Churches Fire & Security, the UK’s only fully integrated fire safety company, has successfully transformed its customer service operations through an innovative AI-powered analysis programme, revealing insights about customer behaviour and creating significant opportunities for automation.
The company, which provides comprehensive fire protection and security services nationwide, partnered with digital customer experience (CX) transformation specialists Sabio Group to conduct an insightful Intent Capture & Analysis (IC&A) process, analysing over 25,000 customer calls to identify key pain points and improvement opportunities.
The analysis unveiled that 17% of all incoming calls — more than 16,000 annually —were simply requests to test fire alarms, representing the most common reason for customer contact. This revelation has since prompted Churches to develop automated customer journeys through their online portal, potentially freeing up thousands of hours of customer service time.
In a recently published case study, Charlie Haynes, CEO of Churches Fire & Security, emphasised the strategic importance of the IC&A project. He said: “As a business, we have an increased focus on self-service and operational efficiency whilst maintaining customer experience. The nature of our very business means that it is crucial for us to understand our customers’ needs and streamline our processes accordingly.”
The IC&A process also exposed significant challenges with call resolution, revealing that 60% of customers made multiple calls to resolve their queries. Even more striking, 83% of repeat callers requesting fire alarm service had already contacted the company at least once for the same issue, highlighting a critical area for improvement in first-call resolution rates.
Kevin McGachy, Head of AI Solutions at Sabio, highlighted the transformative nature of their findings. He said: “This programme surfaces insights into customer behaviour – key data that Churches and other organisations, with the best of intentions, did not fully know: specifically, the exact reasons as to why their customers were calling in.”
The IC&A, which forms part of a larger three-phase transformation programme, has already led to several strategic improvements. Rather than investing in an entirely new customer service infrastructure, Churches Fire & Security opted for a more targeted approach based on actual customer interaction data.
The company is now implementing various automation initiatives, including a PCI-compliant payment system integrated with their telephony infrastructure, after discovering that billing and invoice payments were the second most common reason for customer contact.
Haynes added: “The IC&A solution has been a game-changer for us. The insights we gained have allowed us to make data-driven decisions, prioritise automation efforts, and ultimately improve the experience for both our customers and employees.”
Kevin said: “The success of this initiative highlights how organisations can approach customer service transformation, demonstrating the value of data-driven decision-making in improving operational efficiency while maintaining service quality.”
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