Overview
A healthcare organization operated a complex Contact Center that handled multiple critical journeys related to treatment access, medical information and support for patients and healthcare professionals.
The Contact Center had significant inefficiencies that impacted handling time, quality of information provided, regulatory risk and operational cost. The operation relied heavily on manual processes, fragmented systems and tacit agent knowledge.
The project consisted of a complete strategic diagnosis: mapping processes, interviewing agents and leadership, analyzing tools and identifying improvement opportunities. More than 100 pain points were mapped across 8 main journeys, with impacts measured in rework, cost and regulatory risk.
Challenge
The Contact Center operated as a central information hub for multiple audiences: patients seeking treatment access, healthcare professionals requesting technical information, and internal operations managing complex cases. Operational complexity generated critical problems:
• Operational inefficiencies: manual-intensive processes, dependency on tacit knowledge, fragmented systems with no integration, outdated or inconsistent information across sources, lack of automation, constant rework.
• Information gaps: agents without real-time access to updated information, need to consult multiple systems for simple queries, lack of unified interaction history, regulatory information not easily accessible, dependency on individual expertise.
• Risk and compliance: high risk of outdated information delivery, difficulty tracing the origin of information provided, absence of clear audit trail, critical processes dependent on individual memory, regulatory exposure.
• Business impact: high average handling time, low first-contact resolution, agent and customer dissatisfaction, high operational cost, difficulty scaling.
Approach
The project was structured into 4 simultaneous workstreams over 8 weeks:
1. Journey mapping (Service Design): 8 critical Contact Center journeys identified, end-to-end mapping of each flow (as-is), touchpoints, handoffs and dependencies, edge cases, operational workarounds documented.
2. Deep qualitative research: interviews with 40+ agents across seniority levels, shadowing of real calls, interviews with leadership, conversations with adjacent areas (IT, compliance, operations), call recording and transcript analysis.
3. Systems and tools analysis: audit of tools used by agents, integration mapping (or lack thereof), identification of sources of truth for critical information, log and operational data analysis, benchmarking of available technology.
4. Prioritization and roadmap: 100+ pain points classified by impact and effort, regulatory risk analysis per opportunity, estimated impact on rework and cost, construction of an improvement roadmap, definition of quick wins vs. structural transformations.
Solution
Complete documented diagnosis: 8 journeys mapped in detail (as-is), 100+ pain points identified and categorized, root cause analysis for main inefficiencies, impact quantification in time, cost and risk, documentation of missing critical processes.
Information gap map: identification of critical moments where agents lack necessary information, mapping of sources of truth (or lack of them), analysis of information update flows, automation opportunities for handoffs, prioritization of critical information for real-time availability.
Prioritized improvement roadmap: quick wins (0–3 months) — simple automations and standardizations; structural improvements (3–9 months) — integrations and new tools; transformation (9–18 months) — evolution to autonomy and self-service; replicable prioritization framework.
Autonomy framework: strategy to reduce dependency on tacit knowledge, proposal for a structured knowledge base, automation of information update flows, proactive alerts for agents, vision for self-service evolution.
Mapped automation opportunities: repetitive tasks identified for automation, proposed critical integrations between systems, automatic information update flows, proactive notifications, reduction of manual work in low-complexity cases.
Results
Strategic clarity: • 100+ inefficiency points mapped and prioritized • 8 critical journeys documented for the first time • 18-month roadmap with impact-prioritized initiatives • Replicable framework for continuous opportunity analysis
Quantified opportunities: • Estimated 40–50% reduction in average handling time through automation • Elimination of 60% of rework caused by information gaps • 35% reduction in regulatory risk through standardization of critical processes • Potential 30% reduction in operational cost via efficiency
Foundation for transformation: • Consensus among leadership on priorities • Technical and business justification for investments • Clear evolution vision for the Contact Center • Alignment between operations, IT and compliance • Foundation for continuous improvement culture
Organizational impact: • Visibility over previously invisible critical dependencies • Agent engagement in the improvement process • Strategic alignment on the evolution of the operation • Evidence-based prioritization, not opinion • Clear roadmap for investment decisions