Integretel turned over the majority of its inbound billing inquiry services to ICT Group Inc. last week in an effort to expand its services and offer customers more personalized attention.
ICT's expertise in customer relationship management is key to the transfer said the San Jose, CA-based Integretel, which previously handled all calls internally in its San Jose call center.
Integretel provides billing solutions for its customers by integrating nationwide local exchange carrier billing and collection capabilities with financial management and reporting services.
“We will now be able to get closer to our customers … with an increased flexibility and an ability to process more calls,” said Greg Calcagno, spokesman for Integretel. “ICT is a company used to handling customer inquiries, and with the latest and greatest systems and solutions, the contact with our customers will be improved,” he said.
“Recognizing that ICT Group will provide a valuable customer care function for Integretel, we believe this partnership will offer superior customer service and will enhance our relationships with our clients and their customers,” said Brendan Philbin, vice president of operations for Integretel.
The three year contract is expected to generate more than $10 million.
Agent specific and application specific remote monitoring will be in place to guarantee the high quality standards of the company, as will skill-based routing, which will allow for the transfer of calls to technical support specialists when sophisticated support issues arise. “Are goal is a 100 percent first call resolution rate,” said Tony Ortiz, vice president, operations for ICT, Langhorne, PA.
Depending on skill level of rep, training varies from two weeks to three months.
ICT recently opened a customer service facility in Lakeland, FL, in order to handle the expected volume of inbound billing inquiry calls. The facility, ICT's largest, is equipped with 250 workstations, expandable to 500 stations as the company grows its customer care business.
When fully implemented, ICT Group's customer care support will extend to end-users nationwide, encompassing the 1,300 independent local exchange carriers in North America including the Regional Bell Operating Companies, as well as independent LECs.
Not only does the ICT Group utilize the latest sophisticated technology to support the calls, they also demonstrated their experience and expertise in the telecommunications arena,” Philbin said.
ICT Group, a multinational provider of call centers for telemarketing and customer care, employs more than 350 professionals in management, sales, systems and operations and approximately 4,500 telephone sales and customer service representatives as well as research interviewers.
