ADP Canada is getting rid of its legacy case management systems and rolling out a Web-based one to improve customer service for some 50,000 business customers accessing six regional offices across the country.
The provider of integrated business solutions decided to replace its internally developed case management systems with the FootPrints Web-based service desk automation software from UniPress Software, initially rolling it out to 600 agents in September to 1,000 by year’s end.
“Currently we have three different case management tools, two of which are extremely old and somewhat problematic,” said Chris Davis, senior director of systems development with ADP Canada in Toronto. “So while we can use the tools and we can extract data from them, they’re really not good applications.” It also means that call centre representatives have to work with three different tools, she added, which is difficult, particularly if cases need to be shared across groups.
“We wanted to go with a Web-enabled tool that we could ultimately get a self-service option with,” she said. The company went through an RFP process with three vendors and chose UniPress because its requirements could be accommodated without customization. “We could also see potential future use [of FootPrints] outside of case management and we didn’t get that from the other tools,” she added.
The initial pilot will take place this fall through the end of the year, and will focus on two groups: the case management call centre agents and the technical support group.
FootPrints is a Web-based support automation tool that includes centralized tracking for incoming customer requests from myriad sources, including phone, e-mail, live chat and wireless PDAs, along with workflow and business rule automation, online self-service, knowledge management, two-way e-mail management, service level management and reporting capabilities.
ADP Canada will use the tool to log different customer inquiries, from payroll requests to technical issues, which will be centrally processed in FootPrints – whether they’re submitted using Web screens, e-mail or logged by an agent.
“It will be much easier for our service representatives to get to the information they’re looking for,” said Davis. “With FootPrints we can populate a lot more information for them.” The aim is to provide a tool for agents that isn’t a struggle to use, which is the case with its existing COBAL-based tools. “One in particular is 12 to15 years old so you can imagine case management 12 to15 years ago really didn’t have a lot to offer,” she said, “and it’s on the host so it’s clunky.”
The company also has a lot of Lotus Notes applications, which it’s moving away from. Davis sees another six to eight applications the company could use FootPrints for down the road, such as HR tracking.
“The product is Web-based, so customers who use it don’t have to put a client on every desktop,” said Mark Krieger, president of UniPress Software in Edison, N.J. “They can track issues or support calls from their desktop from any browser.”
UniPress competes with the likes of BMC Remedy and BMC Magic, among others. “I would say that those [vendors] might come in and give companies like ADP a program that would include lots of consultants coming on, lots of programmers customizing, probably a database administrator, months of customization and set-up before they could use it,” he said.
FootPrints was designed to make it easy for agents to use the system without a lot of training, he added. It will also link into other databases or repositories of information.
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