West Interactive reconnects with customers

As a hosted contact center provider for many Fortune 500 and Fortune
1000 companies, West Interactive, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska,
processes millions of customer transactions every year. The company
offers hosted customer contact solutions to help companies reduce
costs and increase customer satisfaction. West Interactive chose our
data mining workbench, IBM SPSS Modeler, to better predict the key
drivers of customer contacts, and improve the customer experience
within the contact chain.

Your customer is important to us
West Interactive strives to create hosted contact solutions that are
particularly efficient in directing customers to the right self-service task
or agent skill group – so that callers can get the information they need
the first time. Doing so, however, requires a deep understanding of the
key drivers of customer contacts and why customers sometimes get
frustrated, or generate repeat contacts.

Before using IBM SPSS Modeler, West Interactive routinely tracked
customer data from multiple sources, including IVR systems, surveys,
outbound notifications and call center agents. The company also
gathered data from client-owned sources like equipment and service
plans, customer histories, and specialized output from advanced audio
or text mining. Then they formulated theories about why callers
repeatedly contacted their systems, and used crosstabs and other
labor-intensive, manual analyses to attempt to validate their theories. In
other words, rather than waiting to see what their data revealed, West
Interactive selected data to support their hypotheses.

West Interactive began using IBM SPSS Modeler in 2008, and since
then has let the data and the predictive models they build reveal
opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and identify strategies
to reduce repeat contacts. West Interactive evaluated other software
providers before choosing IBM SPSS Modeler, but was impressed by its
affordable cost and licensing structure and easy-to-use graphical
interface. The company also appreciated the comprehensive training
that enabled its analysts to understand key data mining concepts and
become effective data miners.

Identifying the pain points
IBM SPSS Modeler enables analysts at West Interactive to focus on
analyzing the data to identify the root causes of customer behavior
within the contact channel, such as why some customers contact their
IVR systems or agents repeatedly. With IBM SPSS Modeler, analysts
can pinpoint how everything comes together, including when callers
hang up, which callers had their questions successfully answered and
the key topics callers speak about with agents. By segmenting their
callers, West Interactive gains insights into the performance of its
contact channels.

Our capabilities have changed
Not only does IBM SPSS Modeler enable West Interactive to more
easily pinpoint customer segments with particular needs, but the
software also helps the company personalize and optimize customer
experiences within their contact systems.

Consider an example where IBM SPSS predictive models have
identified which customers are most likely to have technical issues with
their specific equipment – and potentially make a lot of long-duration
calls. Based on that information, West Interactive can tailor its IVR
systems to give these customers a more personalized experience. The
company might do that by reordering the menu for these customers,
making specific technical recommendations or giving them priority
access to an agent who has been specially trained to fix that exact
model. The same type of priority scoring may also be employed for
high-value callers to reduce the time they spend waiting for an agent,
or for those callers who are determined to be at risk for deactivating
their accounts or service plans, as well as those likely to place a high
volume of repeat calls into the phone system.

About West Corporation
West Corporation is a leading provider of technology-driven, voiceoriented
solutions. West offers its clients a broad range of
communications and infrastructure management solutions that help
them manage or support critical communications. West’s customer
contact solutions and conferencing services are designed to improve its
clients’ cost structure and provide reliable, high-quality services. West
also provides mission-critical services, such as public safety and
emergency communications.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, West serves
Fortune 1000 companies and other clients in a variety of industries,
including telecommunications, banking, retail, financial, technology and
healthcare. West has sales and operations in the United States, Canada,
Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more
information on West Corporation, please call 1.800.841.9000 or visit
www.west.com.

About IBM Business Analytics
IBM Business Analytics software delivers complete, consistent and
accurate information that decision-makers trust to improve business
performance. A comprehensive portfolio of business intelligence,
predictive analytics, financial performance and strategy management,
and analytic applications provides clear, immediate and actionable
insights into current performance and the ability to predict future
outcomes. Combined with rich industry solutions, proven practices and
professional services, organizations of every size can drive the highest
productivity, confidently automate decisions and deliver better results.

As part of this portfolio, IBM SPSS Predictive Analytics software helps
organizations predict future events and proactively act upon that insight
to drive better business outcomes. Commercial, government and
academic customers worldwide rely on IBM SPSS technology as a
competitive advantage in attracting, retaining and growing customers,
while reducing fraud and mitigating risk. By incorporating IBM SPSS
software into their daily operations, organizations become predictive
enterprises – able to direct and automate decisions to meet business
goals and achieve measurable competitive advantage. For further
information or to reach a representative visit www.ibm.com/spss.