IBM develops analytics to match caller with the optimal customer service rep

IBM has announced a new service which uses advanced analytics to match a caller with the optimal customer service representative (CSR) in real-time.

IBM has collaborated with specialty insurance provider Assurant Solutions, part of Assurant, Inc, to develop the real-time analytics matching platform (RAMP). The use of RAMP has enabled Assurant Solutions call centers to increase customer retention, increase sales yields and decrease agent attrition.

With the price of customer acquisition at an all-time high, retaining customers and increasing the profitability of those relationships is critical. Most contact centres use a skills-based system when routing customer calls, which only takes into consideration the agent's product focus and availability. For decades this model has proven frustrating to both customers and contact centre agents as the assigned representative may not be the optimal candidate to address the customer's request.

Using techniques invented and patented by Assurant, RAMP combines data about the individual customer with each contact centre agent's specific skills, expertise and past performance to optimize the routing of calls. IBM Global Business Services consultants designed a ''matching-engine'' which leverages this combination of customer insight, agent profiles and real-time analytics to provide ''individual-level'' decisioning and assignment of calls not available in most contact centers applications.

''Assurant Solutions has been using an analytics-based routing approach to increase call centre profitability and enhance the customer experience in its call centers for more than seven years, increasing retention revenue by 37 per cent and sales revenue by 29 per cent within the first year of implementation,'' said Mike Politz, an Assurant Solutions vice president. ''This collaboration with IBM has taken this application to the next level with RAMP and proven that the power of combining customer insight with business processes can lead to smarter decisions and improved performance.''

RAMP is activated the moment a customer contacts the call centre. Within seconds the platform uses data generated from previous call centre interactions to identify acceptable wait times for individual customers.