Cablevision sets out to answer the phone. (Cablevision Systems Corp. to cut average phone-answer time)

Multichannel News, January, 1998 by Haugstead, Linda

Recognizing the fact that consumers expect a higher level of customer service for video before they will even consider a cable provider as a potential telephone company, Cablevision Systems Corp. recently issued a challenge to its troops. The challenge: Cut average phone-answer time, which has been about 100 seconds, to 10 seconds.

As if that wasn't a daunting enough goal, the letter, sent to all systems by chief operating officer Bob May, asked that the effort be achieved by maintaining a 1 percent call-abandonment rate. The operator offered no specific rewards, nor did it include the goals as part of employees' performance targets. "We just issued the challenge and let peer pressure do its magic," said Ed McLaughlin, senior vice president, customer...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.