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If you were there, you'll know
that the recent ICCM in Chicago was smaller than in previous years. It was
not, however, lacking in new solutions, and I'd like to offer my impressions
of several of them. (Tracey Schelmetic, the Editorial Director of this
magazine, wrote a wonderful summation of her own, located at
www.tmcnet.com/40.1, that you
should read if you are interested in more details.)
What is still the largest contact
center event in the U.S. appears to be shrinking quickly, while the newly
announced ACCE show is set to debut in September in Seattle. It will be
interesting to see which show does better. The lack of large crowds, such as
those that shows in past years boasted, allowed me to speak with a number of
vendors without feeling the need to rush through my meetings.
My initial impression, upon my first look at the show floor, was that Aspect
Corp. (www.aspect.com) had the best
attended booth at the show, and there were a surprising amount and variety
(surprising to me, at least) of countries and cities promoting call centers
in their respective regions.
Interestingly, last year I wrote about the lack of new products at this
annual show. The industry was slow, and R&D spending had been cut to the
bone. This year, there were many more announcements and new products in
evidence. It's possible that this show was slower than in years past because
people were disappointed last year. I can tell you from firsthand
experience, however, that the contact center market is picking up, and there
are a lot of exciting new products and services to explore.
The first meeting I had was prior to the opening of the show. I received a
call a while back from someone I knew who worked for Sphere Communications (www.spherecom.com)
nearly a decade ago. (Sphere basically invented the concept of a
packet-based PBX, although they used ATM where IP is now fashionable.) I met
my contact and some of his colleagues to learn about their relatively new
company in the contact center space, Sivox Technologies (www.sivox.com),
which supplies products that maximize call center performance.
Sivox recently released its interactive RealCall 4.0 Contact Center Training
Suite. RealCall 4.0 is an agent training product that uses speech
recognition to determine if what agents are saying on the phone conforms to
the company's policies and best practices. This occurs in training
exercises, before agents pick up the phone to speak with real customers. For
example, if an agent answers the telephone by saying 'Whassuup?' the
software will not recognize the greeting as an acceptable option and will
query the TSR for an alternative. The system is customized for each contact
center and simulates the software in use. This is done by capturing real
screen shots and presenting them at appropriate times for the agent to
interact with.
Intuitively, learning by doing is the absolute best way to learn. Sivox
cites research that shows the retention rates of lectures are as low as 5
percent, retention from reading training materials at 10 percent, discussion
at 50 percent and practice at 75 percent. Simulating a real experience can
lead to retention levels of 90 percent. The point is, we learn best when we
assimilate new information in context.
Theoretical learning put into practice is not a skill that many of us
possess. For those of us that do possess it, we don't like to use it. My
database professor in college, for example, was obsessed with theory. My
eyes glazed over whenever I was in the class. After lectures, he would ask
us to write database queries. Essentially, we had to learn coding without
the instructor's help. I hated the class but loved database programming.
When you learn programming, there is no better way to learn than by working
with the actual code. The same can be said of almost all learning processes.
Back to Sivox. If you think about it, contact centers and retail outlets are
unique in that they present a front line to your customer that is very
difficult to monitor. It is naturally difficult in these environments to
provide a uniform customer experience.
This is why 'uniform quality assurance' should be a mantra in every contact
center (and anywhere else we touch the customer). Making sure that all
agents are up to a certain standard is virtually impossible to do without
automated tools. In addition to the above, you can use the Sivox solution as
a way to weed out underperformers before they get on the phone with
customers. By hiring agents on a one week trial basis, you are able to
determine if they measure up to your standards. If they do, keep them.
In case you are wondering, Sivox has some huge customers, such as MCI, SBC
and Sprint, and in every case, they have received testimonials from
customers who say that Sivox has dramatically improved their business. There
are a few important notes to mention. Sivox was initially targeting
Fortune-class companies but is now choosing to move down-market and offer a
hosted solution as well. The system is 'accent trained' across a pool of
40,000 agents from the U.S., Mexico and, more important recently, India. It
has a 96 percent recognition rate across the board.
An Orchestra Of Products At
Concerto
If you haven't been focusing on Concerto (www.concerto.com)
lately, you have missed a number of acquisitions, as well as the fact that
the company has gone from public to private. One of the advantages to this
latter move is that the company is now able to plan for the long-term, as
opposed to quarter by quarter. This should be a positive happening for
Concerto's customers. They recently acquired Melita and tell me they are
happy with much of Melita's technology, especially with that related to
dialer compliance with recent FTC laws. In fact, Concerto informed me that
they now have just under 50 percent of the worldwide dialer market.
CenterForce Technologies was Concerto's most recent acquisition, and with
this they are better positioned to focus on business applications such as
performance optimization and business process management. This particular
acquisition made a great deal of sense, as CenterForce has been working with
Concerto and Melita for years, and now mutual customers can have a single
point of contact for questions.
