Charmer Sunbelt Group Centralizes Customer Service

At The Charmer Sunbelt Group (CSG) (www.charmer-sunbelt.com), delivering unmatched customer service is critical to remaining a beverage distributor of choice.

"Without our customers, we do not exist as a company," says Paul Fipps, chief information officer and corporate vice president of business services for CSG. "We recognize that if we don't care for our customers, someone else will."

With that philosophy in mind, CSG recently transitioned its customer service operations from being locally operated to a national center. The change supports a shared services organization implemented in 2008, which includes IT, customer care, financial and associate services.

"This was not an exercise in cost cutting, rather it was more about providing world-class customer service with consistent processes and technology supported by a comprehensive training program and talented associates," says Fipps.

The switch was enabled by a prior implementation of SAP ECC 6.0 (www.sap.com) as a common technology platform. CSG also added call recording technology and a contact center solution to create a comprehensive portfolio for efficient and effective customer interactions. Plus, a capability for business continuity ensures customer service is uninterrupted.

"In addition, we are in the process of implementing the SAP CRM Interaction Center to provide a single view of the customer for more efficient customer interactions," reports Fipps.

To date, improvements of its customer service transformation to date include:

• Consistent customer interactions regardless of the product or market.
• The development of a performance scorecard to better manage the customer service organization.
• Improved customer experience by reducing call waiting times and call abandon percentages.
• The development of a training program ensures customer service is formalized

Fipps also reports that CSG is on target to deliver cost savings through centralization. "For us, the next step is optimizing the customer experience," he says.

Customer Service Success
A revamped customer service organization is now positioned to handle 1 million calls annually for The Charmer Sunbelt Group.

Company at a Glance
The Charmer Sunbelt Group is a national distributor of fine wines, spirits, beers, bottled water, and other non-alcoholic products.

Words of Wisdom
"Evaluate the customer experience across the full value chain. Designing the right customer service for an organization requires approaching it from a holistic view." -- Paul Fipps, CIO & Corporate VP of Business Services, The Charmer Sunbelt Group

An Added Bonus
A robust business continuity plan ensures that CSG continues to service its customers when its central location is down due to natural occurrences.