BSkyB Gets KANA-ized
KANA Wednesday says it has inked a deal that puts its customer relationship management (CRM) tool in the hands of BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting).
As part of the deal, the UK’s largest multi-channel satellite broadcaster is now using KANA IQ software for online support to its 4,500 customer service representatives. Financial terms of the deal were not discussed.
BSkyB is currently investing more than $80 million in next-generation CRM technologies to drive demand for its products and to maintain customer loyalty. Currently, BSkyB offers more than 200 digital TV channels into 5.7 million homes across the UK and Ireland.
The Middlesex, England-based company says KANA’s CRM strategy is central to its customer support operations in recently refurbished call centers in Livingston and Dunfermline, which handle more than a million customer calls per week in peak periods.
“KANA is making a valuable contribution to our CRM strategy,” said Mike Hughes, managing director of Sky Services at British Sky Broadcasting. “By ensuring that all our call center representatives have easy access to the most up-to-date product and support information, KANA IQ is helping us achieve our twin customer service objectives of sustained customer loyalty and subscriber growth.”
With the new CRM tool to give the correct answers the first time,
KANA IQ uses proprietary Intelligent Reasoning technology, which mimics the customer support process by focusing on the underlying problem or question. BSkyB call center representatives will be able to use KANA IQ to notify content owners by e-mail when material requires updating, so that customer information never becomes obsolete, and through its Web-architected authoring interface, any component of the enterprise, including partners and suppliers, can add new content to the knowledge base.
The deal with BSkyB was made possible in part because of KANA’s inroad with Broadsystem, which is one of the UK’s top five telemarketing agencies and has an established history with BSkyB.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based KANA specializes in e-business services including e-mail, Web, chat, instant message, VOIP, phone and person-to-person, as well as applications targeted for marketing, sales and service functions. The company has paired with ADP, Chase, E*Trade, GAP, GM, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Sony, United Airlines, Verizon, and Williams Sonoma at least once in its career.
Michael Singer is a career coach, podcast host, and author to help you step into a career you're excited about. Currently, He is a coach and trainer helping entrepreneurs and executives achieve business and leadership success. He is also an award-winning business journalist focused on the intersection of technology, Big Data, Cloud, SaaS, SAP, and other trending technology.
