Traditionally, call centers have been viewed as back-office functions¡ªcost centers that serve no purpose other than to receive customer inquiries. Today, with the proliferation of new customer interaction capabilities and channels, call centers have become the logical centerpiece for public sector organizations to carry out many mission-critical activities.

Is there a clear understanding of how your call centers fit into a larger organizational CRM strategy?
Do your call centers effectively interact with other parts of the organization?
Are you employing the right call center and CRM technologies?
Approximately 70 percent of operational costs in most call centers are labor costs¡ªare your call center processes set up in a manner that minimizes these costs? Are your employees properly trained to provide customers the best support?

Our call center solutions can help organizations answer mission critical questions and migrate the organization toward better customer interactions.

SELECTED PROJECTS



SELECTED CLIENTS

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
U.S. Postal Service (USPS)



DETAILS OF SELECTED PROJECTS

Development of International Call Center and Corporate Call Management Integration Plan, U.S. Postal Service (USPS)

The USPS customer care vision is to make postal services available to customers, anytime, anyplace, regardless of how the customer chooses to do business with the Postal Service. The Corporate Call Management (CCM) program is the central 1-800 number for customer support within the USPS and the International Call Center (ICC) handles domestic and international inquiries from both domestic and international customers. The USPS wanted to integrate the ICC into the CCM network in order to achieve operating efficiencies and improve customer service levels. ICF Consulting analyzed the USPS ICC operations and developed a tactical plan to integrate the handling of those calls to the CCM network. This entailed the identification of five ICC services to be integrated, as well as the prioritization of integration based on the level of urgency associated with each service.
Call Center Benchmarking Study, U.S. Postal Service

A key dilemma in the development of the USPS Corporate Call Management was identifying the optimal corporate support staffing levels and sources (internal vs. external). Based on predetermined criteria, ICF Consulting identified companies to benchmark and, using a combination of on-site and phone interviews, conducted interviews with key call center personnel within each of the organizations. The data was then analyzed using quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare and contrast the structure and organization of various corporate support groups. Once the optimal support structure was determined, an evaluation of third-party call center vendor services was conducted. This provided the USPS with valuable insight into the economic and noneconomic benefits and pitfalls to outsourcing. In addition, the data was used to benchmark and identify best practices among leading call center organizations.
Call Center Design, Site Selection, and Implementation, U.S. Postal Service

The USPS was interested in developing several centralized call centers to provide better customer service and lower support costs. The USPS needed assistance in all facets of call center concept, design, and implementation. The consolidated call centers would be among the largest call centers in the world in total seats, call volume, and number of customers served. ICF Consulting forecasted call demand by identifying call drivers, analyzing the customer base, evaluating call types and duration, determining current call volumes, and projecting future volumes. Requirements for deploying multiple call centers, including disaster recovery, redundancy, call center integration and call overflow, and economies and diseconomies of scale were identified. In addition, site selection analysis based on several inputs was conducted, including demographics, wage rates, labor availability, union issues, local and state government incentives, Inter Exchange Carrier (IXC) infrastructure, call demand patterns, financial cost/benefit analyses, and outsourcing evaluation.
Evaluating Call Center Software for the Business Systems Network, U.S. Postal Service

The USPS Business Services Network (BSN) initiative provides customer service to the Postal Service's premier accounts. The BSN wished to purchase commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software systems to assist in the management of their customer service issues to potentially replace the existing customized system. The customers of the system were both USPS employees and thousands of large mailers. To meet this challenge, ICF Consulting developed a master list of operational requirements and prioritized them. The initial list of COTS providers was pared to a "short list" of four systems. These four systems and the existing software system were evaluated against the requirements, and one of the COTS systems was selected. The system was customized to meet the specific requirements of the BSN, and training was developed and delivered to the customer service representatives.
Customer Contact Center¡ªENERGY STAR? Program, U.S. Department of Energy

The Department of Energy needed to provide information services for customers and stakeholders (both government and industry) regarding the ENERGY STAR? program. ICF Consulting developed and operated a customer contact center, which included the development of complex contact systems for the stakeholders and customers. The center offered multiple mediums of contact, including telephone, e-mail, fax, and postal mail in a blended inbound and outbound environment. In addition, we supplied support in the areas of marketing, program data, and customer contact tracking.

