Frequently Asked
Questions
1.)Who is Alorica?
Alorica Inc. is a leading customer service management firm, managing the entire
customer lifecycle, from front-office customer interaction to back-office
fulfillment. Alorica delivers fully integrated services such as customer
interaction management, service logistics, depot and onsite repair services, as
well as total eBusiness solutions. Alorica Inc. integrates, manages and
automates these service solutions with Helix 2002, which provides real-time
Web-delivered data analysis with worldwide accessibility. Alorica Inc. is
headquartered in Chino, Calif., and currently provides fully integrated
outsourced customer service support for companies such as NEC/Mitsubishi, U.S.
Robotics, Bose and eMachines.
2.) Why do companies choose to outsource their customer service offerings?
Many companies are choosing to "outsource" or contract their customer
interaction and infrastructure, including call centers, fulfillment centers,
warranty repair centers, and inventory control, in order to provide more
efficient and cost-effective service to their customers.
3.) How does Alorica differ from its competitors in the outsourced customer
service industry?
Alorica's competitors generally describe themselves as "customer relationship
management" (CRM) firms who often emphasize the pre-sale process, and, as a
secondary competency, offer call center software or partner with firms who do.
Alorica is the only firm in the outsourced customer service market that offers
a "total service" menu of staffed facilities - including worldwide call
centers, warehouse and distribution centers and depot and onsite repair
networks - that support the entire customer service supply chain as well as
proprietary customer service management software that integrates any or all
these facilities with the client's infrastructure.
4.) What advantages does Alorica have over its competitors?
Alorica's approach to customer service is unique in the way that it provides a
fully integrated solution that spans the complete after-sales service
lifecycle. Many of Alorica's competitors specialize in one segment of the
customer service process, while Alorica believes that the most efficient and
effective way to provide excellent customer service while lowering a company's
overhead cost, is through one, unified service solution.
With its integrated business model, and its own, web-engineered enterprise
customer relationship management software suite, Helix-by- Alorica™ ,
Alorica is able to bridge CRM support from front end to back end, and automate
all service processes and information management in real time.
5.) How is Helix by Alorica® different from
other CRM software?
Helix by Alorica® differentiates itself from
traditional CRM software vendors with its unique ability to process and track
the complete lifecycle of customer relationship behavior and transform it into
analytic business intelligence for a competitive advantage, something other CRM
software struggle to deliver. Helix was the first customer service software
developed specifically to bridge the information gap between the
“front-end” call center agents, those interacting with customers by
phone, e-mail or other communications channel, and “back-end”
warehouse personnel receiving returned products, overseeing repairs and
shipping replacement or refurbished products to the customer.
6.) What are the advantages for Alorica's corporate clients to have both
enterprise software and infrastructure support provided by one company?
Since most providers of customer service infrastructure support services do not
own proprietary enterprise software, they must lease it from CRM enterprise
software providers, passing along the costs to their customers. Often, the
infrastructure company is not fully adept at using the software or
understanding how it can best serve their clients.
Since Alorica uses its own software in all its infrastructure support
operations, there are no "middlemen" needed, such as software engineers,
business analysts, consultants, etc., to develop new features and improve
efficiencies. Alorica's customer service facilities act as real-world
"laboratories" for additional Helix enhancements. With its comprehensive
reporting and analysis tools, Alorica can monitor the process efficiencies of
the software in real-time for their clients as well as for future software
versions. The company also obtains direct feedback from its own call agents,
warehouse personnel and field service representatives who use its enterprise
software daily.
7.) Is there any way to quantify Return-On-Investment for corporations that
outsource Alorica's services rather than providing these services in-house?
By allowing companies to focus on their core products or services, Alorica can
reduce the clients' total service costs for every unit shipped or every new
customer attained. Because it is focused entirely on optimizing the customer
service process, Alorica's combined software and infrastructure solution can
eliminate company outlays for customer service support staff, equipment and
real estate immediately. It also reduces product returns, a high expenditure in
all after-sale customer relations while limiting the number of times a customer
contacts a call center by focusing on resolution of customer problems during
their first call. In addition, several of Alorica's clients have used Helix's
reporting tools as an "alarm" system of faulty product components, allowing the
company to work with OEMs to immediately solve problems in the supply chain
before a product reaches a customer.
8.) What are the advantages of Helix ability to integrate both front office
customer interaction and back-end fulfillment?
With its centralized database and real-time updates available on the Web, Helix
allows every person involved in the customer service process, from call center
agent to dock clerk, to product repair technician either in a facility or
on-site, to view the entire customer contact history and up-to-the minute
status of the customer request. This reduces multiple data entry errors and
time spent serving the customer, resulting in cost savings to the client, as
well as provides a customer immediate updates to the product repair or
replacement process.
9.) Why don't more outsource service providers integrate these two customer
service segments?
CRM software providers have traditionally focused on customer interaction in the
pre-sales process, the less complicated half of the customer care equation.
During its infancy as a company, Alorica focused its software development on
"back-end" fulfillment to solve a business problem for an early client, a much
more difficult and complex programming and process challenge. For this reason,
Alorica has a multi-year "head start" in this integration that no other CRM
software provider has yet fully addressed.
10.) Why is the outsourced customer service industry thriving?
During a difficult economy, many companies are realizing that their most
important asset is their existing customer. Companies wish to maintain and
optimize their existing customer base by providing as much value as possible.
Therefore, many companies are turning to an outsourced provider that
specializes in customer service while reducing their overall costs.
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