Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, based in Des Moines, IA, has improved its data collection by implementing Dynamics CRM to replace a manual processes and a mainframe-based CRM system in its call center.

The upgrade of the health insurer’s call center included a set of Web tools, an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system, a skills-based routing system, and a workforce management system. Working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Avanade, Wellmark then implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM and integrated it with the new call routing system.

As a result of the new CRM system, Wellmark standardized data collection and slashed employee training time. Before the system was implemented, data entry was left largely to the discretion of the customer service representative, explains Scott Wallace, enterprise architect at Wellmark.

“Recording customer information came down to how much ingenuity you had,” he says. “People used anything from spreadsheets to sticky notes. As a result, the amount of information recorded ranged anywhere from a book to a single line. There was no structure to it.”

In addition, the insurer estimates that it has cut as much as four minutes from each call. Prior to the implementation of Dynamics CRM, information was not documented until after a service call ended. Customer service agents (CSAs) had to take themselves out of the active phone queue, rebuild their documentation, and input it into a database. Because Microsoft Dynamics CRM automatically documents all call information, that extra call time has been saved and CSAs have reduced their dependence on recalling a customer’s needs after the fact.

In addition, because new hires were often not familiar with mainframes, training a new CSA took eight weeks, and it was upwards of one year before they were proficient.

“One of the first people in our pilot launch of the software was young and Web savvy,” says Wallace. “After the first call that he took, he looked like he had been using Microsoft Dynamics CRM forever.”