Challenge
Client requirements necessitated that arvato services record all calls from more than 200 extensions on its Application Enablement Services Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony system and store those recordings for at least three years. Some clients even require that this information be stored for as long as seven years. The company wanted to be able to send these recorded calls to a storage vendor for secure storage. It did not want to buy its own storage hardware and deal with all of the associated security issues that this would entail.

The company puts a premium on providing its contact center clients with superior customer service and also seeks to increase its return on operations from a business and technical perspective. In order to realize its business goals, arvato services needed to meet its client requirements while minimizing its investment in IT staff resources, keeping its hardware footprint to a minimum, and reducing long-distance and equipment costs by routing all calls through a single location.


Solution
A VPI (Voice Print International) call recording and quality management solution that integrates seamlessly with arvato services’ existing Avaya VoIP platform enables the company to reliably record and evaluate approximately 800 agents at its two contact centers in Canada. An Avaya DeveloperConnection member, VPI was called in for their ability to assist in the development of integrated call recording, quality management, performance management and agent training software solutions. Working against a tight timeline of just four days, VPI smoothly collaborated with arvato to complete the installation on time.

According to arvato’s Matthew Chow, IT infrastructure manager for Canada, "VPI was the only vendor that could meet our specific customers’ requirements and within the tight timeframe as well. No other vendor was able to provide an integrated and all-encompassing solution like VPI could. They provided 100 percent voice and data capture, seamlessly and smoothly, and also met our customers’ remote data storage requirements. Integration with the new Avaya switch was a piece of cake."

By providing secure, off-site data storage, this solution saves arvato recurring hardware and maintenance costs that would have been incurred to store the data locally while enabling the company to satisfy its customer’s requirement for secure data storage. In fact, the data is even more tamper-proof thanks to the built-in security of Remote Data Storage, which stores the data for VPI.

Another, Avaya DeveloperConnection member Remote Data Storage provided arvato services with secure, reliable data storage and backup solutions, allowing arvato to avoid expensive hardware and maintenance costs that it would have incurred to store the data locally. It also enables the company to satisfy its customers’ requirement for secure data storage.

CEO/President J.P. Kent, Remote Data Storage, explains: "We leverage the most up-to-date encryption technologies and encrypt the user’s valuable data before it is sent off site. Tier One storage servers housed in secure facilities in multiple geographical locations provide the highest level of protection for our customers’ data."


Results
Onsite IT Manager Boris Arias of arvato’s Ottawa contact center, says that efficiency has soared as a result of the new system and troubleshooting is quicker and more efficient: "Not only did the quality of calls improve by 20 percent, but it is now easier to pinpoint when an agent has a defective headset."
arvato services also has reported significant improvements in training as a result of the new VPI recording system. Efficiency has soared and productivity is up by 65 percent. Agents also use the solution to review calls for self- and peer-coaching. The VPI system also enables arvato services to help its clients prevent fraud by making it easier for them to spot tell-tale patterns over the course of a day.

• Improved productivity. Being able to record the calls and review them later boosted productivity by 65 percent; the number of calls monitored for one large client practically quadrupled. The solution eliminates the time contact center managers spend waiting for particular agent calls to come up when calls are monitored live.
• Reduced costs. By integrating two call centers, the solution reduced long distance and equipment costs.
• Enhanced call quality and quality control. Calls are clearer. The quality of calls improved by 20 percent with the Avaya system. The system also makes it easier to pinpoint defective headsets.
• Ensured consistent, superior customer service. These applications enable arvato to meet its clients’ requirements by recording 100 percent of its agents’ calls for agent evaluation and training. They also help reveal incoming call patterns that are potentially linked to fraudulent activity.
• Safeguarded information. This solution provides a safe, convenient, and efficient method for storing data off-site through Remote Data Storage.