How Genesys Cloud Helped StepChange Cut Misrouted Calls by 60 Percent

[00:00:04] - [Speaker 0]
What if the biggest innovation in customer experience isn't replacing people with AI, but making sure the right person is available at exactly the right moment. And for organizations that are supporting vulnerable customers, every interaction matters. And getting it wrong can add even more stress to an already difficult situation. And my guest today is Chris Lovell from a company called StepChange, and he will share how a rapid contact center transformation helped hundreds of thousands of people access support faster while also giving advisers more time to focus on those conversations that mattered most. But I don't wanna reveal any spoilers here.

[00:00:51] - [Speaker 0]
So that means it's time for me to introduce you to today's guests. You're gonna love this one. Well, let's bring him on to the show now. So a massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do, Chris?

[00:01:06] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Sure. Hi, everyone. I'm Chris Laval, and I lead service delivery for Step Change Charities contact center. Me and my team focus on making sure people can access the right support when they reach out to us, which is often a really sort of difficult point in their lives.

[00:01:21] - [Speaker 1]
Combined in that role is also the fact that I'm a product owner for our Genesis cloud platform, so that's what our contact center runs off. So it's really role that's kinda split across the operation, the front client facing teams, and also the technology teams, focusing on how we design and evolve journeys, and and really the tools that sit behind our whole service. Really rewarding role. I mean, ultimately, you know, you can boil it right down to the fact that everything we do comes down to making it as easy as possible for somebody in financial difficulty to get the help that they need.

[00:01:52] - [Speaker 0]
And you mentioned Genesis. I've got to ask, have you been to any of tech conferences? I've been to a couple. I wonder if we've been alongside each other and not known it.

[00:01:59] - [Speaker 1]
Maybe. I went to my first one actually in April, the experience store in London. I was actually talking at the event. So, yeah, it was quite an experience. I wasn't expecting the size of it.

[00:02:08] - [Speaker 1]
So when I walked in, I was a bit I was a bit sort of in awe. But yeah. No. It was it was a great event and and great to showcase the work we've been able to do alongside the Genesis platform, which really unlocked a lot of value for us.

[00:02:21] - [Speaker 0]
And what were you talking about at the event? Just

[00:02:23] - [Speaker 1]
really it was sort of a boil down version of what we're gonna talk about today. Yeah. So our transformation, utilizing the the new technology that we've been able to unlock with Genesis and and just bringing that bringing the human element to it. So what that means in practice, the work we do. It it it's a great story in the fact that it's a real social purpose.

[00:02:42] - [Speaker 1]
It's got that human touch to talk about technology in that in that setting. I think it's really powerful.

[00:02:48] - [Speaker 0]
And for people listening, StepChange supports hundreds of thousands of people every year, many of whom are dealing with intense financial and emotional pressure. So what are the expectations that people bring when they when they reach out to you for help, and and why is the quality of the that first interaction so important? Because although we're gonna talk a lot around technology and the tech story here, it's humans right at the the heart of this, isn't it? Very human stories.

[00:03:15] - [Speaker 1]
Absolutely, Neil. I think I said before, you people come to us, Certainly, first interaction with us is usually a really difficult moment for them. And they're not just dealing with debt. That's a really important thing here. Debt doesn't really happen in a vacuum.

[00:03:26] - [Speaker 1]
They're often dealing with a lot of uncertainty around their wider situation. And really, when you start looking at some of the stats we publish around our client base, it does bring that to life. So I'll I'll share a couple now just to sort of frame that. So in our most recent yearbook that we published a couple of months back, around 40% of the clients that we have are on universal credit, Over 60% are renting and more than half have some additional form of vulnerability. So obviously, difficulty is a vulnerability in its own right, but on top of that, almost half of our clients have an additional vulnerability as well.

[00:03:58] - [Speaker 1]
So people aren't just looking for, like, an answer. They're often looking to for that reassurance and to try and regain a sense of control in the lives, really. So that with that said, so that's quite a complex situation to do. With that said, though, I think the expectation when they reach out is actually quite simple. They wanna know that they've come to the right place first and foremost, and that someone on the other end of the phone or the other end of the digital channel or on the website understands their situation and that they're going to get clear practical next steps like I said to regain that sense of control.

