Call Center Management is not simple

A whole industry has been established around the idea of simplifying management. To read some of the literature produced by motivation coaches and solutions providers we can assume management is easy and if managers do not find it easy they are doing something wrong. Those involved in management development must first of all understand the complexities of management in order to define what exactly the development needs are. Perhaps the most realistic definitions of management are those that admit that it’s a complex and messy job:

Managerial work across all levels. . . is characterized by pace, brevity, variety and fragmentation. . . It is hectic and fragmented, requiring the ability to shi continuously from relationship to relationship, from topic to topic, from problem to problem. 

Management relates to all activities of the organization and is undertaken at all levels of the organization. Management is not a separate, discrete function. It cannot be departmentalized or scrutinized. An organization cannot have a department of management in the same way it can have a department for other functions, such as production, marketing, accounting, or personnel. 

So the first conclusions we can make about management is that it is far from simplistic, it can cover everything and it effects everyone and to a greater or lesser degree we all need to be able to manage. What we also know is that in call centres there are managers. These are the people who have a greater responsibility for coordinating the work of others as well as their own. They are the ones responsible for the workforce planning, performance measurement, motivating employees and ensuring agents have the information to actually resolve customer queries.

The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), a US-based call centre consultancy service, defines call centre management as, ‘the art of having the right number of properly skilled people and supporting resources in place at the right times to handle an accurately forecasted workload, at service level and with quality’. This definition of call centre management is weighted towards the responsibilities of workforce planning; what can be described as the management of the tangible aspects of the organization, ensuring the department is running efficiently. However, as we know this is only one aspect of management; it fails to recognize that management in practice involves coping with contradictory demands, pressures and politics. The call centre is a great example of contradictory demands and call centre managers have to manage the constant tension between the sometimes opposing goals of service efficiency and customer service effectiveness.

The majority of a call centre manager’s work is not spent on workforce planning; in fact a significant proportion of this type of work is undertaken by specialists with the assistance of automated so ware planning tools. The majority of a manager’s time is spent on ensuring the intangible assets of the call centre, such as, knowledge, capabilities, group dynamics and culture are effectively being utilized to improve the effectiveness of the service to the customer. The ICMI definition of call centre management fails to recognize motivation.

TRANSITION FROM A CALL CENTRE TO A CONTACT CENTRE

The historical focus for communication skills in large call centres has been on the spoken voice as this has been the main channel for customer contact. The improvements in technology have driven the introduction of intelligent self-service channels that provide customers with the option to ‘self-serve’ on simple transactions. As IVRs, websites and mobile phone technology increase self-service capability, the requirement for simple transactional interactions between customers and advisers will reduce to that of only those customers who choose to speak to someone over the phone. This choice is important and should not be removed; however, it is expected that this will be a minority of calls into centres. This is expected to reduce all forms of transactional contact and in turn impact on the profile of the customer service adviser. Voice contact will be driven by more complex queries and with an increase in the internet channel, the split between voice and written contact is expected to change. Induction programmes in call centres focus on developing brand identity through voice communication and it is a huge challenge to transfer this identity to the written word, particularly in large organizations.

Basic skills challenge

Contact centres attract a wide range of people, from graduates to school-leavers, with varying ranges of qualifications – in some cases none at all. Most contact centres recruit advisers by attitude and behaviours rather than academic skills or qualifications. Recruitment activities usually assess basic skills in English, maths and computer skills during recruitment, although it is not certain that this provides evidence of someone’s correspondence ability. A recent evaluation of the skills in an established correspondence team in a contact centre demonstrated that basic grammar, spelling and punctuation was poorly applied to e-mails and letters sent to customers. The individuals in these roles were recruited internally as having the ability to write effectively, so this implies that there are even lower standards in the general customer service population.

