Case Study: Towngas achieves 100% reduction in customer wait times with IBM watsonx Assistant

Contact center chatbot replaces the phone-tree system with 100% reduction in customer wait time!

Towngas, Hong Kong’s major gas supplier, faced a surge in customer support demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with labor shortages, long wait times, and the inefficiencies of a phone-tree-based contact center. To improve service and reduce the burden on agents, Towngas worked with IBM and IBM watsonx Assistant to explore a more automated, AI-driven customer support model.

IBM helped implement the “Tinny” virtual assistant, replacing the old phone tree with 24x7 conversational self-service, call diversion, IVR, and real-time monitoring. The result was a 100% reduction in customer wait times, a 50% increase in self-service, and about 180,000 inquiries handled per year, while also improving customer satisfaction and NPS.

Towngas

Queenie Chan

GM – Business Analytics & e-Development