American Water, a publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, announced that its Customer Service Center (CSC) received global recognition from the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI). American Water’s CSC, which has dual locations in Alton, Ill. and Pensacola, Fla., was awarded the 2012 Global Call Center of the Year Silver Award in the Technology category.
This award is given to the center that has most successfully leveraged technology to improve customer service. This includes how the technology was selected or developed, team structure, performance prior to implementation vs. after, and how this technology or tool was identified to meet the contact center's objectives.
“At American Water, customers are our number one priority, and we are committed to leveraging technology, as well as the talent of our people, to enhance our efficiencies and the value of the service we provide to our customers,” said Walter Lynch, president and chief operating officer of American Water's Regulated Operations. “This award is a testament to the dedication of our company and our employees to providing outstanding customer service to the nearly 15 million people we serve across the country.”
In 2011, American Water upgraded its call management application, which enabled enhanced call-handling performance, tracking and reporting. The new technology provides call and performance data in near real time and enables the team to manage resources and address queues as needed to meet objectives.
Since implementing the new application, the customer service center has consistently met its service level target and is able to shift resources quickly throughout the day to optimize customer experiences across all daily intervals.
American Water’s CSC operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. The Alton American Water recognized for Call Center Excellence opened in April 2001, and the Pensacola location opened in February 2005. Each CSC location handles customer calls from all American Water service territories.
ICMI presents its Global Call Center of the Year Awards annually, recognizing outstanding customer care organizations that embody call center excellence by consistently meeting or exceeding key performance objectives, sustaining a positive work culture and continually strengthening the call center's value to the organization.
Source: American Water