Differentiation

To address the skills described above and be ahead of changes to the profile of advisers, customer contact organizations should ensure that advisers are multi-skilled to respond to complex calls and written correspondence whilst maintaining the quality of the brand and customer experience. A number of companies now align the written voice to their brand, which is communicated in external marketing material that is easy to read and uses warm, engaging, conversational language. This same approach should be reflected in written communications used by customer service organizations, but this is rarely addressed.

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THE WRITE WAY – 2

Mandy Scott-Hopkins, O2

A large customer service organization recently implemented a written correspondence programme to develop a consistent standard that reflects the brand and positively impacts on the customer experience for people who need to or prefer to make contact through e-mail or letters. Using an external company to provide the expertise to initiate this project, the organization developed an effective programme that has had a substantial impact on setting and improving consistency and standards. With the expected increase in written correspondence the success and further development of this programme is vital to adviser performance.

Approach

A working group was identified with key stakeholders within the organization. The agreed approach was as follows.

1. Design and deliver a bespoke workshop for line managers and champions
   • Identify current skills gaps within pilot team.
   • Identify the correct brand and written voice, working with central brand team.
   • Design a writer’s guide and letter/e-mail template library.
   • Design and deliver a workshop for line managers and champions.
   • Design an assessment template for measuring improvements.
2. Develop and agree an exit strategy
   • Design a correspondence workshop for advisers.
   • Identify current skills gaps and provide individual training programmes for internal trainers with the best grammatical skills to deliver the correspondence workshop.
   • Design and deliver a Train the Trainer course to internal trainers and assess competence to deliver.
   • Review existing training content, identify any conflict and make recommendations to align with the fundamentals of the correspondence course.
   • Deliver post-course evaluation and recommendations for future guardianship.

The course

Masterclass for line managers and champions – two-day workshop

Through identifying the skills gap the criteria for the needs of the correspondence department were identified. This was the flagship course that defined the content requirement for the correspondence workshops for advisers.

Pre-course

An initial health check was conducted to identify the level of competence against set criteria that demonstrated competence in effective writing and understanding of language. This consisted of completing three pieces of writing, which measured:

• clarity;
• accuracy;
• layout;
• language;
• language awareness: verbs, punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc;
• tone: direct, natural, clear, personal, customer-sided.
• Course content

Based on the outcome of the pre-course work, a two-day workshop was developed that focused on the following areas identified for improvement:

• writing in a standardized tone that reflects the image of the company;
• sentence design;
• punctuation;
• letters vs e-mails;
• structuring responses;
• apologizing;
• opening and closing effectively;
• cutting out unnecessary words;
• using everyday English;
• avoiding jargon;
• avoiding passive verbs;
• contractions;
• layout and bullet points;
• saying no;
• softening bad news;
• using standard paragraphs.

Tools

Standardized writing guide. Samples of actual letters from the department to work with in the workshop.

Post-course

Competence test designed and implemented in regular quality checks to maintain standards and identify knowledge gaps for further training.

Evaluation

• End-of-course reaction questionnaire.
• End-of-course test of learning.
• Follow up health check of the team at three months.
• Follow-up return on investment at six months.

Results

Key writers workshop

One course was delivered with six attendees and the assessed level of competence improved from an average level to 90 per cent in an end-of-course evaluation. One hundred per cent of delegates improved as a result of attending the workshop. The delegates returned to their roles as champions of the standard and now use an improved quality check process to ensure consistency is maintained.

End-of-course evaluation indicated that most delegates improved their capabilities as a result of this training and have improved across the board in their letter and e-mail writing skills.

Exit strategy

The trainers believe that they have a higher level of awareness of grammar, punctuation and spelling as well as a good understanding of the ‘brand voice’. By the end of the intensive training programme they felt competent to deliver the workshops. They received a mixture of delivery styles that included remote learning, face-to-face, telephone feedback, group and individual coaching. The trainers’ skills increased to more than the minimum level required and they have all delivered a significant number of sessions following the implementation, which have received very positive end-of-course feedback scores.

