GCS Agents

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former vice president of the Paratransit Division of the New York City Transit Authority.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GCS Agents?

We found that providers focused on the transportation of drivers and fleets. They looked at call centers as a side operation or staffing concern. As our demand increased through the years, that business model couldn’t stand. We needed a call center to create a reservation system for ADA eligible customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GCS Agents established a call center for us. Their team enables eligible customers to call and book trips in advance as well as address any same-day service issues.

What is the team composition?

It was required to have management on site. Although he was based in North Carolina, there was always opportunity to reach the CEO. He came up periodically to review their team’s progress and performance.

How did you come to work with GCS Agents?

We decided to look for call center operators that had a primary business model of handling and managing call centers. That’s when GCS Agents made a professional presentation that demonstrated what we needed. We subsequently awarded the contract to them.

How much have you invested with them?

The contract awarded was approximately $25,000,000–$30,000,000 per year. Our only investment was to provide a facility because we wanted the call center to reside in our service area.

What is the status of this engagement?

We awarded the contract to GCS Agents in 2012 and the engagement’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our main concern was adhering to the ADA, which meant having a call center available when our customers needed it. Also, that meant having the capacity to address all calls on a 7-day week basis. We have significant success with GCS Agents. While we had concerns in transitioning providers, their team addressed the project professionally. Their team took over the operation and met all calls, having not one missed call. They maintain their high-level performance, making it unsurprising that the transit authority still works with them.

How did GCS Agents perform from a project management standpoint?

Each month, we reviewed the previous month’s performance. GCS Agents also attended meetings with community advocates. They worked with our team to implement any initiatives that we wanted. Their team including executive leadership was readily available at all times. The communication was nearly instant. Their team alerted us to issues and gave solutions for them. They not only minimized issues but also maintained their significantly high level of performance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their transition into our organization stood out. I don’t think many agencies would be able to transition and maintain GCS Agents’ performance metrics. They answered calls within 30–60 seconds and didn’t drop any. In the call center industry, there’s a high rate of personnel turnover. GCS Agents engaged their employees and made sure to have adequate staffing 24/7, 365 days. Not many agencies can accomplish that as well as them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This may be on our organization too, but it would be helpful to bring more technology into call center operations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

List all of your requirements and have a thorough discussion with GCS Agents. Once they’re fully aware of your expectations, they’re responsible in meeting them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the call center training manager for an auto-lead generation company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GCS Agents?

Our company had expansive growth in a short amount of time, so the agents had been training one another. Once we transitioned into a larger facility, we needed to get an actual training program in place. We hired GCS Agents to help create content for changing company culture and presenting it in our onboarding process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since we didn’t even know exactly what we needed, they brought us previous content that they had developed and it served as a basis for creating the new materials. They gave us their copyrighted content that we then modified and distributed. 

What is the team composition?

My main contact was George (VP of Business Development, GCS Agents). 

How did you come to work with GCS Agents?

I searched online and looked at a couple of different companies. They seemed like a good resource because of our locations, since different areas have different values. I also liked that they were nationwide and global, so they could speak to our personal values but also to what the standard industry needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $17,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–February 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve had very high success in changing the company culture, some of which can be attributed to GCS Agents’ work. I was very happy with George, the content, and the level of personalization, but I don’t have specific metrics. 

How did GCS Agents perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a difficult job but they did really well. Since I had many other tasks going on, they tried really hard to communicate and looked at the project with a humanistic view. I commend them for doing well in a tough situation. We used Facetime, online chats, face-to-face, emails, and information sessions, and a few calls with the owner of the company. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

George was top-notch—I loved all of our interactions. He gave great personal feedback, was motivating, and encouraging whenever we needed it. He went above and beyond his role and mentored me a bit. Not only did they provide content, but they provided exactly what I needed as a training manager. Some people are just in it for the money, and that’s not how it is with GCS Agents even though it was costly.

Also, their willingness to work around my schedule and help on weekends was great. They really wanted us to be successful and understood our situation. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Keeping in contact about the money and hours would have been good. I would have liked to see a breakdown of the costs to show where some of the money was being spent to help me explain it. More communication about where our budget was would have shown us their progress in a more meaningful way. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you don’t have direction, they are a really great resource for clarification in that area. They're good learning and building tools. From trainers to agents, they have a lot of resources. If you need any type of consultation or implementation of skills, they’re a good partner. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I manage customer care and training services within Austin Energy, a municipally-owned and not-for-profit power company. We provide billing and customer support for the utilities that people enroll in.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GCS Agents?

We needed to increase our sense of goodwill towards our customers. We wanted to display greater empathy by improving the tone of our brand.

Often times, we have to ask the customer to perform some basic troubleshooting in order to address an issue. That can be misconstrued as us putting the onus on the customer. In light of that dynamic, we wanted to adjust how our customer interactions are perceived.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GCS Agents came in and trained our management on tone and empathy topics. While our team is seasoned in functional and technical skills, we leveraged GCS Agents for their expertise on soft skills.

We initially met with them to discuss our needs, and they tailored their training content to our specific challenges. They provided us with robust materials that have allowed us to create beginner, intermediate, and advanced versions of the tone and empathy training they gave us.

They also delivered a certification for our employees denoting that they could themselves confer the training that they received.

What is the team composition?

I was working with approximately 15 people.

How did you come to work with GCS Agents?

The city of Austin has an official RFP process. GCS Agents found us and submitted a bid. They scored the highest in our evaluation stage, so they were awarded the contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted between April to May of 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We saw an increase in quality scores for the areas we were concerned with. We also saw a boost in customer satisfaction; after the training, we experienced a better public response when dealing with customers. 

