April 1999

Keeping The Machine Humming

BY MICHAEL LEVINGER

Companies are increasingly relying on complex, geographically dispersed call centers to deliver the superior customer service today's markets demand. These centers succeed in part through the use of state-of-the-art call center and enterprise customer management (ECM) systems. ECM systems provide tremendous benefits to companies, such as one-to-one marketing, more personalized service, and reduced customer churn (see sidebar). But they also create a new set of challenges, one of which is to realize the intended benefits of ECM while maintaining the technical support and operations necessary to keep the systems running.

ECM systems consist of many components, including sophisticated routing tools, client/server customer information systems, and Web sites. Call centers rely heavily on computer telephony integration (CTI) systems to unify data networks, computers, and telephony systems. CTI systems are especially difficult to support because they are often integrated with enterprise applications such as legacy and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. If the ECM system fails, a chain reaction can result in availability problems with these other important systems.

Successful ECM system support is difficult. Maintenance and enhancements to ECM systems must respond to business and user requirements, and they must be implemented in a way that minimizes downtime and disruptions. When problems do arise, support staff must diagnose and resolve them fast, often on a 24-hour basis, which requires the availability of a wide range of skills, including knowledge of voice and data systems, CTI, and customer management systems.

Faced with this complex environment, organizations must decide if they can handle support in-house or if they should outsource it to third parties experienced in supporting complex, multi-vendor environments. Regardless of the path a company chooses, however, it needs the right staff levels and skills, experience supporting multi-vendor environments, strong product vendor relationships, and a sophisticated change management policy.

SUPPORT STAFF: HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
Whether outsourced or in-house, cost-effectively maintaining adequate technical support staffing is tricky. Not only do companies need to have enough support staff on hand, they need to ensure staff members have the right skill levels to deal with problems in a multi-vendor environment. A company may need skills in dozens of different technologies to maintain its ECM system.

Companies also have peaks and valleys when it comes to skill needs. When a company installs a new version of a software application, for example, it has a high need for a particular skill set. When the application is stable, there is less of a need for those skills. This creates complications when deciding where to set staffing levels. Staffing to accommodate the peaks will cost a lot, while staffing only to accommodate the lows runs the risk of extended downtime.

A company may need an expert in telephone switches, for example, only 15 percent of the time. What do they do with that person the rest of the time? This person will most likely be assigned to other projects, which means they won't stay focused on their original area of expertise. Their skills may suffer, and when they are needed, the other projects may impinge on their time.

One solution is to outsource some of the support skills needed. By partnering with a third party, companies can share the skills of people who are intimately knowledgeable about the technology without having to pay for dedicated support staff members.

Regardless of whether companies outsource their support or keep it in-house, they need to build a solid knowledge management system that captures essential knowledge and makes it readily accessible to support staff. As companies build bigger and more complicated ECM systems, even the most highly skilled and knowledgeable support people can't know everything. They need libraries of information that make it easy to look up answers and access information from vendors, as well as information about a company's internal systems. When they are equipped with the right tools, support staff can more easily solve even the most complex problems.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLUTION
Once staffing is resolved, the next challenge is to accurately identify the cause of any problems and apply a solution. Because ECM systems are highly integrated technologies, it can be difficult to determine where the real problem lies and which vendor can help solve it.

Consider this analogy: You have a car where different companies manufacture the engine, transmission, and instrument panel. Suddenly, a red light on the instrument panel goes on, telling you there's a problem with the engine. Who do you call to fix the problem? The instrument panel manufacturer because the light is on? The engine company because the light indicates a problem with that component? Or is the transmission causing a problem with the engine, in which case you would call the transmission company. If you don't have the right knowledge, it would be difficult to know who to turn to. When you finally decide to call one company, it may claim the problem lies with one of the other manufacturers, not with its product.

The same thing happens with ECM systems. Just because one part is failing doesn't mean it is the real cause of the problem - it might just be a symptom. CTI systems are particularly difficult to fix, for example, because they are inherently a point of integration for all the pieces. When there is a problem, it isn't necessarily with the CTI system. Calling the CTI vendor for help might be fruitless if the problem lies elsewhere.

This issue hearkens back to staffing. To successfully identify and resolve ECM problems, companies need individuals cross-trained about the many components of the ECM system. Staff with the right knowledge management tools can follow the path of a problem across a company's different technology components. Once they find the problem, they can then determine which vendor to call for help.

Of course, vendor relationship management is also important. Before a company rolls out a new system or piece of software, support people need to build a relationship with the vendor and clarify how the company is managing the multi-vendor environment. If the vendor knows the support staff is knowledgeable about its products and how they interact with other products, the vendor will be more eager to help and less likely to ignore the call or blame the problem on another vendor's product. It is also important to have clear-cut service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure the vendor provides the service it has agreed to in writing.

MANAGING CHANGE
Another support challenge in supporting complex ECM systems is managing configuration and change. Because the component systems of an ECM solution are so intertwined, changing one part can have a significant impact on another. The goal of an ECM system is to improve customer relationships. But if the system is regularly crashing because of tweaking and fine tuning, that goal is hard to achieve. Key to successful configuration and change management is knowledgeable staff, well-defined processes, and management focus and commitment to following the processes.