[00:04:28] - [Speaker 1]
I think that's that's their main target when they're reaching out to speak to us. And that's why that interaction really matters, you know, a lot. Because if we're slow or if we have to get them to repeat themselves, it just increases stress at the exact moment in time where they're under probably the most pressure. And our research consistently shows that people wait too long to reach out for help with their debts. You know, I think the most recent start I heard was, you know, they really should have come twelve months earlier than what they did.

[00:04:56] - [Speaker 1]
And obviously, the longer you leave it, the more complex it gets. So if you think from a human perspective, if you've built up the courage to reach out and talk to another person about your debt and then that interaction is not great, then it can probably knock you back on your journey and you might not take the the step you need to take right right here and now. So yeah. It's quite high stakes game. But on the flip side, if we get that moment right, getting them the spot they need quickly, giving them that clarity that they're searching for, showing them what happens next, it can immediately sort of take that anxiety out of the situation.

[00:05:26] - [Speaker 1]
And when I do listen to calls and and and just hear the work that we're doing, can almost feel that stress lifting off a client in the conversation when they know they're getting that help. So yeah. It really just helps them. If you get it right, it engages them in the process. And in in the work that we do, that engagement's absolutely critical because it enables people to take that first step towards resolving their situation.

[00:05:46] - [Speaker 1]
So yeah. Quite a lot to cover there, but you can boil it down to some simple facts about just getting that first point of contact super slick, easy, quick, and just helping the client get on the way.

[00:05:58] - [Speaker 0]
And before you embarked on this digital transformation, I I because we if we look right before that, what were the biggest challenges that your teams faced with the existing contact center environment that was possibly built for another era from where we are now? And how are those challenges affecting both your clients and advisers? Because I love talking about the problem first and then bringing the tech in after.

[00:06:18] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. No. It's a great way to do it. When people ask me this, it's almost like a struggle to pick which one to go with first because there is there is a lot of issues there. Because you're quite right.

[00:06:25] - [Speaker 1]
We it was technology from a different era. It was, you know, fragmented, etcetera, etcetera. So I think when I when I I sort of collect my thoughts and think about the the number one reason, I think the biggest issue we're doing is we didn't really understand why people were contacting us across the journey. So we have broad categories. Obviously, we're a debt advice provider, so we know debt advice is gonna be a key one there.

[00:06:46] - [Speaker 1]
But it's a long journey with us. It can be multiple years, and we didn't really have that clear insight as to why clients were needing to contact us at certain points in the journey. That had a knock on effect, so it meant people were entering the wrong queues, being transferred between teams, and in some cases, maybe queuing twice to just speak to the right person. And, you know, that is a poor experience from a client's point of view and act actually for us as well as in operation, it's it's really inefficient because you're you're handling you're trying to fix journeys on the interaction rather than helping getting the technology to do that for you. Linked to that, stability was also a real issue.

[00:07:23] - [Speaker 1]
We had regular sort of technical problems and outages with our previous contact center technology and, you know, that was also a monthly occurrence and and really where trust matters the most. If you if you picked up that phone for the first time and you get a message saying, sorry. We're having technical difficulties. We can't speak to you right now. Again, that that can be quite damaging from a from a a client's confidence perspective as well.

[00:07:45] - [Speaker 1]
So there's a couple there, but the biggest one for me is actually the impact on colleagues because over time, people stopped putting forward change ideas not because they didn't care. They absolutely do care. That's the great thing about working in my organization. But they just didn't believe it was possible with the tech that we had. So that those ideas dried up and really that was quite a shame from my point of view because the the best ideas we get are from the front lines.

[00:08:08] - [Speaker 1]
So to lose that confidence was a big thing. And really, we got to a point where our legacy platform contracts came to an end and that did give us a really good chance step back and rethink our service end to end, to move to that more cloud based all in one platform that Genesys provides, and that really can support and does support our advisers and clients in a much better way.

[00:08:27] - [Speaker 0]
And from that moment, I've gotta highlight this because you migrated the organization of a a massive scale that you have here onto a new cloud platform in just four weeks, and that is no small task. So how do you begin to approach a transition like this, and and what lessons did you learn about managing change while also continuing to support vulnerable clients at the same time?

[00:08:50] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. It's it's quite scary thinking back that we that we did that, but it went went smoothly. Actually, and I'll talk about that that set the blueprint for how we manage change going forward. But I think the starting point was just being really clear that it wasn't just a technology project. You can easily default to that understanding because it is the tech platform that you're pulling in, but it was about protecting a what is a critical service for vulnerable clients.

