Telstra-owned Belong accelerated plans to switch to a fully digital customer support model after COVID-19 slashed the capacity of contact centers and caused 11,000 unanswered requests to pile up.
Head of social media & digital content, Dion Van de Kamp, told Customer Contact Week A/NZ that a move to fully digitised support was already on the cards, forming part of Belong’s “strategic ambition”.
“COVID-19 just sped up the process,” he said. The company has support teams in Melbourne and overseas.
While the Melbourne-based teams moved to a work-from-home arrangement, which already existed, “85 percent of our customer service workforce overseas weren't able to work anymore,” Van de Kamp said. Support requests quickly ballooned, which led Belong to adjust its Australian operations.