Friends Provident beefs up customer service

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Financial services group Friends Provident plans to work with contact centre software specialist Graham Technology to centralise key processes and boost customer service across all client facing areas of its business.

The company aims to complete the first phase of the implementation of customer interaction software called ciboodle, which will involve rolling out a desktop application in Friends Provident's contact centre, by the end of this year, as part of a company-wide drive to deliver what it calls '6 star customer service'.

In addition to the contact centre implementation, the solution will eventually be rolled out across all of Friends Provident's divisions that have direct contact with customers, including self-service elements, sales teams, independent financial advisers and partners. It will be implemented in all geographies and support the use of some 2,000 concurrent internal users and unlimited external users.

"With 6 Star Customer Service, we intend to ensure that Friends Provident sets the standard for customer service in our industry," said Richard Crouch, Director of Customer Services at Friends Provident. "With ciboodle, Graham Technology has demonstrated to us that they have a similar passion and ability to deliver outstanding customer service results, and we are excited to be working with them on this project."

The two companies initially started talking about the project in May last year before kicking off two proof-of-concept trials.

"ciboodle is perfect for companies like Friends Provident, for whom a significant part of their business is driven by the effective management of customer interactions," said Murray Farquharson, an account director at Graham Technology.

"Driving these interactions on a process-based platform like ciboodle makes a lot of sense, as it allows for the re-use of common processes throughout your customer facing operations and gives the flexibility to adapt processes to meet the changing demands of the market," he said.

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