[00:09:11] - [Speaker 1]
So to have that frame in early doors really set the tone for the for the project. And alongside that, we tried to our best to focus on what was really essential for day one and avoided that. You know, it's easy to over complicate things as well. You know, we knew we knew from the brochure Genesis was gonna give us a a lot of capabilities we hadn't had. It was really powerful.

[00:09:32] - [Speaker 1]
But we were very deliberate about our sequencing, so focusing on a transition phase first. So it's getting it in sort of like for like, almost stabilizing that, and then building and scaling and transforming from there. So that really showed up in how we chose to roll out in terms of we took a phased approach. It was a four week delivery, but we I think we had three phases in that. We started with the lower complexity, lower risk phase one, phase two building on that with size and more some more complexity.

[00:10:00] - [Speaker 1]
And then by the time we got to phase three, was our core debt advice teams, we'd actually given ourselves an opportunity to iron out any early issues because, you know, you never get anything perfect, do And that also involved tweaking the training and support materials. So by the time our bulk of our core dev advice team went through it, it was, you know, it was all singing, all dancing, and and we didn't lose any any downtime at all through that whole transition phase. So it was a real success and it's actually I've been with the organization eleven years and it's the best example where I've seen the business and technology teams generally working in hand in hand rather than their own individual silos as as can happen. And that just help us focus around that single objective and making decisions together for all that roll out and get to my earlier point. That's now the blueprint for how we manage change going forward.

[00:10:47] - [Speaker 1]
We've we've built and enhanced on that, but that's really that if I talk about some of the lower confidence our colleagues had before the project, this really just sort of set the bar to then build on going forward and and really change the narrative around our technology platforms.

[00:11:03] - [Speaker 0]
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[00:11:36] - [Speaker 0]
And in your case, one of the outcomes that particularly stood out to me was a phenomenal 60% reduction in misrouted calls. There's some ROI right there. I mean but why does getting someone to the right place, the right adviser quickly? How does that make such a difference, and and what impact did that have on the overall client experience? Anything you can share around that too?

[00:11:57] - [Speaker 0]
Because I think it really brings to life the difference that tech can make to a human life as well.

[00:12:02] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, and and that the particular team with that where where we've reduced the misroute, and that's one of our critical teams about where where it's about getting the clients have the debt advice and getting them set up on their solution that they've chosen. So any any efficiencies we can bring there just speeds the whole process up for clients getting onto a debt solution. But really, the big difference about getting somebody to the right adviser first time, it just makes that whole experience a lot simpler.

[00:12:25] - [Speaker 1]
You know, you you probably I certainly have experienced it as a customer myself where you queue in a long time, you finally get through to someone and then just to be told you need to speak to somebody else, then you gotta repeat yourself. So we did have a lot of that. You know, the stat shows that people were getting transferred around, and that means more weight and more frustration. But really, once we've improved how we capture the client intent, we can then shape a root demand and prioritize it. And and to a large degree, we've we've brought that down right across the board.

[00:12:52] - [Speaker 1]
There's still work to do. There always is, but we're bringing that down right across our estate. So from a client's surface, it's much quicker, simpler getting the help they need. And and really for our advisors as well, it means they're starting the conversation in the right place. They're not having to correct the journey, apologize for the wait time.

[00:13:07] - [Speaker 1]
So it's making us more efficient, but it's making the colleague and the client experience much better as well. And then you can get straight into the conversation about how to help the client. And, you know, sometimes I reflect I think it's quite funny all if you think about all the different ways AI can be used in a contact center, the intent capture and routing is probably isn't the most exciting, but for us, it's made the biggest difference so far. It's helped, you know, like I people get the right spot faster. I think it's a really good example of where we focused early on of more practical use cases where because you you mind instantly jump jumps to, you know, a gentic AI, you know, the more complex cases.

[00:13:42] - [Speaker 1]
But when we've started simple and delivered something that's made a real impact, you you start to then build confident confidence internally, and then you look more and more to the the more complex use cases further online, but you're building that step by step.

[00:13:56] - [Speaker 0]
And I think that most tech projects are measured by efficiency gains. But in your case, it seems that the mission is all about helping people achieve better financial outcomes. So I'm curious. How do you measure success, and what kind of indicators tell you that that transformation is is making a meaningful difference? Because there seems to be a lot of confusion now when implementing any technology on how do you measure the impact that you're having.

