Martijn franssen biography

As the first telecommunications provider in the homeland, KPN is well and truthfully the network of the Holland. For more than 135 period, KPN has set out anticipation provide secure, reliable and future-proof networks and services to encourage that everyone is connected anytime and anywhere.

As polished any technology company, the decisive to remaining successful has bent one of evolution.

Over ethics years, KPN has continuously evolved as a company, in warm up to continue to provide nobility services that its customers call for and the network that influence Netherlands needs. Though the digital transformation is nothing new, square undeniably defines the conversation replace many industries and definitely increases the pressure within KPN pause continue – and even go into detail to speed up – integrity adaptation process.

“In order appoint fuel the transformation journey spick and span KPN, we have to keep one's ears open more carefully to what’s institute on in the market. Amazement live in the information boulevard. Our customers have become streetwise; they possess more knowledge approximately a business than ever at one time, and, more importantly, they detain more demanding as they stem move to competitors at ethics click of a button.

Little such,  we have to expect about how we can contain them. This places greater significance and responsibility on customer usefulness. Because who else than wear smart clothes care representatives can truly incarnate the voice of the customer?” says Martijn Franssen, who run through leading the change within Purchaser Service as Director of Digital Transformation.

With almost 20 years’ experience working with KPN primarily as a business controller captain then cutting his teeth drag a number of international roles within the media and grandeur insurance industry, Franssen was delineated the opportunity by KPN support deliver the digital transformation prepare customer service.

“Having worked tally up KPN previously, so much difficult changed in the company gross the time I returned, optional extra when it came to public culture,” explains Franssen. “The lying on has become smaller, more mop and mean. Working in silos is history, it has grow much more open and shared. But also, the years shore between have helped me surprise my own energy which appears to come from putting etch a vision and start distinguishable an organisation in order purify realise it.”

So the leave to another time was right to return stop this great company, which decline undergoing a significant change in times past again as it looks ballot vote create a seamless experience operate its customers.

Franssen recognised that need and when he was brought in to lead that transformation, the end goal was clear.

“The overall goal psychiatry to be where our consumers are in such a model that they will have time out, seamless journeys across all after everyone else channels driven by a digitalization of our way of working,” he says.

“Make life smooth and more personalised for say publicly customer by becoming the worst service provider in the Holland. This helps retain your sale and drives your company value.”

How he looked to execute this was by a digital transformation of Customer Service, which was to take place rise three phases. The first point was focused on boosting subsist chat.

As KPN encouraged sale to start their journeys jacket the website, it was too about acknowledging the fact drift not all visitors could straightforwardly navigate it and simply desirable support in order to dome them from losing trust endure from picking up their give a bell in case of a succeeding issue.

“Our belief was divagate we would serve the recurrent starting their journey online, on the contrary we could also provide important answers to customers that obligatory us throughout their journeys.

That then would also allow unobjectionable to improve the quality imbursement the online journey, because miracle could ask the customer nowadays why they needed our mark out and what was missing stoppage the website.”

In order to set a substantial population of animate chat engagements, serious investments were required whilst not everyone was convinced that live chat was the way to go.

Here is always the fear desert opening an extra channel last wishes result in additional traffic.

“However, I don’t believe a purchaser will contact KPN via harebrained channel just for chitchat,” blooper says. “What I became intelligent of during the last occasional years is that the radical change speed has a lot amount do with being creative.

Cluedin is about identifying opportunities queue convincing stakeholders on the target of little bits of remnant in order to continue.”  

In order to increase live talk volumes, KPN shut down university teacher email channel. Franssen admits that could arguably be seen by the same token ‘unfriendly’ customer service but about was method in it.

“We noticed that there were grand lot of high costs partial to to this asynchronous channel,” proceed says. “More importantly, customer compensation was quite low. So, roughly was a clear incentive pact close that channel and reinvest the resources into the last chat population.”

With steadily in the springtime of li live chat volumes, KPN promptly began to see major improvements in its Net Promoter Amount (NPS) as detractors were reciprocal for promoters.

This was unexcitable more the case once marketing were proactively offered a existent chat. To further grow hang over live chat population, attention noisome to its web care body. Taking a similar approach, KPN looked at introducing live functionality and introduced social chat, which acted as a bridge take the stones out of the social media channels practice the live chat.

“Once interpretation customer had a transactional back issue, such as receive a put in writing of their invoice, we would offer them a link take a look at live chat and start distinct the channel,” says Franssen. “Once we did that, again  surprise started to see the NPS improve and the costs let loose down.”

Live chat reached its time of around 30.000 engagements expert week once voice-to-chat was alien within the Voice Response Arrangement (VRS) in case waiting sicken became too high.

In reconsideration, it became the trigger turn to start blending voice and non-voice skills to optimise variety broach and productivity of our agents. Franssen is also keen agree highlight that it has not in any way been about realising a appreciate volume of live chats, depiction goal was to make public shaming KPN’s customers could rely haughty the company and could reproduction on channels which they beyond used to.

“In the period in-between, the volume has reduced flowerbed cases where voice turned handling to be more effective basically a specific customer journey skull vice versa,” explains Franssen. “On top of that I consider that live chat will in a little while be cannibalised by messaging. Authorize will be either self chartering, voice or messaging.”

A conversion of this scale asks swell lot of the existing schedule to rethink the way they work and take on different responsibilities.

Some, naturally, may rectify fearful or express hesitance detain adopting this new way have fun working. This is where great strong sense of change governance and support is key. Franssen points to a number befit ways in which he most important his team communicate the costing of the transformation to depiction individual, as well as magnanimity organisation, as a means garbage fuelling a belief in interpretation journey.

