Success story

Optimizing
operational efficiency

Maintaining customer satisfaction

As the leading 3G service provider in the Finnish

market, Elisa wanted to address an increasing
number of customer calls that were also becoming
more demanding in nature.
Nokia Siemens Networks NetAct Traffica
has provided Elisas call center with the
tools to serve several organizational teams
for better OPEX efficiency, higher customer
satisfaction, and call center employee
motivation.

The Customer Team of Nokia

Siemens Networks also
demonstrated their professional
approach to customer business
issues and after listening to our
requirements came back with a
perfectly matched solution.
Vesa Suomalainen,
Head of the Customer Care
department, Elisa

02/08

Optimizing operational efficiency

Improving
call center efficiency

Elisa
Elisa is the leading communications
service company in Finland,
offering its private, corporate, and
institutional customers voice and
telecommunication services,
customized communications
services solutions and network
operator services. Elisa is the
broadband market leader in Finland
with over 1.3 million fixed line
subscriptions, of which broadband
subscriptions comprise over 521,000.

As the leading 3G service provider in

the highly saturated Finnish market,
Elisa wanted to address the increasing
number of calls being made to its call
center and the fact that these calls
were also becoming more demanding.
Elisa hoped to optimize its call center
operational efficiency in a way that
also improved its customer satisfaction
scores.

By introducing NetAct Traffica for

Customer Care, the Network
Management and Customer Care
management teams brought tangible
benefits to their financial, marketing,
product management, and human
resources colleagues by:
Serving the same number of
customers with 20% less staff
Solving 98% of customer calls on
the first level
Decreasing field maintenance
visits by 15%
Improving customer satisfaction
by shortening resolution time and
making proactive customer contacts
Creating better aligned customer
operations with the brand promise
of service leadership
Improving the product design
process by addressing feedback on
product performance
Increasing employee motivation in
call centers

Better use of competences

for OPEX efficiency

The benefits have been remarkable

because the system helps us trace
the customer problem straight to
either the network or the customers
device. This helps us avoid
unnecessary configuration checks
and lets us focus on the correct
area from the start.
Traffica user, Elisa

Elisa is a pioneering GSM service

provider in Finland, with meaningful
coverage in the fixed services as well.
They have gained a leading position
in 3G markets and realized the
increasing need for flexible allocation
of their call center competences
across mobile and fixed services.
The need is driven by their customers
demand for unified customer services
which they want to access
independently. Additional drivers
include irregular incidents such as bad
weather, when fixed lines are at more
risk and focused action is needed.
Elisas challenge was to address the
increased length of customer calls and
long resolution times due to increased
3G and mobile data usage. In addition,
the earlier call center (CC) solution
prevented flexible use of their
competences across the technologies.
One third of Elisas CC staff supported
mobile services and two thirds fixed
services. The need for mobile service
support was increasing, as was the
pressure for more competitive OPEX
efficiency.
With NetAct Traffica for Customer
Care, Elisa successfully built a call
center team which could help
customers access the services they
needed through either mobile or fixed
networks.

Elisas efficiency gain can be

formulated in multiple figures. Their
call center is currently handling the
same amount of customers with
20% less staff. They have succeeded
in solving 98% of customer calls on
the first level. The number of site visits
has been cut by 15%. Special
competences have been transferred
to more demanding new business
development tasks, while 50% of call
center staff are now considered
flexible resources provided by external
companies.
In addition, the feedback from Traffica
users reveals improved employee
satisfaction, resulting in better
performance and general motivation.
One user comments: The benefits
have been remarkable because the
system helps us trace the customer
problem straight to either the
network or the customers device.
This helps us avoid unnecessary
configuration checks and lets us focus
on the correct area from the start.

04/08

Optimizing operational efficiency

Improved customer satisfaction

for better customer lifetime value
Elisas promise to their customers is:
Elisa offers telecommunications
services for fast, efficient and secure
communications.
There are cultural differences in the
perceived customer experience,
says Vesa Suomalainen, Head of the
Customer Care department, Elisa.
We have had visitors from Latin
America where the customers want
to get answered in 10 seconds and
after that dont so much care if
resolution takes more time. In Finland,
customers can queue for several
minutes, but expect the problem to be
solved during the call. With Traffica,
we solve 98% of the problems during
the 1st call. Suomalainen continues.
There needs to be a business case
whenever we want to improve customer
satisfaction, says Hannu Ruuhijrvi,
Head of Network Management, Elisa.
We evaluate the business impact of
waiting time by calculating the cost for
reduction, for example from 5 minutes
down to 4 minutes. Traffica helps us
to optimize profitable customer
experience management.

