Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC)

Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC)

Thanks to Janine Gibb and her team at the LIC Contact Centre located in Newstead, Hamilton for the photos.












 




Please provide us with a brief overview of how your centre is structured and the main call types the centre receives?

We have six management team members - Contact Centre Manager, Project Manager, Workforce Planner, two Queue Team Managers and one Administration Manager

The contact centre has 31 seats and the two Team Managers each have a team of 14 staff. The nature of our calls means we also have a team of three known as our E-Reps who are managed by our Project Manager.  This team takes responsibility for the MINDA software calls that our general reps are unable to solve due to the level of IT and MINDA knowledge required.  The E-rep team is seen as a second level support team.
 
We also have a back office administration team of seven staff responsible for inputting of data received from clients or investigating more complex problems relating to client herd records.

The majority of calls are related to the MINDA product which is a herd recording database that our farmers can enter their herd information into.   LIC adds IP to basic data generating a wide range of reports that farmers are able to tailor so they provide the right information at the right time for their farming businesses.

The LIC Contact Centre has grown over recent years and we now  support nine call queues and three email queues which include international  (Australia).  This is a result of the business recognizing that the Contact Centre is an important asset delivering quality service to every customer.  These other queues are related to the wider product range LIC has on offer to its farming clients.  It is a very exciting time to see where we have come from and what the business requires from us in the coming 18 months.


What is the overriding vision that drives your team?

To provide LIC and our customers with exceptional customer service and solutions, to enable us to do business together faster, easier and more efficiently.

LIC Vision: Our vision is to be an essential partner on farm and in food supply chains through a diverse range of products and services which includes:

  • Beef, deer and dairy animal recording,
  • Dairy herd testing and milk analysis laboratories,
  • Farm automation solutions for beef and dairy,
  • Industry statistics and trends,
  • Animal health management,
  • Traceability systems for beef, deer and dairy,
  • On-farm consultancy service,
  • Research and development,
  • Progeny testing for the dairy and deer industries,
  • DNA analysis across species – beef, dairy, goats and pigs, artificial breeding for the beef, dairy and deer industries.


What are some of main values you and your staff live by? 

INTEGRITY
Expressed by being:

  • Ethical
  • Honest
  • Trustworthy
  • Fair
  • Responsible and accountable
  • Responsive
  • Reliable

CUSTOMER DRIVEN
Expressed by the above, and by:

  • Demonstrating empathy with farming
  • Putting the client first
  • Providing solutions to our farming clients
  • Consistently providing a quality service

INNOVATION
Expressed through:

  • Innovative solutions which add value to our clients’ businesses
  • Consistently looking for better ways to do things
  • A focus on quality and excellence in everything we do

TEAMWORK
Expressed through:

  • Leadership
  • Professionalism – consistently demonstrating standards of excellence
  • Balancing work and home life
  • Empathy and support for colleagues


What are the main challenges you are facing this year?

As a result of the downturn in the dairy industry, budget restraints for new software and a freeze on pay increases.

 

What systems or initiatives have you implemented that are delivering the best results for you right now? 

Proactive analysis of customer behaviours, trends that determine what our customers want and need from us prior to seasonal requirements. This involves developing intuitive reporting that enables us to anticipate our customers’ needs before they they need it.

Reengineering the Administration function of the Contact Centre and reducing numbers but creating accountability for defined functions, assists in performance reviews and personal development plans, retention plans, succession planning. Removal of low value, high cost tasks e.g. MDC book make-up, Scanning, Receipting – now managed by a logistics team at lower costs to LIC and my business unit.

We have reduced induction training and put more emphasis on hands-on training meaning less time for CSR to come up to date and real life practice with manageable support functions.

We’ve also removed the focus on call talk times for reps, instead making first call resolution our main priority – taking as long as is needed to work with each customer and resolve the issue. This has reduced our call volumes and inbound paper traffic, and improved customer satisfaction, and also improved results in the annual culture surveys LIC conducts each year.


General information

  • Seats: 31 CSR – total 47 FTE
  • Staff numbers: (back office, admin staff etc) 8 includes manager and 1 x Senior Rep
  • Induction training length: – 3 weeks + 1 month on job
    • Follows 70:20:10 training and development model = 70% of learning about the job will be on the job training and hands on, 20% will be class room ie induction training, 10% will be from the individual dedicating own learning requirements ie Subject matter experts on particular products, services
  • Ratio, inbound and outbound: 85% in bound 15% outbound
  • Call volumes, yearly and weekly: 171,000 inbound calls 2009 season, weekly up to 5000 – seasonal.  Outbound 20,000 approx – not currently measured as not a standard part of our business - YET
  • Average talk time: 4.5-5 mins
  • Service level or grade of service or KPI’s: Service level 80/20 target – running at 86.5 for 2009 season

Hours of operation:  7am –9pm Mon – Thurs, 7am –6pm Fri. No weekends

  • Technology used
    • Phone system: NEC PABX, Zeacom Q master
    • Call recording: Zeacom Mi Audio
    • WFM: Verint (Zeacom) 360
    • CRM: SAP – new CRM in Development stage, Project to kick off 2010 for completion in 2011 – will potentially provide a 360 View of the customer utilising all our 36 independent systems and info sheets and all contacts from everyone customer facing in the business 
    • Call routing software: Zeacom Q master
    • Other calls centre modules include: email queuing, outbound modules, call back functionality, Zeacom IC integration (sap) screen pop), customised reports

Management team with General Manager