How Rands reimagines CX for scalable growth

Randon Consórcios has officially become part of the Rands brand, reflecting the group’s strategic repositioning.

The change aligns with the company’s expansion, which now brings together all of Randoncorp’s financial and service solutions into a single platform. Rands is a Brazilian multinational financial services company with a presence in over 120 countries. Created in 2023, it integrates brands such as Banco Randon and Randon Seguros, offering consortia, credit, and insurance accounts in a unified experience.

As the company expanded and customer support ticket volumes increased rapidly–along with increasingly complex operations and schedules—-the support team began to face significant challenges in managing productivity and allocating resources efficiently.

Rands’ support team leaders were facing significant challenges in managing productivity across the company’s support operation. The lack of automation in a growth scenario made it difficult to predict ticket volumes or allocate resources effectively. Productivity management relied heavily on spreadsheets, with little to no visibility into real-time operations. The team constantly struggled to understand agent idle time and was unable to make data-informed decisions.

“We were overwhelmed with manual controls over ticket assignments and schedule spreadsheets, which was both time consuming and energy draining. Our ticket volume was growing rapidly, but the lack of visibility made it impossible to adjust operations accordingly,” says Eni Faria, Customer Service Center Lead at Rands.

Transforming support with automation and strategy

Facing growing uncertainty due to limited visibility and the constant fear that manual processes could become unmanageable, the team began to explore best practices and strategies to reorganize operations and improve overall efficiency.

“Our agents handled all types of inquiries at all times, while operations kept growing and scheduling spreadsheets became increasingly complex. It became clear we needed to reorganize and optimize,” Faria explains.

In a world full of options, the Rands’ team turned to Zendesk’s customer success team for guidance on finding the right solution to match their goals. As Faria shares, “We’re constantly approached by different companies selling solutions all the time, but our commitment is to only adopt tools that make sense for our business and align with our strategic objectives.”

The team decided to implement Zendesk WFM (workforce management) to gain the real-time visibility they needed for performance management, as well as to automate scheduling, streamline reporting, and support smarter decision-making.

“We realized we needed greater visibility and the ability to act in real time to improve efficiency—-but not only that. We also wanted to provide our agents with the best experience, recognize and support our top performers, and ensure we could retain those talents,” says Faria.

Alongside the WFM implementation, the team also launched a strategic operational reorganization by refining smart ticket queues based on ticket type and complexity, aligned with a more refined agent seniority level. This allowed for more effective task distribution, ensured that complex issues were handled by experienced agents, and established a clear path for career growth, visioning to also improve motivation, boost talent retention, and enable more targeted training and mentorship.

Sowing the seeds of operational excellence

Through a deliberate and data-driven transformation, Rands transformed its support operation and is now reaping solid results from its investments.

“Today, we’re able to anticipate daily ticket demand by complexity level-—something that was previously impossible,” offers Bianca Rocha, Administrative Analyst at Rands. “WFM also directly supports our people’s development efforts through performance reports. These reports act like filters, helping us identify where and how we can better support and instruct our agents.” The operational restructuring involved segmenting service by ticket type and complexity, enhancing the knowledge base, and rolling out a robust training plan. Agents are now assigned to channels based on their skills and expertise, enabling more focused, efficient service and driving a 25 percent boost in productivity.

“Today, we have highly skilled agents, segmented by area of expertise. Those who handle payment slips know the process from A to Z. The same goes for credit analysis. This reduced escalations and brought more fluidity to service,” says Faria. “We now handle around 15,000 tickets per month with 28 people. Three years ago, it was 7,000 tickets with 42 agents. With this reorganization, we’ve managed to handle a much larger volume of complex tickets without increasing the team. Our agents are now much better distributed and prepared.” The ability to forecast demand peaks and account for seasonality has brought stability to the team and enabled more accurate scheduling decisions.

“There are times in the month when demand increases by up to 1,200 tickets in just two weeks—-and we manage this with the same team. How do we handle that? Hire temps? Extend work shifts?,” asks Faria. “With WFM, we’re able to allocate agents correctly, avoid training during critical periods, and ensure no one is idle during slower times. We use those quieter periods to train and prepare the team for the next peak.” When it comes to training, WFM has also become an essential ally for identifying areas of improvement based on real data.

“If an agent is spending 40 minutes on a ticket that’s usually resolved more quickly, something’s off. The goal isn’t to control—-it’s to understand where they need support. With that, we can guide them better on documentation, automation, and how to make better use of Zendesk’s pre-set workflows, optimizing the process overall,” explains Faria.

The benefits of the optimization wasn’t limited to agents. By reducing manual scheduling tasks, Rands saves approximately 35 hours per month of team lead time–-time that can be allocated for insightful activities such as reporting: “With Zendesk WFM the work doesn’t end when a ticket is closed. The analysis becomes a crucial part of the process,” Faria says.

Empowered agents, stronger engagement

Investments in training, combined with Rands’ strategic direction and the implementation of WFM, has not only raised the quality of customer service, but also strengthened agent engagement.

Now, agents have access to their own adherence and productivity metrics in real time, which has increased their autonomy and sense of responsibility-—without having to wait for feedback sessions. This visibility has made them more engaged and proactive, both in celebrating achievements and in identifying areas for improvement. Agents also participate more actively in performance meetings, bringing their own data and insights to the discussion.

Investments in onboarding, training, and the definition of seniority levels within the support center have also directly contributed to improved engagement and talent retention.

“In a support center where new people are constantly joining and others have been here for years, my challenge is making all of that work well together,” says Faria. “In general, we always aim to retain talent–and the proof is in our internal mobility. We have a lot of people applying for roles within the company.”

The next step: strategic growth

After navigating a demanding transition filled with change, learning, and realignment, the Rands team now feels confident they have the right tools and inputs to keep up with the company’s growth-—making increasingly secure decisions based on real data.

“We’ve been undergoing significant transformation. We’re no longer just a business unit—-today, we’re operating on a whole new level. Our focus remains on delivering the best service possible, while also expanding our portfolio and integrating new services and companies into the group. As a support center, we’re preparing for this growth with strategic intent, fully aligned with the company’s repositioning and ongoing acquisition journey,” says Faria.