Twitter alert

A new approach to service status alerts delivered through the social networking site Twitter is helping BT take customer service into the world of the people who matter - customers.

Launched a year ago as a direct way to contact customers quickly and proactively, BT Service Tweets is a first for BT in this area of customer service.

Behind the service is some clever innovation that marks it as a compelling and viable answer to communicating with customers on problems that impact on them directly - exchange, broadband or PSTN stoppages.

Simon Rowney from BT Business explains the thinking behind the launch of BT Service Tweets.

“We have the ability in BT to identify when issues affect customers, either exchange, broadband, PSTN or locally associated problems.

“Our proposal was to develop a ‘push’ method through a web page where customers could follow their products such as telephone services and broadband via twitter.

“We also wanted to do it quickly but at the same time avoid long and complex processes, and more importantly with little or no cost attached to the business.

“It was left to senior technical services manager Clyne McCarthy to develop the link into Twitter through its existing interfaces and create the Twitter web page.

“Other work included pinpointing the service feeds needed to identify the customers impacted and so allow direct messaging through their Twitter account. And we needed to understand the translation methods into Twitter limitations of 140 characters. In all, the project took two months to complete.”

The team then approached Twitter which provided an account for an enhanced 20,000 ‘Tweets’ an hour. So far there has been a positive response and some encouraging comments from about 300 customers who have used the service.

“Although fewer numbers of people using the service means it’s good news,” says Simon.

To get started customers have to open a twitter account and log in at the ‘Twitter service status’ page. They then register phone numbers they would like BT to update them on whether it’s a phone or broadband - it has to be provided by BT Business - service or both. Numbers can be changed by a simple online process and cancellation of the service is simply done by not following BT on Twitter.

BT Service Tweets is managed by customer agents in BT’s Alness call centre.

They identify the exchanges or products affected and record them on an internal tracker website. The system then automatically creates and sends a pre-designed direct message to customers who have subscribed to the service.

Simon Rowney believes social media sites such as Twitter can play a much bigger role in helping BT to stay in touch with customers.

He says: “By sending fault updates via direct messaging on Twitter means customers are in control on how they receive them. And Twitter will output to e-mail, SMS, web pages and RSS feeds.

“Social media is proactive, personal and could be a ‘game changer’ in the way BT offers customer service.”