Overview

Age UK helps more than seven million older people each year by providing advice and support. It also researches and campaigns on the issues that matter most to older people. Its work focuses on ensuring that older people: have enough money; enjoy life and feel well; receive high quality health and care; are comfortable, safe, and secure at home; and feel valued and able to participate.

Key to the support it provides are advice services via its confidential Age National Advice Line and The Silver Line Helpline which is available 24x7 at any time of the day or night for a friendly chat, and free telephone friendship services that match volunteers with those missing the joy of regular conversation.

Challenge

Age UK had used Twilio to build a bespoke platform for its friendship service, enabling it to scale-up while conducting safe telephone calls that fulfil its duty of care to volunteers and older people, without lots of manual reporting or administration.

However, its National Advice Line and telephony system used for office communications and customer service lines, remained an on-premises solution.  

Prior to the pandemic, Age UK had the intention of simplifying their network infrastructure, as the on-premises telephony kit at each Age UK office required a very expensive and complicated network overhead.  

So, when the pandemic hit, Age UK had a ready-made and tested solution to enable employees to work from home, but issues began to arise. For example, incoming calls needed to be dialled out to contact centre agents on their mobile or landlines, which tied up their phones all day.

“We realised early that working from home was going to be a long-term situation. We needed to be agnostic in terms of where people worked. We needed another solution,” Alasdair Stewart Head of National Services, Age UK

The decision was made to move to Twilio Flex within an ambitious timeframe.

As part of the switch, Age UK wanted to move its partner charity, The Silver Line, onto the same platform. It also wanted to enhance its text-based website virtual assistant, giving it the ability to handover to human agents when appropriate.

Solution

To address its operational challenges, Age UK partnered with Zing to migrate its contact centre operations to Twilio Flex. This strategic move offered several key benefits. Firstly, Twilio Flex's flexible pricing model, particularly the pay-per-hour option, perfectly aligned with Age UK's dynamic workforce, which includes a significant number of volunteers. This cost-effective solution enabled Age UK to optimise resource allocation and minimise operational expenses.

Secondly, Zing's expertise and efficient project management facilitated a rapid deployment of Twilio Flex. Age UK contacted Zing on a Wednesday, by Friday they’d received a proposal, and work began on the following Monday. Within ten weeks, the Age UK National Advice Line and other customer service lines had been moved to Flex. ‍

"We were very happy to be able to move onto Flex in a timeframe that we would never have thought possible. If someone said we could move our highest volume and most complex telephone lines in only eight to twelve weeks, we would've said, ‘yeah, that's never happening’ but with the help of Zing, that's what we achieved. It was brilliant.” Alasdair Stewart Head of National Services, Age UK

Additionally, Twilio Flex provided the flexibility to customise the platform to meet Age UK's unique needs. With the help of Zing, Age UK were able to innovate and build out the specific features tailored to the requirements of the helplines needed for their staff, volunteers and callers, at a low cost.

Finally, the integration of Twilio Flex with Age UK's existing website virtual assistant created a seamless customer journey. By asking “is this helpful?” and “are we giving you the answers you’re looking for”, the chatbot is constantly checking to see if human intervention is needed. When it is, Age UK’s advisers are provided a transcript of the conversation in Flex as part of the handover, enabling them to pick up and resolve the user’s query.

Result

By consolidating multiple telephony systems onto a single, unified platform, Age UK has significantly streamlined its processes and reduced operational costs. Before the move, Age UK had seven different telephony systems across different teams and parts of the organisation; it now supports just two.  

The pay-per-hour pricing model has also proven to be highly cost-effective, particularly for organisations with a dynamic workforce, such as Age UK, which relies heavily on volunteers. This flexible pricing model allows Age UK to scale its operations efficiently, adapting to fluctuations in call volume without incurring unnecessary expenses.

The cloud-based nature of Twilio Flex has eliminated the need for on-premises infrastructure, reducing maintenance costs and enhancing scalability. By leveraging the platform's flexibility, Age UK has been able to customise the solution to meet its specific needs, including the implementation of advanced features like web chat and seamless handoffs between chatbots and human agents.  

By adding web chat functionality and enabling the virtual assistant to hand over to humans when appropriate, satisfaction levels are high (an average of 4.2 stars out of 5). The number of web chats Age UK handles has grown from the low hundreds to thousands each quarter.

Furthermore, Twilio Flex has empowered Age UK to expand its volunteer base and improve the quality of service provided to older people. By enabling volunteers to work remotely, Age UK has attracted a wider pool of talent and increased the diversity of support offered to callers. This has led to a 242% increase in volunteer numbers for Age UK as well as enhanced customer satisfaction and a more personalised experience for older people.