Challenge

Today’s global organizations face an unprecedented need to accelerate the adoption of digital technology to provide customers with instant access to resources and information. Companies that are doing business across multiple countries and in various time zones must embrace technologies that allow them to deliver a unified customer experience, enhance collaboration, and improve business efficiencies.

AIG, one of the world’s largest insurance organizations with offices in over 80 countries, has long been struggling with manual scheduling processes. Consultants were not able to keep up with growing demand, and customers were often left waiting for appointments. Manual processes not only jeopardized customer experience but also compromised sensitive customer data by increasing its vulnerability to cyberattacks.

Solution

In an effort to improve customer experience, staff productivity, and data security, AIG has implemented SUMO Scheduler. SUMO Scheduler is a powerful online appointment scheduling software that automates record creation and maximizes performance. With the state-of-the-art interface, SUMO introduced a 360-degree view of every appointment booked which offered visibility into the entire scheduling process.

Additionally, SUMO’s Email and Invite Feature gave admins the power to send personalized email invites that took the guesswork out of the scheduling process. Upon receiving an invite, students simply clicked their personal link inside the email to choose a time, and the meeting automatically appeared on everyone’s calendar. SUMO’s automated process streamlined the scheduling and freed up coordinators’ time, allowing them to focus on other important tasks.

SUMO’s state-of-the-art multi-calendar became AIG’s central hub of information. With features such as color-coding, drag-and-drop rescheduling, room availability, no-show indicators, and proximity search, the unified calendar allowed AGI consultants to gain complete control over their scheduling process almost immediately.

Furthermore, the automated process of sending personalized appointment invites through the Invite Manager Module significantly reduced the amount of time needed to schedule private appointments. This allowed consultants to focus on servicing customers without having to worry about scheduling accuracy and data safety.

Results

One of the main goals for AIG was to improve consultant productivity and increase appointment bookings. SUMO’s powerful automation features helped AIG’s consultants quickly and easily schedule appointments without having to worry about record creation and other complex tasks. SUMO Scheduler’s intuitive design and seamless implementation resulted in a quick adoption by the vast majority of AIG’s teams. SUMO has now become an indispensable tool for the insurance agency, helping to increase sales and improve consultant productivity.

Looking ahead, AGI is excited to see how SUMO’s other features will help them improve productivity and increase sales. The SUMO team is constantly innovating and expanding the capabilities of SUMO Scheduler. Recent updates include the edition of Analytics Builder, a powerful platform for creating unlimited reports to track staff utilization, appointment volume, no-shows, reminder engine success, and more. It’s no surprise that SUMO Scheduler is the leading choice for online appointment scheduling software by insurance organizations worldwide.

Challenge

The Need to Stay Ahead of The Curve

The financial industry has faced many changes in recent years and perhaps the biggest shift has affected its demographics. As current investors are aging, they are being replaced by millennials who are far more tech-savvy, confident, and aggressive in making financial decisions. That’s why having a technology that can efficiently handle mass volumes of client requests is paramount for companies striving to capitalize on new market opportunities and stay ahead of the competition.

Our customer is unlike any other financial planning firm. What sets it apart is 120 years in the industry and a diversified business portfolio including asset management, retirement planning services, life insurance, and annuities. As most of its clients come from onsite events and seminars, it’s important to have the ability to make follow-up appointments on the spot while potential clients are showing strong interest in connecting with an advisor.

Solution

Changing The Game With A Smart Appointment System

Our customer addressed SUMO with the goal to increase the volume of their leads coming from onsite events to help drive new business. The management team shared that they wanted to improve the effectiveness of recruiting new clients as in the past, they’ve struggled with outdated manual processes and disparate scheduling systems.

Previously, the company had no experience using automation and appointment scheduling was inherently decentralized and manual. A unified calendar view showing resource availability was the key missing component, making it hard to connect potential clients with the right advisors in a timely manner. In addition, using separate calendars and scheduling tools was time-consuming and often led to multiple errors in finding available resources and meeting locations. The management team knew they needed an automated scheduling platform to join up their activity and help improve the appointment flow.

