A Perfect-Match Help Desk for a Cosmetics Industry Legend


Case Study

Executive Overview

Challenge

  • Deteriorating service desk
  • Increased hold times
  • Language fluency

Solution

  • Global outsourced help desk that was U.S. based
  • Bilingual in English and Spanish
  • Seamless transition

Results

  • Increased customer service
  • Improved FCR
  • Improved internal perception

For nearly a century, this global cosmetics company has manufactured and marketed a range of cosmetics, skin care products and fragrances in more than 100 countries. The company operates 24/7 across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific region.

The largest proportion of their user base is in the U.S, followed by EMEA and the Asia Pacific region, but a large volume of Spanish-speaking users makes English and Spanish support a must. The company relied heavily on a third-party help desk provider—but after some business changes, service levels suffered.

Finding a multilingual help desk service to meet their needs was a tall order, but Global Help Desk Services, Inc. (GHDSi) was able to offer the company reliable, fluent, expert support that delighted users and got them back up and running much faster.

Business Challenge

The global cosmetics company had been using a global third-party help desk provider for almost two decades, primarily in English and Spanish, to resolve common user issues like account lockouts and password resets.

However, after the cosmetics company completed an acquisition, problems began to arise with their vendor. Service deteriorated, and problems with billing mounted. The situation grew so dire, users began taking photos of their phone displays and sending the snapshots to the IT director to show how long they were forced to wait on hold.

Unsurprisingly, the company decided not to renew their existing vendor’s contract at the end of the term. They instead issued an RFP and interviewed a number of providers. But the clock was ticking: No matter who the cosmetics company picked as their new help desk vendor, the migration would need to be completed within a few short months to coincide with the end of the prior contract period.

Solution

After having soured on their previous vendor, the cosmetics company was anxious to make sure they weren’t leaping from the frying pan into the fire.

Those worries were quelled after meeting GHDSi leadership. The company’s IT director explained, “They understood, they asked the right questions about all of the applications and the services that we provide, and they went into considerable detail for fact finding and information gathering.”

The more the company got to know GHDSi, the more they realized their users would be in good hands.

Precision Approach

GHDSi’s first task was to pinpoint the cosmetic company’s IT support needs to get them back on track. GHDSi examined every area of the company’s business, from processes to workflows, from approvals to gatekeepers. The comprehensive onboarding process also included a review of the company’s off-the-shelf software and custom applications, along with their user-request process (particularly with regard to required Sarbanes–Oxley financial record keeping and reporting controls).

U.S.-Based Support

Clear and easy-to-understand support for their English and Spanish users was a must. Knowing that GHDSi agents are entirely U.S.-based, provided strong reassurance that users wouldn’t be frustrated by miscommunication.

Predictable Pricing

The company appreciated that GHDSi offered a standard, minimum-commit rate with predictable monthly costs. From a budgeting perspective, the company’s finance group appreciated less fluctuation in their invoicing.

Personal Service

Like many other businesses, this cosmetics company had plenty of experience dealing with large and impersonal solution providers who never return inquiries. They were pleased to see GHDSi’s depth and breadth of expertise was accompanied by a small-business level of care and attention—which was on full display as the company and GHDSi worked together to get the people, technology and processes lined up and optimized for the company’s support needs.

Fast Onboarding

By relying on GHDSi’s proven processes and deep expertise to expedite the onboarding process, GHDSi was ready within the necessary timeframe to seamlessly begin providing Tier 1 support around user access, granting IDs for certain applications that need approvals, workflows and a few other issues.

Results

As soon as GHDSi took over from the previous help desk vendor, call handle time and call resolution time were tremendously reduced.

Adds the company’s IT director, “Another big improvement has been speed to answer, which is so much better. I think the longest hold time we've had is five minutes so far, which is extraordinary compared with our prior provider. This was massive for us because speed to answer was something that I constantly got complaints about.”

So far so good. But … were calls actually being handled well? Or were users being rushed off the phone without adequate resolutions?

The picture soon became clear as customer satisfaction survey data began to roll in. “The average scores on our customer satisfaction surveys went up immediately,” says the company’s IT Director.

The cosmetics company noticed—and the user comments verified—that not only were GHDSi’s agents more knowledgeable and astute, but they were much more pleasant and courteous.

Never content to rest on their laurels though, GHDSi uses call and survey data, along with any client feedback, as fuel for continuous improvement—all as part of their commitment to quality through training. The cosmetic company’s users will continue to benefit from bilingual, expert, courteous help desk service they can count on … and that’s a beautiful thing.

“I'd say we've had a very positive experience. The people at GHDSi are interested, they value our business, and they care about the quality they provide. For a business of our size, with the requirements that we have, GHDSi is the perfect match.”

- IT Director, Global Cosmetics Company

 

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