One Voice for 75,000 Barclays Staff

London - Barclays selected Fluency and Energis to implement a call-routing speech application. Hosted in the Energis network, the service also uses Energis Contact Lite for routing and delivery of calls. 

The voice recognition software is changing the way Barclays looks after its 76,200 worldwide staff. The new service, launched in the summer, informs employees and staff pensioners of the comprehensive range of financial services available to them at preferential rates, as part of their benefits package.

Named 'Exclusively Ours' the 'one-number' service stores information about Barclays' products and listens for the callers' choices that can be spoken at any point in the application. 

Callers are then routed via the hosted contact center infrastructure to Barclays' product teams in one of their specialist centers. The application can be updated with new products and changes to ensure it remains current. The service allows access to different menus that group products and callers can interrupt the application at any point if they know what they want.

Hannah Ross, category manager, staff and pensioners, says: "We decided that a one number service was the best way forward with callers directed to product specialists and the results have been excellent."

"We used to be in a position where people had to be 'in-the-know' to understand what was available. New employees often missed out and were often frustrated, particularly when they might have spent more time than they needed to on finding out about mortgages and loans.  The new one-number service has really helped employees stay up to date and make informed decisions."

Employees and staff pensioners now have immediate access to Barclays' portfolio of products.

Ross added: "We realised at the outset the major business benefit would be product advocacy and brand re-enforcement in customer sales. Employees are more confident about products and feel happier advising customers on their associated benefits."

The Fluency speech enabled service was delivered within five weeks from requirements gathering through design, build and test, to live release.

The service has subsequently been used to help pilot new products in the employee and staff pensioner community, valuable feedback from this process helps refine products for the external market.

The next stage of the service will include identification and verification of callers within the application and a Speech portal that will deliver summary information.