CONTACT CENTRE PROGRAMME

What the client said.

“This was a very challenging programme on many levels for the Bank, and with Pinnacle’s support we succeeded in meeting our business goals, on budget and ahead of schedule.”

- Mary Dillon, Head of Group Customer Contact, Bank of Ireland.

Operational Efficiency: Bank of Ireland Group Customer Contact

Background
Bank of Ireland announced the creation of Group Customer Contact (GCC), a new organisation of 1,000 people, which would offer best-in class telephone and online service to the Bank’s customers and deliver significant cost efficiencies to the Bank.

The Team
A multi-disciplined programme team was established to consolidate telephone activities from around the Group into GCC, reporting to the Head of Group Customer Contact. The team consisted of Bank and external staff with expertise in banking products, processes and systems, contact centre technologies, contact centre operational management, HR, Finance, process design, communications, compliance, risk, supplier management and project management.

Pinnacle Role
Bank of Ireland selected a Pinnacle Director as Programme Manager. He was supported by two Pinnacle Project Managers, who held key project management roles during the programme.

The Work Content
Major elements of the programme included:

Creating the new organisation and its management structure
Engaging with individual business units to prepare and execute transition plans for the contact centre functions
Identifying the ‘hub’ sites and establishing the physical and technological infrastructure to support the new organisation
Implementing cutting-edge contact centre technologies across all 3 'hub' sites, without any impact on ‘business as usual’ service delivery to customers
Ensuring timely delivery of all legal and regulatory compliance requirements to meet both internal and external requirements
Communicating consolidation plans to employees and their representative bodies and providing training for new roles
Consolidating more than 20 call centres into 3 major call centre ‘hubs’ in Ireland and the UK over an 18 month timeframe
Post-consolidation, implementing best practice, to raise standards of customer service and maximise operational efficiency.

The Results
The following results were achieved:

The programme delivered its consolidation and efficiency goals to an accelerated schedule and within budget.
The new organisation effectively handles in excess of 60,000 calls per day.
Improved call management technologies have enabled real-time performance management, leading to a significantly enhanced customer experience.
Operational performance is measured and reviewed against the target performance levels agreed with the Bank’s product businesses to ensure standards are maintained.
The Bank continues to reap the scale and cost benefits of the centralised contact centre organisation, utilising the new technologies and practices introduced by the Programme.