About the client
A leading US based healthcare organization operating a chain of hospitals with 2700 affiliated physicians, and more than 19,000 employees.It’s core philosophy and culture are built on the unique ‘Care Experience’ it provides to its patients, that has set the community standards for patient centered care. Started in 1955, the not-for-profit organization has grown enormously from one community hospital to seven as well as several urgent care centers, skilled nursing facilities and affiliated medical groups and physician offices. The organization has been recognized for its commitment to clinical excellence and high-quality patient care by numerous organizations.
Challenge
The client had 19000 personnel using a wide range of internal systems and applications every day to offer the highest levels of patient care. This included a team of doctors, nurses, and staff from other independent healthcare practices that work with them. The client’s internal technical assistance team was handling the entire volume of support calls.
Due to the rise in call volumes over time, the internal helpdesk team was stretched. With 19000 calls per month, the client’s support team of close to 30 executives was unable to keep up. This resulted in poor service levels - long wait times for support calls and high abandonment rates. Being a healthcare provider, it was critical for them to address this situation swiftly as the inability to use the right system at the right time due to technical issues, could lead to critical delays in patient care. It also impacted their core philosophy of high-quality ‘Care Experience’.
Recognizing the severity of the situation, the healthcare provider’s technical assistance team decided it was time to expand their IT support team to be able to handle all support calls efficiently and deliver a consistent quality experience. They needed the right outsourced IT Help Desk partner that could act as an extension of their internal team.
Mapping out the client’s requirement
The client’s IT Team was looking for a set of specific requirements from the outsourced IT help desk provider that included the following:
- Taking over the overflow calls from the internal technical assistance team
- A strong primary team with high ability to resolve issues
- Offer IT Helpdesk support over 2 shifts
- Ensure a First Call Resolution rate of 70%
- Ensure a response rate of 30 seconds or less
- Reduce call abandoned rate to less than 5%
- Use the organization’s internal ticket management tool, the Ivanti Service Desk Software
Beyond the technical requirements, the client wanted an outsourced IT help desk provider that could act as a true extension of their team. This meant understanding and imbibing the unique ‘Care Experience’– an empathetic and helpful approach, which is a core philosophy and the cultural DNA of the client’s organization.
“We wanted someone who could answer the calls as ‘one of us’. As we talked with the Calance team, we felt like we could trust Calance. Their openness to adopt our culture also helped us decide to work with Calance”
- Client’s Technical Assistance TeamCalance teams had the right experience and engagement models to suit the client’s requirements. But more importantly, we were open to learning and imbibing the ‘Care Experience’ of the client to be able to deliver a level of service where the outsourced team is almost indistinguishable from their internal team.
- Account Director, CalanceCalance’s approach focused on providing support as an extension of the client’s team. Calance supplemented the client’s IT Helpdesk with its team of trained resources and processes to build a consistent experience with the following steps:
Seamless Transition
The Calance transition plan template was customized to client’s requirement and was used to ensure a smooth transition in 30 days. Calance teams went through the client training sessions to understand their systems and processes; and created a reference guide for internal trainings in the event of any scale up requirements in the future.
Regular Updates
The team also set up processes for regular updates on IT changes within client’s organization to ensure consistent support on calls.
Performance Tracking
Calance team provided monthly reporting for the client, to create visibility into the performance of the outsourced team. Additionally, the team also worked with the client to monitor call quality, identify incidents that were not consistent with the client’s ‘Care Experience’ standards, and work on continuous learning and improvement.
Results
High-Performance IT Helpdesk
Calance teams have been steadily handling an increased volume of support calls. The team started with 500 calls per month and is now handling 3 times that volume, taking an average of 1500 calls per month from the internal team, during peak months.
With IT help desk outsourcing, the client significant results across their desired SLAs:
- 95% first call resolution
- 90% of calls are answered within 30 seconds
- 3% average call abandonment rate
Deliver the Client’s unique ‘Care Experience’
With their distinct emphasis on the “Care Experience”, the client worked with an independent third party to monitor customer satisfaction levels for the IT helpdesk. Calance’s focus on adopting the client’s culture ensured that the outsourced team consistently delivered on the promise of the “Care Experience”, with helpful and empathetic conversations.
Uninterrupted, Scalable IT Support
Calance put in place support teams running in two shifts to ensure uninterrupted IT support from 6 am to 8 pm, Monday through Friday. The team also planned for additional support executives, well-versed with the client’s requirements, to step in and handle spikes in call volume as and when required.
“Calance teams have been able to work as a natural extension of our technical assistance team. They’ve been handling the rising call volumes and ensuring that our people get the help they need to quickly get back to their jobs. And that has been immensely valuable for us.”
- Manager, Technical Assistance Team, Client