InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
| September 8, 1997 |
Teleservice Provider A nswers Data Call
Outsourcer Precision Response uses scalable IT infrastructure to field queries and compile customer data for clients
Precision Response provides outsourced teleservices, including customer call-center operations and database management. In addition to
Taco Bell, the company's clients include AT&T, AutoNations, British Airways, Cox Communications, DirecTV, John Hancock Insurance, and Ryder System. For these and other companies, Precision Response fields customer phone calls, then collects and compiles the calls in a database that provides an early warning on product and service problems.
Though Precision Response is hardly a household name, the Miami company is on a roll: Last year's revenue hit $100 million, more than three times the $30 million the company took in during the previous year. This year, revenue is expected to jump to about $180 million. What's more, Precision Response's growth has come from new clients and new business, not through acquisitions, points out Derek Reynolds, the company's first CIO. "We're a fee-for-service company," he adds, "and information technology is what supports and drives our services."
Reynolds joined Precision Response in May. Previously, he worked four years as CIO at GC Services LP, a Houston collection ag
ency and teleservices firm, and 11 years at Equifax Inc., the Atlanta credit reporting services company.
Reynolds is equipping a big, busy team. Precision Response's support staff includes some 3,500 customer representatives who process as many as 50
million questions, complaints, comments, and requests each year from its clients' customers. The reps also capture data on each call, and feed that data into databases that generate reports and analyses for clients.
Crucial Information
As an example, Maney cites a problem with th
e manufacturing of the tube seal on a batch of a brand of toothpaste a few years ago. "Once you get a few calls about the same thing, you know something is wrong that needs to be fixed, often quickly," he adds.
Because customer service is such a sensitive subject for most companies, many that decide to outsource all or parts of those operations to others can be taking a gamble if they choose the wrong service provider, says Maney. "You've got to find a company that is as committed to you as you are to your customers," he says. That includes looking for a partner that has an IT infrastructure to match your customers' needs, he adds.
Indeed, a scalable IT infrastructure is one key to Precision Response's ability to match customer demand, says CIO Reynolds. For example, customer representatives for each client must have access to screens that walk them through procedures that address specific customer problems or requests. The reps also need to enter data about each call into the system, so reports can b
e generated for the client.
All Client-Server
At the same time, the Oracle object-oriented Designer and Developer 2000 CASE tools let Precision Response add clients quickly without the need to greatly enlarge the service company's IT staff, says
Reynolds. "If we add a client where we might have needed five programmers, the reusable software allows us to hire only two programmers instead," he says. While new customers require their own front-end screens, Precision Response's sign-on, security procedures, and other modules can be reused for each new customer. All customers are assigned their own dedicated staffers.
Precision Response's IT staff, like the company, is growing. The IS organization has about 300 employees, up from about 220 earlier this year. Also, to match the company's growing list of customers, Precision Response's facilities are expanding. It now has nine customer-service centers, up from three in January. By year's end, it expects to have 13 centers, all in Florida, to house more than 5,000 customer reps.
Clients can access the reports and analyses through their own PCs remotely via SQL queries. Or they can have Precision Response send printed reports on a weekly or other periodic basis. Next will be Internet applications, in
cluding tying the customer-service features of clients' Web sites with Precision Response's phone-based customer services. Reynolds expects to add these services within 18 months.
Indeed, the Internet offers enormous potential for Precision Response and other companies. Sales of outsourced customer services are growing by about 40% a year, reaching nearly $6 billion last year, according to Colleen McCormick, a senior analyst at Gartner Group Inc., an IT advisory firm in Stamford, Conn. "The Internet will add significantly to this growth," McCormick says. Adds Forrester's Maney: "People who might not want to take the time to call a customer-service number might be more willing to send an E-mail instead."
But the Internet can also promote a much higher total volume of customer calls than might be expected from a toll-free telephone line. That means customer-service operations, both in-house and outsourced, must be prepared to support the extra load. "Eventually, there won't be just 1-800 phone operatio
ns that need support, but 1-800-plus-Internet operations," Maney says.
Reynolds foresees other Internet-related activities augmenting the company's phone-based customer services. First on his list: multimedia Web sites that support voice communications, which he expects to see in about a year. Got a problem with that? You know whom to call.
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hen a weight-conscious Taco Bell customer calls the fast-food restaurant chain's toll-free number to find out the calorie count of a beef taco, the person answering the call is not a dietitian-or even a Taco Bell employee. Instead, that caloric news will be delivered by an employee of Precision Response Corp.
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