The pilot review recommended that the implementation of the following will increase the effectiveness of the programme:

• Guardianship policy to maintain the integrity of the template library and course content.
• Development programme for in-house trainers to maintain quality and competency.
• Bi-annual health checks completed by the external consultancy.

Overall business improvement

Pre-course evaluation

Pre-evaluation of the skills in the pilot groups identified that three-quarters of the team scored five out of seven on a set of criteria provided by the external consultant. The remaining quarter scored six, indicating some common issues.

End-of-course evaluation for correspondence courses

End-of-course evaluation indicated that most delegates found the workshop an excellent experience that challenged them to change the way they constructed their letters and e-mails and increased their confidence in their skills and knowledge as a result. They felt very confident in the trainer’s level of understanding and delivery and thought the overall structure and content of the course was very good.

Post-course evaluation

A review was completed 16 months later to check that the skills were being put into practice and to identify further development areas. On the whole the teams are using the skills well and the collective team rated as an average level 3. Further opportunities to maintain standards and improve to higher levels of competency were identified and recommended.

Table 1: Quality check scores January–August

Quality and observations

The new quality check form has been introduced and the average improvement was 6 per cent during the first three months. Five months later quality had increased by 14.6 per cent in comparison to January’s results. The effect on repeat correspondence has not been as successful and further investigation is required.

A DESKILLED OCCUPATION? | Call Center

Contact centres are designed to act as the interface between the customer and the organization and to handle high volumes of calls each day. To do so systematically, economically and with consistent quality, most organizations have tended to incorporate mechanisms that limit the freedom of the operator. This approach tends to standardize processes, language, etc and restrict the scope of the customer service adviser.

With standardization the organization determines the messages it wants communicating to the customer and gets the operator to deliver the words. It has been argued that the use of scripts and information technology has restructured the organization of work to reduce not only the skills of agents but also their need to think. Essentially, ‘The agent is largely constructed as a mouth-piece rather than a brain’.

In Canada the requirement to follow specific protocols in telephone health assessment has been considered to be classical Taylorism in which the nurses’ skills were dissociated from the labour process. ‘This provides evidence of the fragmentation of knowledge and its separation into “parcels” or “bits” which are coordinated through the system’s algorithm-based logic’.

A lots have argued that the systematization of work in call centres has minimized the requirements for skills. For example, some banks would appear to have created a deskilled workforce that does not require qualifications and can be trained in just three weeks. It would appear that the opportunities for skill enhancement are limited and concluded that, ‘Our findings in this area indicate overwhelmingly that the nature of work organization used in call centres acts toconstrain skill development.’ The reduction of skill demands has other implications: ‘This has the result that many formerly semi-professional jobs have been eroded and made redundant, introducing a loss of career, status and opportunity’.

If only a few of the above points of view are correct there would appear to be problems in some call centres. Importantly, it should not fall upon training and human resource professionals to use learning and development as a ‘sticking plaster’ remedy to cover over gaping wounds caused by some organizational policies and methods. Where there are evident shortcomings in the system that training cannot overcome it is the role of HR and other operational managers to argue the case for a redesign of the system. If this cannot be achieved, the lack of insight and vision elsewhere in the organization will be rewarded with lower productivity, less motivation and higher levels of attrition.

STRESS | Call Center General findings

Two-thirds of call centre staff reported experiencing stress. Stress is not only caused by the need for agents to present a positive image; it can also be caused by workload. The Tayloristic principles applied in call centres frequently result in repetitive and stressful work that can lead to ‘burnout’. Indeed,  call centre where the average call duration was said to be 32 seconds. If the agents were working all the time, this would equate to over 800 calls per shit!

Stress and emotional exhaustion can be caused by a number of factors including job autonomy, length of tenure, degree of self-monitoring and work hours. In addition, role overload, role conflict, workload and work pressure have been found to increase stress.

