"The Wi-Fi problem stops here"

When the coronavirus crisis started in 2020, almost everyone suddenly started working from home. As a result of this, private customers started exhibiting the same behaviour as business users from one day to the next, says Sjors de Visser. "With all the corresponding demands. Their internet connection simply had to work properly. Not tomorrow, but now! And it also had to work in the attic, because suddenly there was an office there. To meet these demands, our customer service had to undergo a transformation within a short space of time." The result is there for all to see, in Sjors’ opinion. "The WiFi Crew is a group of colleagues that you want to belong to and customers are extremely satisfied with them."

A new kind of employee
To enable the WiFi Crew to succeed, the profile of our employees had to change in a number of important ways, says Sjors. "Whereas before, we used to factor in sales skills, for example, we now specifically look for people with a passion for tech. IT professionals, but also gamers and people who just want to know everything about the latest mobiles and computers. 'Nerds', as I often hear them call themselves."

The buck stops with you
Working in the WiFi Crew is all about solving problems. "The idea is that you are the end point in the problem-solving chain. And if that can't be achieved with a single phone call, you can become the customer's fixed contact person who will be guide the customer all the way to the finish line." We closely monitor the percentage of customer issues resolved. "This solve rate now stands at an average of 75 per cent; a figure that is slightly distorted due to the fact that the handling of the issue can also play a role, such as making an appointment for a technician to visit. If we look purely at the technical solutions themselves, the solve rate is currently between 80 and 90 per cent."

Tooling and schooling
"Ongoing support and the best tools and training – we do everything we possibly can to make sure that the WiFi Crew is a team that you want to belong to. Crew members have a high degree of ownership and are authorised to investigate issues until they get to the bottom of them. We also strengthen the crew by providing professional tools, such as the most complex network software. The WiFi Crew therefore receives training from, among other people, experts in our network."

The crew behind the crew
No matter how well trained they are, members of the WiFi Crew obviously cannot know everything, so we certainly don't leave them to deal with issues on their own, assures Sjors. "A lot of knowledge is shared within the crew. And behind the scenes, a community of experts from across the company is on hand to clarify questions. For the toughest issues, there is also a Tech Desk with experts who can dive really deeply into the systems. This has already yielded a number of discoveries, identifying problems we were able to address before they went wrong on a larger scale. For example, we discovered that certain laptops did not work well with the software used in our newest type of modem."

A game-changer in customer service
Compared to our standard customer service department, the WiFi Crew is a smaller team. “However, they are so effective that we are bringing some of their tooling and authorisations to the first line. What we are seeing is that customers' appreciation of the Ziggo brand shoots up once they've been in contact with the WiFi Crew. That is a real game-changer. People often think that customer service only costs money, but this shows that you can actually make a return on it."

A fantastic customer experience
The WiFi Crew is part of Ziggo's new ambition: 'Make today fantastic'. Sjors explains why this is so fitting. "We can see it from our customer satisfaction figures, which have increased significantly. Is there a problem? If so, we almost always solve it. And thanks to our personal approach, customers are more understanding if something takes more time. We also learn more from the feedback our customers give us. We have created an internal Wi-Fi Community, in which we share knowledge among ourselves, exchange experiences and launch discussions. As a result, we are more likely to notice if a problem recurs more often and can escalate it much sooner. This means is that we are also saving many others from experiencing the same problem – and that, of course, really is fantastic."