APPLICATION NOTE

Call Center
Automated Attendant & Fax-on-Demand

The Smarter Energy Line is an energy saving and efficiency information service offered by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) to all of their California customers. The purpose of the service is to assist customers in the conservation of energy. PG&E in turn can reduce their need to invest in new energy generation facilities.

The Smarter Energy Line's call center is located in San Jose, California and is staffed with approximately 12 service agents. V*Channel's FAXLink system assists the agents by answering and greeting all incoming callers and provides interactive voice and fax document information options.

The call center receives about 800-1000 calls a day and the service agents are available to answer incoming calls from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.

PG&E's energy savings programs are promoted using various advertising methods. Rebates are offered on new purchases of air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes washers, and insulation. The promotion of these offers generates over 50% of the call volume. 20% of the calls are for various types of energy saving information. The remaining information requests pertain to various miscellaneous topics.

V*Channel's FAXLink system helps PG&E Smarter Energy Line by reducing the number of callers service agents have to service. And, it helps the callers because they do not have to wait to get information. Approximately 25%-30% of all callers elect to help themselves to the information by selecting the various options provided by the automated information system.

During business hours Smarter Energy Line callers always have the option to talk to a service agent, but sometimes there is a wait before an agent is available. FAXLink's automated voice & fax response capabilities always provide immediate assistance so callers frequently choose to use it.

The automated attendant menu allows callers to choose to transfer to a service agent, to listen to information on rebate offers or energy saving information, or use the fax-on-demand application. For both the rebate and energy saving information categories, recorded messages are played first to provide the caller a with brief overview. After the message is played, the caller is given the option of receiving more detailed information by fax response or listening to another information category.