Contact Center Success Depends on 'Combination' of Capabilities, Enablers

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Based on the findings of the Competitive Framework and interviews with end-users, say officials of research firm Aberdeen (News - Alert), accordingto industry observer Gaurav Patil, an analysis of the Best-in-Class demonstrates that “the success of the contact center strategy depends on a combination of specific capabilities and technology enablers.”

No doubt that comes as no real news to anyone, but Patil says Aberdeen's research has identified several capabilities that Best-in-Class companies usage in order to achieve elevated operational performance:

“Looking at the knowledge management capabilities, the Best-in-Class are using integration of contact center data into a central database. A central database dedicated to contact center data allows for efficient searching and provides a configurable contact center caller detail trail.”

With the use of a central database, Patil writes, contact center managers can look at key performance indicators to track performance for end-users. “Customer satisfaction, first call resolution, service level agreement compliance, customer churn/customer retention and customer satisfaction rate are just a few examples of what contact center managers are tracking through a central database.”

Patil notes that while most companies set corporate goals on a year-to-year or quarterly basis, for organizations to fully comply with their customer needs, they need to leverage customer satisfaction measurements. “Goals such as enhancing customer service and optimizing lead generation and delivery help contact center managers meet customer needs. The degree to which corporate goals are met correlates directly with customer satisfaction rate improvement.”

Aberdeen also determined that contact centers generally use three methods to monitor agents: Side-by-side, where the supervisor sits at the agent's workstation and provides immediate assistance if needed; remote real-time is where the supervisor listens in on calls from a remote workstation and call recording, where a supervisor or service quality agent reviews recorded interactions, Patil reports.

(source: http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/call-center-certification/articles/112166-contact-center-success-depends-combination-capabilities-enablers.htm)