SBCIS Aims to Be No. 1 in Service

Software Magazine, Nov, 1998 by John P. Desmond

A lofty goal, indeed. But a knowledge-based customer support system is helping the ISP meet that challenge.

SBC Internet Services (SBCIS) is in the eye of Internet growth. SBCIS, which includes the Internet services arms of Pacific Bell, Southwestern Bell and Nevada Bell, is the nation's 12th-largest Internet service provider with more than 340,000 business and residential customers. It is a company of SBC Communications Inc., a global leader in telecommunications with 34 million access lines and over 5.8 million wireless customers in the U.S.

The challenge of support and customer relationship management in this environment is staggering. Judith Meskill, executive director of switched services delivery and support, runs technical support centers that service all customers who use SBCIS' Internet dialup services products. The company has long had a form of support fielded on the Web, from E-mail to frequently asked questions (FAQs) areas, but it was not until recently a robust system that could handle every type of issue.

"Now we have a knowledge base and knowledge-centric management system where the interaction with the customer is governed by a knowledge-centric system whether the customer is on the phone, on E-mail, or in an online collaboration," says Meskill.

The Internet has the highest rate of adoption of any technology in the history of technology, she observes. Servicing this expanding customer base is a constant challenge. "There are not enough butts to put in the seats we need to answer the questions to satisfy the huge customer bases developing around Internet services," she says.

For its part, SBCIS has combined a number of purchased solutions under a single user interface. A customer that calls the support center hears a voice that provides options, including E-mail and the Web. If the customer sends an E-mail, the support system scans the message for words it recognizes, then searches the support knowledge base to find a matching solution. If so, the solution is sent in a response to the customer who originated the E-mail.

A customer who visits the SBCIS Web site can click directly into the knowledge base with a password. There the customer can ask questions in English, and the system steps d through to some logical end.

Customers that would rather interact with a technical support agent can click a trouble ticket on the screen, which sends a message to the tech center. They can then receive their response via E-mail, the Web, or by telephone.

With components purchased from Net Effect Systems in North Hollywood, Calif., the customer can click on a button to become part of a real-time, online collaboration. The agent has the relevant information on the screen, which could be a history of the call, and decides how to handle it, perhaps by calling on a specialist.

Other components of SBCIS' support solution include Silknet Software's eService work flow, trouble ticketing, online solution publisher product; Aptex Software's Select-Response server software, which automatically reads, routes, responds to and reports on incoming customer E-mail requests; AdvantageKBS Inc.'s IQWeb knowledge base product; and Net Effect's NEware, which provides the collaboration layer.

Getting customers to engage in a self-help support session is an important part of SBCIS' strategy. "Studies have shown that 100% of users will access the Web before they call for help. So to support the burgeoning industry on the Web today, it's imperative for organizations to craft robust, friendly means of communication and self help through the Web," says Meskill.

In a message for software suppliers, Meskill advises them to deliver simple, elegant solutions not merely "retrofitted" to the Web, but designed to be delivered on the Web. "Hopefully everyone will begin to see that leveraging a knowledge management strategy for the enterprise is more important than porting a product to the Web," she says.

Experienced Web page visitors see a wide disparity in the quality of pages, from the very static to the extremely dynamic. SBCIS is shooting for the more dynamic end of the scale. "A high goal of SBC is to be number one in customer service," Meskill says.

The company is being recognized: SBCIS was recently ranked first in overall customer care service quality among U.S. ISPs, according to a recent benchmarking report from the Washington Competitive Group LLC.

"The Internet as a customer base is very challenging," says Meskill." It represents every aspect of humanity, from the very savvy to the least savvy, from the very optimistic to out and out flamers. What drives us is having robust solutions for our customers."