Results

Seeing Goals Through To The End

The SUMO Customer Engagement Platform was central to the company’s ability to grow new business and convert event leads into long-term clients. Some of the benefits Strategic Wealth Designers attained with SUMO are:

Online Appointment Scheduler with Invite Manager and Resource Pools

The SUMO Platform provided a unified view for the appointment and staff availability allowing advisors to make quick appointments at in-person events. SUMO Scheduler not only displayed calendar availability for individual advisors but also showed vacant meeting facilities based on the client’s location and appointment time. In addition, an Invite Manager feature gave the team the power to send secure personalized email invitations for automatic bookings while Resource Pools assigned bookings to team members based on a preferred distribution method.

Instant Booker for The Right Person, Right Location, and Right Time

With its intuitive design and simple user experience, SUMO’s Instant Booking Module finds openings and connects the prospect with the right advisor and available location within a matter of seconds. From day one, the team was able to save up to 25% of the time by eliminating manual effort and minimizing scheduling errors. Multi-location support was also a key asset in finding available meeting locations and ensuring that the client gets booked with the right advisor no matter how many calendars are involved.

Reminder Engine with Automated Emails, Text, and Phone Notifications

Finally, the SUMO Reminder Engine made sure that no-shows became a non-issue for the company. The system was able to effectively cut appointment no-shows by 30% while driving revenue up with automated reminders. The team now has complete freedom to choose a configurable template based on the type of appointment which allows for personalized customer service. Clients also enjoy the ability to cancel or reschedule their appointment automatically, without having to contact their advisor by simply clicking a link inside the reminder message.

Today, our customer credits SUMO as a central element of the company’s tremendous success and looks forward to continuing the partnership.

Struggling with constant no-shows and facing a drop in customer sentiment, this Fortune 500 business was looking to increase productivity by re-inventing its appointment management system. Here’s why they chose SUMO.

THE CHALLENGE:

The client, a worksite insurance provider, needed to prepare for an annual open enrollment event with an enterprise premier care provider with over 13,000 employees across 29 states.

However, their existing scheduling system was archaic, buggy, and crash-prone, leading to not only lost time but also lost customer appointment data.

The constant cycle of contacting leads & asking them to re-fill personal data was not only inefficient, but also reflected poorly on the client, which made the event less effective for the provider’s staff & the customer’s employees.

The clients who tried to schedule appointments found available times inconvenient, and there was no option to efficiently re-book or request a different appointment hour.

The effect? On-site staff sat idle for long periods; their calendars had few appointments, and no-shows became extremely common.

Seeking a fresh start with maximum customer satisfaction, the client approached SUMO with a scheduling system in dire need of care.

THE OBJECTIVES:

SUMO conducted a thorough analysis of the client’s day-to-day operations, and gathered key stakeholder opinions to understand the most pressing pain points.

Furthermore, the client had some clear feature requests to the scheduling technology, and as such, SUMO focused on meeting the client’s minimum requirements while the provider decided to focus on improving the appointment process.

The feature requests included:

• Integration with their CRM platform, Salesforce
• The ability to assign specific enrollers across multiple locations
• Automated 24/7 scheduling, with a modern, crash-proof interface
• Personal data protection with bank-grade safeguards

THE SOLUTION:

First and foremost, as a Salesforce native application, SUMO assured bank-grade data security, HIPAA compliance, and seamless integration with the client’s Salesforce platform.

This meant that the client’s data was not only stored securely within the Salesforce environment for convenient access, but also safeguarded by some of the strongest firewalls available on the market, ensuring maximum data protection.

Secondly, SUMO deployed its Assignment Engine, enabling the staff to match with employees based on their insurance needs and the enroller’s areas of expertise, providing the expert assistance required.

Moreover, SUMO’s Reminder Engine allowed the insurance provider’s staff to send automated emails, text messages, and phone reminders to ensure every client showed up on time or rescheduled at their convenience.

THE RESULTS:

SUMO’s multi-faceted solution allowed the worksite insurance provider to tackle its key pain points while significantly improving customer service and productivity.

As a Salesforce-native solution, SUMO enabled the provider to capture critical appointment information and optimize workflows seamlessly while ensuring data security.

Furthermore, the bank-grade security measures of SUMO’s scheduling solution provided the level of protection required by a Fortune 500 business.

Lastly, the Assignment Engine and Reminder Engine optimized the customer service process, matching specialists with the right clients and providing clients with more self-scheduling opportunities.

The worksite insurance provide has reported the following numbers since implementing SUMO’s solution:

• 13,000+ employees are now able to self-schedule with a representative based on their product interests and needs.
• 8,000 independent agents are now matched by product certifications, tenure, and geographical location for convenient support
• 400 locations are now staffed by skill-matched representatives with an optimized schedule of pre-set appointments.

