From its call center in India, FCS strives to provide world-class support for small to medium sized ISPs.

by Jeff Goldman [June 15, 2005]

FCS Software Solutions was founded in 1992 as an IT company targeting Fortune 500 clients. The company then expanded its reach to offer technical support and customer service to small and mid-sized ISPs (covering dialup, ISDN, DSL and cable), and now serves over 300 ISPs in the United States from its call center in India.

FCS Voice: (866) 388-3432

According to Puneet "Jessy" Jaiswal, FCS' Manager of Operations, focusing its services on smaller ISPs allows FCS to make offshore support available to a market that might not otherwise consider it. "My company operates in this particular niche so that the same quality of outsourcing can be arranged for these ISPs who otherwise cannot approach the big five companies in India," Jaiswal says.

A key selling point for FCS' services, Jaiswal says, is the strength of its SLA, which guarantees a first time resolution rate of more than 80 percent and a customer satisfaction quotient of more than 85 percent—as well as an average hold time of less than two minutes. "If the ISP needs to outsource their tech support, the quality of that tech support should be at par with anything else in the world," Jaiswal says.

Ensuring quality
Regardless of the savings an ISP can realize by outsourcing its support to India, Jaiswal says, there's no point in doing so at the expense of quality. "The major concern of any ISP is, they don't want to end up in a situation which is penny-wise and pound-foolish," he says. "They save a couple of dollars by outsourcing the tech support, and then the quality of the support is so inferior that their customers start bailing out."

In order to assuage those concerns, FCS assigns a project manager to each client, who works directly with the client's networking department or corporate office. "We have always considered ourselves a virtual extension of our clients," Jaiswal says.

A number of different pricing models are available, including per subscriber, per call, per minute, and per agent. "One of the most popular models is per subscribed based billing, wherein there is one shared pool of agents, and these agents are picking up calls for different ISPs," Jaiswal says.

To ensure that those agents are up to the task, clients are welcome to speak with each agent assigned to them. "A new ISP can call in and go to an interview round with each of the agents who will be supporting his ISP, to calibrate what is their technical competence, how comfortable they are on the phone, and what is their voice and accent—in general, how good they would sound on the call," Jaiswal says.

More than 50 different Web-based reports are available to clients who want to assess the ways in which the service is being used. "These reports talk about each and every call that we receive at tech support, what was the problem reported by the member, and what was the disposition of the agent," Jaiswal says. "So the corporate office and the tech support in India, they are both on the same page."

Inbound and outbound
In addition to the company's advanced SLA, another selling point for FCS is its callback option. If an agent needs to check with the ISP for further information or to escalate a trouble ticket, the subscriber doesn't need to hold or to call again to find out the result—the agent can call the subscriber back as soon as the additional information comes through.

Callbacks can be used for a wide range of other functions as well. They can be implemented to follow up on calls to make sure that the subscriber's concerns have been taken care of—and they can also be used to welcome new subscribers, and to follow up on cancellations. "Essentially, it's an inbound tech support process, but we also make outbound calls," Jaiswal says.

FCS' agents can also handle new signups. "If a customer comes to the tech support wanting to sign up, we'll sign him up instantly," Jaiswal says. "My agent would tell him the different plans, take the credit card information, get him up and running, set up the account, and see that the member is able to go online, surf the Internet, and check his e-mail."

And callbacks can be used to assist in this process as well. If a new subscriber uses an online signup page to subscribe, FCS can automatically initiate a callback to welcome the new customer and to make sure they aren't having any problems getting online or accessing e-mail.

FCS' newest offering is a network monitoring service, covering everything from routers to intrusion detection. "With the experience and the knowledge that we have gained in the ISP industry, it made sense that we also venture into that area," Jaiswal says.

Trying it out
FCS in flexible regarding the way it works with its ISP clients. The company can provide straightforward 24/7 support, or it can provide "spill-over" support, stepping in when an ISP's own call center exceeds a certain volume of calls. Evening and weekend support is also available.

Most of an ISP's contact with FCS is handled directly with the office in India, though the company does maintain a business development office in San Jose, California. "That assures the clients that, you know what, we have a presence in India, and we also have a presence in the U.S.—so if anything goes wrong, you can definitely approach us at our U.S. office," Jaiswal says.

Any new client is given a 15-day free trial of FCS' service—and if they cancel, they can keep any 800 numbers they may have set up in the process. "I don't want you to just believe my words," Jaiswal says. "Please test my services. If you feel that we are not up to the mark, you just walk away from the contract, no strings attached."

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