Anima

Education Group
Dynamics 365

“What we have today with our CRM tool has contributed very much to the delivery of a superior service and an increase in quality.”

Flávio Augusto Vilela Vouguinha – Customer Service and Relationship Manager

Project Scope and Business Needs

Founded in 2003, the Anima Education Group begins with its first acquisition in Minas Gerais, which is currently named Centro Universitário Una. The group also takes care of the UniBH University Teaching Institutions in Belo Horizonte / MG, Unimonte in Santos / SP, São Judas Tadeu University in São Paulo / SP and Unisociesc in the South of the country. The group is one of the largest education groups in Brazil with a solid identity and concrete ideals, based on values such as commitment, cooperation, recognition, respect, transparency, and innovation. Those values permeate all the company’s actions, not only corporate-wise but also in relationships with students, employees and partners.

To keep this synergy between people and achieve excellence in the service provided, Anima has been continuously improving its service processes. The scope of this new initiative consisted in mapping and redesigning the business flows around the students, with emphasis on the process of communication in different channels, in order to improve students’ satisfaction with the institutions. The first task was to analyze all the steps taken by the student in the service channels, to understand the difficulties of answering calls in the service agent’s vision, and to identify structural errors and opportunities for improvement in the areas involved.

During this study, technological and process improvements were implemented that guaranteed the 360º vision of the student, reduction of calls, standardization of processes and mechanisms for an anticipation of problems.

The main business need was to make the agents more efficient when dealing with requests or problems, ensuring greater student satisfaction. Standardization in resolving recurrent occurrences was one of the main challenges, as there were no pre-established processes. In addition, there was no history of calls, making the service slower.

For all requests or problems, a deadline for resolution was offered, but most of the time these deadlines were exceeded by the agent or responsible areas. Creating and enforcing Service Level Agreement (SLA) rules was essential in the treatment of open incidents, establishing and ensuring the minimum time for first response or even resolution of the problem.

Another expectation of the company was to be able to visualize the nature of all occurrences in a managerial way and through all the units of the group. They needed to be able to identify which requests were most common among students, in which units and how they were being solved. Regularly monitoring the performance of agents and monitoring critical points was also a concern.

Solution

In a project that lasted about 6 months, AlfaPeople deployed the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service module to integrate all customer service processes. With this, in addition to a greater fluency and control of the processes achieved, it was possible to centralize the different service channels (telephone and web) of the group, bringing synergy and standardization with the work structured in cells and with pre-determined processes.

The cells were organized into two levels of service: N1- the group of agents dealing with requests for information or simple requests; N2 – more complex care, requiring more areas involved and time to solution. A specific area was created for centralized service management, responsible for the clear definition of the role of each employee, offering greater autonomy for the resolution of incidents and controls. In addition, the service for current students and potential students was separated since they were understood to be distinct audiences, with different needs.

With native Microsoft Dynamics 365 features, it’s not possible to organize requests through SLA service and control queues. Dashboards and Panels were other features used to support the 360º view of students. Looking for solutions right from the first contact through the Dynamics knowledge base reduced the number of interactions and simplified communication with the students. Working on continuous improvement, combined with technology, has brought process optimization, increased student satisfaction, and business results.

Benefits

Information Quality

By centralizing service, channel integration and a unique knowledge base, data quality has improved significantly. The information that is produced and shared with the student has more quality, reinforcing the relationship between the parties.

Reduced Number of Calls

The implementation of a continuous service flow and the 360-degree view of the students ensured that the referrals of the deeds actually happened and were finalized within the deadlines, avoiding frequent subsequent contacts by the students, often through other channels. As a result, the volume of service fell substantially.

Customer satisfaction

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric used by the group and serves to measure student satisfaction and loyalty. This metric was applied to the service area during a pre-established period after project implementation. The success of the project was pragmatically recognized and proven with the increase of the index from 2 to 6 points, on a scale ranging from 0 to 10.