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Industry
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Telecommunications
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Customer
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debitel Nederland BV
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Host Connectivity Solution
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PowerTerm® WebConnect
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Host Server
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Citrix
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Users
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50 call center representatives
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The Challenge
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To provide call center representatives with reliable and smooth host access to KPN's (their partner's) database in order to provide a quick response to customer callers.
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The Solution
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PowerTerm WebConnect has enabled debitel to give its call-center representatives browser-based access to KPN's database so they can retrieve customer profiles and administrative information quickly and seamlessly.
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Benefits
- PowerTerm WebConnect, a browser-based solution, eliminated the need to configure software on individual desktops, freeing up system administration's time and manpower.
- PowerTerm WebConnect was installed and configured for all users in less than an hour.
- PowerTerm WebConnect increased call center productivity and speeded up response time.
- Ericom's Customer Support team provided excellent assistance and was quick to respond.
"The fact that PowerTerm WebConnect was an easy and simple program to work with, install, and administer, was a major advantage, and the whole installation took about 15 minutes."
Sito Joe, Team Manager, Office Solutions, debitel Nederland BV
Background
debitel Nederland BV is a subsidiary of debitel AG, the biggest network-independent telecommunication company in Europe. debitel AG reported revenues of more than 2.5 billion Euro in 2002, and has a customer base of over 10 million mobile phone users.
debitel Nederland BV provides network telecommunication services within the Netherlands. Its call centers, located in two separate locations within the country, provide assistance to the company's 1.4 million customers. For instance, if a customer's mobile phone is stolen, a call center representative can retrieve the customer's data from KPN's database, and have the phone immediately disconnected. KPN is one of debitel's network provider partners, and is the largest independent telecommunications provider in the Netherlands.
debitel BV Faces an Integration Challenge
Call center representatives were experiencing difficulty in accessing KPN's legacy system, hindering their ability to quickly and effectively respond to customer requests. According to Sito Joe, Team Manager, Office Solutions of debitel Nederland BV, "Our call center reps were becoming extremely frustrated. Much of the time access to the database was slow, or the screen was slow, or worst of all, the screen froze. This meant users had to reboot their computer, keeping the customer waiting on the phone. The situation was intolerable." Inquiries that should have taken seconds or one or two minutes, were taking significantly longer.
According to Joe, the problem was one of system compatibility. debitel BV was using a TTE 16-bit terminal emulation program to enable call center representatives to retrieve information from a database located on a Tandem host system. The TTE 16-bit terminal emulation program running on Windows 2000 was causing the problem. To remedy the situation, they needed to find a 32-bit application program that would be compatible with the company's Windows 2000 systems.
PowerTerm WebConnect Provides the Solution
Joe and his staff searched the Internet for a terminal emulation program and found PowerTerm WebConnect met their criteria.
debitel has been pleased with PowerTerm WebConnect's performance from the initial evaluation period. "From the start, we were able to manage easily on the back-end by ourselves", said Joe. "We installed PowerTerm WebConnect on a Citrix server and configured everything from one central computer, rather than on individual desktops." Joe, together with Cris Meijer, another member of the Office Solutions team, had the system up and running in less than an hour. "The fact that it was a simple program to work with, install and administer, was a major advantage, and the whole installation took about 15 minutes".
The only assistance debitel's Office Solutions team required from Ericom was help in configuring the program for automatic login with just one click. "The Ericom Support Team was proactive in anticipating any problems that would and could arise when installing a new program into such a large organization," said Joe. "The few times we've needed to call Ericom's support center, we have gotten a very quick response. That's quite unique, because in my experience, most of the time people don't always call back."
Another advantage, says Joe, was PowerTerm WebConnect's centralized management and administration capabilities. "We can now administrate the program via the PowerTerm WebConnect server and manage it for all our users", explained Joe. "Before, we were unable to manage the system because it ran on the individual machines themselves. This took up a lot of time and manpower. With PowerTerm WebConnect, it runs on a server and we're able to control it from one central location."
Powerterm WebConnect has been well received by debitel's call center representatives in the two centers that serve its Netherlands customers. Users are now able to access the information they require in a short amount of time, through a web browser, thereby decreasing customer-waiting time significantly.