A formal configuration and change management process ensures that the benefits of changes outweigh the costs. Formal processes compel support and maintenance staff to look at every possible area of impact and to run the appropriate tests to be sure that the changes won't cause costly problems. Also, it is critical that upper management support a company's change management processes and enforce the use of formal processes throughout the organization. A lack of such commitment defeats the purpose of having the processes in the first place.

BRINGING IN A THIRD PARTY
After reviewing the challenges of supporting complex ECM systems, some organizations may choose to outsource some or all of their support to third-party vendors. Outsourcing provides skilled staff when a company needs it. Because support is their specialty, third-party support vendors also have strong relationships with hardware and software vendors, making it easier for them to get cooperation from these companies when problems occur.

There are several issues companies should consider before farming out their support. First is cost. Don't count on saving money. In fact, it could be more expensive to outsource support than to keep it in-house. But companies will make up for the cost in the quality of support they receive. Companies must decide on their support goal: is it just to drive costs down, or do they want to have the best possible quality?

Another issue is loss of self-reliance. Many companies feel that outsourcing support of mission-critical applications erodes their self-reliance. This is a valid concern. If for some reason the third-party support staff fails to provide support - or worse, goes out of business - a company could be left without the proper knowledge and skills to support its key systems. To reduce this risk, companies may choose to outsource only a portion of their support, or they might share support tasks with a third party so they can cost-effectively maintain the knowledge in-house. Of course, companies should seek vendors who are experienced in ECM systems and who are committed to supporting these systems.

Third party considerations
There are several key services companies should look for when signing a contract with a third-party support organization:

• Availability, as required: 24x7 or 8x5.
• Appropriate coverage of their locations and ECM components.
• Handling inbound product question calls.
• Managing problem resolution and bug fixing.
• Commitment to SLAs based on problem severity, time of day, and day of week.
• Regular status and call prevention reviews.
• Regular call activity summaries.

A BALANCING ACT
Complex ECM support presents many challenges for today's service organizations. To be successful in handling these challenges, companies need to take a balanced approach that includes in-house and outsourced technical support staff, knowledge bases that arm support staff with the information they need, and change management processes that help companies realize benefits from the changes they implement. With all of these components in place, support becomes less daunting, and once the support pieces fall into place, it is much easier for organizations to keep the ECM machine humming and keep customers satisfied.

Michael Levinger is senior vice president of Technology Solutions Company. Technology Solutions Company (TSC) is a leading international consulting and systems integration firm. For more information, please visit their Web site at www.techsol.com.

BY RICHARD L. SCHWARTZ

Customers are a volatile lot. Not that you would like them to be that way - they just are. In an era of mega-mergers and acquisitions, we are all reminded that customer relationships can be fleeting. Hard to come by and easy to lose. There is a word for this process: churn. Churn is the process of losing current customers, even as you are gaining others.

Why do you lose customers? Sometimes your competitors get the better of you. Sometimes you simply don't pay enough attention to your current customers and they fall away from you. All in all, this is an unfortunate turn of events. Most studies show that you can earn more revenue and profits from your existing customer base that from the more costly acquisition of new customers.

What can you do to reduce churn and earn more from the customers you keep? Tighten the relationship with them. Learn more about their needs and their ongoing activities. Maintain a "high touch" relationship with them - stay in contact with them. Make sure you know what they're working on, worried about, and waiting for. The more you know about them, the more relevant you can be, and the more reasons they have to continue their relationship with you.

If you are a service business, you probably have already dedicated extensive resources to maintaining active relationships with your best customers. Expensive process, isn't it? It involves a lot of phone calls and a lot of detail work.

Maybe you have or are thinking of having a Web site for your customers to come and access your services directly, on a self-service basis. Kind of an Internet-oriented ATM machine - borrowing lessons from banking self-service. A good step. Careful though - a Web site doesn't give you any more control over your customers, or their satisfaction. Early players have seen a backlash where their customers actually complain that Web self-service is less service, not more. The trick is to use the Internet to automate service at a higher level of personalized attention and support, not at a lower level. We might call this Internet full-service rather than self-service.

There are some new answers provided by Web technology. A Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system can help you capture more information about what your customers need, want, and expect from you. And, it can help you deliver this to them.

A CRM solution starts with your Web site. There, your customers provide individualized information about what information, alerts, service offerings, and specific account notices would be valuable to them. Armed with that information, the CRM system automates the process of monitoring your internal systems and automatically calls, faxes, or e-mails the customer to keep them informed on the very issues they have listed as priorities.

Depending on your business, this could involve watching their account balance, monitoring incoming wire transfers, stock activity, item shipments, etc. The customer wins by knowing what you're doing for them and when without constantly having to ask. You win big-time customer satisfaction points by being responsive, knowledgeable, and in consistent contact with the customer. Positive, frequent mindshare will keep the customer from straying.

CRM applications like this represent a new breed of technology - combining Internet technologies with new-age communication media. Technology, in this case, actually helps foster a closer relationship with your customer. High tech equals high touch.

You still have to worry about churn, mindshare, and marketshare. But maybe, if you act fast enough, you can grab and hold on to some of your competitors' turf for a change.

Richard L. Schwartz is chairman and CTO of Diffusion, Inc. Diffusion, Inc. is a premier provider of automated customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for financial institutions that need to personally interact with their customers - in a cost efficient and timely manner - regarding business-critical events and information updates. For more information, please visit their Web site at www.diffusion.com.