To find a replacement for the legacy system, Toshiba went through a rigorous RFP process that included five of the leading CRM solution providers. “We put the companies through stringent testing. The process took about a year,” Watkins explains. During the process Toshiba also looked at building an internal system. “When we showed the executives our analysis from the RFP process and the pricing, they had no doubts that the RightNow SaaS (software-as-a-service) solution provided by Teleperformance was the right choice,” Watkins adds. Toshiba found RightNow’s cloud platform was designed for easy configuration and integration, unlike the company’s historic on-premise system which required coding and often a new release to make even the simplest change. The partnership between RightNow and Teleperformance, a leading out-sourced contact center provider, added confidence in the RightNow solution.

“We chose RightNow because it offered us a cloud-based solution that we can control at the right price,” says Watkins. “One of my favorite things about the RightNow solution is that we manage the look and feel of it ourselves. We can make screen changes right here, implement new scripts and business rules without any lengthy change process. What used to take months now takes minutes and it puts us in charge of our own destiny.”

In addition, the timeframe between Toshiba’s solution selection and full implementation was extremely limited. RightNow was able to migrate two call center vendors in four different geographic locations (two in Philippines, one in Mexico, and one in the United States) as well as several of Toshiba’s services partners to the new solution—start to finish—in only four months.

More than 600 contact center agents at Toshiba utilize RightNow’s Dynamic Agent Desktop to support customer calls in Toshiba’s technical support and customer escalation management departments. Using RightNow CX, customers are located in the database by the model and serial number of their Toshiba product. When a customer calls the Toshiba contact center, the asset screen appears first, giving the agent relevant information about the product at hand. For instance, the system immediately displays whether the item is in or out of the warranty period.

When the customer explains the issue, the Toshiba agent selects an issue category within the RightNow desktop which launches a workflow and call script that walks the agent through questions and includes any specific compliance processes the agent needs. Workflow and call scripting allow the agents to provide relevant and consistent information to customers on their first call. “Eighty percent of the time, the resolution is the same for each issue so with the scripting, the agents know they are answering the right way according to the circumstances,” reports Watkins.

For the other 20% of calls, RightNow Guided Assistance prompts the agents with additional questions to troubleshoot the problem and direct the agent to a resolution. Toshiba has hundreds of agent scripts and guides and continues to add more based on agent feedback.

The ability for agents to access the company’s knowledge assets within the RightNow desktop is also a huge benefit, particularly for the technical support agents who must stay abreast of upcoming technology before it hits the market. Through this process they are building a database of knowledge for eventual rollout to customer-facing website for self-service.

Toshiba’s average call volume runs around 200,000 calls in quieter months and as high as 270,000 calls a month in peak periods like back-to-school and Christmas. “The agents take a lot of calls about a lot of different products,” says Watkins. “With the RightNow’s workflow, Call Scripting, and Guided Assistance capabilities the agents are empowered with the relevant information to answer the customer question. It has really increased agent satisfaction.”

In fact, one month after the RightNow implementation, Toshiba surveyed its 600+ call center agents to gauge their reaction to the new solution. The survey yielded extremely positive comments and an overwhelming acceptance of the Teleperformance/RightNow implementation. Common responses to the survey tolled the RightNow solution as being “easy to use and navigate,” “responsive,” “streamlined,” and “intuitive.”

With RightNow’s PCI compliance, Toshiba can also take credit card information during technical support calls. This protects the personal financial information of Toshiba customers while enabling consumers to get the support they need without having to call a different number or submit credit card information a different way.

In addition, the Teleperformance CCoD CTI Media Bar integrates RightNow to the Genesys phone switch, enabling desktop call control and screen pop within RightNow’s Dynamic Agent Desktop.

“As with many migration projects, we factored in a period of time where we forecasted a reduction in performance metrics as a result of the agents’ learning curve and adaptation to a new CRM environment.” Watkins explains. Surprisingly, there was no significant impact to the metrics and, in fact, Toshiba experienced a 40 second reduction in AHT (average handle time) in the first month. “That is absolutely attributable to our Teleperformance/RightNow implementation,” adds Watkins.

In addition to the increased agent satisfaction and decreased AHT, Toshiba’s investment in the Teleperformance/RightNow solution paid for itself in only five months.

Toshiba’s focus in the near future is on improving first call resolution, increasing their Net Promoter and CSAT scores, and building up web self-service. “Web self-service needs to be closely tied to the call center in order to be an effective call deflector and filter. We’ll also be looking at chat. I want to get RightNow involved in that,” reports Watkins.

Down the line, Toshiba hopes to set its sights on new channels. “Social is an area that is gaining more and more momentum as we move forward and we need to be there,” Watkins adds. “Eventually, I’d like to see us using all of RightNow’s capabilities.”

$68 billion manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products, Toshiba is a world leader in high technology. The company is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products spanning information and communications equipment and systems, internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and materials, power systems, industrial and social infrastructure systems, and household appliances. Toshiba’s global network includes more than 740 companies and 204,000 employees worldwide.