When people suffer undue stress and emotional exhaustion the characteristics they demonstrate are o en tiredness, low energy and lack of demonstrable emotion. People experiencing emotional exhaustion depersonalize their interactions with others, which can lead to negative scoring of their work performance with the potential to create a vicious circle where increased stress leads to further stress.

Possibly the worst example of exploitation is the practice of a ‘sacrificial HR policy’. This requires advisers to invest high degrees of energy into calls and when they become emotionally exhausted they are encouraged to leave and are replaced by ‘fresh’ new hires.

General findings

Drawing from the preceding discussions a number of observations can be summarized about training and development within contact centres:

• The segmentation of provision into a mass-production model, the hybrid mass-customization model, and the professional service model will tend to create a stronger emphasis on training for the higher value professional service model.
• There is an inherent tension between ensuring and standardizing the quality of the interaction which requires formalized scripts and protocol and providing a skilled and satisfying job.
• A reduction in induction training would appear to be increasing the levels of customer dissatisfaction. It may also lead to increased turnover of staff although other labour market opportunities may also be contributing to this factor.
• The growing use of video and e-mail contact may introduce new training requirements.
• The continual introduction of new technologies will mean that there will be ongoing training required in hard skills. So skills will be less affected but will still remain important.
• First-time resolution of calls means that advisers generally need a greater level of knowledge about the organization.
• There is a tension between the value of qualifications to the individual and organizations that o en recruit on the basis of attitude.
• The provision of qualification options is growing as the industry matures.
• More staff are becoming involved with selling, requiring new skills.
• Employees are encouraged to relate to the main organization or client through visits, branding and clients providing training.
• Training reduces employee turnover.
• Operational scheduling requirements impact on the organization of training.

DEFINING A CALL/CONTACT CENTRE

The call centre industry is not the same as many other industries and it can be argued that it is not an industry in the accepted meaning of the term. This is because it does not operate in isolation for its own ends, but rather supports the operations of specific organizations. Call centres are to be found across a wide range of industry sectors and for this reason their role varies significantly depending on where they are located.

One factor that has been used to distinguish call centres is employment size and elsewhere it has been argued  that call centres have three essential elements:

1. a customer service function;
   
   
2. employees use telephones and computers simultaneously;
   
   
3. there is automated call distribution.

However, all these factors have limitations. There are call centres ranging in size from just one person in a small room to vast centres employing several thousand people. Furthermore, not all employees use the telephone to communicate with the caller or customer. Traditional mail correspondence is still significant and although communication by fax is declining this is more than offset by the increasing growth of e-mail communication and video links.

The term ‘call centre’ is popularly understood but it is slightly inaccurate because the telephone is not always used. ‘Contact centre’ is a more accurate description because it incorporates the various forms of communication between organizations and their users. Both terms will be used interchangeably throughout this book and we can define them as follows:

Call/contact centres are systematically organized facilities that enable distant communication between the organization and the customer/client.

THE NEED FOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT | Call Center

Supporting learning and development is important for a number of reasons:

• The industry is increasingly competitive and any centre (commercial/ public/not-for-profit) that does not support learning will find itself trailing behind more enlightened organizations.
  
  
• Call centres employ approximately 1 to 2 per cent of the working population in many countries and consequently are an important part of their economies. In some regions as much as 4 per cent of the population are employed in call centres.
  
  
• There is a significant local, regional and national economic imperative to ensure that the contact centre industry is successful and this can only be achieved through well trained, skilful and knowledgeable staff.
  
  
• The call centre industry has become a major part of economies worldwide and if they are not functioning effectively the impact will be felt widely across each economy.
  
  
• Call centres are frequently at the centre of organizational restructuring. Without educated and knowledgeable staff all efforts in other parts of the organization will be severally hampered without a well functioning call centre.
  
  
• Learning and development provide a key competitive advantage for organizations.
  
  
• There is insufficient information about the nature of learning and development with which to make an informed assessment and evaluation.
  
  
• A holistic picture is needed regarding learning and development.
  
