King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), one of the largest and fastest-growing medical complexes in the Middle East, has partnered with Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA) to build a unified contact center that will transform healthcare delivery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The transformation project was revealed at the 39th edition of GITEX Technology Week, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During the joint announcement, KFMC executives said that the initiative comes as KFMC strives to keep pace with the Saudi National Plan for Digital Transformation, a part of the Saudi Vision 2030 that will see the country diversify its economy.
KFMC’s Director of communication administration Eng. Fahd Al-Salham, said: “One of the biggest technical challenges at KFMC is the ability to standardize communications channels for patient services - particularly channels related to patient service and back-office support for actual medical services. The technology we have deployed in cooperation with Avaya has contributed to the solution of this issue. The new contact center system is an innovative technology solution that has transformed the quality of services that we can offer.”
According to the SuperServe research conducted by Avaya earlier this year, 70% of communications between customers and large organizations is handled by contact center staff. However, the majority of customer requests are only fulfilled once back-office staff become involved in the query. The results also showed that, when communication between the contact center and back-office is hindered, customer queries take longer to resolve, resulting in customer dissatisfaction.
Al-Salham said that KFMC’s contact center solves this problem with a unified approach to communication. The contact center runs seven days a week, 24 hours a day, through both self-service and human agents, with the aim of resolving queries at the first point of contact. Using Avaya IX Contact Center as a platform, the solution does this through a series of automation and reporting tools that not only extend to the contact center, but to the back-office operation, too.
KFMC managers are able to track patient requests via the contact center from the first moment of a patient’s communication, and gain insights into the quality of service being provided to the patient. It also provides visibility in where delays in patient care may happen.
Another feature of the new contact center is the ability to provide agents with an expected wait time when connecting patients to specialists or the back office. What’s more, these features are available across every communication channel that KFMC uses – including voice, live chat, and email.
Zouheir Diab, Managing Director – Saudi Arabia, Avaya, said: “We are extremely proud of our achievements with King Fahad Medical City, and by the quality of results for patient care that have emerged from our partnership. With KFMC being one of the largest health institutions in the Middle East, this solution will benefit huge numbers of Saudi citizens, who’ll be able to experience next-generation healthcare services as the country works towards the goals of the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030.”
The solution deployed by King Fahad Medical City is just one of many innovations that Avaya is demonstrating at GITEX Technology Week 2019 under the theme, ‘The Art of Experience’. Visitors to the trade show can see these solutions in action at Avaya’s stand, C-10 in Za’abeel Hall, at the Dubai World Trade Center, from October 6 to 10.
