8×8 has introduced the latest addition to its contact centre solution, developed with housing providers in mind. Proactively engaging customers, Active Assessor is set to revolutionise customer engagement and property maintenance.
In itself, Active Assessor sounds simple. This new solution uses 8×8 Contact Centre technology, enabling housing providers to send their customers an SMS survey to complete, asking about the condition of their homes and collating data. However, it has much larger implications – demonstrating customer care, reducing organisational workload and preventing expensive repairs down the line.
Not only this, but Active Assessor comes as a package with other powerful tools – Proactive Outreach, ICA, Remote Fix and Advanced Analytics – amplifying its usefulness exponentially. Working together, these services offer massive benefits for customers and housing providers alike by optimising efficiency, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing costs across the board.
With so much to be gained from this new approach to customer contact, we must ask – ‘is this the future of customer experience?’
Better tools for safer homes
In April 2024, the Social Housing Regulation Act brought about new requirements for housing providers. These include ensuring the safety of residents in their homes, promptly responding to complaints and keeping up-to-date with the condition of homes. Active Assessor has been developed with exactly these requirements in mind, and its scalability allows housing providers of all sizes to effectively monitor property conditions.
Where are we now? In a 2023/24 study of Tenant Satisfaction Measures, Housemark found a 13 per cent drop in overall customer satisfaction since 2019. Not only this, but fewer than two-thirds of customers (61 per cent) felt their housing providers listened to their feedback and acted on it. Housemark found particular concerns around call-handling times and complaint volumes, reporting a 34 per cent tenant satisfaction rate with how complaints are handled.
Taken together, we’re seeing two things – new regulations with a focus on customer satisfaction, while important metrics regarding TSMs trend downwards year-on-year. The data suggests that a re-evaluation of customer experience processes is needed, with Active Assessor providing all the right answers at just the right time.
First contact – proactive engagement
Right off the bat, Active Assessor presents an elegant, scalable solution to the situation facing housing providers. How do you ensure customers feel listened to, improve call-handling times and reduce complaint volumes? Easy – contact the customer before they contact you.
Purpose-built for handling the issues of the day, Active Assessor addresses all of these issues in one fell swoop. By contacting the customer first, this solution from 8×8 not only shows an organisation’s commitment to customer care, it also enables you to recognise the early-warning signs of potentially larger problems.
Active Assessor bulk-sends customers a quick-and-easy SMS or WhatsApp survey, underpinned by conversational AI. With this, housing providers enable customers to identify issues such as damp or mould before they develop and become hazardous, ensuring the safety of residents.
SMS and WhatsApp messages boast an open rate of 98 per cent compared with only 20 per cent for emails, ensuring surveys actually reach customers. Not only this, but a proactive approach reduces call volumes and complaints by resolving tomorrow’s problems today; data shows that early interventions can reduce formal complaint volumes by up to 50 per cent.
As an added benefit, repair costs are also reduced, allowing simple fixes before things get out of hand. In many cases, customers are reluctant to contact their housing provider as soon as a problem appears, holding off until it becomes a more substantial issue. Proactive engagement removes this barrier, encouraging early reporting.
Active Assessor presents an even greater benefit to buildings of multiple occupancy. By surveying a large number of customers at once, an organisation can find out whether a problem affects a single unit or the whole building. This allows housing providers to engage tenant groups and coordinate repairs, preventing the time and expense of repeat engineer call-outs.
24/7 support – powered by AI
Sending out surveys is one thing, but how do you handle the responses? As part of Active Assessor, 8×8’s Intelligent Customer Assistant (ICA) collects and processes survey results, prioritising situations that require immediate action.
Where appropriate, it will prompt customers to schedule an online evaluation or connect with an agent. With its conversational, AI-enhanced digital assistant, ICA is available to chat 24/7 across channels in a variety of language options, ensuring customers are heard, whenever and wherever they get in touch.
Synchronising with housing providers’ CRM systems, ICA ensures customers receive a highly-personalised experience. Digital chats are also summarised so that human agents can quickly and seamlessly pick up the conversation if needed.
Based on past client data, automated services can typically resolve 40-60 per cent of calls. This shows the value of these services, reducing agents’ operational workload and freeing them up for enquiries that require human intervention.
First-time fixes & faster repairs
Once a problem is identified and addressed with the customer, Remote Fix invites them to a one-way video interaction. This captures footage and images of the problem, including time stamps and geotags, and doesn’t require a dedicated app to use.
Whether it’s a leaking tap or patch of damp, videos enable agents and engineers to review the situation and advise on the best action to take. One housing provider informed us that a property visit to perform the same task costs an average of £200, highlighting the value that Remote Fix offers over time.
In some cases, this allows agents to talk their customers through simple solutions, such as restarting their boiler. Agents can also link customers to guides and resources, helping them in real time. This reduces unnecessary service visits, brings an immediate resolution for the customer and reduces costs for the housing provider. Additionally, by educating and empowering customers, this approach reduces their future reliance on the contact centre.
Video recordings are stored and easily accessed, allowing agents and engineers to monitor changing situations and advise remotely. This also gives engineers a better understanding of the issues faced, reducing the need for repeat callouts and increasing the rate of first-time fixes.
Report, review, resolve – made easy with 8×8
By developing Active Assessor with housing and local authority sectors in mind, 8×8 has introduced tools to revolutionise customer experience. Augmenting and automating the process from first contact, Active Assessor improves customer satisfaction while reducing costs and organisational workload, empowering housing providers to deliver a new standard of customer care.
Sue Michaelwaite, solutions and vertical marketing manager at 8×8, said, “Active Assessor is the latest in a range of solutions that leverage 8×8 Contact Centre technology to delivery organisation-wide benefits to the housing sector.”
Social Telecoms works with 8×8 to deliver advanced customer experience and contact centre solutions for the housing and local authority sectors. We can provide PfH members with Active Assessor via Lots 2 & 3 of their telecommunications framework, giving the option of a direct award and side-stepping the need for tendering exercises (demonstrations are also available).
Rob Mottram is the marketing manager at Social Telecoms.
