Network Ops Team Tackles Tech Issues to Improve Customer Service
November 15, 2018
Written By Adam Buckallew
Throughout the spring and summer, MFA Oil has been hard at work upgrading its phone systems, enterprise content management system and server infrastructure to better care for customers. These efforts have been handled by the company’s Network Operations department, which has worked diligently to replace outdated technology and install solutions that will allow for smoother and more reliable customer service.
“These improvements support nearly every level of MFA Oil and will make us a better company,” says Greg Sellers, senior manager of network operations. “Our systems will communicate better and faster—which will translate to more convenient service for everyone with whom we do business.”
Last winter, a few MFA Oil field offices had issues handling the high volume of calls that coincided with a prolonged cold snap. The phone system upgrades the Network Operations team has installed will enable the company to better manage calls during times of peak demand and allow for calls to be forwarded to available customer service representatives at the company’s Business Support Campus in Moberly, Mo.
“We know it’s frustrating to get a busy signal or to be placed on hold for long periods of time when calling for service,” Sellers says. “Now that we can forward calls from overwhelmed offices to our team in Moberly, it should reduce wait times and ensure customers are always able to reach someone who can help.”
When MFA Oil installed its new accounting system last fall, some activities such as reprinting customer statements began to unexpectedly take longer to produce. The modernization of MFA Oil’s enterprise content management system has sped up the process of reprinting statements, making it easier for customer service representatives to create them on demand.
As MFA Oil has grown, so too has the amount of space the company needs to store its data. Sellers says upgrades to the company’s server infrastructure were overdue.
“We were at the point where we no longer had capacity left on our servers,” says Sellers, “Our business was being limited because our servers physically could not handle any more data.”
By improving existing servers and adding new ones, Network Operations staff was able to increase the delivery speed of vital data and company resources to employees that will, in turn, make data-driven processes like truck routing and fuel delivery faster.
Aside from these projects, Sellers and his team are tasked with safeguarding the company’s data. The Network Operations department, along with other members of the IT department, work to ensure that sensitive customer information is secured with the utmost care.
“Although we do most of our work behind the scenes, we take great pride in the system improvements and security work we do on behalf of our customers,” Sellers says.