Think about it: how much time do your contact center agents spend logging in and getting ready before they can even work? The average contact center agent desktop has an average of eight or nine and up to 12 applications running on it: e-mail, chat, workforce management, call queues, shipping, customer relationship management (CRM), inventory, call recording, scripting, training and many others. Do your agents have to log in to each of them? Very probably. Do they have to switch from application to application several times during each call to serve the customer properly? Do they have to regroup their thoughts and remember which application they're in each time they switch? Do they have to repeat data entry on multiple applications?
How much time does this waste, and how much longer does it make the average customer call? How many errors occur because of the complexity of multiple desktop applications and redundant data entry?
The answer is: lots, as four of the world's largest telecommunications companies found when they decided to take the problem in hand and streamline their agent desktops with the help of customer experience management company Jacada (News - Alert) Ltd., whose solution, Workspace Agent Desktop, was designed to simplify agent tasks, reduce new hire training time and keystroke errors, and automate workflows and redundant processes in their contact centers. The four companies, who together support 41.2 million customers worldwide in Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, Germany and the United States, all realized that their existing agent applications were segregated, redundant and somewhat disconnected. All four companies were seeking to automate and streamline their contact center processes as a way of empowering agents to deliver better customer service.
Jacada WorkSpace allowed their contact centers to integrate vital applications and multiple channels of communications with the customer into a single, optimized view on the agent desktop, increasing agents' access to mission-critical applications and offering them simplified tools that helped them increase their efficiency and productivity as well as customer satisfaction ratings.
Post implementation, one company, which initially sought to reduce the length of every call by 35 seconds, was able to exceed its expectations and reduce calls by an average of 48 seconds. The company, which handles about 45 million calls a year, found those 48 seconds – times 45 million – added up to astonishing savings in time and money, not to mention improving the customer experience and boosting loyalty...and revenue.
On average, each of the telecommunications companies using Jacada WorkSpace was able to:
• Reduce operational costs by about $8 million;
• Reduce average handle time by between 10 and 30 percent;
• See a 30 percent reduction in agent training time;
• Reduce customer call-backs by 30 percent;
• Improve agent satisfaction and performance; and
• Enhance customer satisfaction ratings.
So impressive were the time savings and efficiency boost, one company was able to reduce the number of contact centers it operated from 30 to only 25, while at the same time improving customer service and loyalty.
Think about it: how many calls do your agents take (or make) each year? How much would shaving 20, 30, 40 or more seconds off each call save you? How much would boosting your first-call resolution earn you in customer goodwill and repeat business? How much would it reduce your agent turnover rates, saving you money in recruiting, hiring and training?
You may find the answers astonish you.
For more information about Jacada and its Workspace Agent Desktop solution, visit http://www.jacada.com/products/agent-desktop/default.aspx.
Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Chris DiMarco