THE FUTURE:

The addition of SUMO Scheduler to the provider’s open enrollment process continues to improve both the productivity of their enrollment representatives, and the overall experience for the (fast) growing customer base.

As the Vice-President of Operations stated after 6 months:

“SUMO Scheduler is truly driving business growth by adding
up to 50% more appointments to our insurance agents’ calendars.“
– Jane VP, Operations, Fortune 500 Insurance Company

How did a rapidly growing Laser Treatment Center manage to supercharge its customer service, increase revenue, and reduce appointment scheduling times by  50%? By incorporating efficiency… and a bit of SUMO magic. 

THE CHALLENGE:

The client in focus is a Retail Banking institution that provides private banking services, lending programs, and personalized financial services to its customers; from long-term care to retirement planning.

Looking to upscale, the bank had previously attempted to increase the number of incoming customers, but doing so had created excessive workload for the staff, as all new client requests & inquiries had to be managed by phone & email.

These methods of communication had created a constant phone & email lag that would not only extend the time it took for advisors to meet & serve customers, but also lead to lost conversations, delayed wait times & lacking customer service.

THE OBJECTIVE:

The client, while requesting a Salesforce-native application as a critical factor, requested a solution that would help them achieve the following objectives:

• Modernize data-recording efforts for client requests & inquiries
• Develop features for self-scheduling service appointments
• Decrease excessive call times for key staff members 
• Create a notification engine to reduce the possibility of lapsed/lost clients
• Built the solution within the Salesforce environment

THE SOLUTION:

SUMO’s specialists concentrated on reliability and sustained usage when designing a modern, Salesforce-native platform tailored to efficiently handle large appointment volumes.

The employees/specialists no longer need to look for appointment availability by location, instead receiving automated emails and calendar support through a simplified and highly efficient process.

Secondly, SUMO’s customized platform provided the Multi-Location Calendar, a bird’s-eye view of all appointment openings and staff availability across multiple locations.

Not only was the platform engineered to operate for extended durations without encountering issues, the clinic employees were now quickly able to schedule an appointment once a request came into Salesforce from multiple contact channels.

Lastly, by utilizing SUMO’s Report Builder, the client gained access to a customized reporting and analytics dashboard with accurate, up-to-date data, allowing the Laser Treatment Center to plan future expansion and growth strategies.

THE RESULTS:

• Customers were now able to self-schedule appointments with advisors at their convenience, successfully utilizing SUMO’s self-scheduling feature.
• Advisors were able to focus the majority of their efforts on servicing their customers, owing to the decrease in excessive call times.
• The client experienced an increase in customers maintaining their appointments and noted the Notification Engine to be the key factor.
• The client reported a clearer, more intuitive data ecosystem created via SUMO’s Salesforce-native solution that retained critical data within the Salesforce platform.
• Client surveys recorded higher rates of customer satisfaction after SUMO’s appointment solution was deployed for the client.

THE FUTURE: 

The Laser Treatment Center has prioritized efficiency through a renewed process of appointment scheduling and customer experience with the help of SUMO’s platform.

The Treatment Center continues to grow and expand its services to more locations across the United States, bringing with it professional services, high-caliber quality, and a laser-like efficiency.

A 47% reduction in the Support Team’s workload while saving almost half a million a month on workforce management? How did this FinServ Powerhouse do it?

THE CHALLENGE:

As a firm operating in the Financial Services industry, the client’s customer support team was tasked with  processing payments. However, another major objective of the client was to efficiently schedule product installations and training, as a secondary source of revenue.

Simply put, Productivity was becoming a critical issue as, according to the CEO, “it was taking too much time for support agents to schedule clients for their installations”. The company’s support team of over 1000+ employees was spending countless hours calling or re-calling to book installations. This burdensome (and exasperating) hurdle was reducing the time spent on actual real-time customer support, as not only were the agents becoming less productive, but the “quality of their customer service was declining at an alarming rate”, according to Robert, the Vice President for Process Management.

