July 1997

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Three Main Ingredients Comprise The Future Of Our Industry

BY NADJI TEHRANI

History
This, our 16th-year anniversary issue, provides the perfect opportunity to briefly look at the past, present and future of the teleservices industry. Telemarketing & Call Center Solutions™ magazine helped lay the foundation for what is now a 700 billion-dollar teleservices/call center industry. At the time of the magazine's inception, there was little established knowledge about telemarketing. There were virtually no technologies, training programs or scripts available to practitioners. A minute number of companies were engaged in market research and what we now call proactive telemarketing. The call center itself, as we think of it today, was in its infancy. As I've indicated in the past, we had difficulty finding appropriate stories by the second issue of the publication! Telemarketing certainly went through many hardships in the early days. Until the right way to conduct effective, ethical and quality telemarketing was found, every mistake in the book, and then some, was made. But as the old saying goes, failure is the fertilizer for success. The resounding success of this newfound technique caught on in the business world like wildfire. Today, no company can exist without the power of the telephone — every company truly is a call center.

The New Corporate Profit Center
Even though I never would have thought call centers would grow to such exceptional proportions in 16 years, I did believe this industry couldn't possi bly fail. Ever hungry for new ways to conduct database marketing, relationship marketing, loyalty marketing, customer service, customer care, customer retention and market share expansion, corporate America has latched onto teleservices. Why? Because it is costeffective and far more effective than any other form of marketing. As a result, the new corporate profit center is now the call center, be it outsourced or in-house. It ties together all aspects of customer contact in the marketing/sales mix of the company. No company can ignore it; every company must master its use. The past 15 years have brought about a revolution in telecommunications technology (pre- dictive dialers, automatic call distributors, call blending, computer-telephony integration, the Internet, etc.), so that now setting up a call center and running it properly is a complex and time-consuming proposition that needs sales, marketing, customer service and technical savvy.

All this technology is funneled into the call center for the sole purpose of efficiently and effectively interacting with the customer. Thus, the outward thrust of your company's marketing programs rests upon the information gleaned from the call center. Customers don't speak with the executive vice president for customer service — they speak with a front-line customer ser vice agent whose training, knowledge and experience are the only things that keep customers coming back. Should the customer have an unsavory experience, do you really think they'd want to repeat it? Do you want to rest the future of your business on the hope that you'll be granted a second chance? Instead, why not invest your resources in agent training, as well as in the technology? Advanced technology simply provides them with the necessary tools to perform effectively (and happily) — and has the side benefit of keeping your customers doing business with your firm, rather than with your competitors. When we enter the realm of technology, lots of buzzwords are thrown about. Skills-based routing, computer- telephony-enabled workstations and servers providing screen pops of information, regular and Web IVRs/ACDs, speech recognition, wireless, voice and data integration, Internet callback…the list of these terms is endless. When you get right down to it, however, all you're doing is providing up-to-the- minute information to the reps dealing with customers day in, day out. This information enables the agents to ensure that the customer has a quick, fruitful and painless interaction with your company.

The customer doesn't want to be on the phone for a half hour while you take an order or resolve their complaint. Moreover, you don't want to be on the phone with them for a half hour because it costs too much. Your job, through the proper deployment of technology, is to make customer interaction simple. It may be extremely complex from the company's perspective, but the customer should be treated to a well-oiled, incredibly capable machine, whose powers are brought into motion to resolve the issue at hand with ease and alacrity.

Your internal operations, apart from the call center, will also benefit from unified messaging, a facet of computer-telephony integration. This fabulous feature lets every single fax, voice mail or e-mail be routed into a single inbox. All are treated as data files and can be sent as attachments, forwarded to colleagues, deleted, saved — whatever you wish. Think of the productivity increase if your workforce didn't have to first check voice mail, then access the Internet to grab e-mail and then go through the piles of paper on their desks to find the fax somebody sent. Instead, they go to one place. Since everything there is an electronic file, they can do whatever they want to it. A colleague in France wants to hear the voice mail an important client left…attach it as a wave file to an e- mail and shoot it over to him. What about that fax she referred to in the voice mail — attach that as well. Nothing simpler.

In one call center application (inbound or outbound), agents get screen pops of information about the person with whom they're speaking. This way they know the person's name, why they're calling and what their history is, relative to the company. If the call had escalated, there's no need to further annoy the person by asking them to repeat their vital stats or their complaint — all the information is contained in the record that popped open on the agent's screen when the agent received the call. Not only does this help keep the caller happy, but it decreases the amount of time the agent is on the phone, thus decreasing expenses.

As an aside, there is no reason why the call center solution I described above cannot be integrated into every desktop computer in your organization. The main questions that should be asked prior to that implementation are: is it cost-effective and what is gained? Add the growing pervasiveness of the Internet to the mix, and you have a whole new way to reach, and be reached by, your market. You can safely assume that if an individual takes the time to surf to your Web page to check out your company's offerings, they're interested. It follows, therefore, that it's in your best interest to provide a direct and immediate channel to your company for that potential customer. That way, if the urge to buy hits them while on your page, but they still have some doubts, they can click a button and speak with a live person who can quell those doubts and perhaps even upsell or cross-sell, turning the potential into a solid sale.

