November 1998

BY CHRIS DONNER

Recent trends in call center technology point towards more thoroughly integrated applications, particularly in the area of workforce management. Now, when we say "more thoroughly integrated," we mean to emphasize how the new applications provide call centers more information - that is, more detailed, more elaborate tracking of agent performance - as well as greater flexibility in the allocation of agent resources.

On the surface, it might appear that the new applications reflect a relentless drive to enhance efficiency and bolster the bottom line. Many of the new applications can in fact be used this way, to further the pursuit of a tightly focused, if narrow, pursuit of efficiency.

But the new applications also present call center managers new choices. Just because a call center manager can implement, say, policies that strictly regulate talk time, that doesn't mean such policies are inevitable, or even desirable. The call center may want to account for relatively intangible variables, such as the value of spending time with customers, or the value of cultivating job satisfaction among agents, who may thrive if given the chance to develop their own discriminating skills, so they can, for example, decide which callers are good upsell prospects, and respond to them accordingly.

Ultimately, as workforce management applications become more sophisticated, call centers will find they are better able to assess the value of intangibles. When that happens, call centers may realize efficiency, if it is to be maximized, must be viewed broadly. Call centers must, of course, account for whatever is amenable to measurement. (In keeping with the old saw: "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.") The trick, however, is for call centers to recognize opportunities to enlarge the domain of the measurable. One way to accomplish this is to be aware of the latest developments in workforce management software.

INFORMATION CONSOLIDATION
Ideally, a call center should have an all-encompassing view of its operations. With the benefit of such a view, a call center is less likely to overlook any operational parameter that is in fact measurable (call length, wrap-up time, etc.). Further, the call center will have a better sense of the limits of the measurable. That is, the call center may decide that something can still be important even if it eludes easy measurement.

One solution that delivers a comprehensive, consolidated view of the call center is Mitel's Call Center Commander, which is designed to transform the traditional call center into an advanced customer interaction center (ACIC), increasing efficiency for both agents and managers. Call Center Commander is made up of four integrated applications: Mitel Commander Server, Agent, Supervisor, and Report System. As a complete system, Call Center Commander integrates with most PBX platforms and Centrex services, building on a client's existing investment rather than requiring a complete refurbishing of the system.

With Commander Agent, individual call center agents are able to respond with equal facility to customer queries, whether they take the form of a traditional phone call, or arrive as e-mail, faxes, or Web inquiries. In the meantime, and regardless of agent locations, Commander Supervisor tracks and reports on queries of any origination or format, all in real time. Additionally, the Commander Report System compiles all of this information -- every event in the interaction process -- and makes it available to the call center supervisor without the need for multiple reports.

Another recent release that addresses information consolidation is Intecom's CallWise Centergy, a Windows NT-based call center management application that allows call center managers to customize their applications. The new graphical interface provides enhanced functionality through customized viewing and user-defined windows.

CallWise Centergy allows call centers to compile reports informed by real-time or historical data, reports that give call centers a handle on the essentials of efficiency and productivity. And, once the essentials are covered, call centers are free to look at aspects of agent performance that are less tangible: creating loyalty, soothing angry or distraught customers, and planting seeds of interest for future sales.

SIMPLIFIED SCHEDULING/SKILLS-BASED ROUTING
Even minor changes in the availability of multi-skilled agents can create havoc in a schedule, requiring significant re-computation and time investment on the part of call center managers. Typically, if more time is devoted scheduling, less time will be available for scrutinizing other aspects of the business.

Blue Pumpkin Software's release of both PrimeTime Enterprise and PrimeTime Skills is meant to minimize complex scheduling tasks in a multi-skilled environment. Both products take into account such variables as cross-skilled agents, multiple products and services, and agents shared across different queues or ACDs when scheduling. Additionally, PrimeTime Skills leverages ACD skills-based routing technology to assess call queues and maximize usage of agent skills.

By assessing the call center's needs and scheduling agents based on their specific skills, PrimeTime Skills makes it more likely that a particular skill set will be available for an inbound call. Matching specific skills with questions insures that a customer's concerns will be answered satisfactorily (resulting in loyalty and repeat purchases), and it also helps agents feel more comfortable in their positions.

IEX has also introduced a workforce management product, TotalView Version 2.0, which allows for more accurate scheduling of agents based on individual skills, even when considering multiple sites. TotalView features include forecasting, agent productivity tracking, and vacation and holiday planning.

Especially interesting was the forecasting feature, which allowed for both long-term and short-term speculative scheduling to evaluate staffing needs. This ability helps managers deal effectively with both sudden and planned changes in employee availability, easing away from a "crisis only" model of scheduling management.

When it comes to scheduling, employees who are able to answer questions quickly and effectively more frequently will be more efficient and require less direct management. They will also find their work more satisfying.

NOTIFICATION
A call center manager who is constantly monitoring the call center and looking for problems can easily slip into a completely problem-based model of workforce management. Whereas traditional wisdom says that "the squeaky wheel gets the oil," in this case the oil may not be an especially pleasant experience for the wheel.

