Introduction
Prestige International is pleased to have this opportunity to bid for provision of the register.com JV (“the JV”) account management and billing support center.
Established in 1986 and headquartered in Tokyo, Prestige is a global contact center company with a presence throughout the UK/Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and the United States.
Prestige has positioned itself as a boutique multilingual outsourcing partner for companies going global, in industries such as telecommunications, financial services and e-business. Rather than be everything to everyone, our strategy is to partner with a select group of companies with international aspirations, in targeted industries.
From our organically grown – and growing – hubs in London, Sydney, San Francisco and Tokyo, we service clients such as Corning, MasterCard International and BOL.com.
London is the smallest of our 4 hubs, with a capacity of 40 seats in the current location. (Other hubs accommodate up to 500 seats.) We are in the process of negotiating additional space in London to accommodate anticipated business expansion. However we feel our relatively small size is an advantage to the JV – facilitating highly personalized, attentive service, appropriate to the “fine-touch” nature of the JV’s account management and billing support center.
Unlike many of its competitors, who have pursued growth through acquisition, Prestige has always owned and operated its own contact centers. This has facilitated a consistent environment and set of standards worldwide: the Prestige culture is synonymous with high quality service, a friendly, team-oriented working environment, and an entrepreneurial flair which has spawned an array of value-added services for our clients, often seeking a turn-key solution for international operations.
In fact, Prestige International commenced business in 1986 as a developer and provider of “enhancement services” – services which we packaged and sold as value-added offerings to companies wishing to enhance their core product to achieve market differentiation. An example of this is our signature Global Concierge Service. Corporations around the world subscribe to this private label service, which offers a complete menu of personal assistance, emergency assistance, business support, and information and reservation services, via a 24-hour hotline, accessible from anywhere around the world. Our representatives are trained to find creative solutions to callers’ varied and individual problems and requests. We note that the JV’s Center requires experienced personnel with precisely this pro-active and adaptive skill-set.
In its 14-year history, Prestige has diversified to provide a range of account management, customer service, and billing support solutions for companies around the world.
A private company, Prestige International is financially stable, owned by multi-billion dollar businesses KDD, Pasona and Sony Finance, as well as senior management.
We believe our global outlook, presence in London, UK, and our relevant experience in account management and billing support, represent a unique fit for the JV.
Contact
person
This proposal has been prepared by Sharon Barnett, an authorized representative of the Prestige International Group. Please address any questions relating to this proposal to:
Sharon
Barnett
Senior
Vice President
Prestige
International
150
E.52nd St, 10th Floor, New York NY 10022
ph: 212-317-7902 / fax: 212-317-9555 / e-mail: sharon@prestigein.com.
Experience – case studies
Prestige International has experience in both the B2B and B2C sectors, serving projects of similar scale to the JV’s requirement, in the UK/Europe, US, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Here a few bullet-point case studies (more details can be provided on request):
1. Service center in London, representing leading fiber optics company, supporting telecommunications clients throughout UK/Europe in English and German. Small number of high-level, mature reps provide phone and e-mail support of client inquiries, using a web-based contact management database.
2. Global contact center project spanning 3 locations (London –10 reps, Sydney – 20 reps, Tokyo – 40 reps), providing customer service and order processing to distributors (“associates”) of nutraceutical products – in British and Australian English, and Japanese. Includes handling of inquiries re commissions, bonuses, downlines, dealing with payment adjustments on associate accounts.
3. Help desk supporting UK and European roaming partners and large companies (“key accounts”) of satellite phone company, in English and German. Services included monitoring and distribution of “Fraudbuster” reports; investigation and trouble-shooting of errors, difficulties with network coverage and malfunctions experienced by subscribers to the satellite network; escalation and resolution of client complaints; accessing web-based system to suspend, re-activate or blacklist satellite telephone units (in the event of a lost or stolen phone).
4. Operation of Global Customer Care (GCC) center in Sydney for multi-billion $ telecommunications company; 24x7 support in 13 languages (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Thai, Russian and Arabic), employing over 60 representatives.
5. Handling inbound phone orders, customer service and outbound telemarketing for U.S.-based B2B marketer of premium goods – approximately 50 reps based in our Tokyo center handling large orders of tens/hundreds of thousands of units of pens, calendars, and co-ordinating with artwork department to have company logos imprinted on these items. Reps also provide billing support, explaining invoices and resolving client complaints.
6. Billing services supplied to major international telecommunications carrier targeting Japanese corporations and individuals in US. Prestige International San Francisco provided billing services and customer support, including actual collection and compilation of billing data and printing / mailing of invoices to customers.
Scope
of Service
Having operated programs of similar scope before, we do not envisage any issues with the nature of the service, nor with the hiring of suitably qualified personnel. Based in London, we have access to a large and savvy pool of labor.
We are flexible in providing services by phone, e-mail, fax or mail, as well as completing any back-end paperwork that may be required. As indicated below, we can also provide start-up services such as training and systems development.
Hours
of operation
We propose having the staffing
requirements indicated in the RFP available on one shift, Monday-Friday,
9am-5.30pm. For after-hours coverage,
we propose forwarding calls to Prestige’s San Francisco center for emergency
assistance. We already use this model
for other clients successfully. If it
is important to provide after-hours coverage within the UK, we would utilize
the services of a partner call center company to provide this service.
Training
Prestige has experience in developing training materials together with its clients, both in English, and adapted for other languages. We understand that the JV would like to work with the assigned Manager and possibly a lead Account Management Representative for 60 days prior to the launch to develop the training program as well as all operating flows and processes. We envisage involving our training consultant for approximately 40 hours to give guidance and input in this process. We are reluctant to provide hard copies of training materials we have developed as samples, but would be happy to show these in person.
Technology
and Support
Prestige International operates a variety of systems platforms customized to each project. This ranges from connecting to mainframe computers via a global frame relay network to emulate client terminals in the host country in real time, to far more simple models, involving password-authorized access to web-based applications, and contact management databases custom-built in MS Access. Our understanding is that a simple contact management application is required for this project, and Prestige has the resources to develop a low-cost application in a, short timeframe in accordance with the functional specifications which the JV would ultimately sign off on. Inquiries could be tracked and reported on from this application.
Future
Expansion
We understand there will be slow growth in the number of personnel assigned to this project and are comfortable with this.
We are excited by the possibility of future business opportunities to support other JVs and register.com work in other locations. We are specifically interested in bidding on any register.com customer service work in the US, Japan, rest of Asia-Pacific and Western Europe regions.
Pricing
· Set-up fee: approximately $__, depending on term of contract, and specifications of contact management database
· Hourly rate per account management and billing rep: US$__
Charged for both training and live production hours
· Monthly fee for manager: approximately US$__ (depending on personnel available, this may be slightly negotiable).
· Training consultant: US$__/hour
· Systems design/development: US$__/hour
· Telecom/postage/travel (if required): at cost