Professional service firm Capita has signed a seven-year contract extension with German-based freenet AG. The deal will see the company continue providing customer services support for the telecommunications and digital services operator.
German origin communications firm freenet AG provides mobile communications, internet, TV entertainment and energy to customers across Europe. A leading market player in its native market of Germany, it boasts 8.8 million subscribers there. This necessitates the operation of a large, multi-channel sales network in Germany. This network’s focus is on direct customer relationships and directly controllable sales channels, which include around 520 freenet stores and around 40 GRAVIS stores, as well as various online platforms.
Such a complex system of customer interaction needs top-quality support, though. That’s where professional services firm Capita comes in – with the consultancy penning a seven-year contract extension with freenet to continue providing customer services support for its client.
The contract will see Capita’s Experience division partner with freenet to provide complete customer services support across multiple communications channels. This includes the use of chatbots, email, and social media, while through its leading IT and digital provision, Capita will continue to improve the customer services support for freenet’s more than eight million customers in Germany.
Timo Sievers, Head of Customer Service Management, freenet, commented, “Capita has helped us improve and develop our customer service in recent years. Today more than a third of all freenet customer requests reach us via digital channels, such as our online service or our redesigned customer app. A large proportion of requests are already handled fully automatically and on a closed-case basis via our chatbot, with a high level of customer satisfaction. We will therefore continue to expand the use of artificial intelligence in the future.”
The contract extension extends a lengthy engagement between the two firms. In 2017 Capita signed a contract with mobilcom-debitel, a wholly owned subsidiary of freenet, to deliver customer services support. In February 2022 freenet announced that it would phase out the mobilcom-debitel brand by summer 2022 with no operational impact to customers or clients. Prolonging that relationship represents one of the largest business processing outsourcing deals in Germany to date, when measured by both its value and the number of customers set to benefit from the continuation of Capita and freenet’s partnership.
Corinne Ripoche, CEO of Capita Experience, added, “We are delighted to sign a seven-year contract extension to continue delivering exceptional customer services support for one of Germany’s leading telecommunications and digital firms. The strength of our existing relationship with freenet, and our commitment to prioritising a digitalised and automated approach to customer experience, are the reasons behind why such an important client renewed their partnership with us. Telecommunications is a key growth area for Capita Experience, and in 2023 we look forward as a company to continuing to exceed the expectations of our clients and their customers.”
Capita Experience is one of Western Europe’s largest customer experience businesses. The firm holds leading positions in the UK, Ireland and Switzerland, and a major presence in Germany.