  
• Inbound calls are increasingly viewed as an opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell. The competencies for selling are sometimes quite different to handling regular inbound calls.
  
  
• Call centres need further information with which to benchmark themselves and identify best practice in learning and development.
  
  
• Training helps retain and motivate employees.

Call/Contact center: driving force behind CRM

The call/contact center plays a crucial role in developing and fulfilling corporate CRM strategies. Companies whose main channel to their customers is through the telephone or e-mail, cannot become truly CRM-focused without putting the center at the heart of any operational enhancements to their CRM strategy. It is both the recipient and disseminator of information, relating to customers and to the business. CRM is about increasing revenues and growing the business aggressively. Industry sectors such as retail, banking, and communications were among the first to implement CRM, and their profit-focused approach toward their call or contact center operations is a model for other sectors.

When incorporated into a CRM strategy, the multimedia "customer contact center" brings both opportunities and problems. Customers still need to be served, no matter what the communication medium is; however, managers may initially encounter problems running a multimedia center in a CRM-focused business. There are a number of channels to manage, training is more complex and diverse, and new CSR skills are required described the key issues involved in moving from a telephony-only call center to a multimedia contact center as part of a larger, enterprisewide CRM process. As this shift takes place, the call/contact center becomes less of a cost center and more of an integrated, strategic, and profitable part of the enterprise and a key component of a CRM strategy.

CRM support mechanisms

CRM is not a technology, but few companies can reengineer themselves to be truly customer facing without providing their business and staff with the necessary tools. As for any major corporate project, there should be a defined business need for the technology first, along with a measurable goal. Almost any technology can legitimately be said to provide support for CRM implementations if the wider aim is to provide a superior level of customer contact based on knowledge of that specific customer.

Successful CRM depends as much upon attitude as it does upon technology, however. CRM is primarily an enabler of growth for optimistic, aggressive companies wishing to expand. Business trends bear this out. Consider these two approaches to CRM:

IT-focused CRM

Many first-wave CRM implementations focused very much on putting in technology solutions and improving efficiency. Business processes and employees may not even be affected by IT-focused CRM, and in many cases, the solution is CRM in name only—it may in fact be only a series of point solutions rather than a true CRM implementation.

Business-focused CRM

Business-focused CRM involves a fresh look at how customers and prospects are actually dealt with by the enterprise and focuses on discovering and solving commercial problems, changing the culture of the enterprise as a whole to serve customers more effectively and profitably. Business-focused CRM encourages enterprises to understand the value of an individual customer and to customize interactions to build loyalty and profit.

Much of the difference between these approaches concerns attitude. The solution may end up being the same, but the problem needs to be understood before it can be addressed.

The impact of each of these CRM approaches is quite different on the call/contact center. In the IT-focused CRM approach, a nontechnical customer who contacts the call center and who is likely to be amenable to upselling might be pushed to a Website, which would be counterproductive. In this case, simply employing more sales agents or increasing training would increase profitability. On the other hand, business-focused CRM may use a low-tech solution for the customer—it does not simply look for ways to squeeze new technologies into the existing structure of the enterprise. When considering the impact of each approach on the call/contact center, the following should be taken into account:

• Two-thirds of a contact center's running costs are CSR salaries.
  
  
• Customers do not care about the IT department or business workflow—they decide whether the company is a good one by the quality of its staff and the services they provide.
  
  
• The common perception of the contact center is that it is a necessary evil.

This latter point is at least as big an issue as anything related to technology. It is possible to run an adequate contact center with a large proportion of semiskilled, inexperienced staff, and this is happening in many organizations. However, the message for those organizations is that it is not possible to provide outstanding customer service across all channels, increase profit per customer, and grow the company's market share—some of the key goals of CRM—without having an experienced and empowered call/contact center team.