[00:14:18] - [Speaker 0]
But so how do you do it?

[00:14:20] - [Speaker 1]
Yes. And I mean, of course, like any organization, efficiency does matter to us. You know, we've we've got we've got our bottom line as well as everyone else and not for profit as well. That's probably even more acute for us, but it's not the main thing we optimize for. So for a success really about whether people who are contacted us are in a better position after they've engaged with us, whether they've understood their options because there are, you know, can be quite complex subject that advice and knowing what to do.

[00:14:44] - [Speaker 1]
So it's key that we know that they've understood their options and they feel in control and able to make that decision to move forward. And and really, again, when you look at the reality of the clients that we deal with as well, it it makes that even more important. So just another couple of stats from our recent yearbook that we published. Even after going through that advice, around twenty eight percent of people are still in a negative budget position. So for clients, that average shortfall is around about £600 a month.

[00:15:11] - [Speaker 1]
So you can see that's a significantly challenging situation to be in, like, where do I go with this? You know, that's a big question that clients have got. That's why if we just optimize for speed and efficiency, you're sort of missing the point. Sometimes it does just take a bit more time to help a client out and make sure that we're helping them navigate that situation. So but in practical terms, to to answer your question, we look at things like how quickly someone gets the support they need.

[00:15:36] - [Speaker 1]
That can be time from advice to choosing a solution to activate in a plan with us. Whether they even complete their advice journey because some people get partway through and don't complete. So it's really understanding why that isn't, how can we improve that. And whether they have to come back again to change things or, you know, repeat themselves, fix an issue that's that's gone wrong. So ultimately, it's whether they leave with a plan that's gonna work for them.

[00:15:58] - [Speaker 1]
So we're we're we're big on sustainable debt solutions. So we wanna it takes a lot of effort from a client to get them onto a debt solution. So making sure that they stay the cost of that debt solution to become debt free is really important for us. Alongside that, we're now we're able to deploy more channels enabled by Genesys. We look at how people choose to engage, and we've seen more and more people complete advice digitally, which tells us it's becoming easier and more flexible for them to access the help that suits them in the right way.

[00:16:27] - [Speaker 1]
And, you know, I can't talk about the client without mentioning the adviser as well because it's it's two sides of the same coin, and they're they're very very well connected in terms of how they're both feeling. So if we can take effort out of the tools and processes, advisers can then spend more time on actually helping helping people rather than, like, working around your broken fragmented systems. So more and more, we're able to enable that. We're not, obviously, not finished. We might never be, but we're certainly making inroads to that.

[00:16:53] - [Speaker 1]
So to summarize, we know the transformation is working if we're removing those barriers and making it clearer and easier for for people to get to the end state, which is ultimately becoming debt free and and being able to get on with their lives.

[00:17:06] - [Speaker 0]
And we will have people listening in organizations that are exploring digital channels and AI, but they're maybe concerned about losing the human touch. And for people that maybe wanna follow in your footsteps here, because you really seem to be doing so well at this, how do you strike that right balance between automation, self-service, and human empathy while supporting people through such financially difficult situations and other stuff that they've got going on as well?

[00:17:33] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. So for us, the balance isn't really about technology versus people, so to speak. It's about understanding what someone needs in the moment. A lot of people who come to us don't actually want to or need to speak to somebody straight away. They might feel overwhelmed, you know, certainly, you know, or prefer you know, prefer to start online in their own time.

[00:17:51] - [Speaker 1]
We're seeing that more and more. That's really where we're big on a digital first approach as part of our current strategy that we're working towards. It gives people a way to access support that feels more private and less intimidating for them. And so the stats back up, the majority of our clients now start their journey digitally. So around about 85% of our advice journeys now happening online, which really shows how important that digital flexibility is for them.

[00:18:15] - [Speaker 1]
But with that said, when someone does need to speak to an adviser, that human connection is absolutely critical. So it's obviously, debt advice in itself is complex and emotional, but there's there's different ends of the scale. So when it's really acute and emotional conversation, you know, the stats back of the people do tend to pick up the phone at that point, but the we're seeing more and more that's partway in the journey. So those conversations really do matter at that point because the a critical point in the journey where a client maybe just needs that, you know, the handholding, so to speak, for this next little bit of it and it can get them to a debt solution. So really where, you know, probably like most organizations, we're using technology to handle the most straightforward parts of the process.

