De Watergroep migrates contact center to the cloud

Interaction with stakeholders

Citizens, companies, or other stakeholders use the contact center to get in touch with De Watergroep, for example to ask a question concerning a connection or an invoice.

That happens by phone, via e-mail or by using the contact form on the website. "Up until the corona crisis, the operators of our contact center used on-premise software from Genesys," comments Lode Schrauwen, ICT Head of Service at De Watergroep. "That software ran locally on the telephone sets in the contact center.”

Contact center migration to the cloud

“We had already been planning to switch to cloud software, but corona forced us to move faster. In just six weeks, we carried out the migration. Thus the operators of the contact center were able to switch to working at home.”

De Watergroep evaluated the solutions offered by several suppliers in advance but decided to remain with Genesys. “We didn't want to be guinea pigs. For this reason, we opted for an application that has already proven useful.”

Contact center with home working

Just like most companies, home working has also developed at De Watergroep into something that has stayed. “The agreement is that our employees come to the office at least two days per week," says Lode Schrauwen. "This hybrid way of working has also been retained at the contact center."

In the meantime, De Watergroep organized a survey among its employees. They turned out to be very satisfied with the way their work is organized currently. "The work location is no longer important in itself. With the software, the operators can do everything at home that they would otherwise be doing at the office."

Expertise for integration with CRM

Following the fast rollout of the Genesys software, De Watergroep brought the project into the framework agreement that the company has with Proximus.

"The great added value that Proximus realized for the project pertains to the domain of the integration that was carried out," says Lode Schrauwen. This concerned the integration of Genesys with the telephone call center of the company and with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The great added value that Proximus realized for the project pertains to the domain of the integration that was carried out.

Lode Schrauwen, ICT Head of Service at De Watergroep

Assigning calls to customers

"The integration of our telephone environment with the contact center software was particularly unobvious," notes Lode Schrauwen. "The experts from Proximus were, however, able to set up the right solution for us."

The major advantage of the integration is that the operators can assign each call to a specific customer or case. The operator immediately has all necessary information they need, which in the end contributes to a smoother, quicker service.

Call flows in own hands

The switch to the cloud software of Genesys also had an impact on the IT department of De Watergroep. "The old solution was a black box," explains Lode Schrauwen. "Installation and configuration had to be done on the actual telephone sets. For that, we had to call in an external party every time." Today there is no more black box.

"We can now do much more ourselves, such as modifying and setting up the call flows. This means the contact center is always optimally organized. Moreover, the operators are no longer dependent on a physical device. In fact, they only need a browser."

Lode Schrauwen, ICT Head of Service at De Watergroep

Preparation for multichannel with ERP

The big advantage for the operators is that they now have one centralized service solution. "They no longer need to look at telephone, e-mail, SharePoint, or other sources separately. Everything comes together in a single platform.”

To better improve the service, De Watergroep wants to further expand this approach. "Our plans include integrating the platform with our ERP environment in Microsoft Dynamics." In the somewhat longer term, De Watergroep wants to roll out a complete multichannel approach, including the use of chatbots and communication via social media.