Lohmann & Rauscher Embraces the Customer
Experience with Vocalcom Customer Engagement Solution
Lohmann & Rauscher (L&R) is a leading
international supplier of high quality, future-oriented medical devices and
hygiene products – ranging from conventional bandages to modern treatment and
nursing systems. Created in 1998 from the merger of the two companies Lohmann
(founded in 1851) and Rauscher (founded in 1899), L&R has more than 160
years expertise as a dependable partner and solution provider for its
customers. With more than 4,000 employees, 37 subsidiaries and shareholdings,
as well as more than 130 selected partners, L&R is represented in all
important markets around the world and was able to increase its sales to 530
million euros in 2013. The company’s headquarters are located at the Rengsdorf
(Germany) and Vienna (Austria) sites. L&R has always put the needs of physicians
and nurses at the core of its interest helping them to solve their problems.
Over time, this dedication to in-depth dialogue with practicing physicians and
caregivers evolved into a broader customer centricity.
Dealing with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and
medical supply retailers, the company possessed a critical need for handling external
communications with its customers and partners across a variety of touchpoints such
as calls, faxes, portals and emails, involving various company departments. For
this reason, the French subsidiary initially built a custom call management
solution based on Open Source Asterix.
However, limited
reporting capabilities preventing measurements of the percentage of
calls leading to an order and processing times of inbound calls, coupled with
the solution vendor’s eventual acquisition, made it difficult to maintain and
evolve the original solution.
At this point, it was imperative to find a viable solution
that could handle the various communication methods with customers and could be
used across multiple non-contact center departments. Patrick Garion, the ACD
specialist at Lohmann & Rauscher France, was quick to suggest Vocalcom as
he recalled excellent experiences with Vocalcom solutions at his previous
company.
Vocalcom has provided Lohmann & Rauscher France with
quality customer service and support and was chosen specifically for its multichannel
solution with the proper, detailed analytics and its highly efficient pre-sales
team. During the course of the project, the French subsidiary was also asked to
design a solution that could be further deployed throughout the Lohmann &
Rauscher Group. This created a need for extensive validation of the Vocalcom
integration with Cisco Call Manager by Deutsche Telekom, which manages a
substantial portion of Lohmann & Rauscher technology assets. Nonetheless, this validation process was
achieved flawlessly. Currently, the solution is used by approximately 20
knowledge workers across 2 departments for such tasks as placing orders.
Since its inception at Lohmann & Rauscher France,
the Vocalcom solution has optimized customer engagement by delivering
remarkable results. The deployment process proved seamless, and the knowledge
workers at the company were able to adopt the product with great ease. During
the first year alone, interaction volume increased by 50% up to 150,000 calls
per year and could be handled by the same number of people while improving the service
level from 80% to 95%.
By adopting the Vocalcom solution, Lohmann &
Rauscher has been able to accommodate frequent workforce changes with virtually
no user training necessary. As the operation of the solution is minimal, user
departments are empowered to handle on their own the frequent changes in the
workforce concerning the handling of customer interactions.
The veritable success of the Vocalcom solution has led
Lohmann & Rauscher France to consider other ways in which the product may
enhance the efficiency of the company as a whole. Naturally, the French subsidiary could imagine
to work on the solution’s expansion to its subsidiaries in other countries. Furthermore,
in the long term the company could also use the solution in its accounting department,
such as scheduling one-time reminders for their clients via outbound call
campaigns. The Vocalcom solution could also be used in an internal context,
such as making urgent communications to on-site representatives. The solution
further bears the potential for outbound call campaigns to be used to promote
company products, and the company is also considering the integration of the
solution with Microsoft CRM.
With its flawless implementation, ease of daily use,
and advanced ability to handle inbound and outbound flow, the Vocalcom customer
engagement solution is a vital asset to the company. For Lohmann &
Rauscher, it was essential to adopt a solution that would unify various
departments within a company which does not function like a typical contact
center, all the while delivering optimal results. Vocalcom has delivered on its
promise and proven itself to be the prime choice for a stellar customer
engagement solution.
