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Recording and monitoring systems have almost always had a place within the
mid-to-large-sized call center, but certainly today they are an absolute
requirement. In the past, recording the voice conversation along with
perhaps some CTI information such as Caller ID or account number was all
that was required. Today, however, communicating with your customers has
evolved to include e-mail, chat and even VoIP. Thus, it is important that
newer generation recording and monitoring systems are 'all encompassing'
to include these new media types as well architected to allow for future
media types. Many of today's advanced products also capture information
from an agent's screen and associate it with the voice recording of the
call to better capture the experience between the customer and the agent.
Another important trend in recording and monitoring products is to
provide not only record-and-playback functionality, but also evaluation
tools, analysis and data for coaching agents to improve the customer
experience. By capturing calls, followed by evaluating calls, then
performing analysis of the evaluations (as well as reports), followed by
coaching of agents, and finally capturing future calls for agent
re-evaluation, the complete cycle of both the customer experience and the
agent's performance can be realized.
In today's highly competitive world, it is very important to not only
build customer loyalty, but to keep it. That is why CRM products have
become a multibillion-dollar business. Tracking the customer experience
'cradle-to-grave,' even if the call is transferred several times
across multiple call centers, helps ensure a happy, loyal customer.
Mistakes will surely happen, but with the proper CRM solutions,
pinpointing these problems will be possible.
TMC Labs took a test drive of NICE Systems NiceLog System version 8.5,
which includes this 'cradle-to-grave' functionality due to its
integration with the NICE Analyzer, a data analysis tool that NICE
developed through its acquisition of CenterPoint Solutions last year. TMC
Labs determined that NICE Systems has a wide breadth of features as well
as integration with several third-party software vendors that are leaders
in their respective fields. For instance, NICE Systems has an ActiveX
control that can be embedded into systems from Siebel, Vantive, Clarify
and more, allowing an agent to initiate recording at the touch of a button
or even automatically when the agent enters a certain field or screen.
NICE Systems also integrates with leading workforce management products,
such as Blue Pumpkin, to determine if the recording schedule defined
coincides with the agent's work schedule. Since recording technologies
have become so mission-critical, NICE Systems has also integrated its
product with Computer Associates' Unicenter TNG, a comprehensive system
health-monitoring tool, to observe NICE Systems' resources, including
servers and databases.
Additionally, in the next release (version 8.7), NICE Systems will
integrate with e-mail management systems from companies such as Kana,
eGain, Genesys and Lucent. This will allow a supervisor to do a search
within the NiceLog System, based on the e-mail address or the subject of
an e-mail, and then be able to playback the screen recording of the e-mail
response. This will show, in real-time, the typing speed of the agent,
typos, grammatical errors and the like, as well as the content of the
message ' all of which are important for quality assurance and training
purposes. The next release will also have VoIP recording capabilities,
supporting up to 24 channels.
Also in the next release will be integration with Astound's training
module. As a result, a user will be able to trigger a particular Astound
training session if an agent's evaluation scores reach a certain
threshold. The particular training session initiated would depend on which
task the agent failed.
Installation
NICE Systems always installs the server software themselves, so we had no
need to perform this step. We did examine the initial configuration of the
system, administration, as well as the installation of the client
software. Initial configuration required first defining a site with Nice
Administrator, and then defining agents, creating groups, servers, as well
as the input and output channels. We also configured each agent with
certain privileges and assigned them to specific groups. The interface for
configuring the system was very well organized and featured the ability to
administer multiple sites or systems across an IP network. Overall,
installation was a breeze and initial configuration was relatively simple
considering the complexity of the system, thus earning a perfect 5 rating.
Documentation
We found it odd that the Administrator manual didn't discuss the screen
recording functionality. Although the screen recording functionality is
discussed in the other manuals, we couldn't find a discussion of how to
install the client app needed on the agents' PCs to capture the screens.
Other than this minor complaint, we were quite pleased with the
documentation. All the manuals were very well organized, contained a
plethora of screenshots, and each had a good table of contents and index.
Explanations on how to perform certain functions were very detailed and
comprehensive.
Features
The NiceLog System features an impressive 38,000 hours of online storage,
and will double with the release of version 8.7. NICE Systems licenses
several switch manufacturers' proprietary codes in order to support
direct digital integration with the switch, eliminating the need for
digital-to-analog converters. Support for digital integration includes
switches from Aspect, Ericsson, Lucent, NEC, Nortel and Siemens. The
system supports extension recording, trunk side recording, as well as
direct connection (DS0 card) to the switch. Support for 120 digital
channels or 210 E1 trunks is available on this product. For redundancy, an
optional 'N+1 Logger' chain is available to automatically re-route
recording duties to a standby Logger in the event a Logger fails.
