Call Center Optimization

Since the emergence of multi-channel self-service, there is a growing disconnect between the typical strategy employed in telephone self-service design and what many customers actually need. A new Nuance report details the results of a commissioned survey which attempts to uncover customer channel preferences for an array of banking tasks, including recommendations for optimizing the IVR to both accommodate those preferences and minimize the frustrations associated with today’s multi-channel...

The following are some more information on the vendors who attended the IQPC event.  

Analytics

For companies frustrated with isolated or disparate data sources, 360'CRM's latest advances in its InSight data analytics tool provides new levels of actionable information for the Call Center or Channel Management practitioner.  InSight not only automatically draws call center performance data in to a common, universally comparable dashboard and report analytics library, it also integrates internal...

The staff of CRMXchange was present at the IQPC Las Vegas Call Center Week. IQPC did a commendable job with the content and speakers in the event. The exhibit hours were long, running close to 11 hours on day one, but the vendors were pleased with the amount of interest that people showed in their products and services. 

We traveled the exhibit hall. Below are some vendor highlights.

Analytics

Contact Solutions – The Continuous Improvement Practice (CI) is based on a unique methodology and supported...

Even in the best-managed and busiest contact centers, where workforce management solutions are used to optimize agent schedules, there will always be unexpected downtime without calls. Using this idle time productively will improve agent satisfaction and service quality while reducing agent-related costs. Delivering real-time, targeted training, coaching and communications during slow periods can alter your contact center’s dynamics – boosting productivity, quality and customer perception. A new...

Virtual queuing bridges the customer service gap between customer self-service and live service.  According to Triad Research Group, 75% of consumers who use virtual queuing technology have a more favorable opinion of the company that they are doing business with.

Companies using virtual queuing in their contact center find:

• Ease of  transition between self-service and live-service
• Increased customer satisfaction and customer retention initiatives
• Improved contact center metrics such as ASA,...

The first decade has seen steady growth in market demand for analytics solutions
of all descriptions as evidenced by the results of the annual survey of contact center end-users conducted by Saddletree Research in conjunction with the National Association of Call Centers (NACC). An offshoot of the Call Center Lab at The University of Southern Mississippi, the not-for-profit NACC conducts surveys of its members and newsletter subscribers in order to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry...

In Q3/Q4 2010, DMG Consulting conducted a benchmark study of 149 enterprise, operations, contact center and IT managers, directors, leaders and decision-makers around the world.  They found that a growing number of contact centers of all sizes are looking for a low-risk approach to enhance and optimize their contact center servicing/CRM applications. Many of these companies have been sitting on the sidelines for years, waiting for a more attractive solution to enter the market to help them...

Our fourth post in Brent Holland's series, “Generational Hiring for the Optimal Customer Experience”, discusses research examining whether generational groups produce a different customer experience.

Do generational differences affect perceptions of the customer experience?

In the last post, I shared research indicating that more mature workers are likely to turnover less often than younger workers.  That’s only half the equation, however.  An equally important issue concerns whether generational...

The third post in Brent Holland's blog series, “Generational Hiring for the Optimal Customer Experience”, explores whether different generational groups are more likely to stick with a call center job versus leaving early in his/her employment.

Are different generational groups more likely to remain employed in a call center job?

One of the myths that finds its way into many domestic call centers is that more mature workers (chronologically speaking, anyway) will stick with the job through the...

My colleague, Brent Holland, continues our series on "Generational Hiring for the Optimal Customer Experience".  The second installment considers two important questions:  (1) how to define generational groups and (2) whether contact centers rely on generational groups to guide recruitment.

How does FurstPerson define generational groups for this research?

When we began studying the impact of generational classifications, one of the first things we noticed was that many people disagree on who is a...

Accoriding to Verint, in a recent customer networking session, a participant raised a critical question; “Now that our company’s contact center is working in a blended environment, both taking calls and performing back office work during non-phone time, I was hired to improve operational efficiency. How do I do this when I have no visibility into what people are doing throughout the day?”

Before you can address areas for improvement, you need to be able to identify:
• what people are doing
• how...

Brent Holland, Vice President for Research and Consulting at FurstPerson,  has produced a series of blog posts entitled “Generational Hiring for the Optimal Customer Experience”.  Over the coming weeks, I will present some of his research on generational differences and their impact on call center attrition and performance.

Contact centers today are focused on driving the optimal customer experience.  An often repeated question concerns whether certain generational groups, such as baby boomers,...

Ovum has outlined five secrets to success that enterprises should follow when implementing e-learning and coaching solutions.

Use data and applications that already exist within the contact center

Enterprises should use the information they already collect on agents’ skills and knowledge to determine the best time to schedule course and tailor the information. There are a number of applications that can be integrated with e-learning andcoaching including PM, WFM, Quality Management (QM) and...

The operational planning process evolved to solve the core inbound contact center business question: given the seasonality of call volumes, the seasonality of agent attrition, the seasonality of agent sick time, vacation requests, and other shrinkage items, the seasonality of handle times, given that all of these items are different by center location and type of staff required, and given learning curves, training times, and other important and complicating characteristics, how does...