[July 20, 2005]

The Call Center�s New Love Affair With Self-Service

Frequently, the technologies that make call centers and call center agents happier do not make customers happier. Self-service technology is a great equalizer: it makes everyone happy.

By Tracey Schelmetic
Editorial Director, CUSTOMER INTER@CTION Solutions

I talk to a lot of call centers and call center software companies. We talk about speech recognition, VXML, workforce optimization, IP contact center platforms and many other technologies. They all raise some level of interest with call center companies. But none raise quite the level of excitement as discussions about self-service technologies. Why?

Self-service, implemented well, is truly a kind of technological Nirvana. First, it can save large call centers breathtaking amounts of money by taking some level � 30 percent, 40 percent � of all communications coming into a call center, and automating them, allowing the call center agents to focus on more difficult, higher-stakes calls. The results are lower operating costs and lower agent turnover. Agents who are challenged tend to be happier and leave less frequently. Agents who have to hear the question, �When is my electric bill payment due?� 517 times per day get bored, burn out, and leave. (Wouldn�t you?)

Frequently, the technologies that make call centers and call center agents happier do not make customers happier�in the past, it�s been an accepted trade-off: please the board, please the workers, make the customer unhappy. Please the customer, and costs and hassle rise. Self-service technology is a great equalizer: it makes everyone happy.

To the customer, it gets him or her the needed information quickly, accurately and clearly, and eliminates the wasted time needed in sitting on hold, or making polite social chit-chat (greeting and wrap-up, in call center agents� vocabulary). The information is consistent�there�s less chance of misunderstood communications at either end, or a result of conflicting data. Should the customer need to escalate to a live agent, it�s easy to do so. And by the time the customer gets to a live agent, that agent can be educated as to what the call�s about�no need for repetition.

I realize, as I mentioned speech technologies, VXML, workforce optimization and IP contact center platforms above, that these are the very technologies that enable self-service. The call center market is a results-oriented industry. Speech, when presented to call center managers, may seem like something out of �Star Trek� � very cool, but ultimately just a plaything. But the self-service application is tangible, and helps translate these technologies into direct purchases.

A study announced today by Genesys Telecommunications (www.genesyslab.com) indicates that not only are self-service technologies �becoming a standard method of communication between organizations and customers,� but that �consumers are demanding and expecting easy-to-use, sophisticated technology to expedite their customer service inquiries.�

Said Genesys CEO Wes Hayden, �This industry study confirms that self-service is a valuable tool for call center management and also indicates that consumers are growing used to � and preferring � self-service applications for getting questions answered and issues solved. The study provides valuable insight about customer expectations for self-service via the telephone and Web, providing a useful tool for contact center manager to identify how to reduce costs and better serve their customer base.�

As customers increasingly begin to prefer using self-service, we come one step closer to the customer service �fountain of youth� or �abominable snowman� � something most people never thought existed � in that we�ve discovered a group of call center applications that appeal to both companies AND their customers.

For the full Genesys study, e-mail afiner@psbpr.com.

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Tracey Schelmetic is editorial director for CUSTOMER INTER@CTION Solutions. For more articles by Tracey Schelmetic, please visit:

http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100007&nm=Tracey%2
0E.%20Schelmetic

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