Achieving BCP for call centers through cloud computing and telecommuting! Learn the secrets to implementation and success from a real-life example

While working from home is becoming more common as a countermeasure against COVID-19, there are some industries and occupations for which it is difficult to adapt. One of these is call centers. Because they require dedicated systems and environments, it must be said that the transition to working from home is quite a high hurdle.

Some companies have been forced to temporarily close their call centers to protect the health of their operators, and an increasing number of companies are considering working from home as a BCP measure. From a long-term perspective, too, a system that allows for diverse working styles is required as a measure to address the difficulty of recruiting operators and the worsening labor shortage, and it would be highly valuable to take this opportunity to establish a system that allows for working from home.

The key to this is a "cloud-based call system," and the challenge is how to integrate it with in-house customer systems and other systems. In this article, we will introduce how to achieve data integration and customization with in-house systems in a short period of time and at a low cost, based on a case study of Saison Information Systems (now Saison Technology), which realized telecommuting for all operators at its call center.

Three essential requirements for replacing the call system

Saison Information Systems (now Saison Technology) operates a technical support center for its own software package products, such as HULFT and DataSpider. Previously, the company was using an on-premise call system, but in 2019 they began considering a replacement in order to accommodate more flexible working styles, such as working from home, as the system was approaching end of support (EOSL) in 2020.

Among these, the three conditions listed are:

1. Reduced initial costs
   When opening a new base, we will use cloud services to keep costs as low as possible.
2. Unification of operation and maintenance
   The same system will be used at all locations to allow operators to operate flexibly (such as working from home) and provide business and technical support.
3. Highly scalable
   We will incorporate cutting-edge IT technologies, such as analyzing recorded phone calls and integrating with other services, to build a system infrastructure that can lead to improved services.

"Amazon Connect" met all these criteria. Because Amazon Connect is a completely cloud-based system, there is no need to procure hardware, which reduces initial costs. In addition, because it is a pay-per-use system based on usage, new locations can use only the amount they need. With on-premise systems, there are cases where a system cannot be built unless the location is a certain size, but with Amazon Connect, the same system can be used regardless of the size of the location.
Another attractive feature is the ease of integration with the wide range of services offered by AWS, including machine learning and speech recognition.Of course, it can also be integrated with external services such as Salesforce, and the prospect of scalability to meet our company's business requirements was a deciding factor.

HULFT /DataSpider reduces customization man-hours by over 80%

Naturally, building a call system requires integration with the company's internal customer information system, and this remains the case with Amazon Connect. This is where HULFT and DataSpider came in. DataSpider is a data integration platform that makes it possible to process and transfer data held by internal systems to the Amazon Connect format without programming. Developing data integration from scratch would have taken a considerable amount of time and cost, but DataSpider enabled implementation in a short period of time and at low cost.
Another challenge was customization. Although Amazon Connect provides a full range of core call center functions, there were some shortcomings when it came to using it for current operations, and customization was necessary.
For example, Amazon Connect allows you to set operation hours for each day of the week on the console screen, but the technical support center set them by date rather than by day of the week. There was also a desire to enable users to easily update and view their own business calendars, rather than having administrators set them on the console screen. Achieving this required development, but this function is not something that is used every day, and launching a web server and developing a screen just for that purpose would not be cost-effective.
HULFT and DataSpider also solved this issue. DataSpider outputs Amazon Connect business calendar information to Excel, allowing users to view and update the calendar information in Excel. Conversely, we created a system whereby when a user updates Excel, the changes are automatically reflected in Amazon Connect. This functionality also did not require writing complex code; it could be easily implemented by simply setting which data to output to which column in Excel. This successfully reduced development time by more than 80% compared to developing it from scratch.

Not just for call centers! Amazon Connect can be used for a variety of purposes

Amazon Connect, which can be used from anywhere, is a major enabler of telecommuting in call centers. Furthermore, by utilizing HULFT and DataSpider for data integration, you can quickly create a system that suits your company.
Amazon Connect's uses aren't limited to call centers. Even in the event of a sudden emergency like the current pandemic, Amazon Connect can be used to quickly implement a system that allows employees to receive company calls from home and transfer them to other members of the company. It also has features like an IVR (Interactive Voice Response), so you can play voice guidance and have employees select menu numbers based on their needs.
Our "Linkage Service*" offers proposals that combine Amazon Connect with our products, including HULFT and DataSpider. In addition to the functional customizations introduced here, we can also flexibly accommodate integration with internal systems and other SaaS. We will make proposals based on our own case studies as well as our implementation track record with various customers, so if you're interested, please feel free to contact us.
*A service that uses data integration software (HULFT /DataSpider) at its core to connect systems/data distributed within a company, as well as other companies' systems/data and SaaS.

The person who wrote the article

所 属：リンケージビジネスユニット ビジネス開発部 データエンジニアリングコンサルタントチーム

土田 昌輝

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