It's been a while since I've written about Concerto and their Ensemble Pro
products, and I think it's worth pointing out that they are doing some
amazing things with technology, such as contextual screen-pop. If a customer
is getting billing information via IVR and he or she 'zeros out' out an
agent, the system will route the call to an agent who is familiar with
billing. The system will also 'pop' the agent's screen with the customer's
information, including the bill in question. The reverse can also be
achieved, with customers contextually placed back into the automated system.
If, for example, a customer calls to change his address and then asks for
account balances going back three months, the agent can ask the customer if
he minds being switched to the automated system for this information. If
you're thinking that this is too impersonal, you may be right (at least for
the moment), but many of us thought the same thing when IVR systems and
voice mail began to gain acceptance. One case study detailed by Concerto
shows Computer Sciences Inc. using this technology today, and they have
subsequently increased calls handled by IVR from 30 percent to 70 percent!
What is more important than the specific technology in this case is the fact
that by using integrated systems, we are able to allow customers to pick
their preferred type of interaction. Without such integration, a customer
becomes merely a series of transactions: an IVR transaction, an e-mail
transaction, etc.
Getting back to performance optimization, Concerto is able to use this
technology to provide truly valuable business intelligence. Data from a
variety of environments are rolled up to provide key business metrics and
indicators. For example, you are able to determine if your sales have
dropped from $100 per agent per hour to $90. By clicking and drilling down,
you are better able to determine the root cause of this loss of revenue. Is
it a T1 line that went down, a bad board in one of your systems, a revised
IVR script that has a problem or an issue with your training? Your analysis
might even point to a larger issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
The enhanced integration of having inbound and outbound systems so closely
tied together allows a company to do things that can improve business and
sales. For example, if a customer is slated to receive an outbound call and
subsequently calls in to ask a question, the system can tell the agent what
to ask the caller (based on the substance of the planned outbound call). The
inbound agent can take the call, answer the question the customer asks and
then proceed to upsell the customer in the manner of the planned outbound
call. The results of this call can automatically be put into the campaign
manager, allowing the system to retain an accurate record of the
conversation. The best part about this interaction is that the customer need
not be bothered again with another phone call.
The above technology is currently dubbed 'customer interaction data
warehouse,' and it works with virtually all ACDs on the market. The goal,
Concerto informed me, is not to overwhelm you with data and analytics but to
present only the most relevant and important data for analysis.
The New Headset On The Block
Headset technology is getting better and better as more competition enters
the market. All headsets are not created equal, and a slight increase in
sound quality can increase productivity levels and reduce long-distance
phone bills, as TSRs and customers need no longer repeat themselves. In some
ways, headset technology needs to improve just to compensate for the quality
of consumer voice calls that can be degraded if they are occurring over
cellular networks or over VoIP.
Sennheiser (www.sennheiser.com) is a
company that has been in the headset business for decades. In fact the
founder, Dr. Sennheiser, still runs the company, ensuring the highest
standards of quality.
In 2003, the company decided to expand its product portfolio beyond consumer
audio and into gaming and contact centers. As German engineered headsets,
they are not priced at the low end of the market spectrum, but the company
believes it has better quality product than its lower-priced competitors.
Sennheiser's CC series is the premium line and features padded headbands,
ultra noise-canceling and well engineered comfort in a light form factor.
The SH series also has noise-canceling functionality and is more price
competitive. The headsets have Kevlar-coated booms and a Teflon-coated ring
in the housing to keep the boom from wearing out after extended use.
Other features include dynamic volume control, preset sound level setting
and a call quality feature that allows users to hone in on human voice if
the call quality is poor (such as a cell phone call). I asked why this
feature can't be turned on all the time and was told that it distorts the
voice a bit, so it's best used only when needed.
A wireless headset is on the way, and it will differ from similar models
from GN Netcom (www.gnnetcom.com) and
Plantronics (www.plantronics.com)
in that it will have two battery belt packs that will allow one to be
charged while the other drains. The new models will use the 2.4 GHz
frequency (like GN Netcom) and will, according to Sennheiser, have a farther
range than either Plantronics or GN Netcom models. Look for model number
DW88 and a list price of $399.
Getting back to the corded headsets, there are 60 different cords that can
be used with the headsets to connect with most competitive amplifiers as
well as most phones. Sennheiser has people on staff who can help you with
any compatibility issues you might have.
One last point: Sennheiser microphones are used by many performers, so if
you want to offer incentive to your TSRs to come to work and stay long
hours, tell them if they're good enough for Britney, Justin and Christina,
they're good enough for them.
Smarter Hiring To Reduce Turnover
Depending on the research you subscribe to, replacing an agent can cost as
much as $6,000 when all is said and done. Anything that can reduce agent
turnover requires evaluation by contact center decision makers. Dictaphone (www.dictaphone.com)
has been on the front lines of making sure contact center quality is at its
best, and the addition of a new ContactPoint Recruiter module rounds out the
rest of the product suite, which is comprised of products such as Trainer
and Assessor.
