Peak8 offers customer service solution

A new Web service is claiming to offer broadband service providers an opportunity to turn their current customer service problems into a revenue center with a higher quality of customer satisfaction.

Peak8 Solutions says its Supportal.com Web service will let broadband service providers sell customer support on either a per incident or monthly subscription basis, and use its client software to then more quickly diagnose problems. The client software, which customers download on their PCs, is able to identify basic problems with either the computer, software or peripherals, said Ron Renjilian, CEO of Peak8 Solutions.

The service is intended to address the dilemma broadband ISPs face when customers call in with non-service related problems, he said. Research by Parks & Associates shows that, after trying and failing to solve problems by themselves, customers most often will turn to their broadband service provider, even though their problem may be unrelated to their cable modem or DSL service, Renjilian said.

“It’s an interesting dilemma – if 20% to 40% of calls to your care center are out of your scope and you spend $12 to $15 to tell high-ARPU customers you can’t help them, that it’s not your business and don’t call you again, you begin to realize this is your business,” he said.

Supportal.com attempts to address the issue by first enabling customers to self-diagnose problems, Renjilian said. After consumers have download the 3 megabite client software, it automatically runs a diagnostic and produces a dashboard based on an inventory of what devices a customer has attached to the PC, he explained.

“Through our SOA [service-oriented architecture] approach, we are able to provide resolutions specific to that inventory [of connected devices],” he said. “If that inventory shows you have a Hewlett-Packard printer, then our solution is going to take that into account.”

The dashboard also aids customers in doing more self-help, which means it will reduce calls to the contact center. When a call still has to be made, Renjilian said, the customer has more accurate information to convey to a Tier 2 technician.

“We have calculated the labor savings at $1.23 per month per sub in operating free cash flow,” he said. “That’s a huge number for DSL.”

Plus, if a provider has sent its customer service operation off-shore, the system helps eliminate what Renjilian calls “Tier 1” or basic problems.

“That is where most of the linguistic challenges are – when you have a non-technical person speaking” to someone for whom English is a second language, he said. “To the extent you can automate the tasks for Tier 1 and use the communications at a relevant level for Tier 2, it makes off-shoring more effective. That takes out almost 70% of cost of support model since that’s how many calls are Tier 1.”

Based on its market testing, Peak8 believes consumers will want this kind of service and be willing to pay a $10 a month subscription or a $30 per-incident fee, he added. To date, the company counts Cablevision and a number of smaller providers among its customers, but Peak8 is currently meeting with other large broadband players, Renjilian said.