The NiceLog System can capture audio and the screen for a complete 'picture'
of the customer experience. In addition, the status of agents can be
viewed for monitoring and recording interactions in real-time. During
playback of recordings, evaluations can be performed to score the agent's
performance. The Audio Logger supports 'no compression' (64Kbps PCM),
2:1 compression (32Kbps), and 4:1 compression (16Kbps). In addition, its
best compression algorithm features a compression ratio of 11.4:1 or
5.6Kbps. Other compression formats are also available.
Other features include:
- Free seating support.
- Distribution of call recordings via e-mail, including both voice and
screen capture.
- A recording trigger based on scheduling criteria, as well as when a
particular software application is launched. Also, a recording can
execute once a particular window or data-entry field is clicked.
- Query recordings using over 50 search criteria.
- Playback via phone or across LAN using speakers.
- Synchronized playback of voice and screen.
- ODBC- and SQL-compliant database.
- Silence can be ignored to conserve disk space and reduce playback
time.
- Recording can be initiated by detecting sound level, external
trigger (radio squelch), human voice detection, as well as by the
phone going on/off hook.
- Optional, automatic label printing with unique media and logger ID
for archiving to a DAT/AIT/MO cartridge. A label is printed as a
cartridge is ejected from the Logger.
Operational Testing
Other than the installation and administration, there are essentially four
main components we examined during our testing process. The components
included scheduling calls, querying calls, playback and monitoring of
calls and evaluating calls. We looked for usability, as well as the
feature set for each of these components.
Scheduling Calls
Defining a new call schedule was surprisingly simple, yet very
feature-rich. From the NiceUniverse Scheduler, we could view all the
existing schedules, edit a schedule or define a new schedule. We added a
schedule called 'Tech Support' and proceeded to define the parameters,
such as 'Daily,' the hours, the start date, recording mode (random,
sequential or percentage) and various other settings. We liked the
graphical user interface for defining schedules very much. We could
highlight particular hours to record simply by left-dragging the mouse
across the 0-23 hour time block. Within the 'Conditions' tab, we could
define the call direction (inbound, outbound, internal or all), the media
(voice, screen) and the recording conditions, which included DNIS, ANI,
dialed number and Client ID (entered via DTMF or database lookup). Within
the third tab (Agents), we could assign certain agents to this particular
program schedule. Overall, we found scheduling to be one of the most
intuitive and powerful aspects of the NiceLog System.
Querying Calls
We tested the ability to query calls for playback and were very impressed
with the system's powerful querying capabilities. From NiceUniverse
Evaluator, we could filter based on audio calls only, audio and screen
capture calls, locked calls, calls by a specific agent, time or date,
duration, CTI information, customer number and much more. One filter
capability call center managers will find useful is the ability to query
all calls that have not yet been evaluated. A user's most commonly used
queries can be stored directly within the NiceUniverse Evaluator GUI for
easy future execution.
Playback And Monitoring Calls
Playback of calls is done directly from within NiceUniverse Evaluator,
which makes sense since this is where we 'drilled down' to the calls
we wished to examine. Recordings with just a speaker icon are audio only,
and the recordings that show a speaker overlaid on top of a computer
monitor include both audio and screen capture. Also, recordings with a
computer monitor icon only are screen captures with no audio. This made it
easy to determine the type of recording very quickly. In addition, the
fields for each recording show the duration of the recording, the agent's
name and extension, whether or not the call has been evaluated and other
useful information.
Monitoring an agent was an easy task. A status icon depicts whether an
agent is active (on phone) or inactive. We were able to highlight one of
the agents, right-click and choose Monitor. Our phone extension then rang
and we were able to listen in on the voice conversation. Simultaneously,
on our screen, NICE Systems' screen monitoring application popped up and
we were able to view the agent's mouse movements and keystrokes in
real-time.
In addition, we could have also right-clicked on the agent and chosen
'Record' to initiate a manual recording of that particular call. If at
any point we then clicked on the 'Stop' button, we were then prompted
with 'Stop Recording,' 'Stop Monitoring' or 'Stop Recording and
Monitoring,' which we felt was a nice feature. Another good feature is
that this product supports the ability to allow multiple call center
managers to monitor the same agent at the same time. Usually, with most
monitoring products, you are limited to just one person monitoring a
particular agent at any one time.
Evaluating Calls
There are essentially two parts to evaluating calls. One is to evaluate
each call using forms created with NICE Systems' form designer. The
second part is to run reports based on these evaluation forms to determine
meaningful statistics. We tested both parts and were pleased with the
results.
