Unifying healthcare with AI-powered experience

Inspiring people to care for people

Founded 40 years ago by biochemists Janete Vaz and Sandra Soares Costa, the Sabin Group has become one of Brazil’s largest diagnostic medicine providers, aided by organic growth and acquisitions.

With around 7,000 employees and 350 service units, the company supports more than seven million customers annually with a broad portfolio of clinical analysis, diagnostic imaging, vaccinations, executive check-ups and other preventative services. Also recognized for its female entrepreneurship, Sabin is a serial award-winner and regularly ranks in the top 100 best companies to work for in Brazil and Latin America.

The company’s mantra is to inspire people to care for people and its contact centers are instrumental in achieving that goal.

“We try not to be just another service provider by being really welcoming,” said Neilton Alves, Project Analyst at Grupo Sabin. “Our commitment is to use technology to enhance — not replace — human warmth and interaction. And for that we rely on Genesys.”

Unifying conversations and data

While business stopped for many companies during the pandemic, demand for Sabin medical services tripled.

“We grew our workforce 170% and moved to home working overnight,” said Alves. “Our entire admin team helped out. Some people didn’t even know how contact center tools worked, but Genesys was very intuitive. And the platform handles so well that our agents still continue to work remotely.”

Before, phone and WhatsApp conversations were managed on two disconnected systems. Unable to unify data, customers switching between channels were often treated as two separate interactions. As well as generating unnecessary queue time and work, this also hindered case management and performance reporting. Standardizing on the Genesys Cloud platform took those problems away.

“It doesn’t matter whether patients use voice, WhatsApp, email or chat — they all enter via Genesys,” said Alves. “Before, our agents used to waste time asking their location and why they were making contact. Now, they don’t. They already know.”

Bot-blended regional services with a local touch

Sabin has taken messaging innovation several steps further by integrating WhatsApp with a Genesys Cloud chatbot — solving another of its biggest challenges in the process. Multiple regional centers and WhatsApp groups have been replaced with a single, highly personalized messaging service where customers can seek answers, book exams and much more.

“Rolling out Genesys nationwide was a great help, providing features we didn’t have with our old systems,” said Alves. “Our chatbot directs customers to their nearest Sabin service unit. Likewise, it will hand off to an agent familiar with their local accent to continue the conversation as if they were speaking with a neighbor.”

Insightful reporting fuels a bright future

With Genesys Cloud Workforce Engagement Management quality assurance and reporting capabilities, insight into medical services goes way beyond call volumes and waiting times — uncovering valuable strategic data with far less effort.

“Reporting is another Genesys strength and greatly contributes to our decision-making and how we improve contact center team structure and performance,” said Alves. “For example, idle time used to be especially difficult to map and measure. Now, I can detect when an agent gets anxious or stressed, and change their hours or shift, resulting in productivity gains. If I could have done this years ago, it would have made my life a lot easier.”

Greater insight, combined with accurately targeted service improvements, has also led to a significant reduction in complaint handling.

Sabin intends to carry on integrating medical services with artificial intelligence and omnichannel experience.

“Most of the future projects that excite our board can be deployed out of the box with Genesys as the capabilities are already there,” concluded Alves. “However, we will ensure we never lose human warmth. We plan to survey customer sentiment and will continue to provide our agents with the tools and insights they need to deliver the best care possible.”