Davox's newest release -- Resource & Performance Manager (RPM) -- functions in either the Windows 95 or NT operating system, interacting though a Windows-like GUI for familiar appearance and functions. A particularly interesting feature of RPM was the Alert function, which allows supervisors to define custom operating parameters and be notified of deviations from these parameters.

The Alert function quickly brought deviations to the manager's attention without requiring continuous monitoring. On a personal level, this results in managers who don't have to be constantly looking for problems - potential problems will be pointed out by RPM - giving the call center manager has more opportunity for positive interaction with employees and for keeping the call center running smoothly.

CONTINUITY
As the call center market continues to grow (see a discussion of this issue in Tom Keating's CC: column this month), information and agents that once were closely linked can be separated. This process of growth and separation can cause inefficiencies in the call center, leading to a compartmentalized, disparate call center, rather than one that works in unison.

TCS Management Group's SeriesFive -- the new generation of the TeleCenter System -- addresses this issue directly. Utilizing a client-server environment, SeriesFive's centralized architecture has the benefits of faster processing and uniform standards while allowing separate locations to function as a virtual unit. The interface for SeriesFive also runs under Windows 95/98 or NT, taking advantage of the familiarity of this operating system. By being able to grow with a call center, even into a multi-site configuration, SeriesFive makes it easier to maintain uniform standards across the call center, as well as allowing easy access to the database for all agents.

CONLUSIONS
The trend towards workforce management based on agents' skills and individual strengths should make it easier for call center managers to deal with and plan for variations in both their agents' schedules and the flow of traffic within the call center itself. Also, reporting software that presents managers with clear information early on can be instrumental in maintaining both call center effectiveness and employee satisfaction.

With the help of workforce management software, a call center manager might perform a role similar to the conductor of an orchestra. Call centers that utilize multiple skills or cover multiple sites may never blend these in perfect unison, but they can reach toward what is perhaps a loftier goal: harmony. While there isn't yet a software package that is attuned to every conceivable strain that could contribute to the overall harmony, workforce management applications are making it easier to develop, keep, and utilize effective agents.

Chris Donner is the associate editor for CTI™ magazine. He can reached for comment at lguevin@tmcnet.com.

BY JANICE P. ANDERSON

The Chinese symbol of the Tao is everywhere these days, but the wisdom it represents is a bit harder to find. The two forces at work in today's call centers can be represented by that ancient symbol. A modern call center must balance the traditional emphasis on the ACD and call center efficiency with new concerns for creating customer intimacy and providing continued support, with a view toward increasing revenue. Some call center technology experts emphasize one routing paradigm over the other, or even disregard one of them completely. But the best call centers will seek a true balance of the two forces.

Of those two forces driving call center routing right now, the one employing CTI applications and the information from enterprise databases is probably the most familiar. This routing paradigm puts an emphasis on customer information and the relationship between the company and the customer. It puts a company's marketing plan into action, making routing decisions based on the customer's needs.

The second force is a more traditional model, basing routing decisions on the automatic call distributor (ACD) and the information this switch makes available, such as call traffic, queue statistics, how long customers have been waiting, how long they are expected to wait, and agent availability. This routing paradigm puts an emphasis on productivity, efficiency, and speed of service.

To this day you will find consultants, companies, integrators, and managers who believe that one of these forces is the right one to use. But neither one is right and neither is wrong. Like the yin and yang, both must exist. In fact, these two forces must be carefully balanced to create a call center that uses its resources efficiently while effectively carrying out the company's marketing plan to drive customer loyalty and revenue.

TRADITIONAL MODEL
Once the traditional call center was the only type of call center - it focused on cutting costs and getting calls answered quickly with the smallest outlay of resources. As ACD technology improved it became possible to take efficiency too far, to turn human agents into near machines, driven by call statistics and the need to minimize costs.

As scary as the threat of dehumanizing customer service in the name of efficiency is, relying totally on this traditional model has an even more serious drawback: in the drive to cut costs and increase efficiency, additional sales opportunities are lost. These opportunities require an agent to have a relationship with the customer, and to know what that customer wants or needs.

CTI-BASED MODEL
CTI applications, especially screen pops and intelligent call routing, create this intimacy between customers and agents. ANI, DNIS, or IVR can access knowledge already in the business's database, intelligently routing customers to the agents trained to meet their particular needs. With screen pops, those agents have the information they need to make a sale or to build the relationship for a future sale.

ACHIEVING BALANCE
The key to balancing these two forces is skillful integration of the two routing paradigms. The vendor or solution provider must have the skills, the knowledge, and the resources to map the company's marketing plan and create a call flow that can stand up to the rigors of real-time execution.

Today's architectures that try to do everything that an ACD can do on a CTI-based application server really pay a price in efficiency, mostly because they break a basic rule of data processing: "The closer you are to the information you need, the more efficient your operations and applications will be."

