“Whether it's a telephone call, an email, a message, whatever it might be, we've got everything on one screen. When they have that one pane of glass, agents don't need to go to multiple screens or multiple systems to support customers. That means they give better answers in a timelier fashion and hopefully the experience is much improved on what it was before.”
James Beniston
Head of Support Operations at Compusoft
Founded in
1989
Countries served
100
Years of industry experience
65+
Compusoft
Time of change
Compusoft Group develops software that supports all actors in the industry of designing spaces for life: from designers to dealers and manufacturers in the kitchen, bathroom, and furniture industry, as well as window-makers and flooring specialists. After a merger in 2021 with 2020 Technologies, Compusoft became part of the newly formed market-leading brand Cyncly, which combines the power of multiple industry-leaders globally.
Since their customers run their most critical processes on the company’s solutions, Compusoft users require the best possible support. Historically, the company had used a ticketing and customer support system of its own design. When it was first introduced, this was competitive, performed well and supported what was then a standard customer experience.
But as Compusoft grew, scale became an issue. The existing system increasingly slowed down the customer support process and didn’t support the range of channels and experiences that today’s customers expect.
On the brink of an ambitious growth plan, Compusoft decided it was time for a change. Over a period of months, the company tested a range of customer support platforms, evaluating them for features, scalability, speed, ease of use and a range of other criteria. In the end, it chose Zendesk.
Re-imagining the support model
At the same time as switching to Zendesk, Compusoft also redesigned its website to direct customers, in the first instance, to chat and other types of support channel, rather than straight to the phone.
“We use a lot of content,” explained James Beniston, Compusoft’s Head of Support Operations. “So, in the first instance, we want to direct people to those articles via our customer support centre. If they still have questions, the support centre has a virtual chat assistant that can triage their issue, direct them to the other content resources and, if necessary, put them in touch with a human support technician.”
The company’s goal was to enable self-service as a way of getting the customer to the solution faster. Self-service is also helpful as a means of easing the burden on support staff, so they can deal with the really complex cases that genuinely demand and need the attention of a human expert. The company also wanted to cut the number of cases dealt with by phone, as a way of speeding up resolution.
Compusoft has been able to radically improve cooperation across the business and help departments break out of silos. “Every agent can see every ticket in every different ticket support group. This means we can dynamically spread the load. If someone from one team is qualified to answer questions on that team’s area of expertise, we can route calls to him or her. But it also allows us to develop that cross-team expertise, by allowing agents to dip into case records from other areas of the business and read up on the solutions and fixes they have applied.”
“We have market-beating expectations for our customer experience,” explained James. “Our goal has always been to pick up every call within three rings. That is still our goal. But now we also want to replicate that experience across chat, email and other channels. And we want to provide outstanding self-help options, particularly for people who need assistance out of hours. This is what the shift to Zendesk allowed us to accomplish.”
Better reporting, more intelligence
One of the ways in which switching to Zendesk has made the biggest impact on Compusoft, is in the quality of the reporting and data-led intelligence now available to the company. “We can report on anything,” said James. “If I or any other business leader within Compusoft thinks of a question, I can be confident that I can build that question into a report on Zendesk. We’ll then use that report to gather and export data and then to refine and optimise our operations.”
The regular performance metrics Compusoft monitors include things such as how many calls are answered, how many calls are abandoned, the percentage of chats answered within 60 seconds, the percentage of tickets resolved within 24 hours and the overall customer satisfaction score. Zendesk allows the company, explained James, to constantly track all these metrics and more to ensure that they follow the right upward or downward curve.
Reports the company is currently monitoring include which topics were being dealt with in “one touch”. The business used the one-touch data to help it pre-populate answer boxes on topics it now knew, based on data, customers could deal with easily themselves. “I can get a different question every day of the week,” said James. “With Zendesk, I know I have the flexibility to be able to go into the system and get the answer.”
And all of this intelligence, James said, is even more powerful for being available in one place and easy to share. “Whether it's a telephone call, an email, a message, whatever it might be, we've got everything on one screen. When they have that one pane of glass, agents don't need to go to multiple screens or multiple systems to support customers. That means they give better answers in a timelier fashion and hopefully the experience is much improved on what it was before.”
Partners in improving the customer experience
“Zendesk has been a simply brilliant partner,” says James. “The thing that stood out for me, right from the start of the pre-sales engagement, was integrity. When we asked if something was possible, Zendesk would tell us honestly if it wasn’t. But they’d often tell us when that feature was planned on the roadmap. All the information Zendesk has given us has been clear, understandable, and trustworthy. And that has continued to be the case right through to today, when we’re using the product.”
