Communications technology has come to a point where opportunities abound for deploying new solutions that have the potential to significantly enhance call center operations, with features like unified agent desktops, advanced call queuing and routing, and more. These new technologies are all designed to ultimately create a more positive customer experience, the driving force behind every organization. 

 

In theory, the more efficient a call center becomes, the higher its service quality rises. In reality, however, there is a balance that must be struck between the two to create the optimal center. Increased efficiency can, at times, sacrifice service quality, and increased service quality comes with a cost in terms of profitability. Simply, while the customer is the ultimate driver of business success, contact center costs and issues must also be considered. Finding this balance between quality, efficiency, and profitability is a challenge, but a challenge that can be met using principles of service engineering — combining scientifically-based design principles and operational metrics to reach the end goal, value.

 

To reach that goal, call center strategists and engineers today employ a Six Sigma approach to improving performance in their centers. Six Sigma is a time tested and proven methodology that relies on hard data and statistical analysis to increase profitability by limiting error and duplication. It has been developed to identify variations or deficiencies in the workflow to increase predictability within the center.

 

The Resource Center for Customer Service Professionals (RCCSP), which has been offering call center training for more than a decade, with a customer base exceeding 8,000, is offering a four-part Call Center Six Sigma Black Belt training program as part of its RCCSP Service Engineering Series. The Six Sigma Black Belt program, sponsored by the University of Arizona at Tucson's Department of Engineering Professional Development, is designed to help call center decision makers develop the expertise to use the service engineering principles to enhance their operations.

 

The Six Sigma Black Belt course has been designed to drive increased levels of technical and organizational proficiency within centers, providing the skills and tools to implement Six Sigma principles and instill those values within an organization. 

 

The four courses, taught by service engineer James Abbott, that makeup the rigorous Black Belt training include:

 

 

Abbott has spent considerable time adapting proven industrial engineering efficiency and quality concepts to the call center and help desk environments. He has authored books on call center measurement, design, and quality including, Preparing Call Center Metrics, Designing Effective Call Centers, and The Executive Guide to Call Center Metrics. The latter has topped Amazon’s list of books on the subject for the past three years. His latest book, The Executive Guide to Six Sigma Call Centers, will hit the shelves later this year.

 

“Service engineering is the application of science, mathematics and engineering to take call centers and help desks to levels that we can't imagine today,” says Abbott, explaining the principles of service engineering.

 

For the development of those principles, “There isn't another call center operations training course in the world that’s even in the same league as the Black Belt program,” says Nina Kawalek, CEO of RCCSP.

 

Abbott further explains that the RCCSP course differs from other Six Sigma courses in that many lean on manufacturing-based examples, but never really teach the participants how to implement the Six Sigma concepts and practices in their own environment. The Call Center Six Sigma Black Belt course illustrates productivity and quality improvement concepts in a call center or help desk context.

 

The Call Center Six Sigma Blackbelt program will be offered through RCCSP. Professionals will be able to attend the first two courses back-to-back in a five-day Call Center Engineering Certification boot camp, where they will also earn CCEC Certification credentials from the RCCSP Professional Education Alliance, a horizontal industry alliance of leading U.S. call center and IT support center training organizations.

 

Parts I and II (Call Center Metrics and Call Center Six Sigma Design) will be held in:

 

Aug 4-6 — Part I: Call Center Metrics, Data Analytics and Reporting

Aug 7-8 ­— Part II: Call Center Six Sigma Design

Aug 4-8 — Parts I & II: Call Center Engineering Certification Boot Camp

 

Sept 8-10 — Part I: Call Center Metrics, Data Analytics and Reporting

Sept 11-12 — Part II: Call Center Six Sigma Design

Sept 8-12 — Parts I & II: Call Center Engineering Certification Boot camp

 

Nov 17-19 — Part I: Call Center Metrics, Data Analytics and Reporting

Nov 20-21 — Part II: Call Center Six Sigma Design

Nov 17-21 — Parts I & II: Call Center Engineering Certification Boot camp

 

Part III (Call Center Financial Management) is offered by the University of Arizona as a distance learning initiative that professionals can take at their own paces. It is, however, a prerequisite for attending the Masters Course.

 

The courses are not currently available for University degree program credit — though they do earn optional CEU credit for professionals who must meet annual continuing education or certification requirements. However, David Eckhoff, Director of the Master of Engineering program and the Engineering Professional Development program at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says, “We are looking at incorporating these topics in electives that would be available to students in the U of A's Master of Engineering degree program.”

 

Part IV, the Six Sigma Masters Course, can be taken in Las Vegas, December 15-19, 2008.

 

“The call center world is turning to science for productivity improvements. Just understanding the differences between load balancing and lane balancing, and how to route calls based on measures of standard deviation instead of skill set, can cut wait times in half,” explains Kawalek. “Before any call center looks to an outsourcing option to lower costs, they should at least attend one course in Service Engineering. Call center costs can be dramatically reduced by applying queuing theory and reconstructing agent pools. The quality of service and the customer experience will improve, too.”

 

To get the most from your call center operation and put it squarely ahead of your competition, attend the sessions and earn your Call Center Six Sigma Black Belt Certification.