helped me find my

than its care representatives can truly

own energy which appears to come from

represent the voice of the customer?”

putting down a vision and start changing

says Martijn Franssen, who is leading

an organisation in order to realise it.”

the change within Customer Service as Director of Digital Transformation.

With almost 20 years’ experience

So the time was right to return to this great company, which is undergoing a significant change once again as it looks

working with KPN initially as a business

to create a seamless experience for its

controller and then cutting his teeth in

customers. Franssen recognised this

a number of international roles within

need and when he was brought in to lead

the media and the insurance industry,

this transformation, the end goal was

Franssen was given the opportunity by

clear. “The overall goal is to be where our

KPN to deliver the digital transformation

customers are in such a way that they will

“In order to fuel the transformation journey of KPN, we have to listen more carefully to what’s going on in the market” — MARTIJN FRANSSEN Director of Digital Transformation

w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

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have easy, seamless journeys across

serious investments were required

all our channels driven by a digitalisa-

whilst not everyone was convinced that

tion of our way of working,” he says.

live chat was the way to go. There is

“Make life easier and more personalised

always the fear that opening an extra

for the customer by becoming the best

channel will result in additional traffic.

service provider in the Netherlands. This

“However, I don’t believe a customer

helps retain your customers and drives

will contact KPN via any channel just for

your company value.” How he looked to

chitchat,” he says.

achieve this was by a digital transformation of Customer Service, which was to take place in three phases.

The first phase was focused on boosting live chat. As KPN encouraged customers to start their journeys on the website, it was also about acknowledging the fact that not all visitors could easily navigate it and simply needed support in order to prevent them from losing trust and from picking up their phone in case of a next issue.

“Our belief was that we would serve the people starting their journey online, but we could also provide immediate answers to customers that needed us throughout their journeys. This then would also allow us to improve the quality of the online journey, because we could ask the customer immediately why they needed our help and what was missing on the website.”

In order to establish a substantial population of live chat engagements, 8

KPN

“What I became aware of during the

last few years is that the transforma-

seen as ‘unfriendly’ customer service

tion speed has a lot to do with being

but there was method in it. “We noticed

creative. It is about identifying oppor-

that there were a lot of high costs

tunities and convincing stakeholders

attached to this asynchronous channel,”

on the basis of little bits of evidence in

he says. “More importantly, customer

order to continue.”

satisfaction was quite low. So, there was

In order to increase live chat volumes,

a clear incentive to close that channel

KPN shut down its email channel.

and reinvest the resources into the live

Franssen admits this could arguably be

chat population.”

Conversational experts Customer Service, Wieger den Boer and Aviva Dassen

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Conversational development team Technium

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KPN

With steadily growing live chat volumes, KPN immediately began to see major improvements in its Net Promoter Score (NPS) as detractors were exchanged for promoters. This was even more the case once customers were proactively offered a live chat.

To further grow its live chat population, attention turned to its web care team. Taking a similar approach, KPN looked at introducing live functionality and introduced social chat, which acted as a bridge from the social media channels to the live chat. “Once the customer had a transactional question, such as receive a copy of their invoice, we would offer them a link to live chat and start changing the channel,” says Franssen. “Once we did that, again we started to see the NPS improve and the costs go down.”

Live chat reached its peak of around 30.000 engagements a week once voice-to-chat was introduced within the Voice Response System (VRS) in case waiting time became too high. In hindsight, it became the trigger to start blending voice and non-voice skills to optimise variety for and productivity of our agents.

Franssen is also keen to highlight that it has never been about realising a certain volume of live chats, the goal was to make sure KPN’s customers could rely on the company and could be on channels which they are used to. “In the meantime, the volume has reduced in cases where voice turned out to be more effective within a specific customer journey and vice versa,” explains Franssen. “On top of that I expect that live chat will soon be cannibalised by messaging.

It will be either self service, voice or messaging.” w w w.k pn .com

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Walk-In Customer Service, S amuel van Gelder and Iris Kuit

A transformation of this scale asks

evidence you start fuelling the belief

a lot of the existing workforce to rethink

that something’s happening and they

the way they work and take on new

can contribute,” he says.

responsibilities. Some, naturally, may be

“We are doing this with our own people,

fearful or express hesitance in adopting

but also with our external partners such

this new way of working. This is where

as Continuum and Webhelp. So, we visit

a strong sense of change management

the call centres at different locations and

and support is key. Franssen points to

look at what we are doing and where,

a number of ways in which he and his

as customer service, we are heading.

team communicate the value of the

It’s also an opportunity to show why we

transformation to the individual, as well

need them because if we really believe

as the organisation, as a means of fuel-

that that voice of the customer should

ling a belief in the journey. “It’s about

drive our change, then our people are the

showing them the use cases and show-

key representatives in engaging with the

ing them what we are going through

customer and providing us with the right

with this transformation. By showing

signals for change.” w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

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Phase two of the digital transformation saw Franssen focus more on the digitalisation of other customer touchpoints

company could increase the velocity in how they developed the speech domain.

