Transco boosts customer service

To reduce the administrative burden on its service staff, gas company Transco has switched from a paper-based process for dealing with customer queries to a Web-based system

Like many firms, gas transporter Transco used paper-based processes to handle customer queries. It was dealing with more than 40,000 enquiries a month, most of which arrived by post or fax. As a result, Transco employees were spending a great deal of time either on the phone to customers, or writing replies. Transco realised that if it could speed up this process and reduce the paperwork it might save a lot of time and money. The obvious solution was to set up an online system to reduce the burden.

Before deciding what type of system it needed, Transco conducted an internal study to determine what a new system should do, and what should be integrated with it. Vicky Palmer, query services manager at Transco, said, "We had a system that was fax- and paper-based, and we had a lot of legacy systems based on older technology that would need improvements to the customer interfaces. We conducted a review and settled on using a Web interface [as the best way to achieve these aims]."

When Transco realised that it needed a Web-based system, it invited tenders from a number of IT firms, and eventually chose IT services company Keane to implement the appropriate technology and processes. Before making its decision, representatives from Transco visited Keane and some of its customer sites to see solutions it had created previously.

Transco was impressed with Keane's track record in Web systems, customer service, workflow and project management, says Palmer. "We were very interested in working with someone who was experienced in [workflow] technology," she says.

Anita Preece, project manager at Keane, adds, "Transco was asking for help with its customer query management process in terms of turnaround times, and managing higher volumes. It wanted a system that was Web-based."

To design, develop and build the solution, Keane liaised with Transco to define the precise requirements. Keane then set up a system based on its ConQuest technology, allowing Transco customers to submit enquiries and track their progress via the Web. This has speeded up responses and has greatly reduced administration costs for Transco.

Now complete, the system is based on a Unix server, with Staffware 2000 as its workflow engine. It also uses Oracle 8i databases, a Web front-end developed in HTML and Active Server Pages (ASPs), and applications written in Visual Basic 6.

Scale of challenge

Palmer says that, at first, Transco did not realise how complicated it would be to set up a new system, but the scale of the challenge became apparent as the project progressed. Preece says that Keane's previous experience made it aware of the likely difficulties, and made progress easier.

"One of our key objectives was to integrate with their back-end. To do that we had to re-engineer the entire back-office systems," Preece explains. "We had to integrate with billing systems as well as workflow processes."

Now queries come into Transco in three ways. They may be received electronically in a CSV (comma-separated values) format; they may be emailed to Transco; or they may be entered via the Web interface.

Palmer says the Web interface has proved the most popular channel for customers, but she adds, "It depends on the business requirements, which is why we offer the choices." Although the Web interface is the most popular channel, large customers have benefited from the ability to lump a large number of queries together and send them in CSV format.

Although Transco wanted to get the new system up and running quickly, it decided that a phased rollout would achieve better results, because it would give its customers more time to make appropriate changes to their working practices. Palmer says that customers have welcomed the new system and the technology has exceeded initial expectations.

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Summary
Business need Transco wanted to set up online systems so it could respond more quickly to customer enquiries and reduce paperwork.

Technical considerations The system would have to integrate with Transco's legacy systems and workflow processes.

Solution Customers can now link directly to Transco via a Web-based interface, or by email. The technology is integrated with Transco's back-end systems, as well as the systems of its customers.