Flow, call-centre software three times cheaper than Genesys and Odigo

Three times less expensive than Genesys or Odigo, LCL's new telephony software is causing a stir among the 12,000 advisers at the Crédit Agricole subsidiary. But LCL was voted customer service of the year. Everything's going to be fine.

After a call for tenders that pitted three publishers - Genesys, Odigo and Worldline - against each other, LCL, the bank that has been voted Customer Service of the Year three times, has chosen Wordline as its network call management software for 2024. Flow, the new call management software deployed by LCL and supplied by Worldline, is reportedly experiencing a number of malfunctions, to the extent that a crisis unit has been set up by the Crédit Agricole subsidiary to resolve the problems. BNP-Paribas, which had also chosen Worldline to automate the management and processing of e-mails received by its network of bank branches, has also noted the poor performance of the project and the tools deployed.

The main extracts from the article in Les Echos* 
Since the end of 2024, the new telephony tool supplied by Worldline has gradually replaced the old Alcatel solution, which LCL considered obsolete. Repeated breakdowns, disconnected telephone conversations, connection problems, customer calls going straight to voicemail: incidents have multiplied in recent months, both nationally and locally (...)

Deployment of the Flow project began last October in the Rhône-Alpes Auvergne region, then was extended to the other regions until April. ‘Only the French West Indies have not yet been equipped,’ says a person familiar with the matter.

The software supplied by Worldline was selected following a call for tenders. Three companies responded: Worldline, Odigo (the solution chosen by Crédit Agricole's regional branches), and Genesys, which had the disadvantage of being three times more expensive than the solution offered by Worldline, offering the ‘best value for money’.

Gradual roll-out across the network
12,000 employees in the branch network have switched over to the new solution, in the knowledge that in a second phase, this software for managing incoming and outgoing telephone flows will also be adopted by employees in the private banking, corporate, wealth management and middle and back office activities.

‘Since last February, the elected members of the CSE (social and economic committee) and those of the CSEE (establishment social and economic committee) have been alerting management to the numerous malfunctions of the Flow tool, which are impacting LCL's business, generating customer dissatisfaction and deteriorating working conditions and the health of employees’, deplored the elected members of LCL's central CSE in a resolution adopted on 9 July.

"There is no question of reachability for our customers: they can call us and we answer their calls. Our call pick-up rate to date is 84%, which is a good performance in the market", retorts a person close to management.

Régis Abgrall is the new Canadair pilot
On 16 July, Régis Abgrall, head of LCL's retail banking division, tried to reassure the staff concerned by sending them an e-mail: ‘General management has contacted [our] various suppliers, urging them to improve the stability of the platform and deliver the expected improvements as quickly as possible’.

Reduce incoming calls by 10-20% 
IVR and SMS, the The project involves setting up a new kind of ‘interactive voice server’ (IVR). Specifically, if the call is not answered, the IVR will suggest that the customer send an SMS. They will then receive a link to the application, and will be able to carry out the transaction themselves, such as making a bank transfer. This could lead to a 10% to 20% reduction in incoming telephone calls to the bank.

16 French publishers of IVR, telephony, outgoing and incoming call management software are technically capable of delivering the same functional performance as Genesys, Odigo and Wordline. They are often more responsive than Genesys, Odigo and Wordline, and are chosen by demanding SMEs and SMIs. But comparing and benchmarking them takes time, and requires a rethink of purchasing processes, and a bit of a shake-up of IT Departments and their integrator “friends”, who derive substantial revenue from long deployment projects. Perhaps it's time?

ViaDialog, founded by Jean-David Bénichou, is one of the companies seeking to establish itself as a French alternative to the world leader in the sector, Genesys. In a special issue of En-Contact, he and Gil Monin explained the commercial and pricing positioning of their solution. Read more here.

Every two years, En-Contact magazine publishes a sort of independent and agnostic Michelin Guide to these service providers. It's called the Bottin du service, de l'expérience client et de l'hospitalité.

*Source: Les Echos, Krystèle Tachdian