CUSTOMER PROFILE
ABOUT
For over 35 years, United Language Group has provided the language services required to overcome language barriers in a global marketplace. As a language solutions partner built on quality processes and linguistic expertise, ULG is one of the world’s largest and most innovative translation, localization, and interpreting providers.
INDUSTRY
Language Service Provider
LOCATION
Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN
GOALS
- Reduce transactional friction between callers and interpreters
- Remove barriers to growth
- Achieve FedRAMP compliance
- Retire aging, difficult-to-maintain contact center platform
FEATURES
- FedRamp certification
- Instant-connect, high-quality cloud communications platform
- Customizable call flow across thousands of agent skills and connection points
- Insights based on integrated data across contact center activities, interaction recordings, and historical data
- Omnichannel queue capabilities
United Language Group (ULG), has become one of the fastest-growing interpretation providers by offering unparalleled, intelligent workflows to their customer base in over 250 languages for a variety of government, healthcare, and commercial organizations. ULG’s innovative approach had outgrown its existing platform and enlisted a worldclass solution, NICE CXone, to provide critical compliance for FedRAMP while continuing to deliver a high level of support throughout the organization.
01 THE BEFORE
Unleashing potential
United Language Group’s international contact center, with hundreds of customer service agents and thousands of interpreters around the globe, depended on a dated contact center platform. Legacy tools were no longer supported, making it a challenge to provide state-of-the-art functionality. “I couldn’t scale past a certain level of business because of the limitations in our system,” said James Dodson, executive vice president of interpretation at United Language Group.
As customer’s needs evolved, the responsiveness and flexibility to better connect with the different cultural and language needs of diverse communities needed to be standardized.
With a reliance on PSTN architecture, call connection and availability were subject to delays and inconsistencies. Because of these limitations, the organization decided to migrate to a new solution that was delivered in a cost-effective and reliable way.
02 DESIRE TO CHANGE
An overdue migration gets a push
Some of ULG’s largest customers are federal government organizations, and the company wanted to migrate to a platform that was Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) certified to help them comply with changing cloud security requirements and overcome platform maintenance challenges.
With callers and interpreters in so many markets conversing on a wide range of topics, many of them against a high-stakes healthcare backdrop, ULG was naturally interested in building better call flow to enhance the caller experience. However, the difficulties in customizing the existing system made every workflow tweak feel like a stopgap measure. These factors all combined to create genuine barriers to organizational growth. “The number one impetus for us to move was the ability to scale,” Dodson said. “And our federal agency clients had to submit exception requests to policy in order to operate on our former platform, and we wanted to add FEDRAMP to support their migration to the cloud.”
03 THE SOLUTION
Much more than instant compliance
ULG evaluated several solutions but quickly recognized that NICE CXone was the only option both appropriate for its business and FedRAMP certified. “That made it easy. However, NICE CXone also beat everybody out as far as value and price are concerned,” Dodson said.
To ensure a successful migration to a new contact center platform, ULG embarked on a six-month planning process including independent consultants and established NICE CXone developers. The planning team supported the process with multiple touchpoints and spearheaded an aggressive, early training program for a smooth transition. Because many interpreters were accustomed to using their personal phones over standard PSTN connections, the migration required additional engagement to clearly communicate the new requirements and minimize attrition.
To capture the range of services offered, ULG configured over 4,900 agent skills and serves customers through over 3,300 dial-in numbers. Internal developers familiar with the previous contact center solution were retained and retrained, promoting technological continuity. These developers now develop tailored call workflows that have unlocked new conveniences, such as direct-connect callback numbers to ensure that callers obtain a native speaker when returning a voicemail message.
ULG analysts now have access to a much wider range of data insights. The enhanced call review and visibility expose valuable information buried in 15+ million monthly connect minutes and steers ongoing improvements to essential processes. The ease of training and reallocating agents on NICE CXone has also helped ULG expand the range of services offered to clients. For example, agents are now used to help meet peak demand during health insurance open enrollment season, reducing the need for heavy recruitment and seasonal layoff cycles typical of that industry.
04 THE RESULTS
Cleaner connections and rapid ROI
NICE CXone delivers on key business objectives for ULG, including faster connections between callers and interpreters, superior call quality and stability even under heavy volumes, improved productivity, and billing efficiency.
Within three months of implementation, ULG measured substantial performance improvements:
- IVR-processed calls rose from 40% to 65% of all interactions, made possible by better control over workflow scripting
- Average interpreter connection time fell by 25%
- Billing accuracy improved from 69% to 89% to better reflect actual volumes.
This last gain was a welcome surprise for the organization. Many calls, particularly those that disconnected before resolution, were registered as non-billable interactions in the previous solution. With the insights available on NICE CXone, analysts were able to accurately identify and label calls in the appropriate category. “Overall, the increased level of detail that we see and can now share with our customers significantly improved,” said Angela Rabideau, ULG’s Director of Over-the- Phone Interpreting Operations. Improved data has also boosted forecast accuracy and both forecasting and scheduling have become more efficient with the integration of NICE CXone Workforce Management. Accurate forecasts clear more time to schedule staff development and agent coaching sessions, creating more opportunities for growth within the organization.
05 THE FUTURE
More channels and more opportunities
Still in the first year of operation on NICE CXone, ULG is capitalizing on early success by opening conversations with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders to identify more ways to scale existing services and open new lines of business. “We’re coming together to discuss what’s now in the realm of the possible, and what’s the timeline?” Dodson said. NICE will enable ULG to scale its current services, such as providing video-based interpretation, and expand offerings to reach as many culturally and linguistically diverse people as possible.
