Animal Friends

The project was completed from pilot to full implementation in just four months. Nasstar worked closely with the front line staff to ensure that they were comfortable using all the new features of the system so that the business and Animal Friends customers would derive maximum benefit. Animal Friends have reported a high level of positive feedback with users remarking that it has made their lives at work “less stressful” and “more productive” as calls are being routed to the right departments more efficiently in turn cutting call times.

Other benefits include the deployment of an external ‘dialler’ so that outbound calls can be made using the system. This automated technology can quickly and easily detect busy signals, answer machines and disconnected numbers, which in turn has maximised agent productivity and driven up call volumes.

Secure card processing that ticks all the boxes
Additionally, a PCI compliance system is now in place enabling Animal Friends to securely take card payments over the phone, whilst adhering to industry regulations. As well as fully protecting customer card data, Animal Friends’ overheads of PCI compliance have been substantially reduced with the deployment of this solution.

The new reporting function has been a game-changer for Animal Friends and has provided senior management with access to real-time statistics. Key performance data such as how many calls per agent and how many calls per day has enabled them to analyse productivity and be more efficient as a business. This level of monitoring has been crucial when call centre employees are working from home. 

James Clelford, Service Desk Manager at Animal Friends comments: “Nasstar had already taken us on the Cloud journey with the successful introduction of Microsoft 365. This has greatly changed the way we work with greater collaboration across the business and staff able to work more flexibly. Extending this further to the Contact Centre was a logical next move and has enabled us to serve our customers in a more consolidated way. A key driver was real-time performance data, and this new functionality is enabling us to deliver longer-term improvements and demonstrate industry compliance.”

Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the implementation of a cloud-based contact centre has enabled Animal Friends to redeploy its entire 400+ workforce to work remotely, without any drop in customer service.

Maximising the customer experience
James Clelford, Service Desk Manager at Animal Friends continued, “during the current COVID crisis, Animal Friends have continued to work closely with Nasstar, not only ensuring that we can deliver BAU and in-flight projects on time, and on budget, but also embark on new technological initiatives. The technology that Nasstar have implemented for us, particularly the omni-channel Contact Centre has ensured that we are able to continue to service our customers from to the same high standards we would if we were in the office.”

Planning for the future
The success of the new Contact Centre project is further evidenced by the fact that Nasstar is now engaged with Animal Friends on the next phase of planning. The nature of the Cloud-based technology means that it is simple to add new features, as such Animal Friends are investigating the advantages of chatbots and the company is beginning to incorporate social media and email as additional methods of customer communication, all of which is powered from the central customer management system built by Nasstar.

The steps that Animal Friends have taken in their technological evolution has effectively future-proofed their business via the Cloud. As a business they are ready for the next innovations in technology, maximising their competitive advantage and helping customers more efficiently.