Zenaido Torres, Senior Operations Manager at Western Union, is a 10-year customer service veteran who manages an Operation Center in Mexico. The agents at this Center interact with customers from the U.S., LACA countries, Spain and Portugal. They handle calls 24/7 using multiple languages.
At Call Center Week Mexico, December 9-11 in Mexico City, Zenaido will share a presentation on handling global support, with a focus on SLA’s, regulations and utilizing the voice of the customer. In advance of the Summit, he previews his insights in a complimentary interview with Call Center IQ’s Shawn Siegel:
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Can you briefly discuss your role with Western Union as Senior Operations Manager?
I am in charge of managing the Operations Center in Mexico, which supports agents and customers from USA, LACA, Spain and Portugal. The Center works 24/7, and connects the different efforts from sales, marketing, compliance, business and operations with our customers through different channels including social media.
When dealing with support in a global environment, how do you ensure that customers are receiving a consistent message through all channels and in all places?
We have a global support team that helps deploy a consistent message through processes, scripts, training and technology. They do this throughout the different centers that handle interactions with customers and agents for the different products and services offered. I actively participate, as Center owner, on the deployment of these efforts that are supervised through call/interactions monitoring and feedback from internal and external customers.
Are there different customer service expectations and challenges in different regions that Western Union does business in?
Regardless of the region, customers expect to have a solution on the inquiry they are requesting help on. Language is an issue but beyond that; challenges are different in each region and even within the region depending on a customer’s profile and line of business. For example, customers in Spain expect to be attended to in a more expedited and concise way, while in LACA, customers expect warmer treatment during the interaction.
How important are SLAs in ensuring customers have a good experience?
SLAs are really important because they will make a difference between a good or bad service perception. Customers expect to have their issue/inquiry solved, but they will expect not to wait long times to be attended to, to have the solution on the first call they make, not to be transferred from one department to another, and not waiting long periods on the line to get an answer. All these SLAs are part of the experience and the company’s moment of truth.
Lastly, how does the Voice of the Customer impact Western Union’s customer support in Mexico?
VoC has a high impact on customer support in Mexico, because it is a way to ensure that our different efforts are well received by the customer. You can have great technologies and an excellent performance from an SLA perspective, but not have a good customer perception. Listening to customer feedback helps us close the gap between our endeavors and what the customer really needs from us.