Minimizing Labor Cost,
Maximizing Labor Effectiveness
The Paradox of 21st Century Contact Center Operations
 Just because we are in challenging economic times right now doesn't mean that Contact Center productivity, quality, or customer service should suffer. The good news is that there are very real ways to make improvements in both cost and service, through workforce optimization, multi-media integration, intelligent routing and customer self-service.
Exciting changes are taking place that affect the way Contact Centers communicate with customers. These changes have the potential to radically improve the customer experience at the same time they reduce cost. They even promise upside for those companies that leverage the technology to best advantage.
Optimize workforce performance
 There is more to optimizing workforce performance than merely creating a schedule based upon a forecast. The advent of effective analytical and performance management tools makes it easier to optimize Contact Center performance, route calls based on skills, and improve processes. By analyzing workforce needs and optimizing performance, companies can provide a high level of service with reduced costs. At the same time, they can load-balance based on skills and requirements, improving the work environment for employees. An improved work environment translates quickly into higher workforce satisfaction and lower workforce turnover.
Complimentary White Paper: "Spreadsheets and Workforce Management - An Odd Couple"
Manage multi-media contacts
 Bringing together voice and data in a single infrastructure greatly simplifies maintenance and eliminates unnecessary redundancy. Companies with multiple Contact Centers can easily link them together so that the customer makes one call and can be connected to the best resource regardless of location. Companies can also more easily support multi-channel contacts, so customers can send email, write letters, call, or chat and receive a consistent quality of answer. Converged communications enables Contact Centers to do a better job for customers at a lower cost.
Multiple Channels
"I'm calling you about the email I sent yesterday that requested help on the web transaction I tried last week." Are you prepared to offer these channels and then are you prepared to deal with the inevitable questions, such as above? Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is dependent upon offering your services via the channel and media that your customers prefer. If you don't, your competitor will. However, multi-channel services introduces a complexity you need to be prepared to manage.
Route based on value and skills
 Intelligent routing can make a huge difference in both efficiency and customer satisfaction. You can now design very sophisticated rules such that contacts are routed based on their lifetime value to the organization or sent to the most appropriate skill group in the Contact Center. Value and time-based rules ensure that the calls are rerouted to less-skilled agents if the wait period would otherwise become excessive.
Provide self-service options
 One way to be more efficient is to cut out the middleman - the Contact Center. After all, customers can often solve their own problems and would prefer to do so. Technologies such as speech recognition and interactive voice response (IVR) make self-service easy. They can also streamline information collection and the routing of calls when an agent is required.
Embrace change
These changes offer great opportunities to companies that embrace them. Yet often it is hard to know where to start. At 3rd Wave Solutions, we help our customers understand, manage and leverage changes in their business. With over 14 years of experience in the application of communications technology, we know how to solve business problems. And our focus on solutions for those who interact most with customers - the Contact Center - ensures the biggest return on investment. |
