Freshworks Inc., (NASDAQ: FRSH),a software company empowering the people who power business, has helped East Midlands Shared Services (EMSS) deliver self-service IT management to the public sector, with its cloud-based customer service software, Freshdesk®. New technology including AI-powered chatbots has supported the rapid processing of customer and partner queries and self-help articles have cut the number of inbound requests that EMSS agents have to manage.
EMSS is a partnership between Nottingham City Council and Leicestershire County Council, which delivers HR, payroll and finance transactional shared services for its partners, as well as 380 public sector school customers. Using Freshdesk’s self-service functionality, including knowledge base self-help articles, EMSS was able to deflect over 15,000 inbound queries in the first year of implementation.
EMSS traditionally used a basic ticketing system to deal with customer queries, but when it came to introducing a new HR, payroll and finance platform, the organisation anticipated a dramatic increase in queries. To help mitigate this, EMSS turned to Freshdesk’s self-service solutions, including knowledge base articles, analytics to identify common queries, automations to complete repetitive tasks, and AI-powered chatbots to direct queries to the right service team or to self-help resources.
Jill Turner, Business Development Manager at East Midlands Shared Services, said, “Freshdesk has been absolutely vital in the move to our new platform. Without it I don’t think we would have coped with the volume of queries resulting from the migration. The AI-powered chatbot and self-help articles mean we can deflect thousands of queries a month, freeing up important human resources for higher value tasks. Also, the automations help prioritise urgent tasks more accurately, offering our customers and partners many more first-time resolutions.”
Freshdesk enabled EMSS to integrate all of its customer query channels into one platform. Knowledge base supported the launch of its new platform with 100 self-help articles, which, along with a 24/7 AI-powered customer chatbot, drastically cut the number of queries EMSS agents had to deal with. The more efficient approach means EMSS has seen a 20 per cent reduction in service desk staff, with no drop in quality of support.
The organisation now directs all of the HR and payroll queries it receives, and 50 per cent of finance queries, through the Freshdesk portal – eliminating the need for email communication, and enabling EMSS to trial closing down its phone support for HR and payroll queries. Freshdesk’s integrated platform means EMSS can continually use the information it receives from customers to improve its resources and processes, in turn improving the overall experience for employees and citizens alike. The organisation now makes use of over 100 automations on the Freshdesk portal, a ten-fold increase from when it first started.
Simon Johnson, General Manager UK & Ireland at Freshworks, said, “Freshworks is proud to be supporting East Midlands Shared Services in its mission to drive innovation and efficiency in the public sector. Freshworks’ solutions are modern, intuitive, and scalable, so we can empower EMSS, from the back office to the front desk.”
About Freshworks
Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) makes business software people love to use. Purpose-built for IT, customer support, sales and marketing teams, our products empower the people who power business. Freshworks is fast to onboard, priced affordably, built to delight, yet powerful enough to deliver critical business outcomes. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freshworks operates around the world to serve more than 56,000 customers including Bridgestone, Chargebee, DeliveryHero, ITV, Klarna, Multichoice, OfficeMax, TaylorMade and Vice Media. For the freshest company news visit www.freshworks.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
About East Midlands Shared Services (EMSS)
Established in 2010, East Midlands Shared Services (EMSS) is a strategic partnership between Leicestershire County Council and Nottingham City Council, created to deliver transactional HR Payroll and finance services. EMSS caters to public sector customers and has 380+ commercial customers along with its partners. The team supports key pillars of the UK public and education services by catering to the payroll management of a large and diverse end-user base:
● Partners who have around 15,000 staff and 38,000 suppliers
● 15,000 payslips of schools and academies
● 20,000 payslips for the Leicestershire Pension Service
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