The challenge

Sydbank, Denmark’s fourth largest financial institution, worked together with Zylinc on developing a successful new fusion between a switchboard and a contact center system: Zylinc Service Center. Using this, the bank’s Customer Service team can now easily handle 100,000 calls per month.

“We were in the market for a new telephone system, but we wanted something more than just a switchboard system. We wanted a completely new set of features, because our customers were beginning to request different kinds of services. In addition, we were looking for a flexible system that could be developed further,” says Joan Mai, Customer Service Manager at Sydbank.

Customer service is extremely important to Sydbank. The bank’s organizational philosophy is rooted in customer needs and based on a broad delegation of competence and decision-making power in their customer-oriented entities. As a result, the bank decided to expand their cooperation with Zylinc to improve their results.

“We were already using another Zylinc product, Zylinc Contact Center, for support line and hotline functions – in fact, Sydbank participated in the development of that product too. Therefore, we already knew how adept Zylinc was at developing products based on our needs,” Joan Mai explains.

“We wanted a completely new set of features, because our customers were beginning to request different kinds of services. Zylinc specifically tailored their development to match our needs.”

Joan Mai, Customer Service Manager at Sydbank.

A targeted development process soon followed, during which Sydbank and Zylinc analyzed the bank’s specific needs: How to deliver the best possible customer service over the phone. Based on the detailed analysis, Zylinc specifically tailored their development to match Sydbank’s needs.

The result was Zylinc Service Center which brings together the best of a switchboard system with the best of a contact center system. Sydbank implemented the new system and Zylinc perfected the features based on feedback from the bank’s Customer Service experts.

“We’re very pleased with Zylinc Service Center which enables us to realize the bank’s strategic approach of putting the customer in focus, so we in turn can solve their problems quickly,” says Joan Mai, and points to the fact that Zylinc Service Center contains a wealth of information that makes it easy to help the calling customers.

“When a customer calls us, we always try to help them in the first go. If this isn’t possible, Zylinc Service Center makes it easy to transfer the call or, alternatively, see if a specific employee is in a meeting. If that’s the case, the agent can quickly look into that employee’s calendar and book a callback appointment,” explains Joan Mai.

Sydbank provides customer service from several locations.

“Zylinc Service Center distributes all incoming calls into queues based on location. All Customer Service agents at a given location answer the calls in their respective queue.”

“However, if a long queue of incoming calls is building up at one location, Zylinc Service Center enables the other Customer Service departments across the country to assist their colleagues and provide service to the customers, eliminating unnecessary waiting time,” says Joan Mai.

“When customers call company or department main lines, the call flow in Zylinc Service Center automatically send all incoming calls directly to Customer Service. The same applies to incoming calls made directly to an employee: If their line is busy, or their call forwarding is activated, or if there’s no answer after a few seconds, the call is sent to Customer Service, where agents have been trained to answer the most frequently occurring customer questions. In this way, our customers are served immediately,” Joan Mai explains.

Sydbank aims for constant availability, and for customers to have their needs met by the first employee who answers their call. This is the case in approximately 65 % of all calls.

“By using Zylinc Service Center, we can provide good customer service and use our internal resources properly. Customer Service is a strategic focus area for Sydbank, and Zylinc Service Center makes it possible to act in accordance with our strategy,” Joan Mai ends.