24 March 2009
Most companies cut back in an
economic slump, but not IRIS Software.
With plans to recruit more people in the next
12 months and a goal of making their SME and GP Payroll Support
team in Wigan a centre of excellence in customer care, IRIS
certainly seems to be bucking the downward economic trend.
On paper, the company appears every inch a
trailblazer in a notoriously mediocre field. The office receives on
average 60 compliments a month from happy customers, zero
complaints regarding customer care and is manned by a 30-strong
team who deal with over 5,000 calls a month. In a world of
increasing cutbacks, the headcount at IRIS is nothing less than
impressive.
At the centre of this success story is the
team of qualified payroll professionals. Experts in IRIS
PAYE-Master, IRIS GP Payroll, IRIS Bookkeeping and IRIS HR Manager,
the team has clocked-up over 56 years experience with IRIS, along
with a intimate knowledge of its software.
Angela O’Byrne, Head of Customer Services is
the driving force behind customer support. She believes the secret
to the company’s success is simple – it makes customers happy to be
provided with consistent, faultless and helpful advice whenever
it’s needed.
“It’s a fantastic department and I am so proud
of my team. Our call wait times during payroll year end are less
than three minutes in comparison to our major competitor’s average
wait time of over an hour.
“We do believe we can make our Wigan team a
centre of excellence and growth is very much part of our immediate
future. It’s an exciting time and we are continually striving to
provide a better service for our customers.”
Even in the build-up to payroll year end when
calls peak at 1,200 per day, the team scores highly with customers.
A survey recently carried out by the firm resulted in 93 per cent
of customer’s asked saying they would recommend IRIS Support,
whilst 82 per cent said they were very satisfied with the team’s
professionalism.
“We don’t have members of staff leaving us
very often because we have a happy team. We are also very tuned in
when it comes to selecting staff – we know who will fit in and it’s
not always about qualifications because we can provide those,” said
Angela.
“82 per cent of our staff are trained
externally through the Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP),
the rest are in the process of gaining their qualifications. They
undergo a seven month course to receive their Practitioner
Certificate in Payroll and then have the option to go on and gain a
diploma in Payroll Management. Our credentials are really second to
none.”
In addition to phone support, IRIS has some
impressive online credentials. The company’s website received over
70,000 hits during payroll year end last year. High numbers of
customers keen to get hold of free downloadable support guides or
gain access to online portals visited the site from February
through to May.
Martin Leuw, CEO of IRIS commented: “I think
the success of our customer support is testimony to the value of
good business practice in tough times. If you provide excellent
customer care and strive to constantly improve it, customers will
remain loyal and happy – regardless of the economic climate.”
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