The MLC provides omnichannel royalty collection support for music creators with Twilio Flex, built by vision point systems

"With Twilio Flex, Vision Point Systems has improved the flow, speed and performance of The Mechanical Licensing Collective’s contact center, enabling songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers to communicate seamlessly with the organization."

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) is a non-profit that seeks to ensure songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers receive their royalties from streaming and download services accurately and on time. The MLC collaborates with a large group of diverse members across the U.S., each with different preferences and expectations. Personalized and effective communication with its member base is critical.

The MLC’s primary methods of communication were not providing the member or employee experience the organization was hoping for. It was time to revamp their contact center and make it a more seamless experience for their own staff and the many artists they serve nationally. They needed to build a support center that was agile, easy on staff, and efficient. The Twilio team recommended Vision Point Systems, a Twilio Silver Consulting Partner, to transform The MLC’s contact center.

The MLC needed a highly effective yet simple contact center that integrates each of their communication channels - voice, webchat, and email - to operate smoothly, ensuring members could easily sign up, register their music, and receive royalties.

Building A Harmonious Contact Experience

The MLC had a contact center that offered several different support channels, including voice, chat, and email, to accommodate many customer preferences. The contact center was initially run using Freshworks to facilitate their Member support. However, they quickly encountered a problem with this platform.

With Freshworks, each channel, voice, chat, and email was its own product. That meant there needed to be a tab open for each one. This was a difficult experience for the associates, and the team struggled to consistently meet their service level agreements and key performance indicators.

Reporting, analytics, and user settings were also segregated because these channels were treated as separate products. This led to divided and ambiguous data and a less uniform user experience.

The MLC team decided it was time for a change and set out to find the right team to implement a new contact center platform to transform their member communications and support.

Twilio Flex was selected as the best solution for The MLC’s needs. The platform enables a seamless, integrated user experience, and would ease the burden on both workers and the music industry members of The MLC.

The initial consulting partner The MLC hired to guide them in implementing Twilio Flex wasn’t a natural fit. “The original vendor simply ignored our requirements and often made decisions for us that were not aligned with the documentation provided,” said Lindsey Major, head of customer experience at The MLC. With Twilio’s recommendation, The MLC instead collaborated with Vision Point Systems (VPS), a Twilio Silver Partner, to implement Twilio Flex.

Meaningful Connections, Enabled through Omnichannel Touchpoints

When VPS took over the project, The MLC’s timeline had already fallen significantly behind what they intended, but VPS stepped in and things began to pick back up. “Our timeline was incredibly delayed, and it didn’t seem like we were making progress until VPS stepped in,” said Major.

VPS set to work learning exactly what The MLC was looking for and the different complexities behind the project. Because the timeline was behind, The MLC needed things to move quickly. The solution they were looking for had several factors: it needed to have a complex integration with their HubSpot CRM plus tie together multiple customer support channels.

VPS provided The MLC with a set budget and timeline and created a new Twilio Flex-based customer service system on time and within the agreed budget. There were several critical changes to this new environment.

“The Customer Service system allows tickets/cases to be created by phone, webchat, and web form. The system integrates with HubSpot so tickets are created automatically as Flex tasks are delivered to agents,” said Jim Schweitzer, Senior Vice President of Vision Point Systems. “Agents can also lookup existing HubSpot tickets in the Flex interface itself so that they don’t have to have more than one window open.”

The new system is a great showcase of how Flex can transform a support center when implemented correctly.

“The MLC’s implementation of Flex embodies the perfect vision of the programmable omni-channel contact center,” said Schweitzer. “Streamlining both the customer and agent experience by providing the right information at the right time throughout the customer service journey.”

The Vision Point Systems Difference

Major and The MLC team found collaboration with VPS natural and effective. “VPS clearly had an understanding of our needs and goals with Twilio Flex,” said Major. “They listened, asked questions, reviewed our documentation, and came back with a clear scope and project plan. VPS was also able to hit our aggressive timelines with ease.”

The MLC services music professionals who operate in a rapidly changing industry and they provide a vital service in the streaming-dominated environment. A contact center that could scale with the growth of The MLC was a must.

The previous infrastructure the contact center relied on was holding back the ability of employees to handle a large number of requests through different channels at a rapid pace. Twilio Flex allows for easy single-tab processing, so workers don’t have to consistently cycle through channels.

Integrating Twilio Flex improved First Response Time for The MLC by 86%. With the previous system it took them about 90 seconds to respond, with Twilio Flex it now takes The MLC only 13 seconds. Moreover, Twilio Flex reduced the abandonment rate of calls by 64%. Before, the abandonment rate was around 11%, whereas now it is only 4%. Twilio Flex is enabling The MLC to handle a larger number of member inquiries at a faster pace.

Working towards a great contact center is an ongoing process, and according to The MLC, that process is going well. “VPS has made and continues to make our transition to Twilio easy and seamless,” said Jacob Heinz, a Service Designer at The MLC. “Our working sessions are always extremely collaborative, and the VPS team often presents creative solutions to our problems. Additionally, they are patient with any request, question, or issue we throw at them.”

The result of The MLC’s willingness to implement Flex infrastructure with VPS has been a significant success. The MLC team is satisfied with their new platform and working with the right partner as they continue building a contact center that fulfills the unique needs of their members and staff.