Arbor helps schools of all sizes work more easily and collaboratively, with intuitive tools designed to make a difference. Used by over 4,300 schools and trusts across the country to help them work more easily and collaboratively, it's the fastest growing MIS today.
In August 2021, Arbor expanded to support new schools. As a result, they required additional first-line customer service to help them meet the increased demand to their helpline. This demand came from both Arbor’s existing schools and their new, fast-growing portfolio of schools in the Primary School sector using their MIS system.
But Arbor required more than phone customer service support; they needed high-quality agents with specialist training, able to provide case management and helpdesk services alongside traditional phone support. Reaching out to Odondo, we provided Arbor with the best fit, high-quality agents, successfully onboarding and providing ongoing support to Arbor’s customers.
We needed help onboarding and supporting our new customers to migrate to our system. Odondo worked alongside our in-house team to provide excellent support through highly skilled agents. As a result, both our business and our relationship with Odondo has continued to grow.
The problem: Sourcing high-quality, seasonal agents to manage increased demand
As Arbor began expanding rapidly to support thousands of new schools, the demands on their in-house customer service team soon became too much, which meant they weren’t able to provide their schools with the onboarding and customer migration support they needed.
Arbor realised that they also needed to provide first-line technical support to their schools, for example by helping them successfully navigate their system; helping schools understand how to use reports; and ultimately pushing their schools towards a self-service model where they required little to no day-to-day support.
And as a business serving schools, demand fluctuated according to school term times. The start of school terms was Arbor’s ‘peak season’, with each new year or term seeing a sharp rise in tickets being raised.
This meant that the right partner had to be able to:
- support Arbor’s in-house team
- manage and scale with seasonal demands
- provide high-quality agents that went beyond traditional customer service support, resolving complex queries in various ways
The solution: Provide high-quality, versatile and experienced agents
Odondo was quick to act, carefully profiling and sourcing agents specific to Arbor’s requirements. To make sure the agents could successfully manage complex queries, tickets, and interactions with Arbor’s clients, we worked closely with Arbor to put agents through intensive training and exams. With training materials provided by Arbor, Odondo coached and supervised agents in working through the training.
Agents needed to pass and gain accreditation before starting on the campaign, initially shadowing and then beginning to manage cases and provide helpdesk support individually. Despite this necessary training period, we quickly onboarded agents to support Arbor’s campaign.
Odondo were able to quickly source, train and deploy high-quality agents, specific to our needs, who could go beyond traditional customer support. Because of that, we were able to successfully onboard new schools and grow our business
Understanding that Arbor needed agents with strong helpdesk and case management experience, Odondo sourced problem-solving, analytical experienced agents who could:
- Provide front-line support, resolving issues in pressurised situations
- Resolve complex technical issues specific to Arbor’s MIS
- Represent Arbor in a consistent, calm and helpful manner.
More recently, Odondo has provided live chat support to help manage queries — scaling up the level of support during busier periods during new school terms. These agents have core accreditation, and with continued investment from Arbor, work towards advanced accreditation, helping them provide comprehensive support to clients.
The results: Successful onboarding of schools and a growing partnership
Odondo’s support helped Arbor successfully onboard thousands of new schools onto their MIS, and provide continued support — through case management, live chat, phone support and helpdesk services — as Arbor continues to grow.
Arbor’s growing business has also led to a growing trust and long-term partnership with Odondo. Continued investment has meant that Odondo continues to train and manage new agents that come onto Arbor’s campaigns, as we increase agents’ knowledge and accreditation level.
Alongside expanding our support to live chat, in June 2022 Arbor asked Odondo to provide another team of agents to support another of their products, their primary school MIS ScholarPack. Drawing on our agents’ high level of technical support, Arbor also enlisted Odondo to provide support for Scholar Pack’s migration to Zendesk.
Fuelled by Arbor’s investment in Odondo, whatever they’ve needed, from helping them scale with seasonal demands to providing the highest quality ticket, helpdesk, live chat and phone support, Odondo have been there to help — and will continue to be.