[00:18:52] - [Speaker 1]
So our adviser capacity can focus on, you know, the more complex and sensitive conversations. And really when I was thinking about this one, in many ways, technology should actually fit. If you do it well, technology should fit into the background almost because if you get it right, people don't necessarily experience channels or AI. They just feel that it was easy to get the help they wanted and that when they did need to speak to somebody, they were they were able to speak to somebody and they were heard and and sort of supported through that part of the journey. So

[00:19:18] - [Speaker 0]
And looking ahead, I've been reading that you've got plans to expand channels like WhatsApp, web messaging, AI powered adviser support. So what does the future of client engagement look like for StepChange? And, again, any advice that you'd give to anybody listening trying to modernize customer experience while keeping people at at the center of that experience. Any advice on where where you're heading?

[00:19:40] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. I think the direction of travel for us is about becoming more flexible in how people access support rather than expecting everyone to follow the same journey because we know in in reality, people engage in very different ways depending on their situation. Like I said, some, you know, a majority want to start online and and that's the shift we're really seeing and we're trying to enable that more and more. And for more complex urgent situations, people still will need support from a advisor, but like I said, it's increasingly more within the journey rather than at the start of the journey. So for us, in terms of the future, it's about it's not necessarily just about adding more channels, although we are looking to do that.

[00:20:14] - [Speaker 1]
It's about connecting those journeys in a joint where using the data, so it's been truly data led to understand where someone is and guiding them to the sort of next best action and, you know, the most relevant level of support for that situation in the moment. Of course, AI absolutely plays a role in that. You know, would be silly not to say that we're actively working on that, but mostly in the background helping us make better decisions and remove the effort required to get somebody the help they need. In terms of advice, probably probably got two bits. I would recommend people start with the real demand.

[00:20:48] - [Speaker 1]
There's always and I've fallen for all this myself. Temptations start with, oh, we've got the technology. What can the technology do? But the value really comes in understanding how people and your clients actually behave and designing around that, and then the technology will enable that. And so that'd be point one.

[00:21:02] - [Speaker 1]
And then the second thing is, like, know, a couple of questions we had so far is not to lose sight of the human side of things. You know, in our case, the goal isn't just an efficient service, although absolutely one of our things we look at. It's about helping people through those difficult situations. So technology should support that, not not replace those conversations, but enable and augment them.

[00:21:23] - [Speaker 0]
Well, we've covered so much in our conversation today, and anyone listening feels somewhat inspired by your story, or maybe they just wanna find out more information about StepChain and the StepChain and the journey you've been on. Where would you like to point everyone listening?

[00:21:36] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Certainly. I mean, if you wanna know more about StepChain, stepchange.org is the is the best place to go. We've got tons of material on there help and support as well. Myself, Chris Lava, I'm on LinkedIn as well.

[00:21:47] - [Speaker 1]
If anybody wants to follow me, then please reach out on LinkedIn.

[00:21:50] - [Speaker 0]
So yeah. Awesome. Well, we covered so much there. From using data and agile delivery to continuously optimizing the experience. But more than anything, you've been able to build a more responsive, digitally enabled service that supports better outcomes for clients and advisers and all without losing the human touch.

[00:22:09] - [Speaker 0]
So I would encourage anyone listening to reach out to you and get in touch. I'll add all the links to the show notes. But more than anything, thank you for sharing your story today. Incredibly powerful and, and incredibly cool. Thanks again.

[00:22:20] - [Speaker 1]
Thank you, Neil. Thanks for having me.

[00:22:21] - [Speaker 0]
I think today's conversation was a powerful reminder that successful digital transformation isn't measured only in faster systems or lower costs. It's actually measured sometimes by the difference that it can make to the people that are relying on your services and when they need you the most. And I think Chris showed how technology, data, and AI can remove friction without losing the empathy that sits at the heart of every meaningful customer interaction. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on this As organizations obviously continue to introduce more automation and more AI, how are you making sure the human touch becomes even stronger rather than just fading away? Let me know.

[00:23:09] - [Speaker 0]
Techtalksnetwork.com. Send me an audio message. I love to hear from you. And a big thank you to listening today, and hopefully, I'll get to talk to you on the next episode too. Thanks for listening.

[00:23:21] - [Speaker 0]
Bye for now.