Call Center Performance Management

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...

Most call center and operations managers realize there is always room for improved productivity and performance. By answering these 5 simple questions, you will gain the insight to know where to focus in order to realize the greatest opportunities for improvement.

Do I know?

1. What my people are doing at any given time on any given day?
2. Are they are doing the activities they are scheduled to do when both on and off the phones?
3. How are they performing their tasks and activities; meaning...

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...

Quality management has stood as a cornerstone of contact center performance management for many years, and for good reason. It focuses on the interactions between agents and customers; those little moments of truth where customer satisfaction hangs in the balance. For the most part, quality management hasn’t changed much through the years. The advent and rapid adoption of analytics technologies in the contact center is about to change that.

A new white paper from Ventana Research explores...

Joe McFadden, jmcfadden@enkata.com, Enkata

Ventana Research recently reported that 70 percent of companies have deployed quality monitoring.  In the majority of cases this is a manual process.   And that 73 percent of companies plan to improve this process over the next two years.  The report states that “ultimately, adopting contact center analytics will enable companies to automate the entire quality monitoring process, giving them the information they need to improve agent development and...

Recently FurstPerson conducted research based on job analysis work conducted with contact center organizations.  We blogged (Part I, Part II, and Part III) about this research but have consolidated the blog postings into a white paper.

Based on recent extensive job analysisresearch in the contact center industry, FurstPerson has found that there are common competencies which are often important across all job families and industries.  While it makes sense that some competencies would be critical...

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...

It shouldn’t come as earth-shattering news to anyone that the experiences customers have when interacting with a business have a major impact on satisfaction, and ultimately the company’s survival. Before you can effectively manage customer experience though, you need to know where your organization stands today. The old adage, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”, still applies.

Your company’s brand and reputation depend on your team’s ability to deliver a superior customer experience. Yet, people, processes and technology often conspire to create headaches for management and unsatisfactory interactions for customers.

Do these problems sound familiar? You receive calls from management demanding answers about why a host went down or why customer complaints are up. You may be  off for the  weekend but you still worry that a problem will not be detected as quickly as it...

Retaining and growing a base of satisfied customers is the name of the game. In today’s global internet-based marketplace, customers have very high expectations and can find their next vendor with just a few mouse clicks. The challenge for modern contact center managers and supervisors is in determining how to identify customer satisfaction deficiencies and provide agent targeted coaching to improve on those deficiencies.

There are a number of best practices that should be deployed to maximize...