Healthier Circulation... Bringing down the costs of campaign fulfilment for the British Heart Foundation
During the first 12 months of a three-year contract to support the battle against Britain's number-one killer, heart disease, Prolog has demonstrated that effective outsourcing makes a real difference in helping a major charity cut costs and direct more money where it is urgently needed.From November 2008 to November 2009, the BHF distributed via its outsource fulfilment partner, Prolog, almost 7.5 million items, mainly printed materials, CDs and DVDs, designed to educate young and old alike about the dangers of heart disease and how to stay healthy.
The savings are significant, and they come from doing things better, faster and more efficiently across the spectrum of the account. Initiatives are ongoing, but already Prolog has streamlined warehouse production for its client by introducing a bespoke pick bin system, cut storage costs by part-pallet consolidation and devised an effective scrapping regime for unwanted stock.
Piecemeal improvements in day-to-day working such as these, coupled with the benefits of a pricing regime based on hourly-rate are helping to bring costs down at a critical period for the charity.
Prolog is delivering a fast, efficient bespoke communications solution to support BHF national campaigns. The contracted services range from multi-channel order taking to storage, collation, packing and delivery of more than 1000 distinct product lines, and they include state-of-the-art mailing and lettershop services when needed by the client.
The process begins at one of Prolog's award-winning multi-channel contact centres, where during the first 12 months more than 32,000 calls were accepted from heart patients, their families, health professionals, schools and companies. These callers collectively placed 68,000 orders for materials using the telephone, Internet, email and white mail.
BHF calls are taken by a team of dedicated advisors, hand picked for their experience on other Prolog charity accounts. To earn a place on the team they must demonstrate not only the technical skills necessary for a busy orderline, but also the ability to deal empathetically and compassionately with worried, possibly bereaved callers.
In addition, they provide the warm, welcoming and knowledgeable voice of BHF for its many supporters who call in: In 2008-09 Prolog's newly commissioned financial processing unit, an integral feature of the contact centre, handled donations to the charity totalling more than £68,000.
Since taking on the BHF account, Prolog has consistently exceeded service levels, which require 80 per cent of calls answered within 15 seconds and no more than five per cent lost - testimony to the professionalism of one of the few independent outsourcers in the UK to hold the Contact Centre Association's coveted Global Standard Accreditation.
How the British Heart Foundation interacts with supporters, the general public and its 65 internal stock owners is critical to the brand, and nowhere more so than in the delivery chain.
Between November 2008 to November 2009, Prolog made 78,600 despatches for the BHF incorporating on average 95 individual items per despatch. Parcelforce and Royal Mail were contracted to handle the bulk of deliveries to hospitals, GP surgeries, schools, colleges, major retail stores and other strategic destinations. Yet Prolog's own transport fleet has added a crucial element of flexibility and fail-safe, particularly when supplying the charity's numerous public exhibitions and events around the country where timely, accurate deliveries are paramount.
In a single year, Prolog has brought a new dimension in service efficiency for one of Britain's leading charities. During the most severe financial crisis in living memory Prolog's customer service agents have acted as ambassadors for the brand; its skilled warehouse management and staff have scrutinised the operation through all its aspects and to the finest detail and found ways to do things better. Prolog's transport infrastructure provides much needed assurance that critical consignments will be delivered or collected on time, and a proactive Account Management team have initiated economies that have effectively diverted much needed funds back into the charity's coffers to be used in the battle for the nation's heart.
- During its first year supporting the British Heart Foundation, Prolog accepted 68,379 orders for campaign materials
- Prolog's warehouse delivered 78,602 separate consignments to enhance heart disease awareness
- This required 7,423,665 individual items to be picked, packed and despatched
- Over the same period Prolog's contact centre took 32,268 calls, each averaging 198 seconds
- More than 80 per cent of the calls were answered within 15 seconds, and less than 5 per cent missed
- BHF supporters donated £68,694 via Prolog's contact centre in a 12-month period
Prolog's fulfilment operations on behalf of the British Heart Foundation are primarily geared to support major national cardiac disease awareness mailings and campaigns, such as 'Food should be Fun and Healthy' in February 2009 and 'Food 4 Thought' and 'Heart Matters' launched in November and December of the same year.
The BHF works hard to get its message to parents, and more than 18,000 children are being encouraged to exercise and eat healthily as a result of their participation in 'Artie Beat'.
Thanks to robust campaigning, heart disease is now never far from the headlines in the UK, and news stories breaking in the media can trigger major peaks in calls for advice and information packs. So in addition to its regular campaign work, Prolog's contact centre and warehouse teams must be constantly prepared to respond to the unexpected.