October 27, 2015
For managers who keep a close eye on the bottom line, the call center can be seen as a mixed blessing. Yes, it’s the first point of contact for customers and can be a real help in boosting your brand. But that help comes at a price, and it’s up to everyone in the company to keep those costs under control. What should be done?
Industry consultant David Johnson recently wrote an opinion piece with some suggestions on how to improve operations at a contact center. Johnson took a broader view and identified some areas of concern.
“While we have reduced the absolute number of calls handled by agents, we have actually increased the average handle time (AHT) due to the complexity of the calls that ultimately end up with agents,” he noted. “That’s because the ‘simple stuff’ is being filtered out of our random call arrival patterns and replaced by calls that either cannot be resolved through self-service or are so complicated that the caller prefers to speak with an agent rather than struggle through the required IVR or web-based workflows.”
So Johnson came up with a number of options for savvy managers to consider, and they're worth checking out:
Targeted Coaching: “Instead of focusing on the bottom 2.5 percent or on the time spent nagging the bottom 33 percent, look for specific skills, knowledge, and behaviors that are reducing overall quality and coach them on those areas,” he suggests.
Evaluate the Evaluator: “Conduct a quick time-and-motion study of your evaluators,” Johnson said. “Let them tell you how they think they spend their time, and consider adjusting supervisor and evaluator priorities based on what you hear.”
Remove Authentication: The call-part analysis will likely show that the longest segment of the call that can be automated is customer authentication. “Start evaluating voice biometric technology, which can shorten each call by 45–60 seconds,” Johnson advises. “If you have 250 agents handling six-minute calls 45–50 times a day, that amounts to about three million calls per year. Cut just 45 seconds off those calls, and you’ll save more than 37,500 hours every year, increasing capacity by 12 percent without altering the rest of your workflows.”
There are other valuable suggestions in his article, but the most important takeaway is this: Costs can be reduced, but ironically, such savings are achieved by doing more listening than talking.