The government of Singapore recognizes that Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have historically suffered from substantially reduced prospects of securing and retaining employment and is actively encouraging employers to look for ways to utilize this very capable but often overlooked group. Silver Spring Pathfinder (SSP) is championing change on this front, seeing the strengths and skills that PWDs can bring to contact center operations and helping to drive interest in PWD hiring, which has increased 30% since 2020. 

The company quickly made a name for itself since launching in 2018, not only as a business process outsourcing (BPO) partner of choice for organizations worldwide but also as a social enterprise with a mission to create meaningful employment opportunities for PWDs. SSP also seeks to hire stay-at-home parents, a critically untapped group of job candidates.  

The company’s on-demand talent pool is exceptionally skilled, but there are certain requirements to ensure a positive employee (and thus, customer) experience: 

• SSP needed the functionality, reliability, and security of its existing on-premises contact center but with a work-from-home experience that’s undetectable from an in-office experience.  
• Omnichannel is non-negotiable for providing PWDs the support they need to work comfortably and efficiently (ex: speech-impaired agents can work exclusively as text-based agents).  
• As a leading BPO provider, SSP is always looking for ways to deliver more value to its enterprise customers and their end-customers. How can they make customer service faster, more effortless, and more personalized?  

A cloud-architected platform was the best way forward, but SSP didn’t want to spoil its existing contact center technology. Avaya Experience Platform allowed the company to innovate with omnichannel, virtual work capabilities, and so much more all while retaining its core service. 

Custom agent interfaces 

SSP’s admins can customize agent interfaces, down to the individual seat if needed, to ensure a customized employee experience. This can include, for example, the accessibility of only channels a PWD specializes in (ex: chat or email for a hearing-impaired agent), while the agent toolbar can include additional icons and apps installed by the admin. These custom interfaces promote inclusivity and increase productivity with a personalized user experience while positioning SSP as a destination place to work for disadvantaged Singaporeans.   

More ways for customers to engage 

Avaya Experience Platform allows SSP to reliably deliver advanced interaction capabilities outside of just traditional voice such as video, chat, or messaging. This also includes personalized self-service options on customers’ preferred channels 24/7, which gives agents a helping hand to take care of important non-customer-facing work.  

Seamless work-from-home 

One of the top reasons customers love Avaya Experience Platform is its support for remote work. Agents can be in the office or around the globe and get the same award-winning quality, functionality, reliability, and security they’d expect onsite. SSP’s virtual workforce has increased, and the company is fielding applications from hundreds more PWDs looking to make a living working from home.  

More capabilities through a single interaction platform 

Avaya Experience Platform opens the door to all sorts of new ways to work and engage. You can start using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deliver more personalized customer service (i.e., smart routing, conversational AI, and real-time customer insights). Supervisors can empower agents to be their best with live monitoring and automatic scorecards. SSP now has all of this and more at its fingertips.    

SSP is a disruptor in the social enterprise space and Avaya enables them to strengthen their unique business model without any business disruption.  

“Avaya Experience Platform provides it all, and we’re still able to optimize our legacy system. We have the freedom to choose the technology we need when we need it. We’re innovating and improving in a practical way that works for our business,” said Tom Cheong, Founder and Managing Director, Silver Spring Pathfinder. 

Want innovation without disruption? Register to attend Avaya Engage 2023 this June to learn what Avaya Experience Platform can do for your business.