Churches Fire & Security has partnered with Sabio Group to enhance service efficiency through data-driven insights. As part of an in-depth Intent Capture & Analysis (IC&A) process, the company examined over 25,000 customer calls to pinpoint challenges and opportunities for improvement.
A key finding showed that 17% of all calls—amounting to more than 16,000 annually—were simple requests to test fire alarms, making it the most frequent reason for customer contact. Recognising this as an opportunity for automation, Churches Fire & Security is now developing self-service solutions via its online portal.
Cutting thousands of customer service hours
By streamlining this process, the company stands to save thousands of hours of customer service time while improving the overall customer experience.
Charlie Haynes, CEO of Churches Fire & Security, emphasised the strategic importance of leveraging data for operational efficiency. “Our focus is on enhancing self-service capabilities while ensuring we maintain a high standard of customer experience. Understanding the needs of our customers allows us to refine our processes and deliver more efficient services,” he explained.
The IC&A process also revealed a significant challenge in call resolution, with 60% of customers needing to call multiple times to resolve their queries. Even more concerning, 83% of repeat callers requesting fire alarm services had contacted the company at least once regarding the same issue, underscoring the need to improve first-call resolution rates.
“This programme surfaces insights into customer behaviour – key data that Churches and other organisations, with the best of intentions, did not fully know: specifically, the exact reasons as to why their customers were calling in,” said Kevin McGachy, Head of AI Solutions at Sabio.
Rather than investing in an entirely new customer service infrastructure, Churches Fire & Security opted for a targeted approach based on real customer interactions. The company is now rolling out various automation initiatives, including a PCI-compliant payment system integrated with its telephony infrastructure, after identifying billing and invoice payments as the second most common reason for customer contact.