RightNow's Customer Management Solution Enables ATHD To Help Soldiers Pursue Advancement On Their Own Initiative By Providing Accurate And Up-to-date Information
“ Army e-Learning is the best thing since sliced bread. Instead of wading through paperwork and hassles to get the classes needed, a soldier can advance using the clicks of a mouse from any terminal. ”
Goals
- Accurate and up-to-date information for students and Subject Matter Experts
- Meet the TRADOC support standards for timely and consistent assistance
- Improve SME productivity
- Empower students to help themsleves
Achievements
- Nearly 300 Subject Matter Experts or agents in multiple contact centers
- 80,000 answers viewed
- Satisfaction jumped to 75 percent
- Response times dropped to less than one day
The US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is responsible for training all US Army forces; everything from weapons or artillery instruction to distance learning courses and professional development. tradoc trains approximately 500,000 soldiers and civilians using traditional methods, such as in-person classes at two schools and centers at 16 Army installations, as well as virtual training approximate 350,000 a year via online courses. The Army Training Support Center (ATHC) is the group within tradoc that supports these training efforts with more than 300 subject matter experts (SMEs) or agents throughout tradoc schools and centers.
Victory Starts Here
The TRADOC slogan, Victory Starts Here, is really more than just a slogan; it’s a responsibility. The US Army builds tough, mentally adaptive, well-educated soldiers, and the atsc supports the training required to keep these soldiers on their toes. The students they support are scattered all over the globe, and training is mandatory for those who want to move up in the ranks. Soldiers in the Reserves also use distance learning courseware to maintain their military skill set. The goal in supporting all of this training is to give students an easy, convenient, and consistent experience, and one place to go for support.
If students run into a problem, ATHD is the single point of entry to get it resolved. They are available 24x7 by phone, web, and email. An Army officer, training the Afghani national police, contacted athd recently to request combat simulation training materials that included a building mock up, instructions on how to assemble and hold weapons, and details on how to survey a building for criminals and weapons. This training material is critical to life or death in a combat zone. athd routed the incident to the correct sme, and the he received the material he requested. He didn’t have to worry about who to call, knowing that athd is a one-stop-shop for all training needs.
The Enemy: Unruly Information
ATSC used a mix of excel documents, individual experiences, crammed notebooks, and post-it-notes to keep track of requests and to support students. There was no knowledge foundation and no real support system in place. ATHC couldn’t provide the kind of support they wanted to, plus they needed a better way to manage the massive amount of inquiries coming in and answers going out.
Without an organized way to manage the information, athc was drowning in it, and students were complaining. Response times were slow and it was difficult to measure help desk performance or customer satisfaction. As the number of students continued to grow, so did the problem.
The Army needed to improve their processes, create a centralized content repository, and automate workflow to improve the way they responded to student inquiries. They needed a robust multi-channel customer management solution that would empower students to help themselves, but also gave agents the customer management solution tools they needed to improve both the turn-around time and the quality of responses to questions posed by their students. Plus, they were required to adhere to new service level mandates. The mandates include:
- 1 hour for automated response
- Four business days for incident resolution/closure
- Unresolved incidents escalated to managers on 3,6,9 days
- The status of all assigned incidents tracked until resolved
Ready to overcome their challenges, ATHC conducted an extensive study to find the optimum customer nanagement solution for managing and providing effective customer service.
The knowledge base provides a way for students to get their own answers quickly. Answers that once took 15 minutes and were delivered over the phone by an agent sifting through papers and post-its are now available online, through the knowledge base. This was a great improvement over the old way of doing things—and it showed. In fact, satisfaction jumped to 75 percent. The Army’s smes, armed with consistent and automated processes, improved response time to 24 hours or less and resolution to less than two days. They also like the way information can be updated promptly, so as relevant things happen, they can quickly post updates to their knowledge base.
“A majority of the students we support are soldiers on active duty in the Middle East, enlisted men and women, sergeants and privates,” said Greg Bailey, chief, customer assistance division, ATSC. “If a soldier in Iraq goes back to the base after a day of patrolling in Bagdad there’s a good chance he will spend some time online. He could be working through a training course to advance in rank or he might be working on his bachelor’s degree. Whatever the training, if there is an issue or a problem, that soldier comes to athd for help.”
Like their private sector counterparts, the ATSC wants to be able to provide a good experience for students needing their help. Using this multi-channel customer management solution agents are able to look at the history of a student’s previous activity and provide a better experience.
The Power Of Listening
ATSC is also using RightNow to monitor the quality of customer support and satisfaction. Each month, ATSC sends surveys to its students and uses the feedback captured to make ongoing adjustments to processes and support offerings. In the first year alone, ATSC saw a 30 percent reply rate from the monthly surveys and citizen satisfaction rose to 75 percent.
Army Training Help Desk Homepage
About Army Training Support Center
The US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is tasked with developing young soldiers and adaptive leaders. They are responsible for training all US Army forces; everything from weapons or artillery instruction to distance learning courses and professional development. TRADOC operates 32 schools and training centers at 16 Army installations and serves 500,000 soldiers and Army civilians.
As part of TRADOC, the Army Training Support Center (ATSC) has responsibility for managing the Army Training Help Desk (ATHD) Federation with more than 300 agents, or Subject Matter Experts (SMES) that provide support to students through the phone, web, and email.
Greg Gianforte