The fact is, nothing is closer to information about the waiting calls and available resources than the ACD. This becomes very important when you are running a banking call center, for example, and 55 percent to 70 percent of your call center costs are in your people. Even a single digit increase in efficiency means you save hundreds of thousands of dollars. A one or two second delay in getting an agent to a call while checking the off-board application can flush those savings and more.

To get the best of both worlds and to achieve this elusive balance, call centers should take a distributed architecture approach. This means that CTI applications need to mature to create a tightly integrated relationship between call processing/ACD software, and all the information agents need to create and develop relationships with the company's customers. It is a fundamental change, but its benefits are staggering.

Imagine the power of a call center that has achieved this balance. It is a call center that can leverage both the cost-savings of traditional efficiency and the revenue creation of new information. It is a call center that has attained customer intimacy without sacrificing the response speed. It is a call center where your callers are treated as individuals, much as you envisioned in your marketing plan, but where that plan can stand-up to the reality check: high call volume, a limited number of agents to handle calls, and callers who will only wait for so long before they look elsewhere.

Call centers that achieve this balance will create a system with its own kind of wisdom - a wisdom not often found, but that once achieved, can survive the ages.

Janice P. Anderson is customer sales and service solutions vice president for Lucent Technologies. Lucent Technologies designs, builds, and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, and business telephone systems and microelectronics components. For more information, call Lucent at 888-584-6366 or visit their Web site at www.lucent.com.

BY STEVE GRAY

The term "call center" was originally coined to reflect the fact that customers contacted a company using one standard medium: the telephone. But most call center managers will confirm that the rapid advance of technology means organizations receive many different types of queries: by phone, fax, e-mail, or even a message from the company's Web site.

This paradigm shift poses a significant problem for call centers: how to continue providing top-notch service for every customer inquiry, no matter how it's received. Service and support are often the driving factors behind consumers' purchasing decisions. If they don't get efficient and responsive service from your company, they'll take their business elsewhere.

The good news is that technology exists today that enables all types of customer queries to be handled as easily as a traditional phone call. To build an effective multimedia call center, operators need to focus on four specific areas: visual multimedia queues, comprehensive interaction reporting, true call blending, and the ability to change agent assignments on the fly.

VISUAL MULTIMEDIA QUEUES
As with traditional call centers, multimedia agents still need to be able to see the customers waiting for service. The difference is that the visual queue must now graphically represent all types of queries using a series of icons. A customer who sends a fax with a question, leaves a message on the Web site asking for a call back, or sends an e-mail inquiry must be treated with the same attentiveness as a customer who makes a phone call. As soon as any of these messages are received, they should automatically be entered into the visual queue, ensuring prompt and similar attention.

A recent trend in call centers has been agent empowerment, providing agents with greater decision-making responsibility, that in turn allows them to provide better service. This practice has generated great results, and organizations need to ensure that their new visual queues support this capability across media types.

COMPREHENSIVE INTERACTION REPORTING
Traditional reporting systems do a great job of tracking voice calls, but won't suffice in the new multimedia call center. For example, today a customer could leave a message on a Web site requesting a call back, call into the center two days later, and send an e-mail two weeks later. To help supervisors understand how the entire call center is performing, reporting systems need to provide a unified view of the customer's complete interaction process. This "cradle-to-grave" reporting not only provides a complete view of the call center operations, but also saves supervisors time by eliminating the need to review multiple reports to determine the status of a particular customer.

CHANGING AGENT ASSIGNMENTS ON THE FLY
Another benefit of a real-time, comprehensive interaction reporting system is that supervisors can immediately pinpoint bottlenecks and quickly change agent assignments. By seeing where the call center is experiencing the most traffic, supervisors can adjust resources accordingly to ensure that all types of multimedia queries are serviced as efficiently as possible. A utility company may want to add more agents to receive phone calls in the event of a local power failure, or in the event of a product recall, a toy company being inundated with e-mail can transition agents with specific product and writing skills away from the phone.

IMPROVED CALL BLENDING
The multimedia call center places must also account for agents making outgoing calls, due to the varied nature in which customers can contact the organization: voice calls, which can be abandoned and need to be called back; requests left on a Web site for a call back; or faxes, which could require a return phone call.

To be successful, the new breed of call centers must successfully manage the flow of incoming and outgoing calls. For example:

• A timer can be set so that a Web call back request more than 30 minutes old pops on an idle agent's screen.
• If an agent who specializes in a specific product is available, a fax request for information is delivered to their desktop, allowing them to contact the customer.

There are so many ways to communicate today and this reality is driving the evolution of call centers. The good news is that manufacturers have responded to operator needs with advanced products and services that make a fax, e-mail, or Web query as easy to handle as a phone call. By focusing on the four specific areas outlined above, organizations will be able to consistently deliver superior service and support no matter how a customer contacts them.

Steve Gray is the director of Business Applications, Mitel Corporation. Kanata, Ontario-based Mitel is an international supplier of voice communications technologies and ranks among the world's leading call center vendors. For more information, visit their Web site at www.mitel.com, or contact them at 1-800-MITEL-SX.