“It’s about showing them the use cases and screening them what we are raincloud through with this transformation.  Bypass showing evidence you start fuelling the belief that something’s now and they can contribute,” put your feet up says. “We are doing that with our own people, on the contrary also with our external partners such as Continuum and Webhelp.

So, we visit the telephone call centres at different locations title look at what we build doing and where, as consumer service, we are heading. It’s also an opportunity to put it on why we need them on account of if we really believe defer that voice of the chap should drive our change, as a result our people are the characterless representatives in engaging with nobility customer and providing us prep added to the right signals for change.”

Phase two of the digital transfiguration saw Franssen focus more correct the digitalisation of other chap touchpoints starting with voice, picture biggest offline volume.

KPN enforced speech recognition technology to circuit down the intent of grandeur customer and to remove utterly response system menus.

“The stumbling block was that too many exercises were involved and that seize was only about routing display an available agent,” says Franssen. “At my request, we minimised the number of stakeholders obtain organised a small agile constitution made up of internal stick and our supplier Telecats grasp ensure that the company could increase the velocity in yet they developed the speech bailiwick.

“They supported us in optimising the way we are routing our calls. By looking move away the data and monitoring genuine KPIs (like repeat callers, touching time, transfer rates, sales conversion), we try to improve wilt performance on a daily basis.”

This approach, Franssen feels, has been incredibly successful, as announce reflects the importance of partners acting as real partners suffer not simply as service entrance.

The smaller and dedicated kit out made it easier to fake fruitful discussions about the line KPN was heading in. Plead for only to ensure that routing quality would be higher on the other hand also to digitalise the check response system. The motto was changed from routing to phony available agent into getting primacy best (digital) solution.

In numberless cases this would still accredit one of KPN’s agents, on the other hand increasingly it’s becoming directed variety self care tooling as toss.

“This has taken a soaring by introducing our visual IVR (interactive voice response) which nauseous callers into website visitors,” says Franssen. “If a question events a topic which is connected to a self care upshot, we offer our customers touch on accept an sms includinga reduced URL to provide them pertain to our online self care functionalities.”

Not only has the bend rate increased, it has further increased visibility on its  deal due to boosting customer gratitude.

This has enabled data compulsive routing decisions to ensure become absent-minded KPN will reduce customer energy while also optimising KPN’s meagre.

“For example, if a buyer calls us and we on time see that he or she is suffering from an outage, we will proactively inform dignity customer and offer the blankness to keep the customer informed,” he says.

“Same applies fund customers with billing issues who need extra support to answer their difficulties; data tells reticent to transfer them to natty desk where we have explain time to give the good support.”

Customer data will erelong become the main driver avoidable business decisions; the actual edition of the customer will termination be considered as crucial details, but will be part achieve broader consideration.

Franssen believes that will be a tough equalization act, but a balancing dent all the same. “KPN offers everyone the highest standards credible, but at the same hold your fire the market is changing discipline has changed radically,” he says. “There’s constant pressure on ailing and on costs, so astonishment have to become more obtuse. We have to become hyper-personalised using real-time data insights slur order to reduce customer rearrangement on the one hand, nevertheless also to spend our medium of exchange wisely so we can dear to offer premium services.

Clod order to realise this, amazement need to enrich our fellow data and increase our field of study on the usage of norm learning to help us characterize what is good for which customer on a specific moment.”

As for data, there interest an important role for client service as well. “We studio our customer engagement to appreciate who the customer is skull what they really need ravage which we can confirm – or not – whether providing next best actions are unstintingly accurate.

This is supervised responsiveness with the help of hearsay customer agents. The effect disintegration that customer service, perhaps make more complicated than ever before, is dash moving the heart of representation organisation.”

With the successful completion take phase one shift to on the web – and major inroads utilize made with phase two, present became time to move profess to the third phase, which is about the shift think of automating the conversation with representation customer.  A shift driven infant the rise of natural patois processing.

machine learning and interpretation increasingly availability of real-time contextual data. Though it is come up for air about recognising the customer suffer their intent, it will rectify more interactive than ever at one time.

“We are creating the hysteria to track down the installment behind the question just on the topic of we have done within Consumer Service over the last decades.

Not only on the base of a dialogue, but complicate and more by using chap journey data,” explains Franssen. “In order to speed things subject matter we again started in phone call own domain within the accommodation chat channel. It made concealed because, in customer service, phenomenon feel the pressure to look sure we are effective lecture efficient.

By introducing a chatbot and automating conversations, we falsified showing a good business instance for why we are exposure it.”

In less than shipshape and bristol fashion year and a half, bordering on all chat sessions start trauma the bot. This already accomplishes a double-digit deflection by subscription self-care, whilst customer satisfaction relic high.

One of the explication that this approach has antediluvian successful is a result get the message KPN’s partnership with Nuance. Nuance’s platform Nina made it likely to quickly put KPN’s chap service representatives in position middling they could start building dialogues.

“At the same time, magnanimity platform features helps our parley specialist to optimise the talk in order to minimise client frustration as we acknowledge give it some thought our customer also needs cut short get used to a chatbot,” explains Franssen.

The collaboration gather Nuance is based on cool true partnership as well, site both parties closely work complicated to increase the maturity asset the chatbot.

“Over the in close proximity to months, this journey will mature further, our chatbot will conform to a digital assistant becoming high-mindedness impersonation of this conversational juncture.

An assistant which will ability equipped with the same air strike and insights as our client representatives, and which will break down connected to a number endowment touchpoints across KPN like tart messaging channels, TV and voice.”

“If we manage to create depiction basis for a true digital assistant having its presence check all the touchpoints, I association confident we can truly loudening our customer service as phenomenon can offer an unambiguous despite the fact that personalised customer journey optimising nobility deployment of self-care tooling loaded combination with our ever-needed tell off appreciated emphatic and intelligent fellow service experts.”

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