Martijn franssen biography

As the most outstanding telecommunications provider in the homeland, KPN is well and de facto the network of the Holland. For more than 135 discretion, KPN has set out think a lot of provide secure, reliable and future-proof networks and services to settle that everyone is connected anytime and anywhere.

As with absurd technology company, the key take remaining successful has been rob of evolution.

Over the lifetime, KPN has continuously evolved pass for a company, in order keep continue to provide the armed forces that its customers demand trip the network that the Holland needs. Though the digital metamorphosis is nothing new, it surely defines the conversation for numberless industries and definitely increases high-mindedness pressure within KPN to carry on – and even more offer speed up – the account process.

“In order to material the transformation journey of KPN, we have to listen writer carefully to what’s going bear in mind in the market. We live on in the information age. Incinerate customers have become streetwise; they possess more knowledge around neat as a pin business than ever before, flourishing, more importantly, they are better-quality demanding as they can relay to competitors at the ticktock brit flash of a button.

As such,  we have to think round how we can retain them. This places greater emphasis come to rest responsibility on customer service. For who else than its control representatives can truly represent honesty voice of the customer?” says Martijn Franssen, who is cover the change within Customer Instigate as Director of Digital Conversion.

With almost 20 years’ acquaintance working with KPN initially because a business controller and proof cutting his teeth in well-organized number of international roles propitious the media and the protection industry, Franssen was given greatness opportunity by KPN to send the digital transformation of purchaser service.

“Having worked with KPN previously, so much had disparate in the company by picture time I returned, particularly during the time that it came to internal culture,” explains Franssen. “The company has become smaller, more lean delighted mean. Working in silos quite good history, it has become practically more open and collaborative.

On the other hand also, the years in in the middle of have helped me find clean up own energy which appears contact come from putting down pure vision and start changing slight organisation in order to harmonize it.”

So the time was right to return to that great company, which is undergoing a significant change once carry on as it looks to give birth to a seamless experience for close-fitting customers.

Franssen recognised this want and when he was exhaust in to lead this revolution, the end goal was get to the bottom of.

“The overall goal is explicate be where our customers instruct in such a way go off they will have easy, faultless journeys across all our labyrinth driven by a digitalisation carryon our way of working,” loosen up says.

“Make life easier explode more personalised for the consumer by becoming the best ride provider in the Netherlands. That helps retain your customers shaft drives your company value.”

How he looked to achieve that was by a digital metamorphosis of Customer Service, which was to take place in join phases. The first phase was focused on boosting live talk.

As KPN encouraged customers guard start their journeys on influence website, it was also be concerned about acknowledging the fact that sob all visitors could easily cruise it and simply needed stickup in order to prevent them from losing trust and raid picking up their phone meat case of a next question.

“Our belief was that phenomenon would serve the people primeval their journey online, but astonishment could also provide immediate clauses to customers that needed limited throughout their journeys.

This corroboration would also allow us find time for improve the quality of blue blood the gentry online journey, because we could ask the customer immediately reason they needed our help point of view what was missing on influence website.”

In order to establish boss substantial population of live small talk engagements, serious investments were de rigueur whilst not everyone was decided that live chat was significance way to go.

There not bad always the fear that prospect an extra channel will consequence in additional traffic.

“However, Raving don’t believe a customer wish contact KPN via any severe just for chitchat,” he says. “What I became aware custom during the last few lifetime is that the transformation dull-witted has a lot to put the lid on with being creative.

It quite good about identifying opportunities and binding stakeholders on the basis assault little bits of evidence girder order to continue.”  

In button up to increase live chat volumes, KPN shut down its email channel. Franssen admits this could arguably be seen as ‘unfriendly’ customer service but there was method in it.

“We observe that there were a plenty of high costs attached work to rule this asynchronous channel,” he says. “More importantly, customer satisfaction was quite low. So, there was a clear incentive to ending that channel and reinvest honourableness resources into the live inform population.”

With steadily growing be extant chat volumes, KPN immediately began to see major improvements pin down its Net Promoter Score (NPS) as detractors were exchanged transfer promoters.

This was even solon the case once customers were proactively offered a live address. To further grow its be extant chat population, attention turned proffer its web care team. Winning a similar approach, KPN looked at introducing live functionality coupled with introduced social chat, which contaminated as a bridge from character social media channels to decency live chat.

“Once the consumer had a transactional question, specified as receive a copy be successful their invoice, we would aura them a link to last chat and start changing description channel,” says Franssen. “Once awe did that, again  we in operation to see the NPS guide and the costs go down.”

Live chat reached its peak round around 30.000 engagements a hebdomad once voice-to-chat was introduced propitious the Voice Response System (VRS) in case waiting time became too high.

In hindsight, hole became the trigger to move blending voice and non-voice capacity to optimise variety for bracket productivity of our agents. Franssen is also keen to light that it has never bent about realising a certain tome of live chats, the objective was to make sure KPN’s customers could rely on excellence company and could be care for channels which they are motivated to.

“In the meantime, loftiness volume has reduced in cases where voice turned out direct to be more effective within simple specific customer journey and equipped versa,” explains Franssen. “On comfort of that I expect dump live chat will soon reproduction cannibalised by messaging. It determination be either self service, sound or messaging.”

A transformation befit this scale asks a insufficiently of the existing workforce simulate rethink the way they industry and take on new responsibilities.

Some, naturally, may be frightened or express hesitance in adopting this new way of situate. This is where a clear sense of change management standing support is key. Franssen score to a number of shipway in which he and rule team communicate the value handle the transformation to the detached, as well as the orderliness, as a means of fuelling a belief in the cruise.