First, we needed to design an evaluation form. A form designer wizard
guided us step-by-step in creating our first evaluation form. We were able
to add questions such as, 'Did the agent state his/her name?' with a
yes/no choice to the form. In addition, we could define scoring and
weighting formulas, using a check box, scorable list or weighted combo
controls. Overall, creating evaluation forms was a snap. Actually using
the forms was just as easy. Simply by right-clicking on a call recording
and choosing Evaluate, we saw the list of evaluation forms displayed.
Next, we chose which form we wanted. At this point, there is the option
of 'scoring' the agent's performance using the evaluation form.
However, if we hadn't previously listened to the recording (or watched
it, in the case of screen capture), we could actually play back the
recording from within the evaluation form. This integration of the
evaluation forms with recording playback certainly makes call center
managers' jobs less painful and more efficient.
After applying some evaluations to several recordings, we tested the
sample reports included in the system. The sample reports are excellent,
with useful statistics and in a very readable format. We asked NICE
Systems if the reports were designed using Crystal Reports, and they told
us 'no,' but that the next version is actually going to be converted
to Crystal Reports, which will make it even better. One final note
regarding the reports: the reporting can actually compare several
evaluations of the same call across multiple evaluators to ensure fairness
and establish benchmarks. Call center supervisors will find this
particular report an invaluable tool!
Here are some final points we discovered during our tests. First, the
product supports field-level security by agent, so certain database fields
can be hidden from view. Second, the product supports an 'enterprise
view,' so all recorders can be seen even if they are located in separate
locations. The recordings will actually store the first or last 48 DTMF
digits, which can be useful in troubleshooting an IVR or determining what
information the customer needed. Finally, the product supports automatic
deletion of the oldest audio after it has been archived, saving a manual
process.
Room For Improvement
The query expression builder doesn't allow for parentheses to define
nested and more complex queries. Although we believe NICE Systems tried to
keep this feature as simple as possible, we would like to see this
capability in a future release.
The GUI ratings would have been a perfect 5, except the server contains
a plethora of separate applications for monitoring various parameters.
Some are just screens displaying scrolling text status messages. We feel
these separate programs (which took up a lot of screen real estate) should
be combined into a single administration/monitoring interface to make it
more manageable.
There is a button on the toolbar to 'Evaluate next call.' Pressing
this button automatically highlights the next call on the screen and
starts the evaluation process, but we couldn't find an 'Evaluate'
button to evaluate the currently highlighted call. We attempted to see if
the toolbar could be customized to add this button, but were unsuccessful.
Adding this Evaluate button would be a nice plus for those who prefer
toolbar buttons to using right-click functionality to evaluate a call. One
other minor usability suggestion would be to allow the F2 key (an Explorer
function) to rename a folder within NiceUniverse Evaluator.
Selecting the media types to be recorded (voice and screen in version
8.5) is determined by each scheduled program in the Scheduler. Consider,
however, the user who may want to record all of a particular department's
voice calls, but only some of the agents' screens. As the product stands
now, users need to define two separate schedules, assigning one set of
agents to 'voice and screen' and the second set to just 'voice.'
Thus, we would like the ability to assign default recording media types
directly to each agent within the administrator program. In that case, if
we assign John Doe to 'default' to both voice and screen recording,
then any time John Doe is scheduled to be recorded, both voice and screen
will automatically be captured. In essence, the Scheduler would 'inherit'
the media type settings assigned to each agent. Of course, an option to
'override' the agent's default media recording settings within the
Scheduler should also be available.
Conclusion
There are four key areas any potential buyer of a monitoring and recording
system should look for. One, the product needs to allow for total
recording of all calls, selective calls (random, percentage, scheduled),
recording on demand, as well as real-time monitoring of active calls. Two,
the product should not only record the voice conversation, but also the
agent's screen to completely capture the customer and agent experience.
Three, the product needs to support integration into leading third-party
call center applications, such as workforce management,
evaluation/reporting modules, system health monitoring utilities and
e-mail routing. Last, the product should be simple enough to use so call
center managers can easily retrieve call recordings, perform evaluations
and run meaningful reports.
TMC Labs is pleased to report that NICE Systems fulfilled our four
criteria with flying colors. NICE Systems has designed one of the most, if
not the most, comprehensive call recording and monitoring systems on the
market today. TMC Labs was very impressed with NICE Systems' extensive
list of supported third-party applications, fantastic reporting and its
very easy-to-use query and playback system. TMC Labs recommends NICE
Systems' product without reservation.
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