Technology and business processes can provide powerful solutions that enhance a center's productivity; however, it should be remembered that one of the most important reasons customers call a center rather than use a Website is that they prefer talking to real people. One of the primary objectives of CRM is to provide customers with what they want. If customers decide they want to talk to real people, then that is what the customer-oriented company has to provide.

CRM plays no favorites

Every company that wants to increase profitability, reduce customer churn, gain market share, provide an outstanding level of customer care, and foster customer loyalty needs to have a CRM strategy. True CRM implementations are complex by nature and also require significant investment. However, because CRM is a long-term strategic goal, a gradual rollout of supporting technologies is possible, as long as the company is aware of where it is heading overall. Otherwise, the organization is just implementing a series of point solutions, which do not have the value of an integrated solution.

At first glance, CRM implementations seem to follow a pattern similar to most projects: analysis of requirements followed by detailed design. After actual implementation comes postproject review. CRM is different not only in the details but in the important role taken by the review stage. For many projects, a successful review is the end of the story. Not for CRM—it is just another stage. CRM is an ongoing process, and so the review stage is fundamental to the success of the project as a whole. For this reason, it should never be undervalued.

Feedback should be given both in the analysis stage (for example, target metrics have been achieved, the overall target is still viable) and also in the design stage, especially on any unforeseen technical issues that may require changes in dependent subprojects. And while the expertise of external suppliers and consultants can be relied on in the actual design and implementation of solutions, reviewing the business analysis stage in more detail can be beneficial, because this is where complex CRM projects can fail through lack of planning or even through failure to set specific targets.

CRM success factors

To sum up, when planning and implementing a CRM strategy, such as the 12-stage strategy described previously in this chapter, the following key CRM success factors need to be considered:

• Complete the business analysis stage before the design phase begins.
  
  
• Pass on experience from the design and implementation stages in order to integrate it into major changes in company direction and operation.
  
  
• Choose at least one senior company member to drive the CRM initiative both from a commercial and cultural perspective.
  
  
• Get buy-in from senior members of all departments in the organization and establish a steering committee.
  
  
• Benchmark operations before implementing any technology.
  
  
• Consult customers on how they would like to see the business change.
  
  
• Specify quantifiable improvements to the aspects of the business that are most important.
  
  
• Work only with suppliers who have a proven track record and who will be reliable partners for the foreseeable future.
  
  
• Measure the impact of each subproject and feed the results back into the overall analysis and dependent design phases of the CRM project.
  
  
• Consult, inform, and train employees at every stage of the process to move the business culture more toward a customer-focused organization.

Retail | Call Center Case Studies

Company: Bargain Network

Profile

Bargain Network specializes in locating "distressed sale" opportunities for its network members. It is one of the leading merchandise search engines for real estate foreclosures, government-seized merchandise, and live auction events. The company offers live agents to assist customers on a 24-hour basis.

Challenge

For a contact center such as Bargain Network, customer service is top priority. With a call volume of 12,000 calls per day, supervisors understand the need to monitor, record, and store all communications between agent and customer for both liability and quality assurance. The company had been recording critical communications using simple cassette tapes and off-the-shelf tape recorders. As the business grew, the quality of the recording and archiving was not meeting the high standards required, and the company was not able to realize the full potential of recorded information. The challenge was to find and implement a cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-use solution for real-time digital data recording.

Solution

Bargain Networks selected Voice Print International (VPI) to upgrade its call and data recording systems to meet the challenges. VPI's system allowed the company to optimize the time used servicing customers.

Benefits

The solution selected by the company provided the following benefits:

§  Capability of monitoring both verbal and electronic communication between agents and customers

§  Re-creation of the customer experience and evaluation of CSR performance by reviewing communication via phone, fax, e-mail, and/or the Web

§  Archiving of calls to DVD-RAM, a reliable, long-term storage media enabling CSRs to locate data with pinpoint accuracy within seconds

Company: Borders Group

Profile

Borders Group, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading global retailer of books, music, movies, and other related items. Through its affiliates, Borders operates over 340 Borders Books and Music stores in the United States as well as 17 international Borders stores, approximately 860 Waldenbooks locations, and 32 U.K.-based Books etc. stores.