Increased usage of data services

also, however, brings more complexity
to users. Elisa constantly focuses on
improved customer satisfaction while
keeping control of the pressure on
efficiency. Service leadership requires
seamless cross-technology and
organizational collaboration. With
Traffica, Elisa can add value to various
organizational functions:
Improved product development
through in-depth knowledge of the
specific causes of problems
Improved brand image through
attractive service quality, network
credibility, and call center efficiency
Better call center employee
motivation through more
demanding tasks and faster
resolution capabilities

Example use case from one

of Elisas Traffica users:
A customer calls and complains that
push emails or a downloaded
application is not working. Naturally
the customer calls from the device in
question.
Situation before Traffica:
We would assume that the reason for
the problem was in the subscription or
access point settings; we would check
the subscription, provide the customer
with instructions how to check the
settings, and then ask him/her to call
back if it still didnt resolve the problem.
This would typically take 15 minutes.
Situation with Traffica:
While talking to the customer we can
simultaneously check the access
point and then after the customer has
described the problem, we already
have the right instructions for them.
This typically takes 7 minutes.

Hannu Ruuhijrvi, Head of Network

Management, Elisa

Seamlessly managed
organizational processes result
in higher customer satisfaction
Customers are acutely aware of
quality and constantly demand better
services and customer care from
Elisa. The competition comes not only
from the local market but also from
global markets which are accessed
during travel.
The complexity of services is also
increasing, with several varying
options to take into consideration
when accessing and activating them.
The call center therefore faces
continuous pressure to serve an
increasing number of customers
and a higher number of problems,
while at the same time decreasing
call center OPEX.

With Traffica, we solve

98% of the problems
during the 1st call.
Vesa Suomalainen,
Head of the Customer Care
department, Elisa

NetAct Traffica provides Elisas call

center with the tools to serve several
organizational teams for better OPEX
efficiency, higher customer satisfaction,
and greater call center employee
motivation.
Constant changes require revised
business processes from
communications service providers.
For a more holistic management of
customer experience, crossorganizational processes need to be
managed seamlessly. Traffica has
brought Elisa the tools to solve these
problems, providing performance
metrics on all levels, continuous
follow-up of Key Performance
Indicators, and peak hours per service
for better service optimization.

06/08

Optimizing operational efficiency

Why
Nokia Siemens Networks?
Elisa asked several suppliers to offer
a solution to replace the existing one,
which users were dissatisfied with
primarily because the resolution time
was unacceptably long.
After testing the offered solutions,
the user teams saw the clear benefits
of NetAct Traffica. The eventual
decision was easy to make due to clear
financial justifications and the pull from
users demanding new solutions.
The Customer Team of Nokia
Siemens Networks also demonstrated
their professional approach to
customer business issues and after
listening to our requirements came
back with a perfectly matched
solution, explains Vesa Suomalainen.

Usually the implementation phase

shows very clearly how effective a
supplier is at fulfilling their promises.
The delivery team understood the
importance of communication and
agreed time schedules and alignments
with the relevant people in Elisas
Network Management and Call Center
teams, continues Hannu Ruuhijrvi.
The overall project took 3 months to
complete and the actual users were
given 2 hour training sessions to get
started. The key users in each area
supported the other users. Because
Traffica is so easy to use describing
the causes of problems in clear
language instead of technology codes
users started to become functional
right after the short training.

Conclusion

The close collaboration between

Elisa and Nokia Siemens Networks
has brought proven results to call
center OPEX efficiency, as well as
increasing customer lifetime value
through excellent customer services.

Challenges
Reduce number of calls being made
to Call Center
Resolve calls quickly and efficiently.
Increase OPEX efficiency
Increase customer lifetime value

Benefits
Improved customer experience
through:
reduced waiting times
reduced problem resolution times
Improved OPEX efficiency
Greater call center employee
motivation through
more demanding tasks
faster resolution capabilities
Improved product development
through in-depth knowledge of the
specific causes of problems

Solution
Nokia Siemens Networks customer
care solution is customized to follow
CSP`s requirements. In this case,
the solution defined included the
following building blocks:
Nokia Siemens Networks NetAct
Traffica is a real-time traffic
monitoring and analysis solution for
multi-technology, multi-vendor
networks. It provides real-time visibility
of end-users activity and service
usage, throughout the whole network or
down to cell level. The solution allows
CSP personnel to see, for example,
how much subscribers are using the
services, at what time, from where in
the network, and what problems they
experience.
Nokia Siemens Networks Services
works with you to help find new ways to
improve your business. Our systems
integration reduces the complexity and
delivers end-to-end solutions for a
given challenge. Combination of right
expertise, capabilities and experience
ensure real business success.

Nokia Siemens Networks Corporation

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Finland
Visiting address:
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Switchboard +358 71 400 4000 (Finland)
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Copyright 2008 Nokia Siemens Networks. All rights reserved.

Nokia Siemens Networks and the wave logo are registered trademarks of Nokia Siemens Networks.
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Products and solutions herein are subject to change without notice.
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