Development and Implementation of Customer Management Strategy, U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Electronic Tax Administration (ETA)

IRS Electronic Tax Administration (ETA) contributes to the overall mission of the IRS by facilitating the shift of critical resources from processing paper to providing customer service. ETA's overarching strategic goal is to have 80 percent of all tax returns filed electronically by the year 2007. The Assistant Commissioner of ETA asked ICF Consulting to develop and implement a customer management strategy to ensure that ETA will meet its strategic objectives. We performed a comprehensive review of ETA's business strategies, services, programs, operating procedures, organization structure, staffing, and technology resources to determine whether they are properly aligned and sufficiently leveraged to achieve the ETA's stated customer objectives. We conducted a gap analysis and developed recommendations to eliminate the gaps in functionality and performance between best practice customer management and ETA's current reality. These recommendations included the definition of several customer management principles (e.g., performing customer segmentation, customer account identification and selection, implementing a national and field-based account management program, creating channel management programs, developing technology based CRM tools, development of customer and marketing databases, etc.). We developed interim, midterm, and long-term implementation projects for closing the gaps and conducted human, technological, and organizational realignments.
CRM Strategy Refinement and Contact Center Planning, General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Technology Service (FTS), Heartland Region

The General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Technology Service (FTS), Heartland Region, wished to refine their CRM strategy by implementing a customer care center to improve marketing, sales, and customer service. A customer care center implementation plan was delivered with both strategic and tactical recommendations. Three levels of customer care were recommended to meet their goals, including Web-based self-service as the first tier of support, customer care center for mid-level support, and one-on-one account management for large account customers. From a CRM perspective, the customer care center offered customers another way to interact with FTS and provided FTS with another vehicle to offer improved customer support.
Assessment of Customer Service Processes and Best Practices, U.S. Postal Service

The USPS Business Services Network (BSN) initiative provides customer service to the Postal Service's premier accounts. Although the BSN was initially well received by customers, its future role was uncertain given the absence of a clear strategy and dramatically inconsistent operating procedures across its regional BSN centers. The USPS wanted to understand how it compared to companies known to have proven results in providing world-class customer service and how that service created value for both the company and its clients. To meet this challenge, ICF Consulting audited operating procedures, conducted interviews with best-in-class organizations to determine their customer management strategies, and conducted focus groups with existing customers to discuss their experiences with the BSN. The findings from these activities were leveraged to identify improvement areas and create an implementation strategy to improve sales success and customer service.
Developing a Marketing Information System, U.S. Postal Service

Faced with true competition for the first time in its history, the Postal Service's marketing organization found it had very little information on its largest customers, such as their characteristics and purchases. The Postal Service needed better information, both to understand the underlying reasons for the erosion of its customer base and to support a totally new focus on marketing. ICF Consulting surveyed the USPS field-marketing organization to determine their needs for the establishment of an Account Management Information Systems to track customer information. These efforts led to the creation and development of a database that provides the marketing department with critically useful business, economic, and demographic information about the top USPS 16,000 customers.
Customer Segmentation Analysis, U.S. Postal Service

The USPS was in a market development effort to capture new customers and increase volume from existing customers. This created the need to identify and target customer segments that were receptive to new products, services, and initiatives. Then efforts could be focused on the principal customer contact channels to reach the segments with enhanced products or services and new initiatives. Fifteen business customer clusters were identified and grouped based on their mailing intensity. ICF Consulting profiled each cluster to include relevant mailing characteristics, product usage, financials, contact channels and typical customer industry types.
Developing a Customer Service System¡ªDirect Link, U.S. Postal Service

Direct Link was designed to support the processing of very large business mailings for the U.S. Postal Service. These mailings generate over $18 billion in revenue per year, and each one generates an enormous amount of paperwork that is burdensome for the mailers to produce and nearly impossible for the Postal Service to use efficiently. ICF Consulting consultants were responsible for helping the Postal Service create the vision for Direct Link and then turn it into reality. We documented their business process and created visualization for how the process could be automated and enhanced. We gathered detailed requirements from the Postal Service and then translated them into specifications for implementation. In the latter half of the development, ICF Consulting performed system testing, customer acceptance testing, and acquired and installed the hardware for placing the Direct Link application at three sites. We also developed a training package, including a hands-on training presentation and user guide.

Feasibility Assessment for Customer Service Outsourcing, U.S. Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) toll-free telephone operation involves call sites staffed with telephone automation technology and customer service representatives to answer account-related and technical tax law questions. To reduce operating costs while maintaining or increasing customer satisfaction with the tax law assistance provided, the IRS wanted to explore the alternatives to internally handling these calls through a third-party outsourcing vendor. ICF Consulting utilized a four-step process to develop recommendations to the IRS' request. The research identified the processes and best practices for successfully outsourcing technical services and addressed the data requirements of outsourcing activities related to government agencies. In addition, the research revealed several improvement opportunities for performance and cost control, as well as the best practices for workforce management, agent training, technology integration, and disaster recovery activities.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR? Program

The EPA needed to provide information services for customers and stakeholders (both government and industry) regarding the ENERGY STAR? program. ICF Consulting developed and operated a customer contact center, which included the development of complex contact systems for the stakeholders and customers. The center offered multiple mediums of contact including telephone, e-mail, fax, and postal mail in a blended inbound and outbound environment. In addition, ICF Consulting supplied support in the areas of marketing, program data, and customer contact tracking.