Challenge

The seasonal nature of Borders' business combined with its multiskilled contact center made optimizing its workforce a formidable challenge. The company plans for its staffing needs well in advance of the holiday season, when customer expectations are higher than usual and business volume is high. During this period, there is an over 35% surge in call volume, making optimizing available resources and staff essential. Overstaffing costs could significantly cut into profit margins, whereas understaffing at such a critical time of the year would be disastrous.

In addition to planning for significantly increased call volumes, Borders Group had a variety of complex criteria to be considered in developing the optimal schedule, which included 15 contact center skills, employee work preferences, and seniority-based scheduling.

Solution

The company chose Blue Pumpkin software to resolve its call center management requirement and ran a series of "what-if" staffing scenarios to design a workforce optimization strategy that accurately reflected all of Borders' business goals. Based upon a staff selection plan generated by Blue Pumpkin software, Borders Group knew exactly how many seasonal workers to hire as well as both the number of hours and skills required, making the hiring process much easier.

Benefits

The following benefits were achieved:

§  Reduced turnover of nonseasonal employees from 15 to 10%

§  Reduced overall recruiting and training expenses by 25%

§  Increased agent productivity by 53%, with a 33% reduction in expenses by allocating agent time more effectively over operating hours

§  Achieved customer service levels of 88% during the holiday period, with most calls answered in less than 10 seconds

§  Reduced costs and delivered a high level of customer service

§  Improved skillsets of seasonal staff and enabled them to get on the phones 33% faster, allowing them to be productive in one week instead of three

Company: HSN (Home Shopping Network)

Profile

HSN is a division of USA Networks Inc., a leader in TV and Internet-based direct retailing. The company received more than 68 million sales and service calls in 1999 and generated $1.2 billion in sales.

Challenge

When HSN's two contact centers became too busy at peak times, a percentage of calls were routed to a third-party provider. This percentage could only be changed every 15 minutes, which meant that agents in HSN's contact centers could be idle while the calls were still being routed to the third party. As well, HSN elected to route calls from frequent customers to a specific CSR to strengthen relationships and loyalty.

Solution

To resolve this situation with the third-party provider, HSN installed a load-balancing system for multiple call center sites. Routing calls to a specific CSR was accomplished by using intelligent voice recognition (IVR) and an analysis by a voice-print-enabled IVR. This feature enabled the company to check security and provide the customer's personal CSR with all the up-to-date information requested.

Benefits

The following benefits have been achieved:

§  Using the universal queue and dynamic enterprise routing strategies, HSN can immediately decide which of the three contact centers will receive the call.

§  Overflow calls can be routed to the third party only when agents at both HSN sites are operating at full capacity, keeping HSN's costs at a minimum.

§  Customers can now contact CSRs familiar with their profiles and purchasing requirements.

Health care | Call Center Case Studies

Company: Delta Dental Plan of Kentucky

Profile

The company manages dental plans for a broad range of client companies. In just a few months, Delta's customer service call center dramatically improved productivity by changing its call center performance metrics.

Solution

The company decided to revamp its use of existing technology, implement a stricter schedule-adherence policy, and introduce new incentive, quality, and team-building programs for its CSRs.

The first task for the call center's manager of customer service was to review how calls were handled. The 10-agent center takes about 30,000 calls monthly from plan providers, members, group administrators, and insurance brokers and agents. Initially, callers enter an interactive voice response unit where they can get automated information, such as the status of their claims. If they opt out of the automated system, the center's ACD routes the calls to CSRs.

One of the problems with the manner in which the center was handling calls was that CSRs were making decisions themselves as to how much time they needed to spend on after-call work. Calls were routed from the IVR to the CSR's phones, but each agent could decide when to answer these calls. The solution was to change CSR priorities.

