In this article, Netcall looks at how ForHousing successfully transformed its contact centre operations by implementing Netcall’s Liberty Converse
By implementing Netcall’s Liberty Converse, ForHousing successfully transformed its contact centre operations, achieving greater flexibility, improved efficiency and enhanced tenant engagement. This transformation has not only improved operational performance but also strengthened the overall tenant experience.
Michael Beagin, Operations Support Officer at ForHousing explains that along with ensuring no downtime, a new smart chatbot can now efficiently handle simple tenant enquiries, and agents are given a one screen view of all contextually relevant details – helping position ForHousing to better meet the evolving needs of its communities.
He said: “Liberty Converse has enabled us to make the big jump forward that we were aiming for. It’s given us greater flexibility and freed us from the limitations of desk phones.
“The biggest advantage has been the ability to integrate with our CRM – meaning that everything is now centralised and works together more smoothly.”
A joined-up experience in the cloud for tenants and their team
ForHousing were trying to move all their on-premises solutions to the cloud and replace their service edge solution (security services solution that protects access to applications, data and corporate resources) so they explored the options to find what would best suit their needs.
Their existing contact centre software enabled responses to tenants’ calls, emails and offered a chatbot, but it was somewhat disjointed system that suffered from regular downtime and performance issues.
Contact centre software that improves tenant engagement
ForHousing opted for Liberty Converse, Netcall’s omnichannel contact centre solution, finding it offered all the functionality and stability they were looking for.
Beagin adds: “We’ve certainly achieved efficiency savings, but that was never our main goal. Our priorities were ensuring system reliability, resolving the frequent downtime or maintenance issues we faced in the past, and creating a more joined-up experience for both our tenants and our team.”
There’ve been other benefits to implementing Liberty Converse too. Like full integration with their existing CRM, an easily customisable chatbot and Workforce Management (WFM).
Full integration
ForHousing used webhooks in Converse to interact and bring through tenancy information stored within their CRM system.
When a phone number or email address is recognised, it presents the tenant details on the interaction screen, bringing up their basic details as a contextually relevant screen pop – for example number of repairs, open repairs, open complaints and any vulnerability flags of communication requirements. This is more effective than searching for tenants directly in the CRM system and reduces the chance of the wrong account being accessed in error.
Now, advisers can see the bigger picture on that caller, often helping to resolve things faster. Callers don’t have to repeat their situation again and again. Former tenants, or a non-tenant client, such as a neighbour who’s contacted in the past, are also identified in the same way. Presenting key information from outside the CRM also improves adviser response and provides efficiency savings.
The system downtime has become a problem of the past, Liberty Converse works smoothly every day, which removes frustration for advisers. Advisers have commented that having everything integrated into one place has made their work easier.
Now they don’t need to ask for basic details, like postcode or middle name, instead advisers can instantly identify the caller which speeds up the call and creates a better experience for the tenant from the beginning.
Enhancing the chatbot
Previously, ForHousing implemented a chatbot designed for one-to-one interactions. Despite efforts to enhance it into an intelligent system, the bot struggled to address tenant queries effectively, causing a high dropout rate and revealing its weaknesses. Programming the bot was also very time-consuming.
The issues tenants that raised in the chat were often complex and specific to their individual circumstances, not straightforward FAQ-style questions. The average call duration of 8-9 minutes indicates that queries usually require detailed responses.
With Liberty Converse, ForHousing shifted to a more efficient, menu-based system. This approach allows the bot to quickly identify any simple FAQ questions and answer automatically, while more complex issues are quickly escalated to a live adviser.
The intuitive menu creation process enables ForHousing to tailor the system to their specific needs and make adjustments when new requirements arise. For example, when annual rent increases are introduced, the bot can be easily programmed to address these queries, significantly easing the management of contact on rent increases.
In the cloud
ForHousing knew that moving to the cloud would enable them to scale their operations and improve collaboration among teams, by providing shared access to documents and applications.
They’ve been able to release the tie to desk phones, which greatly increased flexibility for their team.
Workforce management
Having Liberty Converse’s Workforce Management (WFM) module fully integrated into both the agent’s and supervisor’s portal has proved useful in improving agent adherence and ensuring that staffing is optimised at all times.
Top result highlights
- Use of smart chatbots to triage and assist tenants with simple questions, and hand off to advisers for complicated queries
- Contextually relevant information on a tenant available on one screen – improving adviser experience as well as enabling a smoother tenant journey
- Reduction in complaints around communication – plus enhanced call and screen recording has assisted with resolution and training
- Liberty Converse enabled integration with their CRM system (Aareon)
- Cloud deployment has enabled savings on maintenance and hardware, enhanced security and improved accessibility, collaboration and scalability for the housing association
- Confidence in being fully compliant with all regulations
- Increased integration with the CRM has enabled more advanced reporting, ensuring that feedback and insights are shared across the organisation, uncovering the key drivers of contact and identifying signs of tenant dissatisfaction, leading to a clearer understanding of issues
Housing Digital Stakeholder Netcall has designed a collection of intelligent automation and tenant engagement products, explicitly for housing providers. Liberty for Housing helps you build trusted experiences and empower your teams. Talk to us about how we can help you deliver effective tenant engagement and free up your teams.
Image credit: PeopleImages.com – Yuri-A
Read next: Improving the lives of tenants: Results of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures report
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