Call Center Optimization

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...

It’s universally accepted that providing superior customer experiences promotes customer satisfaction, loyalty and ultimately, long-term business prosperity. That being said, knowing what to do is often much easier than knowing how to do it. I came across a white paper from Cicero that provides some good insights into how to position your business to deliver satisfaction-winning customer experiences.

The paper summarizes feedback and identifies practical steps from customer contact professionals...

Back-office operating areas that process orders, applications, claims, white mail, payments, etc., have historically been left to develop their own staff planning approach. Senior management perception was that little could be done to improve the performance of these people-intensive, but non-strategic operating areas. So, these departments have received limited attention and investment dollars, or have been outsourced.

Call centers used to confront similar challenges before new tools and...

Companies invest time, money and effort to build brands and implement quality standards with one goal in mind: to enhance the customer experience and t drive customer acquisition and retention. But when you hire a partner, you give up a measure of control over your brand and service.

In an ideal world, your partner’s performance goals and strategies would be perfectly aligned with your own.  The reality, however, is that your partners have their own financial goals and operational challenges....

Second in a two-part series

Yesterday we looked at the Payment Card Security Council and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard which were established to protect the credit card user. Today we look  specifically at the standard and the requirements it places on contact centers.

DMG Consulting LLC is a leading provider of market research and consulting services for contact centers. The 2009 – 2010 Quality Management/Liability Recording Product and Market Report is the definitive guide to...

Agent Call Center Performance Optimization tools are a set of applications that seek to increase agent effectiveness, reduce workforce costs and improve service levels. These tools allow contact center managers to plan schedules, forecast agent requirements, measure agent performance, analyze results and improve outcomes.

Call Recording/Logging and Quality Monitoring (QM) software allows users to record, retrieve, analyze and improve agent/customer interactions.  These recordings are...

Twenty years ago, the contact center industry was greatly improved through the application of a mathematical modeling tool now commonly known as  contact center workforce management. We found that computers and mathematics could do a better job of determining agent schedules than we could do by hand or using a spreadsheet. It had long been thought that this modeling technology has run its course and that we have captured all of those contact center workforce management benefits. But we’re not...

A Q3 2009 survey asked 107 enterprise, contact center and IT executives and decision-makers from around the globe to identify their top goals and priorities for 2010. Surprisingly voice- speech self-service solutions (also known as interactive voice response systems or IVRs) are expected to play a key role in helping enterprises of all sizes achieve their 2010 objectives.

The top 2010 goal for enterprise and contact center executives is improving customer service, thus increasing...

Interior design color trends often follow fashion trends, so colors that you see on the runways in the spring will soon be seen in trendy home stores and maybe even in your office. Since colors influence interior design, this will lead to complementing and coordination of the furnishings. Thankfully, more and more people selecting furnishings for call center and office spaces look to current design trends and outside of the traditional (and slightly boring) all gray color schemes of the past.

Pan...

According to Udi Ziv, President, Enterprise Product Group, NICE Systems, user buying criteria (what users are looking for) changed over the past few years?  If so, how?

Over the last few years we have seen a shift in buying priorities due to three key drivers:

• Data center consolidation – in a recent Ventana Research study, participants expressed that economy of scale opportunities for larger multi-site operations are being considered as they are migrating to VoIP, increasing home-based agents...

Authored by Patrick Botz, Vice President of Solutions Marketing, VPI

 

Call center performance management software is now recognized as a valuable solution to a long-standing problem. Much of the information within most contact centers is still collected and stored in disparate systems. Each system typically has its own reports, making it very difficult to make cohesive and accurate decisions based on data that can’t be properly compared and analyzed. With the advent of call center performance...

Authored by Patrick Botz, Vice President of Solutions Marketing, VPI

Call center monitoring software is now a fundamental technology in virtually every competitive call center environment. As the economy begins to recover, 2010 is expected to be another tough year for enterprises, with contact center managers asked once again to reduce their operating expenses while improving the customer experience and satisfaction scores. They will be expected to achieve this goal with limited resources and...

Authored by Patrick Botz, Vice President of Solutions Marketing, VPI

Call recording software plays a key role in many industries. It is a mandatory requirement in the majority of public safety organizations and within various industries, such as financial services and healthcare. With so much valuable information in vast number of customer interactions, the overwhelming majority of many organizations are now recording all their calls. Call recording software helps many organizations optimize the...