A stricter schedule-adherence policy was introduced, requiring all CSRs to work on seven-and-a-half-hour shifts and be available 95% of that time. As well, a tiered structure for routing calls through the ACD was introduced.

Benefits

Specific benefits that were realized include the following:

§  The average speed of answer dropped from more than 200 seconds to less than 20 seconds.

§  Call abandonment, previously more than 12%, virtually disappeared, to less than 2%.

§  Long-distance costs dropped by 20%, in spite of a 10% increase in call volume.

§  Fewer angry callers meant agents were less stressed, which has improved overall morale.

§  Formal performance-based programs for both individuals and teams were organized, with appropriate awards ranging from gift certificates and gift baskets to time off.

§  Call-handling and off-work time were scheduled more efficiently, and a formal call-quality program was established to ensure continuous top performance.

Company: Philips Oral Healthcare

Profile

Philips Oral Healthcare, Inc., formerly Optiva Corporation, located in Snoqualmie, Washington, manufactures Sonicare, a high-tech toothbrush that uses patented sonic technology, fluid dynamics, and electromechanical design to aid in dental care. The company sells its products in the United States through warehouse clubs, mass merchandisers, department stores, and other outlets as well as distributing its products in Canada, Europe, and Japan.

Challenge

In the early days, Optiva's Customer Support Group consisted of 5 CSRs who received about 8,000 inbound calls per month. Its CRM solution was DOS-based, limited in functionality, and lacked reporting capabilities. From 1996 onward, Optiva experienced exponential growth and increased the number of CSRs to 52. A solution was required to manage customer relationships better and the large volume of calls and increased number of accounts contacting the center.

Solution

In 1997, Optiva implemented the Onyx Customer Care Solution, and in the following year, selected the Apropos Multimedia Interaction Management solution to provide the additional functionality needed and to integrate seamlessly with the existing Onyx database. The Apropos system increased the visibility of the center's activities, enhanced management's ability to extract data, and provided robust reporting capabilities.

Benefits

The benefits of the combined vendor call-management software included the following:

§  Caller ID, intelligent routing, and screen pops of information

§  Access to pertinent caller data

§  Reduction in time of call handling by an average of 30 seconds

§  CTI capabilities that enable CSRs to call back customers who may have abandoned the multimedia queue

§  Robust reporting capabilities providing real-time information and business metrics to improve overall productivity and enhance the customer's experience

Company: University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, P.C.

Profile

The University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, P.C., is a nonprofit physician group practice that is a member of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System. Since its beginning in 1973, the Health Services Foundation has grown to include almost 700 faculty, fellows, and physicians offering services in 33 specialties. These services are reinforced by the research and educational programs of UAB's Academic Health Center, resulting in patient care that is innovative, medically advanced, internationally renowned, and highly compassionate. The physicians of the Health Services Foundation are affiliated with UAB Hospital and the Kirklin Clinic at UAB, which houses most outpatient activities. The foundation formed the Management Services Organization in 1999 and consolidated operations and systems to manage activities related to revenue cycle, including billing and receivables management.

Challenge

Approximately 30% of the foundation's small-balance patient accounts cost more to collect than the actual payment. With limited resources available for collection, these balances often were referred to collection agencies.

Solution

The foundation selected two products from Avaya: Proactive Contact Management and Self-Service Solutions, which were combined to provide a solution to the collections problem that gained additional revenue while freeing resources for other important tasks. With these solutions, the foundation created a virtual payment center designed to automate outgoing calls to patients via predictive dialing and immediately provide patients with an avenue for self-payment using interactive voice response.

Benefits

The following benefits were achieved:

§  Maximization of the collection center's performance at the lowest cost

§  An additional $50,000 in revenue each month

§  Happier customers and better financial performance

§  Reduction by 27% in the number of agents needed to handle complex inquiries

§  All incoming calls regarding billing questions directed to the interactive voice response system first

§  The option for patients to quickly, independently, and confidentially manage their requests