“They supported us in optimising the

starting with voice, the biggest offline

way we are routing our calls. By look-

volume. KPN implemented speech recog-

ing at the data and monitoring essen-

nition technology to track down the intent

tial KPIs (like repeat callers, handling

of the customer and to remove voice

time, transfer rates, sales conversion),

response system menus. “The problem

we try to improve our performance on

was that too many people were involved

a daily basis.” This approach, Franssen

and that it was only about routing to an

feels, has been incredibly successful, as

available agent,” says Franssen. “At my

it reflects the importance of partners

request, we minimised the number of

acting as real partners and not simply

stakeholders and organised a small agile

as service delivery.

organisation made up of internal staff and our supplier Telecats to ensure that the 14

KPN

The smaller and dedicated team made it easier to have fruitful discussions

“What I became aware of during the last few years is that the transformation speed has a lot to do with being creative. It is about identifying opportunities and convincing stakeholders on the basis of little proof points in order to continue” — MARTIJN FRANSSEN Director of Digital Transformation

about the direction KPN was heading

customers to accept an sms including

in. Not only to ensure that routing qual-

a short URL to provide them with our

ity would be higher but also to digitalise

online self care functionalities.”

the voice response system. The motto

Not only has the deflection rate

was changed from routing to an availa-

increased, it has also increased visibil-

ble agent into getting the best (digital)

ity on its customers due to boosting

solution. In many cases this would still

customer recognition. This has enabled

be one of KPN’s agents, but increas-

data driven routing decisions to ensure

ingly it’s becoming directed to self care

that KPN will reduce customer effort

tooling as well. “This has taken a flight

while also optimising KPN’s results. “For

by introducing our visual IVR (interac-

example, if a customer calls us and we

tive voice response) which turned call-

do see that he or she is suffering from

ers into website visitors,” says Franssen.

an outage, we will proactively inform the

“If a question concerns a topic which is

customer and offer the opportunity to

related to a self care solution, we offer our

keep the customer informed,” he says. w w w.k pn .com

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“Same applies for customers with billing issues who need extra support to solve their difficulties; data tells us to transfer them to a desk where we have more time to give the right support.”

Customer data will soon become the main driver for business decisions; the actual question of the customer will still be considered as crucial input, but will be part of broader consideration. Franssen believes this will be a tough balancing act, but a balancing act all the same.

“KPN offers everyone the highest standards possible, but at the same time the market is changing and has changed radically,” he says. “There’s constant pressure on margins and on costs, so we have to become more intelligent. We have to become hyper personalised using real-time data insights in order to reduce customer effort on the one hand, but also to spend our money wisely so we can continue to offer premium services. In order to realise this, we need to enrich our customer data and increase our focus on the usage of machine learning to help us identify what is good for which customer on a specific moment.”

As for data, there is an important role for customer service as well. “We use our customer engagement to understand who the customer is and what they really need through which we can confirm - or not - whether provided next best actions are sufficiently accurate. This is supervised learning with the help of our customer agents. The effect is that customer service, perhaps more than ever before, is quickly moving the heart of the organisation.”

With the successful completion of phase one shift to online - and major inroads being made with phase two, 16

KPN

Mark Wessel, Product Owner Conversational Technium w w w.k pn .com

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“ The effect is that customer service, perhaps more than ever before, is fast moving towards the heart of the organisation” — MARTIJN FRANSSEN Director of Digital Transformation

it became time to move on to the third

over the last decades. Not only on

phase, which is about the shift towards

the basis of a dialogue, but more and

automating the conversation with the

more by using customer journey data,”

customer. A shift driven by the rise of

explains Franssen.

natural language processing. machine

“In order to speed things up we again

learning and the increasingly availability

started in our own domain within the live

of real-time contextual data. Though it

chat channel. It made sense because, in

is still about recognising the customer

customer service, we feel the pressure to

and their intent, it will be more interac-

make sure we are effective and efficient.

tive than ever before. “We are creating

By introducing a chatbot and automating

the ability to track down the ques-

conversations, we are showing a good

tion behind the question just like we

business case for why we are doing it.” In

have done within Customer Service

less than a year and a half, almost all chat

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KPN

order to minimise customer frustration as we acknowledge that our customer also needs to get used to a chatbot,” explains Franssen.

The collaboration with Nuance is based on a true partnership as well, where both parties closely work together to increase the maturity of the chatbot. “Over the coming months, this journey will evolve further, our chatbot will become a digital assistant becoming the impersonation of this conversational phase. An assistant which will be equipped with the same tools and insights as our customer representatives, and which will be connected to a Myron Laagland, Product Owner Conversational Customer Service

number of touchpoints across KPN like our messaging channels, TV and voice,” “If we manage to create the basis for a

sessions start in the bot. This already

true digital assistant having its presence

already accomplishes a double-digit

across all the touchpoints, I am confi-

deflection by offering self care, whilst

dent we can truly improve our customer

customer satisfaction remains high.

service as we can offer an unambiguous

One of the reasons that this approach

though personalised customer journey

has been successful is a result of KPN’s

optimising the deployment of self-care

partnership with Nuance. Nuance’s plat-

tooling in combination with our ever-

form Nina made it possible to quickly put

needed and appreciated emphatic and

KPN’s customer service representatives

intelligent customer service experts.”

in position so they could start building dialogues. “At the same time, the platform features helps our conversation specialist to optimise the conversation in w w w.k pn .com

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