Increased sales and 40% lower telephone costs

NIL sets up the largest cisco contact center in Slovenia

Mladinska Knjiga Založba (MKZ) is one of the largest publishing companies in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia. MKZ wanted to modernize its existing call center technology and optimize communications with its customers. The planning and implementation of MKZ’s solution was entrusted to NIL.

MKZ’s expectations included greater efficiency of telephone sales and an in-depth analysis of the success rates of salespersons and sales actions. Functionality of the existing call center could no longer follow the growth of the company, and maintenance costs were ramping up. A lot of time was being wasted, and many tasks were being repeated. For the two call centers in Ljubljana and Kranj, poor communication and lack of operation oversight were even causing problems: customers often were left waiting on hold for the right salesperson, and unnecessary complications in the system added excess workload to the telephone operators.

“Standalone solution administration and fast preparation of sales actions, as well as cost efficiency, are key to successful book sales.”

Alenka Lipar, Head of the MKZ Contact Center

MKZ needed an efficient contact center that not only would improve customer support, but become a successful sales tool.

Solution for active market communication

NIL based the entire new contact center on IP technology and Cisco equipment. This decision significantly simplified the infrastructure and expanded the center’s functionality.

All contacts are managed by a single telephone switchboard, making administration much simpler. The response time of telephone salespersons is faster and communications are unified: voice, SMS, fax and mail orders (order forms translated into electronic form) are managed through an integrated and unified system. Customers reach the desired information faster, and salespersons are more successful.

The new contact center is also more flexible, with plenty of room for expansion. MKZ can easily move users within the company, and the system can be set up at any location and connected to the parent company. IP technology lowers the price of calls, and telephone communications within the company are actually free.

But the true power of the new centre is in its active use. MKZ has detailed insight into the success of telephone salespersons, uses the centre to conduct surveys and applies the gathered information to the preparation of new marketing actions. The contact center is now a strategic tool.

Building a contact center in four steps

NIL and MKZ decided to introduce the new center gradually: installation of IP telephony, establishment of the contact center and connection into the IP telephony system, introduction of the function of outgoing calls, and production of templates for statistical reports. Technical implementation was completed in six months, and the entire project was finished in a year.

MK case study 2010

Connections to the operator were made using the SIP protocol, and unused lines and numbers were cancelled. This measure alone significantly reduced the costs of communication. Telephone operators have software-driven insight into all contacts. Incoming calls are equipped with professional greeting messages that significantly improve the first reaction of customers (particularly for warranty issues and complaints). Calls are also recorded to avoid complications.

Contacts are linked to an organizational information system and database. Automatic dialing is enabled. The system saves information on calls and removes invalid numbers (nonexistent numbers, and numbers that are unavailable three times in succession) from the database. The number of unsuccessful calls was thus significantly lowered.

As a final step, NIL performed a statistical survey based on six months of centre operation. Templates were prepared for all types of reports, ranging from success by salesperson to costs of individual sales actions.

By implementing the new contact center, MKZ reduced its costs of communication, shortened the response time of operators and improved its market success. Customers are now actively addressed, and the center provides useful information for preparing successful sales actions.

Business benefits
  • 96 % successfully received incoming calls
  • 45 % customers reached with first call
  • 40 % lower telephone costs
  • 4500 outgoing calls per day
  • 2 hours to prepare a new entry point
Solution characteristics
  • Flexibility and scalability
  • Lower costs for communications
  • Optimal loading of telephone salespeople
  • Wide range of sales channels
  • Complete integration with the information system
  • Detailed statistics of the work of telephone salespeople and success of sales actions
  • Fast preparation of surveys