Best Buy Canada is setting a new standard for retail industry customer engagement, delivering next-level experiences by streamlining service operations through AI, automation and real-time insights. Since implementing the Genesys Cloud™ platform, the retailer has seen a 20% reduction in overall operating costs; decreased average handle time by 19% and time spent in the IVR by 38%; and reduced call transfers by 40%.
19% decrease
in average handle time
40% decline
in call transfers
20% reduction
in overall operating costs
Best Buy Canada aims to deliver best-in-class customer service consistently. This means removing friction, streamlining journeys and eliminating operational inefficiencies.
“We want to make sure that we’re in front of customers whenever they want to talk to us, and are providing them the support they need,” said Mick Robinson, Director of Customer Care at Best Buy Canada.
Previously, the retailer’s service delivery was hampered by fragmented legacy systems. This made it challenging to direct customers to the right support team. Agents often had to navigate multiple platforms during interactions, slowing response times and creating frustration for customers. And without a real-time, unified view of the customer journey, leaders lacked the insights needed to make decisions quickly and improve service.
The retailer wanted a scalable solution that could keep pace as its needs evolved.
“The risk to our business of not having a unified solution…is that we weren’t going to be able to scale to meet our customers’ needs,” said Angelo Daga, Director of Geek Squad Remote Services at Best Buy Canada.
To achieve its customer experience goals, Best Buy Canada worked with partner Star Telecom to implement the Genesys Cloud platform. This allowed the retailer to consolidate multiple solutions, enabling more seamless customer journeys, a streamlined agent experience and deeper insight.
“We were looking for something that was leading edge and future proof,” said Robinson. “We wanted to experiment with new and exciting ways to service our customers. And Genesys had all of that to offer.”
“Genesys has allowed Best Buy Canada to be more innovative by providing a platform that’s like a perfect canvas for us to try new things, figure out ways to further surprise and delight our customers, and ultimately provide that best-in-class customer experience along with that best agent experience.”
Mick Robinson
Director of Customer Care, Best Buy Canada
Having a single platform also streamlines data retrieval for everyone; improves training and development because there’s one system to learn; simplifies evaluations; and improves the agent experience. “You’re not making agents hop back and forth between multiple different platforms,” added Anish Shetty, Systems Specialist at Best Buy Canada. “It’s all there and just makes things so much easier.”
The retailer is harnessing many of the Genesys Cloud capabilities to help reach its customer experience (CX) goals. This includes several AI-powered solutions. For example, implementing a natural language understanding IVR has helped reduce handle time by collecting information that agents need for the interactions. Previously, agents might have to access up to three systems to get that information at the beginning of a call. Now agents can focus on serving customers from the outset of an interaction.
Best Buy Canada also deployed virtual agents to manage simple, high-volume inquiries such as inventory lookups, policy questions and authentication, freeing live agents to focus on complex customer needs.
In addition, the retailer implemented Agent Assist to equip employees with real-time knowledge that enhanced their efficiency. Plus, workforce management and quality management tools helped streamline operations and improve the agent and supervisor experience by automating scheduling, optimizing staffing and improving coaching.
Predictive routing has reduced call transfers by routing customers to the right agents more efficiently. “We now have full control over the call flows,” said Shetty. “We can test new changes and deploy them in a matter of minutes.”
And Intent Miner provides daily insight into what questions are coming into the IVR, how agents are handling them and whether there are ways to improve on that.
“Genesys has allowed Best Buy Canada to be more innovative by providing a platform that’s like a perfect canvas for us to try new things, figure out ways to further surprise and delight our customers, and ultimately provide that best-in-class customer experience along with that best agent experience,” said Robinson.
“We were looking for something that was leading edge and future proof. We wanted to experiment with new and exciting ways to service our customers. And Genesys had all of that to offer.”
Mick Robinson
Director of Customer Care, Best Buy Canada
The impact of implementing Genesys Cloud and rethinking operations and processes has been transformative across the business for Best Buy Canada. Average handle time dropped by 19%, while call transfers declined by nearly 40% and time spent in the IVR decreased by 38%.
And operating costs fell by 20%, allowing Best Buy Canada to reinvest those savings into initiatives that could drive growth.
At the same time, automation and simplified workflows are empowering employees, as well as improving job satisfaction by reducing repetitive tasks and enabling agents to focus on meaningful problem-solving. “Virtual agents are allowing our agents to focus on the work they enjoy most: solving technical issues and providing higher-value support,” said Daga.
Genesys Cloud quality management capabilities have enabled supervisors to uncover trends in agent interactions more effectively. This allows them to provide more targeted coaching, helping to improve agents’ effectiveness at resolving customer issues and providing a more satisfying experience.
Customers have benefited from these improvements with faster service, seamless support across multiple channels, and a noticeable lift in overall experience — evidenced by greater brand loyalty and an increase in the retailer’s Net Promoter Score.
“The customer experience should be truly best in class,” said Robinson. “Customers should leave feeling better about the company and about themselves and promoting us to their friends and family as the best place to shop — ultimately driving more sales because customers are happier and more trusting in us when they speak with us.”
“Virtual agents are allowing our agents to focus on the work they enjoy most: solving technical issues and providing higher-value support.”
Angelo Daga
Director of Geek Squad Remote Services, Best Buy Canada
With the Genesys Cloud platform in place, Best Buy Canada is positioned for continuous CX innovation. The retailer plans to expand its use of AI capabilities, such as Genesys Cloud Agent Copilot, to further personalize and accelerate support. “Genesys has been an enabler for us in our digital transformation, our agent productivity and our long-term vision at delivering a frictionless experience for our customers,” said Daga.
“The sky’s the limit,” added Robinson. “We’re excited about any way that we can improve our customer experience.”