How did GCS Agents perform from a project management standpoint?

They were fantastic with their communication. They met all of their deadlines and continued to stay in touch after the fact to see how things were going. They didn’t just come in and leave; they were genuinely interested in whether or not we achieved our goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I would highlight their ability to really listen to the client and construct a tailored solution. They put together exactly what we needed. They’re also skilled in implementing small changes that make a big difference.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I haven’t come across anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very open about what your needs are. They’re able to extrapolate their core concepts to address your specific challenges. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Why does your firm need inbound services? Did you previously handle these needs in-house?

It is more time efficient and cheaper for our company to use inbound services.

How many inbound calls did your company handle every day? How much time did your employees spend on the phone every day?

There was a medium volume of inbound calls our company was handling.

What challenge were you trying to address with the service provider?

We didn’t want to hire employees with receptionist duties, and we wanted to save time and money.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the service provider's involvement?

We have them answer and screen calls, as well as process orders.

Could you describe the pricing structure and how they billed you?

We have a long-term plan packaged at a monthly rate.

How did you come to work with this service provider?

They were recommended by another company.

How would you assess the service provider for answering calls, customer service, and communication?

They are very quick to respond and effectively meet deadlines.

How much time, in hours, does this service provider save you each month?

Our company is saving about 40 hours of work per week, and about $1600 If I had hired a receptionist at $10 per hour.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What takeaways and measures of success can you share about working with this service provider?

My company’s productivity has risen in response to not dealing with repetitive tasks, like answering calls.

What are the service provider's strengths?

They help promote productivity and efficiency.

How can the service provider improve?

I have not had any problems.

How long has your company been working with this service provider?

We have been working together approximately 3 years, from September 2014 to now.

How much money do you spend annually with this service provider?

My company invests $50,000 to $199,999.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Why does your firm need back office services? Did you previously handle these needs in-house?

We have a fully functional IT department, but we have not implemented the strategies that are in beta testing.

What type of work does your internal staff avoid by using a back office service?

Our staff doesn't have to worry about the infrastructure of security monitoring while we fully implement our beta security strategy.

What challenge were you trying to address with the service provider?

Our goal was that the agreement would be partial engagement until implementation is success.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the service provider's involvement?

They supply security analytics for our database servers.

Could you describe the service provider's pricing structure and how they billed you?

We are under a quarterly agreement till 2018. Our contract shall end with and only if the security beta testing ends and is implemented into our database.

How did you come to work with this service provider?

I had an associate from a previous corporation refer me to them. I had a couple in mind, but I chose GCS for the quality and guarantees that they promoted on contract.

How would you assess the service provider's ability to turn around quality work, to provide customer service, and to communicate?

The data security and communications outside of my internal database was and is very excellent. I would love to give their name but I don't do that for security reasons.

How much time, in hours, does this service provider save you each month?

I would say they save us about 1048 man hours a week. We have a large database of clientele and a lot has to be manually done under our current system.

How much money does this service provider save you each month?

They save us $10, 000 on average, sometimes less. It really depends on outside clientele and networking new clientele.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What takeaways and measures of success can you share about working with this service provider?

They have a straight broadline of help that you need in urgent matters, even long term integration, to help secure your communications and database securities.

What are the service provider's strengths?

They are great at keeping databases intact with communications and security data oversight.

How can the service provider improve?

I think they can always improve as each day. The digital world is changing all our lives.

How long has your company been working with this service provider?

Feb. 2014 - Ongoing.

How much money do you spend annually with this service provider?

$5,000 to $9,999.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Why does your firm need back office services? Did you previously handle these needs in-house?

Before, everything was handled in-house but as our company grew in size and revenue we needed to outsource some services. Office services was one of them. With the amount of detailed documents , forms and other paperwork used by staff, it was an easy decision to get office services.

What type of work does your internal staff avoid by using a back office service?

Creating specific types of forms and documents can take up resources and time. Our internal staff is freed up from this by our use of back office services. Our internal staff is then more efficient on other duties.

What challenge were you trying to address with the service provider?

Our goals were to not only to save time but to also be more efficient with all of our office services. documents, forms, etc. It also saved our company money in the long run. Our internal staff was also freed up to focus on other duties.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the service provider's involvement?

They provide legal forms, documents and all other forms and documents from all aspects of business. They also provide data entry services .

Could you describe the service provider's pricing structure and how they billed you?

We are billed on a per quarter basis with a high tier to low tier pricing base .

How did you come to work with this service provider?

After researching many companies we found Global Contact Services (GSC) to be the best option for us.

How would you assess the service provider's ability to turn around quality work, to provide customer service, and to communicate?

The quality work is essential and their client services are top quality. GCS'S communication is very efficient.

How much time, in hours, does this service provider save you each month?

It is hard to estimate because it varies on a month to month basis, but it is well worth the cost.

How much money does this service provider save you each month?

I would estimate $10000 to $15000 per month, but it varies.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What takeaways and measures of success can you share about working with this service provider?

The pros are their specialized services that can handle all office needs and issues. I can think of no cons and, in comparisons to other vendors, GCS is of better quality and service.

What are the service provider's strengths?

The detail of their services and quality of services is the main strength .

How can the service provider improve?

I can see no area where GCS needs improvement .

How long has your company been working with this service provider?

2015 - Ongoing.

How much money do you spend annually with this service provider?

$1,000,000 to $9,999,999