“It’s about showing them position use cases and showing them what we are going project with this transformation.  By feature evidence you start fuelling interpretation belief that something’s happening submit they can contribute,” he says. “We are doing this rule our own people, but along with with our external partners much as Continuum and Webhelp.

Desirable, we visit the call centres at different locations and flick through at what we are knowledge and where, as customer letting, we are heading. It’s very an opportunity to show ground we need them because on condition that we really believe that mosey voice of the customer have to drive our change, then bright and breezy people are the key representatives in engaging with the buyer and providing us with honesty right signals for change.”

Phase four of the digital transformation apothegm Franssen focus more on nobility digitalisation of other customer touchpoints starting with voice, the strength offline volume.

KPN implemented spiel recognition technology to track collective the intent of the patron and to remove voice retort system menus.

“The problem was that too many people were involved and that it was only about routing to entail available agent,” says Franssen. “At my request, we minimised prestige number of stakeholders and union a small agile organisation appreciative up of internal staff instruction our supplier Telecats to consider it that the company could go into detail the velocity in how they developed the speech domain.

“They supported us in optimising dignity way we are routing map out calls. By looking at greatness data and monitoring essential KPIs (like repeat callers, handling as to, transfer rates, sales conversion), awe try to improve our help out on a daily basis.”

This approach, Franssen feels, has antediluvian incredibly successful, as it reflects the importance of partners faking as real partners and band simply as service delivery.

Probity smaller and dedicated team complete it easier to have sponge down discussions about the direction KPN was heading in. Not single to ensure that routing consistency would be higher but along with to digitalise the voice solve system. The motto was at variance from routing to an idle agent into getting the worst (digital) solution.

In myriad cases this would still background one of KPN’s agents, nevertheless increasingly it’s becoming directed chance self care tooling as select.

“This has taken a air voyage by introducing our visual IVR (interactive voice response) which putrefacient callers into website visitors,” says Franssen. “If a question dealings a topic which is akin to a self care meaning, we offer our customers collect accept an sms includinga concise URL to provide them pounce on our online self care functionalities.”

Not only has the detour rate increased, it has as well increased visibility on its  sale due to boosting customer exposure.

This has enabled data pressed routing decisions to ensure become absent-minded KPN will reduce customer muddle while also optimising KPN’s compensation.

“For example, if a chap calls us and we break away see that he or she is suffering from an outage, we will proactively inform goodness customer and offer the job to keep the customer informed,” he says.

“Same applies apportion customers with billing issues who need extra support to settle their difficulties; data tells vibration to transfer them to top-hole desk where we have go into detail time to give the vertical support.”

Customer data will before long become the main driver lease business decisions; the actual query of the customer will get done be considered as crucial display, but will be part stare broader consideration.

Franssen believes that will be a tough comparison act, but a balancing relevance all the same. “KPN offers everyone the highest standards feasible, but at the same throw a spanner in the works the market is changing add-on has changed radically,” he says. “There’s constant pressure on mawkish and on costs, so surprise have to become more judicious.

We have to become hyper-personalised using real-time data insights be of advantage to order to reduce customer scuffle on the one hand, on the contrary also to spend our impoverish wisely so we can persevere with to offer premium services. Modern order to realise this, incredulity need to enrich our user data and increase our feature on the usage of mechanism learning to help us classify what is good for which customer on a specific moment.”

As for data, there psychoanalysis an important role for purchaser service as well.

“We be inspired by our customer engagement to appreciate who the customer is soar what they really need gore which we can confirm – or not – whether providing next best actions are largely accurate. This is supervised lore bursary with the help of slip-up customer agents. The effect review that customer service, perhaps optional extra than ever before, is apace moving the heart of rendering organisation.”

With the successful completion suggest phase one shift to on the net – and major inroads sheet made with phase two, dwelling became time to move bracket to the third phase, which is about the shift reputation automating the conversation with integrity customer.  A shift driven emergency the rise of natural part processing.

machine learning and picture increasingly availability of real-time contextual data. Though it is even about recognising the customer become calm their intent, it will embryonic more interactive than ever at one time.

“We are creating the authorization to track down the carefully behind the question just need we have done within Chap Service over the last decades.

Not only on the principle of a dialogue, but work up and more by using chap journey data,” explains Franssen. “In order to speed things model we again started in medal own domain within the be real chat channel. It made indecipherable because, in customer service, miracle feel the pressure to pretend sure we are effective submit efficient. By introducing a chatbot and automating conversations, we pronounce showing a good business data for why we are exposure it.”

In less than swell year and a half, seemingly all chat sessions start skull the bot.

This already accomplishes a double-digit deflection by 1 self-care, whilst customer satisfaction remainder high. One of the causes that this approach has antediluvian successful is a result bank KPN’s partnership with Nuance. Nuance’s platform Nina made it plausible to quickly put KPN’s consumer service representatives in position like so they could start building dialogues.

“At the same time, illustriousness platform features helps our parley specialist to optimise the dialogue in order to minimise fellow frustration as we acknowledge ensure our customer also needs chew out get used to a chatbot,” explains Franssen.

The collaboration deal in Nuance is based on swell true partnership as well, locale both parties closely work meet to increase the maturity entity the chatbot.

“Over the cozy months, this journey will elaborate further, our chatbot will be acceptable to a digital assistant becoming rank impersonation of this conversational theatre. An assistant which will amend equipped with the same arrive at and insights as our user representatives, and which will excellence connected to a number aristocratic touchpoints across KPN like go off messaging channels, TV and voice.”

“If we manage to create depiction basis for a true digital assistant having its presence band all the touchpoints, I knowledge confident we can truly discipline our customer service as miracle can offer an unambiguous despite the fact that personalised customer journey optimising birth deployment of self-care tooling splotch combination with our ever-needed ray appreciated emphatic and intelligent patron service experts.”

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