Potential agents can be directed to use a kiosk or the Web, or they can
manually fill out questionnaires to determine competency based on criteria
you define for the job, allowing you to manage the applicant through the
process. For example, if a prospective employee doesn't have a car and your
center isn't near a bus or train station, you may not wish to proceed
further with the hiring process for this applicant. Of course, you will want
to check with your attorneys to make sure the questions you ask are all
legal.
You want to hire people based on competency, and it is important to realize
that the person who has the best chemistry with you or other coworkers may
not be the most qualified for the position. With so many interviews
necessary to hire just one good TSR, it makes sense to prescreen applicants
as much as possible before making hiring mistakes. This is exactly where
Dictaphone's Recruiter module comes in to play.
New Management At Genesys
Wes Hayden recently became CEO of Genesys (www.genesyslabs.com),
and I took the opportunity to sit down with him and discuss his views on
contact centers and how his company fits into the market both today and in
the future.
Some of the technologies Wes sees as important in the future are speech,
where he is seeing tremendous enthusiasm from his customers. Additionally,
the linking of self-service and assisted service will become more and more
prevalent in contact centers. Another area of growth is IP, where contact
centers are moving to at a rapid clip.
I asked Wes where he sees the company in five years ' his long-term vision,
if you will. Wes replied that Genesys is in a fortunate position, as they
are a dynamic company. He sees new technologies allowing virtualization in
contact centers and more efficient routing of information to knowledge
workers.
I asked him how his company differentiates itself from others, to which he
replied that Genesys is the only open systems provider in the market (they
are OS- and PBX-agnostic), allowing customers to preserve their investments
in equipment.
Finally, the Genesys Info Mart platform is able to handle any type of
interaction, regardless of whether it's via e-mail, IVR, voice, etc. An
integrated platform allows users to manage all of these information types in
order to present the corporation with a clear view of what is happening in
the center.
Best-Of-Breed Versus All In One
While Concerto is focusing on an integrated all-in-one approach, SER
Solutions, Inc. (www.ser.com) is discussing
the success they are enjoying with their Enterprise Dialing System, a
co-branded product with Aspect. SER has decades of dialer experience
(likewise for Aspect on the inbound side), so the combination makes for a
strong, integrated package.
SER also recently upgraded its SERTAINTY automated quality assurance
platform to 2.2. SERTAINTY is a speech recognition product that I find
amazing. It analyzes recorded calls and flags them for problems. In later,
non-automated analysis, the product can take you to the questionable portion
of a call, eliminating wasted time searching for the problem spot. Version
2.2 uses a business rules engine as well as search grammar notification,
which allows it to apply complex business rules while searching for elements
in recorded conversations. The next step, SER tells me, is to analyze calls
in real-time.
One of SER's customers, Calibrus, a teleservices/BPO company that handles
third-party verification of calls, has had success using Sertainty in their
operation. Third-party verification companies are employed to confirm that
consumers really do want to switch long-distance phone companies, for
instance. The assistance of these companies reduces slamming, the process of
switching a customer without his or her consent.
This sort of business is a natural for speech recognition because these
companies handle many calls and must follow strict FCC regulations. Even
slight variations in a script can be a violation of an FCC rule. Prior to
using SERTAINTY, Calibrus was monitoring 5 percent of calls. They are now
monitoring 25 percent of calls, with no additional staff.
To make the best use of such a system, you must fill it with information to
better customize it to your needs. You must set up profiles for customer
rudeness, for example. You can also have a profile to ensure that the agent
closes correctly. There is a tool that allows you to set a threshold for
accuracy by checking how the system is recognizing what agents are saying.
The system ranks how accurate it believes it is, and you pick the point
below 100 percent at which you still feel the system is analyzing calls
effectively.
Aspect Embraces VoIP
Last year I wrote about Aspect's (www.aspect.com)
Uniphi Connect solution, which allows IP and PSTN systems to coexist. This
year, Aspect is seeing more interest in its VoIP solution, and the company
is happy to announce that both NICE Systems (www. nice.com) and Verint
Systems, Inc. (www.verint.com)
have completed testing and offer versions of their quality monitoring
systems that work with Uniphi in PSTN and IP formats. Many contact centers
are using home agents, and quality monitoring solutions are essential in
this type of environment.
Choices of telephone consist of either Aspect's rebadged 3COM phones (3COM
had one of the first IP-PBX systems, going back over five years) or a
SIP-based soft client. One of the advantages of using IP and Aspect is that
management of the contact center, no matter how distributed, can be managed
centrally.
On a final note, with all the interest in speech and IP contact centers, we
are as excited as ever to be launching the world's first-ever speech event
that is coupled with an IP contact center conference. We hope to see you at
Speech-World from November 30 to December 2 in Dallas. Please visit
www.speech-world.com for details.
Sincerely,
Rich Tehrani
Group Publisher, Group Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
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