Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

July 17, 2008

OPERS Contact Center to Deploy Virtual Hold Solution

By Susan J. Campbell

TMCnet Contributing Editor

Virtual Hold Technology (News - Alert) (VHT) has announced that the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) has decided to add the Virtual Hold software solution to its contact centers.

OPERS operates in Columbus, Ohio, serving more than 920,000 members with its contact center. Once it is successfully deployed, the Virtual Hold software will take effect if hold time reaches a threshold set by OPERS.

The organization is banking on the expectation that the Virtual Hold software could deliver as much as two years of customer hold time savings to the OPERS contact center and its customers.

"The number of retirees in this country is growing at an incredible rate," said Eric Camulli, VHT's chief technology officer. "OPERS' investment in Virtual Hold will help manage the ever-increasing demand for services."

The Concierge and Rendezvous software are both included in the Virtual Hold solution. Concierge is designed to educate callers of the estimated wait time, while offering them the choice to wait on hold or receive a callback in the same amount of time as though they were to remain on hold. Rendezvous is designed with the after-hours callers in mind and allows them to schedule return calls at a more convenient time.

OPERS is not the first of its kind to recognize the benefits that technology can deliver to the contact center. The organization joins the California Public Employee Retirement Services (CalPERS) as another government agency using technology to improve the customer experience.

Located in Columbus, Ohio, OPERS is the largest state pension fund in Ohio and the 14th largest retirement system in the United States. Its mere size dictates that the demand on the contact center is significant and that there is a real need for proper management for the influx of callers.

Since its inception in 1995, VHT has been developing virtual queuing solutions for the contact center industry. The company’s virtual queuing technology has provided return call solutions designed to enhance the customer experience for financial services, energy/utility, insurance, telecommunications, cable, wireless and retail corporations.

VHT has been able to drive its own success by focusing on key challenges within the contact center industry. One of those challenges is that of customer wait time. The contact center can deliver an excellent interaction experience, but it can easily be negated by the frustration of a lengthy hold time.

Virtual Hold enables these contact centers to provide callers with an alternative to waiting on the line. Expedient follow-through of the call not only eliminates this hold time, it also communicates to the customer that they are valued by the organization. Such a message will speak volumes as to the value of the Virtual Hold solution.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for Market Drive News. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.

Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Managing Application Performance by Understanding Applications, brought to you by Shunra (News - Alert) Virtual Enterprise.

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