In March 2020 Trustpower implemented a pilot of Amazon Connect, a cloud-based contact centre platform. General manager for technology and delivery Matt van Deventer says that within eight days Trustpower had migrated more than 200 agents to the platform which enabled them to work from home during the initial COVID-19 lockdowns.

Trustpower subsequently ran an eight week discovery process and validated that the platform would meet current and future requirements. In December 2020, the first phase of the enhanced ‘fit for future’ telephony system on the Amazon Connect platform was delivered, and all agents completely moved off the legacy platform.

These enhancements delivered value through reduced effort, reduced staff intervention and increased customer and staff satisfaction. Other benefits include:

•          Simplification of our contact centre environment.

•          Decommissioning of physical infrastructure.

•          Rapid prototyping and deployment of changes.

•          Ability to scale services quickly.

•          Reduction in ongoing operational costs.

Demonstrating influence

“Like lots of things in life, being successful is about building relationships and gaining the trust and respect of others. It’s critical to get the basics right, and ensuring that the organisation has a good experience with ALL aspects of technology – it’s hard to convince people to take a punt on disruptive technology if you can’t keep the printers working,” van Deventer says.

“Demonstrating capability and getting runs on the board earns you a seat at the table – expanding on that and using technology to create competitive advantage keeps you there. Digital transformation isn’t moving Excel to Google Sheets, it’s totally re-inventing processes from the ground up.”