Winners Stories: Quality the differentiator for Sberbank

Winning the Best Quality Team award at the European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards in 2018 was a very proud moment for first-timers Sberbank from Russia.

“It was the first time that we had taken part in the ECCCSAs,” explains Regional Centre Director, Romanova Liudmila. “The fact that our achievements were highly appreciated in two categories gave us joy and enthusiasm. It was so important to our employees to get their projects and practices recognised as the best not only in Russia, but in Europe.”

With a strategy to deliver the best customer experience through technological leadership and great people, Sberbank was looking to increase First Call Resolution through improving processes, the technology and employee capability. Quality was key.

The key to quality

The tool used in the process of quality control was the intelligent management system. It collates metadata from all customer interactions and identifies where improvements are needed in the contact centre. The Quality Control team uses the insight to provide feedback, recommend changes to processes, educate employees and report the impact of such changes. The results were seen in an increase in FCR by 4.5% and CSI up to 4.9/5.

In addition, Sberbank implemented a Robot Collector to automate the debt collection process at the earliest stages. The Quality Control team were responsible for developing the emotional intelligence of the robot us the use of speech analytics.

High-class professionals

“The judges that we spoke to were high-class professionals thoroughly versed in the issues of managing contact centres and building the best customer experience,” says Romanova. “The judges were deeply immersed in each of the submitted projects and we were confident that the refereeing process was fair and impartial.”

“We know that we have to study the experience of our counterparts in Europe to be able to introduce best practices into our work. After the awards, we met with other participants and now exchange ideas and experiences with them.”

Advice for 2019 nominations

We asked Romanova what advice she had for potential nominators in 2019, and this is what she said:

“It is important for participants to decide what their strength is and what is their main differentiator from the other nominees. Answer the question: what are you best at? Then tell the judges about it. If you reach the Finalist stage, the main thing is not to worry.”