MINERVA BC NEWMAN
CEBU CITY — Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc. (Converge) continues to provide quality customer experience for both its existing and potential new subscribers as it focuses on enhancing the overall customer experience by strengthening and digitizing its customer care functions and their journey with the company.
In a virtual results media briefing on August 12, Converge Chief Strategy Officer Benjamin Azada revealed that in the 2nd half of 2021, Converge installed more than 93 percent of new NCR subscribers within seven days and 63 percent within one day of application, respectively.
The company continued to expand its contact agent team by adding almost 100 seats during the second quarter to cater to customer queries from the expanding subscriber base.
Converge Chief Strategy Officer Benjamin Azada
Azada said that the Answer Call Rates, which measures the number of voice calls that contact centers answered during the quarter divided by all the voice calls received (during both peak and off-peak hours), further improved from 94 percent in the 1st half of 2021 to more than 96 percent during the 2nd quarter of this year.
During the third quarter of 2020, the Company rolled out its mobile application Converge Xperience App, which offers a convenient channel for its customers to review and pay their bills and allows customers to log tickets online.
As of June 30, 2021, Azada bared that more than 532,000 subscribers have registered in the application, representing almost 40 percent of residential subscribers as of the end of the period. Converge intends to continue refining and upgrading our mobile application using new technologies for innovation, which will provide new ways of customer engagement, he added.
On May 29, 2021, the Company launched the new Omnichannel Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that allows the Company’s contact agents to handle customer requests and complaints via various touchpoints, decreasing the effort required from the customer in raising his concerns and getting these addressed at the soonest possible time.
It also allows the Company to improve the proper distribution with faster response time to customer concerns from a single, universal system, in addition to being able to reach out to customers as the need arises.
In this new platform, all the existing customer touchpoints such as calls, email, social media platforms, SMS and self-service channels like ticket creation webforms, will flow through a single system to improve contact agent service levels.
Converge believes that “self-help” is a key factor to swiftly and efficiently address potential customer issues. “As a new feature on our mobile application, registered subscribers can now monitor the health status of their routers, specifically the speed and temperature of the device,” Azada added.
At the start of 2021, Converge bared that it has been working on the Sustainability Framework that goes beyond compliance reporting. The framework will underscore commitment to ensure that the Company adheres to global standards in environmental, social, and governance best-practices.
According to Azada that the Company has arranged workshops for its management to refine the materiality assessment, establish internal monitoring processes and identify Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) targets and strategies.
These workshops, he said promoted critical thinking in determining key pillars and crafting strategies relating to our sustainability framework. In addition, the Company has engaged with key stakeholders for consultations in identifying relevant metrics and targets to disclose.
Converge has also finalized its Sustainability Commitment as guide in its day-to-day operations: “We empower the Filipino people and the nation through technology. We respect humanity and the environment as we create a prosperous nation and sustainable future for all,” Azada added.
Converge Chief Risk Officer Grace Uy oversees the company’s Enterprise Risk and Business Continuity Management functions with seasoned talent in these areas. With the recent natural threats occurring, such as earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and imminent volcanic eruption, the Company continues to test and improve its business continuity practices.
Uy said that Converge also has joined memberships in foundations and institutions whose initiatives are in lined with the company’s social responsibility and sustainability commitment to the protection of children and the environment.
Converge President and Co-Founder Grace Uy
Converge joined the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in its fight to clamp down on internet sexual abuse against children anywhere in the world.
Joining the ranks of global technology companies such as Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, and TikTok on the fight against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, Converge was recently admitted as member of the online watchdog IWF which have already removed over 250,000 individual webpages of criminal content, mostly child sexual abuse images and videos.
As an IWF member, Converge will have access to this suite of IWF’s online tools. This includes a URL list, a master database of online child sexual abuse webpages for easier tagging and blocking, and an ‘Image Hash List’ an award-winning tool that’s essentially a database of codes representing the illicit content, which can then be matched with content on Converge’s network and removed, Uy reported.
So far, Converge has removed nearly 10,000 sites that are deemed unsafe for children and will continue to closely monitor online activities within its network to make sure that no illegal activities are carried through its network.
During the second quarter of 2021, Coverge has done various initiatives in line with its Sustainability Commitment. It conducted good governance training workshops for employees, including Anti-Money Laundering, Information Security and Intellectual Property, and Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption
Converge partnered with environmental group Abacan River and Angeles Watershed Advocacy Council, Inc. (ARAW-ACI) and the Angeles City local government unit for the planting of some 2,000 tree seedlings in Barangay Sapangbato, Uy said.
The Company also conducted vaccine education webinar to properly inform employees of the COVID disease and the benefits of getting inoculated. Dr. Lulu Bravo from the University of the Philippines and Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho from the Department of Health were the speakers during the webinar.
Converge, in coordination with the Batangas Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, provided high-speed fiber broadband connectivity to four evacuation centers in the province. It provided a dedicated fiber connection to facilitate the vaccination program of the local government units of Angeles City in Pampanga and San Juan City in Metro Manila
With the unrest of the Taal Volcano, Converge arranged outreach programs to provide food and connectivity to evacuees in partnership with the various local government units (LGUs) in Batangas.
Converge also turned over 1,000 each of 5-kilogram packs of rice and 5-liter purified water in slim containers for the affected families in the province and provided them with survival kits to its employees living within the proximity of the restive volcano.
