Information access challenges
As part of Belfius, an integrated banking and insurance company, Belfius Insurance serves people across Belgium with an authentic local approach.
But whether a customer belonged to the private, wealth, retail or omnichannel segment, information access was one of the main challenges for Belfius contact centre agents and insurance agency staff. The information they needed often was spread across several siloed systems that were outdated and difficult to search. And that meant the Belfius support desk had to field a large volume of inquiries.
“If agents were struggling to find the right answer quickly, it was much easier for them to call the back office for help,” said Pascal Buyle, Head of Non-life Policies Retail at Belfius Insurance. “Our support desk operators were becoming sales assistants, answering the same general questions over and over again. They were flooded with calls, which resulted in unnecessarily long wait times.”
Of these inquiries, 80% were dealt with over the phone and 20% by email. While the average call duration was short, the sheer volume wasn’t manageable.
Previous success establishes trust
To find a future-proof solution, Buyle contacted several vendors. He wanted to use all available information to efficiently address general questions using a chatbot solution.
Business & Decision, an IT consulting company, demonstrated how the Genesys DX™ solution helped another client overcome similar challenges. Buyle felt the proposed solution provided an excellent fit: It offered the features, reporting and dashboard options he was looking for — plus an outstanding user experience.
“Also, Business & Decision inspired trust in me,” said Buyle. “I believed they could fulfill our needs, and the proof of concept (POC) confirmed it. The fact that they’re a Belgian company was even more beneficial.”
Getting the project underway
To ensure the project met strict security regulations — including cloud security and GDPR — the consultants worked onsite at Belfius two days a week. “They sure did their share of problem solving,” said Buyle. “We were working against very strict deadlines, and together with Business & Decision, managed to meet each and every one of them. They favored an approach of joint decision making, another quality we strongly appreciated. I’m convinced that by combining both our input and theirs, we achieved a stronger result.”