The COVID-19 pandemic has made it increasingly urgent for organizations to supercharge their agility, speed and resilience in order to meet the challenges of achieving their objectives.

For Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH), the Malaysian government institution responsible for the management of hajj and investments activity, this translated into facing an array of pandemic-related disruptions while striving to operate at near-full capacity and in particular, pursuing sound strategies to deepen engagement with customers and continue growth.

In particular, Tabung Haji Contact Centre (THCC) confronted the daunting prospect of serving some 9 million depositors, operating through 123 branches with 10,000 touchpoints nationwide. With increasing numbers of new depositors, customers would call TH for several different reasons ranging from general inquiries, savings accounts inquiries to matters relating to the pilgrimage of depositors to the Holy Land.

Using a platform of smart partnerships and digital excellence, TH is successfully circumventing current challenges, and at scale.

These steps have safeguarded and ensured TH's customer operation has not been disrupted in any way and that customer satisfaction remains optimal. THCC has been an important engine in managing customer relations and associated operations. To uncover some of the key drivers behind this success, we need to look at ways to elevate contact centre performance today.

“THCC has become the mainstay of TH services that meet the needs, expectations and feedbacks of depositors. The outstanding determination and performance throughout the operation of THCC is in line with the vision and mission of TH” - Datin Normimy Mohamed Noor, General Manager Marketing, Communications & Customer Service Division Lembaga Tabung Haji

Amplifying customer experience

To dive a little deeper into this success story, we need to look back to pre-pandemic times and acknowledge that the critical role that contact centres play in handling customer inquiries, particularly as service, quality and turnaround speeds pose the potential to make or break customer relationships. This is again recently evidenced by a Khoros survey, which notes that 30% of customers said they would stop giving their business to a brand that failed to meet their timeframe expectations.

Handling high volumes of inquiries is a large undertaking in normal circumstances, however, COVID-19 has significantly exacerbated support volume and created labour shortages at many contact centres, businesses are feeling the squeeze.

Taking a few steps back, when TH saw that business had been growing exponentially through the years, resulting in rising call volumes, it made a decision to turn to a specialist whose core competencies included customer management.

The specialist that TH has been collaborating for more than 10 years is TM One (formerly known as VADS) to help outsource the Tabung Haji Contact Centre (THCC). TM One prioritises its responsibility in upholding service sustainability and that this is assured without any interruption or impact to overall customer experience - even amid crises such as COVID-19.

Buoyed by this partnership, TH has the ability to track and analyse all end-to-end customers’ inquiries, complaints and feedback. These inputs, fortunately, allow TH to continuously improve customer engagement strategies, products and services, thus helping TH to be sustainable, competitive and remain relevant to the market.

Breaking free with digital

Digital solutions when smartly adopted enable organisations to break through hurdles to higher performance. In this instance, TM One has introduced Cloud CX Solution to TH to better manage THCC service sustainability.

Cloud CX Solution helps TH to provide insights into the operations, develop strategies in key areas and achieve operational excellence. TM One reports that its large volume of interactions generates a massive amount of valuable data, which holds the potential for ongoing business strategies and improvements through predictive analytics.

With this technological tool, THCC enables TH to achieve their business outcomes by staying connected to customers and ensuring satisfaction. This was evident when THCC was successfully re-certified for ISO 18295-1: 2017 (CCC) SIRIM Recertification Audit 2021 and this became an outstanding new benchmark for THCC, drawing respect from other call centres.

Furthermore, TM One created a more immersive digital experience for TH’s customers by embracing digital channels and engendering exceptional digital services quality. This results in a harmonious balance of efficient resolution and important empathetic 'human-touch' interaction.

THCC also supports TH’s online and digital services initiatives through its THiJARI online platform services, which provides support to depositors, and encourages greater use of online services - a safety factor that is especially in the current COVID-19 pandemic phase.

Another digital advance is the introduction by TM One of the AYDAD System, which can be accessed by all branch offices throughout Malaysia from 1 September 2021. The AYDAD System is a web-based application to help THCC and branches obtain information and related services, products and processes. This information will be used by members at the branch office to answer any queries received and the information provided is fast, accurate and up to date. On top of that, the enablement of certain critical functions outside TH's normal business operations requires a method to effect proper knowledge transfer. TM One's extensive Knowledge Management and Training strategy ensure all contact centre agents are correctly oriented and given a deeper understanding of THCC's services and customer needs. The consistent use of these strong knowledge management tools across all channels plays a highly significant role in delivering excellent customer experiences.

Accelerating growth

Today, THCC's technology and capabilities allow an average of 10,000 voice interactions to be handled every month with 94.3% of customers call picked up within 10 seconds. Callers have a quick, hassle–free accessibility to TH channels, reduces waiting time, which further enhances TH brand image.

THCC's strategic approach to digital transformation, with the adroit use of technologies and expertise arising from the partnership with TM One, now enables an average of 1,700 digital channel interactions to be handled every month with a 100% response rate. With that, TH has resolved 96% of their customers enquiries within the first interaction (First Call Resolution-FCR), resulting in a better experience outcome for customers.

Despite the restrictions due to the pandemic, serving customers remains a priority. The current surge of customers through online channels is aptly handled by THCC, ensuring TH's business continuity, and delivered with the resilience demanded by this highly challenging period. Most importantly, as confirmed by Customer Satisfaction Index results, TH customers acknowledge that TH service quality remains rated at 100%, which is again essential for driving business growth.

Through the years, by leveraging its technology partnership, TH has adopted innovative contact centre processes and new technology platforms, and has built a robust, resilient and agile platform to circumvent crises. TH has evolved to a fully-fledged customer-first culture, and continues to grow by extend wider support to its external, internal and business partners.

Since the inception of the partnership, TM One has proven to be a reliable partner to TH by heightening TH customers’ experience, and meeting over 97% of the contractual KPIs. This collaboration resulted in THCC's recognition as one of the prime contact centres in the world, drawing multiple accolades and awards from the industry.

For inquiries or more information about TM ONE, please visit www.tmone.com.my