EFG Companies - Contact Center of the Year

Company: EFG Companies
Company Description: As the innovators of the award-winning Hyundai-Assurance program, EFG Companies brings almost 40 years of industry-leading consumer & vehicle protection programs to the retail automotive market. EFG's commitment to superior client engagement is delivered through a proprietary portfolio of products & services that increase penetration, fortify compliance, and drive maximum F&I profitability.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Contact Center of the Year (Up to 100 Seats) - Financial Services Industries

Nomination Title: Seamlessly Navigating Online Customer Service

The first step to transitioning to a remote work environment was already complete. As part of EFG’s SOC 2 SSAE 18 security certification, the company’s IT security infrastructure was ready to ensure business continuity, enabling team members to perform at the highest level of productivity and collaboration, securely in a remote environment.

In 2020, EFG addressed the training, hiring and onboarding practices needed to maintain industry leading performance levels in a remote environment.

Utilizing EFG’s multimedia learning management portal, L.O.V.E, the company developed department-specific curriculum for all employees and the criteria necessary to become L.O.V.E. certified. Rolled out to both current and new contact center team members between 2020 and 2021, each person completed 27 training sessions on topics ranging from product knowledge and claims processes, to virtual inspections and fraud detection. Within one year, the entire team became L.O.V.E. certified with an average cumulative passing score of 80% or above on all quizzes.

EFG also created new processes and tutorial videos to not only hire the best available talent for the contact center team, but to provide them with the necessary tools to maintain the expected level of performance, in out of the office.

Because of EFG’s methodical approach to shifting its processes to support remote work, when North Texas experienced week-long freezing conditions in early 2021, EFG was one of the few companies based in Dallas-Fort Worth to maintain operations with no impact to its clients or contract holders.

Included in this nomination are the employee surveys from both 2020 and 2021.

EFG Companies’ 44 years of providing nationally award-winning consumer protection products, EFG has maintained its strategic intent to provide valuable solutions based upon changing market dynamics coupled with a standard of customer service not found in the industry. This is built on EFG’s mission to mobilize a talented team to engage intensely, reliably, transparently, and innovatively; driving profitable results with the values of dependability, respect, integrity, visionary, and excellence.

The 2020 pandemic had an impact on virtually every contact center around the world. EFG’s nominated contact center team made a powerful impact in supporting EFG’s mission despite pandemic setbacks. From implementing virtual training to their commitment to maintaining key customer service performance indicators, EFG’s contact center team embodied the company’s value of "keeping a promise to a customer at a time when they need it most,” even during a worldwide pandemic.

Moving from a 100% office-based work environment to an 80% remote environment creates a learning curve for any company, often resulting in lost productivity, lack of collaboration, and lowered KPIs. EFG’s contact center managed this transition gracefully with tangible, measurable, positive lasting impacts to both client and employee satisfaction.

Virtually every company around the globe made a move to an all-remote or hybrid-remote working environment. But EFG’s team did so in seven days while maintaining the highest level of performance and data security. This presented a much bigger set of challenges. The challenges EFG’s contact center faced included:

• • onboarding team members during a time when EFG’s entire workforce was working remotely for the first time in the company’s history;
  • maintaining the industry’s highest level of performance;
  • launching the company’s L.O.V.E multi-media learning engagement portal with a full suite of tools to support both the contact center and clients who were working remotely – unheard of in the retail automotive industry.

EFG met every pandemic challenge with a collective , eager mindset to remain successful, with the contact center’s key performance indicators outperforming our industry standards as measured by BenchmarkPortal:

• • 70% of our total claims are one-call claims
  • Average speed to answer: 57 seconds
  • Call abandonment rate: less than 3.5%
  • 75% of all claims are fully processed and paid in less than 2 days

EFG’s executive leadership team closely monitored the team’s productivity and its well-being in the changing work model. Two internal research surveys were administered in 2020 and 2021, to assess the effectiveness of the hybrid work model in terms of engagement, communication, collaboration, and overall benefits. The results were outstanding -- nearly 99 percent of all team members surveyed felt these areas had improved or remained the same in the new model.