Success Story, State of Michigan
CSI Impact: Within 9 months, transfer rate to live agents for child support application dramatically improved from over 75 percent to less than 25 percent.
Summary
- WIC application now handles tens of millions of calls annually with minimal live agent opt out
- Integration with state's database to retrieve/update account and transactional information
- Automated transfer to a live contact center to handle specific issues if required
- Automated PIN definition for first time card holders
State of Michigan needed CSI to build and manage a large scale WIC (women, infant, and children) shared IVR application that would be able to handle tens of millions of calls with minimal opt outs to live agents. WIC is a food and nutrition program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture through the Michigan Department of Community Health. WIC helps to correct or prevent malnutrition in low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women, women who recently had a baby, infants, and children up to 5 years old who are at health risk due to inadequate nutrition. WIC provides supplemental food, offers professional nutrition education and makes referrals based on health screening and assessments of need.
Each state has unique WIC requirements. Based on demographics, for example, the languages that need to be supported may change. Michigan required that Spanish, English, and Arabic be supported. Women can find out based by calling into the application, the amount of each type of food supplement they can get. There is a certain allotment for milk, baby formula, and other important items to ensure the health of children and mothers.
The application allows child support benefits recipients to setup their debit cards, assign PINS, and check balances and recent transactions. Coupled with a live contact center, this application is the single source for debit card support. The debit cards are used to access their child support benefits payments on a monthly basis.
The state's database keeps track how much they have already purchased and how much they have left. With over 400,000 card holders, the IVR sometimes handles two million calls a month. The average recipient calls into the IVR four to five times a month, thus the menu structure and content need to be as consistent and easy to navigate as possible. As a result, users might be checking their balance when they go to a grocery store or at any point of sale to determine if they have the funds to purchase needed items.
CSI has helped the State of Michigan understand how well the program is performing to plan. Since this is a government program, the goal is to provide as much service for as limited amount of money as possible. Dollars that are used to pay for live agent service will now go to the women and children who are entitled to the benefit. CSI provides the state with frequent reports that show how much is being spent and how much is being saved as automation increases.
Showing the flexibility of its IVRs, CSI also uses the IVRs to communicate to the women in the program when a deposit is made into their account. This also reduces the number of calls made to the contact center by mothers who need to know deposit status. By driving down the costs, the State can put more money into other programs. |
