Case Study

Sharekhan Limited
Aspect helps Sharekhan focus on growth by enhancing customer services and effortlessly solving day-to-day issues
The Company Sharekhan Limited is a retail financial services provider with a focus on equities, derivatives and commodities brokerage execution on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. (BSE), National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange India (NCDEX) and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX). Sharekhan provides trade execution services through multiple channels- an Internet platform, telephone and retail outlets and is present in 225 cities through a network of 615 locations. The company was awarded the 2005 Most Preferred Stock Broking Brand by Awwaz Consumer Vote. The Business Challenges - Easily access customer portfolio information in a secure contact centre environment. - Seamlessly integrate with back-end applications and streamline customer data to contact centre agents. - Easily manage upgrades and technology issues to accommodate growing customer base. The Solution Sharekhan selected the capabilities of Aspect Unified IP, which is an IT-ready [Microsoft] .Net Web services platform product that unites customer contact capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies. This is a complete contact centre solution that unites inbound, outbound and blended multichannel contact (voice, internet contact and fax), while also delivering voice portal, recording and quality management, and unified reporting and administration capabilities. It enabled Sharekhan to meet customer service needs for inbound call handling, voice self service, outbound, call blending, call monitoring and recording, and creating outbound marketing campaigns, among other capabilities. The Results - Increased agent efficiency and productivity. - Enabled company to execute proactive customer service calls and expand services offered to customers. - Enhanced call monitoring for improved service quality.
Financial services is a highly competitive and volume-driven industry which demands high standards of customer service, effective consultation and quick deliverables. This is something Sharekhan Limited, a retail financial services provider based in India, understands. The company offers several user-friendly services for customers to manage their stock portfolios, including online capabilities linked to an information database to help customer confidently invest, and inbound customer services using voice self-service technology and customer service agents handling telephone orders from clients.

As a retail brokering outfit, customer service ranks extremely high in our list of priorities. Effectively managing client expectations and offering them a high quality of customer service are key for us. Thanks to Aspect EnsemblePro, managing customer service has become a breeze and we can focus on achieving our business goals. Ketan Parekh, Chief Technology Officer, Sharekhan Limited

Managing Business Growth With a customer base of more than 26,000, Sharekhan continues to grow at a fast pace. The company required reliable contact centre technology that could handle its growing customer base and expanding services portfolio. Downtime in the contact centre, even for a short period of time, was unacceptable as it could result in financial losses and more importantly, a decrease in customer loyalty.
As a result, customer satisfaction was a top priority in Sharekhans agenda. Its primary objective was to help and support its customers in managing their shares portfolio in the best possible manner. In anticipation of market trends, which estimated that multiple applications, up-selling, and cross-selling among stockbrokers would grow in the near future, Sharekhan needed a sound solution to manage complex customer queries.

2009 Aspect Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CASE STUDY

Unfortunately, technology turned out to be our biggest nightmare, said Ketan Parekh, Chief Technology Officer at Sharekhan. The agents and even senior management spent a copious amount of time resolving routine technical issues and other day-to-day problems. As a result, our business growth and expansion plans took a back seat. We started losing focus of our business goals and that was detrimental to our business. We needed an effective solution, fast.

Search for an Ideal Solution Sharekhan searched for a vendor who could resolve the technology integration issues in the contact centre and get the organization back on its growth track with minimal complications.
Aspect, boasting a strong brand name and intense market penetration, was a natural choice, Parekh added. Our conviction in choosing Aspect was further strengthened after meeting with the companys team of professionals. The team articulately demonstrated the capabilities of the solutions to us and committed themselves to providing world-class technical support to resolve day-to-day technical issues. It was definitely more than we could have asked for. Impressed with their product offering, Sharekhan selected Aspect to implement hundreds of seats of Aspect Unified IP at its contact centre in Mumbai, India. Aspect Unified IP is an IT-ready [Microsoft] .Net Web services platform product that unites customer contact capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies. This is a complete contact centre solution that unites inbound, outbound and blended multichannel contact (voice, internet contact and fax), while also delivering voice portal, recording and quality management, and unified reporting and administration capabilities. With clear goals in mind, the Aspect team implemented the solution and in the process forged a strong relationship with Sharekhan. Through active counseling and technical support, Aspect aptly demonstrated its expertise and leadership in contact centre solutions, Parekh said. Even when our telephony provider failed to make necessary customizations to their equipments, Aspect called on their telephony experts to prepare new binaries and codes to be applied on the Aspect Unified IP. Aspect engineers also shared industry best practices with us. The voice self-service capabilities in Aspect Unified IP seamlessly integrated with Sharekhans customer information database, without any customisation. Supported by Aspect Unified IP, Sharekhan can now effortlessly handle customers calls and day-to-day problems quickly, and offer a variety of new services to its customers.

Powered by Aspect Unified IP The voice portal capability in Aspect Unified IP verifies up every customer call and prompts the caller for their customer identification and PIN number. Once these are entered on the phone, Aspect Unified IP communicates with the Sharekhans backend customer databases through SQL and Oracle, and requests an authorisation. Upon authorisation by the Sharekhan system, Aspect Unified IP routes the call to the next available agent along with all of the customers data. If the callers information is incorrect after three attempts, it is not authorized by the Sharekhan system and the call is rejected. If the caller does not have a customer ID, the caller is presented the option of being routed to customer service, or being designated as a depository Participant (DP) enquiry or a new account.
In addition to the inbound capabilities, Sharekhan was able to add fully-automated outbound call services with Aspect Unified IP. The solution enables Sharekhan to execute proactive outbound customer service campaigns, using tools such as automated outbound dialing and information feeds on the top 10 stocks of the market daily to customers. Similarly, automated and personalized market feedback and intelligence are regularly provided to Sharekhans portfolio management services customers through the solutions outbound capabilities. With the automation of processes, our agents have become more productive because their time is better utilised and, of course, the level of customer service has gone up considerably. The management team is able to analyse and monitor the quality of customer service and make business critical decisions more effectively, Parekh concluded. Motivated by the success with Aspect products at its facility at Raghuwanshi Mill (Mumbai), Sharekhan has plans to set up a disaster recovery site and is working with Aspect to provide technology for its second contact centre.

Corporate Headquarters 300 Apollo Drive Chelmsford, MA 01824 978 250 7900 office 978 244 7410 fax Europe & Africa Headquarters 2 The Square, Stockley Park Uxbridge Middlesex UB11 1AD +(44) 20 8589 1000 office +(44) 20 8589 1001 fax Asia Pacific & Middle East Headquarters 1 Raffles Place #58-00 OUB Centre Singapore 048616 +(65) 6883 5059 office +(65) 6534 0484 fax aspect.com

About Aspect Aspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact centre. Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.

Case Study Sharekhan Limited

2009 Aspect Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

3184US-C 5/09