THE OBJECTIVE:

With resource-management being such a critical part of Financial Services, SUMO was tasked with optimizing the client-agent communication process, along with:

• Minimizing wait-times for callbacks from customer support agents
• Eliminating delays in payment processing and invoicing
• Creating efficient workflows through a customized platform
• Providing seamless integration with SalesForce

THE SOLUTION:

SUMO utilized its customized platform with Salesforce® for the client’s CRM. Critically, SUMO’s self-scheduling feature solved the delays that clients were experiencing, by allowing them to freely schedule one-to-one appointments with designated support agents in-person, via phone, video, and even web conference.

SUMO’s Assignment Engine proved to be another vital addition, as the feature eliminated the human error of mismatching the customer with an overbooked agent, thus greatly decreasing the number of no-shows, and improving customer experience.

Furthermore, as a Salesforce native application, the client was able to use SUMO to integrate seamlessly with their Salesforce organization profile, creating bespoke workflows and a customized organizational system.

THE RESULT:

At the end of the first month of implementing SUMO’s solutions, the client reported the following:

• A 47% reduction in the Support Team’s workload and delayed responses
• Record $400,000 saved a month with appointment scheduling automation
• An Increase in positive client reviews regarding the Customer Service Team

“SUMO is automating a problem that costs our organization almost half a million dollars a month! It is an absolute bargain to work with them.”
– Robert, Vice President, Process Management

THE FUTURE: 

By giving their clients the ability to Self- Schedule at their convenience, the Financial Service juggernaut also experienced an improvement in client satisfaction, as well as its net profit at the end of the fiscal year. SUMO’s multi-functional platform helped the organization immediately eliminate the issues its support team was facing, ensuring an efficient, effective process
for the organization’s long-term growth.

This renowned client saved more than 25% of its staff’s time by employing a modern, automated scheduling system, but how it managed to bring back lost clients is even more impressive.

THE CHALLENGE:

The client’s previous scheduling process for setting up meetings heavily relied on phone & email communication. Every appointment request would be picked up by the Reception staff, who would have to review each Financial Advisor’s individual calendar, and book the meeting.

That’s a little cumbersome, but manageable… if an Advisor’s calendar was wide open. If the Advisor was booked, another round of calls & emails had to be made in order to find a mutually agreeable time slot. 

As if that wasn’t enough, the Reception staff were also tasked with re-booking appointments requested by the clients where they directly contacted the Financial Advisors. This resulted in more confusion and appointment overlap, leading to missed appointments, communication silos, and a frustrated workforce.

THE OBJECTIVE:

Recognizing the inefficiencies inherent in these processes, the COO Janise. aimed to reclaim the valuable time spent on appointment scheduling, while attempting to:

• Optimize the appointment scheduling process 
• Create efficient communication channels between Advisors & clients
• Alleviate the stress of additional responsibilities off the Reception staff
• Prioritize individual client experiences through round-the-clock service
• Enhance overall time-management efficiency 

THE SOLUTION:

After a period of time persisting with the burdensome manual scheduling process, SUMO was brought onboard.

SUMO implemented round-the-clock, semi-automated response systems, meaning that the Client was able to book meetings at any moment, even during the off hours, directly affecting the inflow of customers.

Critically, this update allowed the client to radically decrease the number of no-shows, as both Advisors and Clients appreciate the simplified & efficient process of booking appointments.
Furthermore, custom meeting-types were built for the client, where they now had the convenience of selecting their meeting options based on their availability: phone, video or in-office. This directly resulted in the reception staff no longer spending all their time (re)scheduling appointments.

Ultimately, the implementation of SUMO’s solution had a positive effect on the FinTech firm’s C-SAT. Their Clients felt catered to as the Advisors focused on building interpersonal relations, whereas the appointments were now easy to moderate.

THE RESULT:

The COO reiterated the importance of time-management and efficiency in operations when asked about her key objectives for SUMO:

“Our firm offers full-service financial advice to its clients from non-commissioned fiduciary advisors, so meetings are integral to our service. Our goal was to remove any obstacle that keeps the client from not engaging or coming in for advice”. 
– Janise, COO FinServ Client

The FinTech firm can now:

• Manage appointments through a modern interface
• Minimize no-shows through a semi-automated communication system
• Personalized customer service through custom meeting types
• Freed up the Reception staff to focus on more productive tasks

THE FUTURE:

The COO’s team is now able to achieve the primary business goal of handling every incoming appointment in an efficient and professional manner.

SUMO’s personalized solution turned a highly manual process of booking meetings, which was prone to human error, into a seamless, client-first system. SUMO now helps the FinTech firm connect and engage with their clients at their convenience.