Contact
Centers For A Virtual World
By Betsy Wood, Nortel Networks
Currently, the structure of contact centers is changing more rapidly
than at any time in more than 30 years of existence. A key reason is the
emergence and hasty expansion of the virtual world ' a world that is
virtual in every meaning of the word. Let's take a closer look at what I
mean and how businesses are taking advantage of this situation to maintain
success.
First, geographical limitations are disappearing as more and more
contact centers have employees working in diverse locations, but the
contact center functions as a single, unified, virtual contact center '
either in essence or in reality. A virtual contact center offers companies
exceptional versatility in building an agile business infrastructure that
allows them to employ and retain highly skilled individuals wherever they
are, quickly respond to dynamic market conditions and lower operating
costs through a converged architecture. Customers receive enhanced service
because their requests are handled more promptly and directly by the most
appropriate available person. Finally, representatives and managers gain
more variety and flexibility in their work environments, leading to higher
morale and lower turnover.
How does this work? Two basic approaches are used individually or in
combination ' network skills-based routing and IP ' to create the
right architecture for specific business requirements. Business continuity
and/or the need for increased contact center capacity often require two or
more locations that are mirror images. These sites are then connected
using network skills-based routing to create a single pool of
representatives to answer calls.
The most cost-effective architecture assures a call is never sent
across the network unless a representative is available and provides a
variety of options for identifying the best skilled agent to get the call;
for example, the fastest answering location, the location providing the
best service level or the longest idle representative. Additionally, this
approach should allow a company to choose whether to use a traditional
circuit-switched private network, the company's WAN (IP-based, of
course) or a virtual private network to connect all of the locations in
the virtual contact center.
Browser-based thin-client tools offer consolidated views of real-time
operations and comprehensive historical reports with the thorough
information necessary to manage the virtual contact center and respond
suitably, helping maintain consistently exceptional customer service
levels. These tools, along with additional administrative and maintenance
tools, can be used to manage the virtual contact center centrally from any
place the user has secure Internet access ' either at a company location
or off-site. These tools simplify operations and significantly reduce the
time required to perform administrative tasks ' the optimum streamlined
way to measure performance and guide decision-making for all facets of a
virtual contact center.
The second approach for establishing a virtual contact center is to
leverage IP in order to easily and cost-effectively locate employees in
branch offices, at home or on the road. Representatives, team leaders,
managers and administrators can use either IP phone sets or IP softphones
installed on their PCs in combination with high-quality USB headsets. A
LAN or WAN connection to the desktop is the only one needed to add someone
into the contact center. If the representative is a teleworker, for
example, a broadband link to the home using either a cable modem or DSL
provides a relatively low-cost connection. When an employee is traveling,
secure tunneling into the corporate WAN offers complete access using the
Internet.
If the company uses a traditional PBX, in many cases it can be
IP-enabled to allow for the same situation. Some reps can continue using
digital sets while others use IP sets, or all the reps can use IP sets.
For maximum flexibility, the virtual contact center should be neutral to
the network infrastructure and not depend upon proprietary voice or data
networks. Most important, before implementing IP in a virtual contact
center, a network assessment should be completed to ensure the corporate
WAN has the capacity, resilience and reliability vital to support the
superior quality of service that is compulsory for valuable customer
calls. Ultimately, IP significantly expands the number of options
available to a company when creating a virtual contact center and can be
used alone or in combination with network skills-based routing.
Second, forward-thinking companies are taking the Web and multimedia
customer touch points seriously. These companies are promptly transforming
traditional call centers into multimedia contact centers, thereby changing
from a phone call focus to converging virtual communications ' those
created, simulated or carried on by means of a computer or computer
network.