If you don't have this technology deployed, and instead provide a slower means of access to your company, your potential customer might well become your competitor's customer. Another sensible use of Internet technology is in the help desk arena. Right now, you employ people (your most expensive resource) to handle your tech support. What if you gave customers Web access to a database of solutions through which they could browse on their own? From a purely mercenary perspective, it costs a lot less to let your customer fix their own problem than calling you and having you fix it for them. Obviously, any Web solution deployed in this fashion must be intuitive and easy-to-use, otherwise you'll create more problems than you solve.

Similar solutions can and are being implemented in such arenas as product inquiry, package tracking, banking inquiries, and a host of others. Don't get me wrong, though; I'm not saying that customer service is best left to a technology solution. I am saying that since human resources are your most expensive resource, you should deploy them only in situations where it is warranted. Many customer inquiries can be automated, either through Web, IVR or speech recognition solutions. Many require human interaction. As Ed DuCoin, co-president of Impact Telemarketing, said in his interview in this issue, "Focus on your people. Never forget that all the technology that tends to override internal operations means nothing without good people."

I firmly believe that in order to maintain your company's competitive edge into the next millennium, you will need to focus on computer-telephony integration, the Internet and the call center. The Internet will soon provide ubiquitous access to your company's offerings, and so you must be able to respond to inquiries that come in via that medium. Computer-telephony integration will give you the tools necessary to handle those inquiries (as well as voice, video, fax and phone). And because it is constantly in touch with the ebb and flow of the marketplace, the call center will become the acknowledged focal point of your business. As always, I welcome your comments and opinions. Please send them to ntehrani@tmcnet.com. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Nadji Tehrani
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Exploring Call Center, CTI, Internet Synergy

The TCCS™ FALL '97 Conference and Exposition has been further honed to reflect the growing convergence of Internet and computer-telephony integration (CTI) technology in the call center. The triangular relationship formed by the Internet, CTI and the call center will provide a stable base for all customer interactions in the 21st century. Think of CTI technology as the enabler or facilitator of smooth, painless interaction with your customers, be it via the Web, phone, fax or e-mail. The conference tracks at TCCS™ are continually retooled to reflect your educational needs. Seventy percent of the topics that will be covered this Fall are entirely new. This means that you get the latest information on current trends and techniques from the experts. There is no resource more important than your employees. Let's face it, if not for them, highly touted technology is nothing more than very expensive bells and whistles. To keep your workforce happy and highly motivated they need to feel they are making a contribution and they need to be completely conversant with the tools before them. Some of the topics in the Human Resources track designed to increase your knowledge base are: Recruiting, Hiring, Training, Retraining & Motivating Your Front Line; Principles Of Effective Scriptwriting; Creating Career Development Programs; and Creating Dynamic Performance Management. TCCS™ FALL '97 also features a seminar track on Call Center Technology & Solutions, which presents a sure-fire way to gain leading- edge technology know-how in a hurry. Whether your challenge is multimedia, multisite call centers, reengineering, the Internet, IVR, fax or the help desk, this track offers a seminar for you. Some of the topics are: Integrating The Web & The Help Desk For Optimal Performance; Internet-Enabling Voice Response (IVR) Automation; Maximizing For Return On Investment; and Planning For The Future Of CTI In Your Call Center.

CTI Applications is another conference track at TCCS™ FALL '97. Computer-telephony integration shouldn't be thought of as being "just for the big boys." Over the past few years, CTI technologies and applications have evolved to the point where even small call centers reap the benefits. If you have yet to explore CTI's possibilities, the CTI Applications track is the place to start. From the basics of what, why and how (as well as presenting a business case for CTI), to the efficiency-enhancing, productivity-propelling applications of CTI in concert with the Internet/multimedia, voice, fax, e-mail, video and telecommuting, you'll find the information you need to set your CTI business plan in motion. Some of these topics are: Computer-Telephony Integration Basics: What, Why And How; How CTI Can Enhance The Productivity & Efficiency Of Your Call Center; Combining The Power Of CTI, The Internet & Multimedia; and Making The Business Case For CTI. As you can see, TCCS™ FALL '97 is a great place to come to learn everything you need to know about the synergy between the Internet, computer- telephony integration and the call center. The Internet will soon provide global access to your company's offerings and CTI will make response to the multitudinous inquiries viable. Your business success rests not only on staying with the wave of advancing technology, but also on how prepared your workforce is to ride the crest of that technology to safe, dry, profitable land.

I invite you to attend the all-new TCCS™ FALL '97 at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta, Georgia, September 17-18, 1997. With 11 years and 25 consecutive shows worth of experience, TCCS™ events are the world's most comprehensive Exhibitions and Conferences on technology applications and management solutions for inbound/outbound, customer service and help desk solutions. With its expanded focus, illustrious keynote speakers and comprehensive exhibit hall, we are confident TCCS™ FALL '97 will be one of the most advanced and complete call center events ever.