On any given day, Pacific Bell Internet Services receives more than 1000 customer service calls. And on any given day, more than 50% of those calls either have nothing to do with the Internet service or have been answered hundreds of times before.

According to a frequently sited study by Microsoft, 60% to 70% of all customer service calls to help lines could be answered with little or no human interaction.

What's more, Internet customers often want to solve their own problems, said Judith Meskill, executive director of switched service delivery and support for Pacific Bell Internet. "People on the Internet want to help themselves. It's a lot different from a telephone paradigm."

Hoping to give the tools to Internet do-it-yourselfers, Pacific Bell has deployed a new package from Silknet Software called eService. The package works with a knowledge base by tracking calls to help lines and letting Internet service providers develop self-help solutions that can be stored on the Web. The self-help files, which can include text and screen shots, then can be accessed with a standard browser.

Knowledge bases are built as part of the customer service representatives' interaction with customers.

"It's a seamless process," said Mark Green, vice president of sales for Silknet. "If you recognize that when you help one customer, it can help many, you create a case and transfer that work into our solution publisher." Silknet also provides the publishing tools that allow the CSR to put that information onto the Web.

"When you create a solution, it creates it as an HTML page, and all that information is stored on a public Web page," Green said.

Pacific Bell is using the system to create trouble tickets. Additionally, the telco's system allows CSRs and customers to input "simple English" questions in a troubleshooting form.

"Rather than doing a search over the entire system, you only get three or so discrete answers to your specific query," said Meskill. The customers also can choose the format of their response, including having help files e-mailed. For customers intimidated by the technology, the company has developed an on-line help page that guides them through the process.

Ironically, because it is a telco affiliate, Pacific Bell Internet receives just as many questions related to the Internet and Windows as does for its own service.

"We have basically the top 100-plus problems that beset the average Internet user in our knowledge base," said Meskill. "Windows 98 is going to present a whole new set of problems, and we're going to have to add some of that. Everywhere we can put a help tip, we put one."

For smaller ISPs, Silknet has signed agreements with system integrators, which can provide turnkey Web hosting. In some cases, smaller providers are even outsourcing all their customer service operations. "We tried to offload as much of the burden on them as possible," said Green.

In its first two weeks of operation, Pacific Bell's eService site was accessed more than 16,000 times. Additionally, only 200 customers submitted their problems for further service.

"We really haven't focused on advertising, and yet we've surpassed all our forecasts," said Meskill. "At the same time, we haven't appreciably increased the number of agents."

IP VOICE GETS INSIDE

Integrated Systems and Telogy Networks signed an agreement that will provide compatibility between ISI's pSOSystem operating system and Telogy's Golden Gateway voice-over-Internet protocol software. Vendors will be able to integrate the two into new Internet telephony products including PBXs, routers and switches.

BETTER THAN A TIE

Microsoft and Netcentives have teamed up to offer special promotions for people shopping on the Web for a Father's Day present. At the Microsoft Plaza, www.plaza.msn.com, customers who link to a ClickRewards merchant site and make a qualifying purchase will earn a bonus of credits redeemable for frequent flyer miles on seven major airlines.