Today, although most companies have created Web sites that provide
customers with information and a means of sending e-mail or filling in Web
forms, they usually haven't taken the next step, which is to put a
process or infrastructure in place to handle the overwhelming arrival rate
of these electronic requests. Nor do they have the ability to route,
blend, track or measure electronic customer interactions like they do
phone calls. Informal and ad hoc methods often mean a number of slow
responses and some responses that fall through the cracks to go
unfulfilled, alienating customers who expect instant gratification and
frustrating representatives who don't have the right tools to do the
job.
Multimedia contact centers unify customer communications using the
phone, e-mail, chat, fax, collaborative browsing and more to deliver the
seamless, consistent, quick and excellent levels of service customers
demand. A multimedia contact center provides intelligent skills-based
routing plus the management tools to measure and manage electronic
interactions with the same effectiveness as traditional call centers. This
results in increased service levels, additional revenue generation and
enhanced customer retention.
Based upon the specific business situation, services that are
increasingly integrated into the multimedia contact center include:
- Intelligent skills-based routing of electronic inquiries,
- Merging (or blending) of phone calls with e-mails and text chats,
- Pushing of content between customers and representatives,
- Collaborative browsing with Web customers,
- Customer-scheduled callbacks ' immediate or delayed,
- Web-based self-service,
- Automated and immediate responses to frequently asked questions, and
- Real-time text chat between customers and agents.
It's a fact ' customers are a great deal more likely to do business
with companies that have taken the steps to offer convenient, seamless and
consistent service to them no matter how they contact that company.
Additionally, a business saves time and money in the process by improving
contact center productivity.
Third, your customers are no longer tethered to their desks or homes.
Instead, they can be virtually anywhere. Given this situation, how can a
business enhance its contact center to eliminate boundaries ' to
dynamically communicate and collaborate with customers wherever they are
and whatever device they are using, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year?
This involves significantly more than becoming a multimedia contact
center that still typically waits for customers to call, e-mail or click.
Even so, this change can be accomplished in an evolutionary fashion,
leveraging the knowledge and investments a company already has. Initially,
it means raising the bar for a business to move beyond customer loyalty to
foster customer engagement ' to figure out how to make customers'
lives easier, to anticipate customer needs to give them what they want,
when they want it, and to ultimately create advocates for the business.
It also means establishing a cooperative environment across an
enterprise and across business applications such as CRM to deliver
individually personalized services using multimedia communications as a
tool for collaboration and delivering time-critical information. When a
business seamlessly combines multimedia contact centers, self-service and
business applications with unique customer knowledge, these services can
be delivered dynamically while appropriately prioritizing the workload
between people and automation. Previously disparate applications and
systems cooperate (using open standards-based methods) to provide an
outstanding customer experience.
This contact center and business transformation may seem daunting, but
when an enterprise adopts this approach, it gains several advantages.
Higher customer engagement and more effective business processes deliver
increased revenue contribution and lowered service costs. A rich,
distinctive customer experience supplies an enduring, dynamic competitive
edge (see Figure 3).
There can be no doubt about it: the virtual world is here to stay, and its
effect on contact centers is tremendous, though extremely beneficial to
companies who leverage its power. A company can take advantage of this
opportunity to remain competitive by eliminating business, technical and
geographic boundaries to form a cooperative, agile business
infrastructure, including contact centers, that fosters communication with
customers and employees. Combine multimedia interaction management into
the contact center to extend current investments while redefining customer
service and expanding access to an organization. Collaboratively link
online self-service with rep-assisted service to improve customer loyalty
while more cost-effectively and reliably handling electronic inquiries.
Continue to adapt. Understand how to shift the business model from
reactive to proactive. Embrace the latest business processes, behaviors
and technologies to offer definitive services that reach customers quickly
no matter where they are or what device they are using. Make customers'
lives easier and keep them coming back again and again ' the decisive
measure of contact center and business success.
Betsy Wood, a marketing manager at Nortel Networks Customer Contact
Solutions, is part of a global team that helps companies deliver
definitive customer service. Her experience incorporates 17 years of
enterprise solutions marketing, sales and consulting with Nortel Networks
in Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe.
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