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Bertelsmann optimizes its customer services: rapid responses generated for incoming e-mails
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Implementation of software from Hamburg-based provider, novomind AG, reduces processing times by 30 percent
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Hamburg, Germany, 25th September, 2002 –
Members of Bertelsmann's media club who send the company queries via e-mail now receive responses within a much shorter timeframe. Thanks to the implementation of a new e-mail management system, Bertelsmann has significantly reduced processing times. The intelligent customer communication software was developed by the Hamburg-based novomind AG, one of the leading providers of intelligent software solutions.
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"The implementation of the e-mail system has enabled Der Club to reduce processing times by approximately 30 percent", says Dirk Suda, customer care director for Bertelsman's Der Club. novomind iMail was integrated to provide optimum functionality, interpreting member queries, wishes and requests, categorizing them according to subjects or tasks, distributing them to the relevant specialist staff members and processing them as required. After an initial trial period of just three weeks, the success rate for the automatic routing tool was over 85 percent. Alternative systems had consistently failed to provide a sufficiently high rate of success during the test phase. Result: employees were forced to process the e-mails by hand, generating additional costs. After 6 weeks, novomind's new e-mail management system was selected by Bertelsmann and fully implemented.
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At peak times, Der Club, whose 4.5 million members in Germany make it one of the world's largest media clubs, receives more than 1, 000 e-mail each day. In order to offer members optimum service and save them the stress of hunting for the relevant contact person, Bertelsmann offers a single e-mail address (service@derclub.de), to which all queries and requests can be sent. It is vital that these e-mails are processed as swiftly as possible, in order to ensure that club members do not have to wait long for the response they require. Optimum e-mail customer service plays a key role in increasing market shares in a day and age in which electronic communication is constantly on the increase.
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novomind iMail uses the novomind IQ™ natural language dialog engine, the leading technological system in this sector. Using AI methodology, incoming e-mails are sorted into defined contexts and forwarded accordingly to the relevant employees or specialist staff. These staff members are provided with pre-defined Knowledge Packs, including contexts for the categorization of changes of address, bank details, subscription cancelations, new member correspondence, refund requests and complaints. The user can activate, customize or extend these categories at any time.
The system works flexibly. If, for example, the client wishes to reimplement the categories already in place, this implementation can be carried out by a staff member with no previous programming knowledge. This function was of particular importance to Bertelsmann, as the company is constantly implementing campaigns for which specific target groups must be defined.
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novomind AG is based in Hamburg, Germany and is a leading provider of intelligent software solutions. The company was founded in December, 1999, by Peter Samuelsen, Marco Busacker and Peter Wiedekamm, and today employs over 40 staff members. The software house, which has not yet gone public, doubled its 2000 turnover to 3.2 million euro in 2001 and is consistently in the black, despite the difficult market climate. The company's clients include front runners such as Bertelsmann, the BKK Zollern-Alb health providers, the Gruner+Jahr publishing group, bol.de, the Otto Versand mail order group, T-Systems and the Hannoversche Leben insurance providers.
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