September 1997

Their Synergy Is Your Competitive Edge

BY NADJI TEHRANI

We've spent a lot of time in this magazine, CTI magazine and in our TCCS shows talking about the convergence of the Internet, Intranet, voice, data, video, multimedia, e-mail and fax technologies (and a host of others) in the call center. With this seemingly endless variety of media for customers to utilize, the term "call" center is rapidly becoming out-dated. To more accurately reflect the evolving nature of teleservices new terms like "customer interaction" or "customer contact" center are coming into use. We have also discussed how business is becoming much more customer oriented. Not that companies didn't focus on their customers before, it's just that now technology is leveling the playing field. With it each company possesses the same potential to capture the customer's attention. How each utilizes such technology will separate the good, the bad and the mediocre. For example, never before has it been possible to sit in the comfort of one's home before a flickering screen, log onto an Internet bookshop at 3 a.m. and buy some books.

A Paradox In Philosophy
This means, too, that it's much harder for companies to compete with one another without deploying the latest technology to help them keep up with customer demands. Companies must seek to differentiate themselves from their competition. Since global business and economic forces are creating a shrinking world, small businesses find themselves in the ring with large companies. These smaller companies are often in a position to take greater advantage of the situation because they are streamlined enough to respond instantly to customer needs. Large companies simply can't react that quickly.

Usually, red tape and politics hampers the responsiveness of large corporations. And, by the time a decision is made, the company's paid twice as much as it should have and totally missed the opportunity because the customer found another, more responsive vendor to do business with. An entrepreneur, however, can quickly embrace a new technology or recognize an emerging market trend and capitalize on it because he or she is always prepared to do what's in the best interest of the company (he or she is the company, after all.) I don't think I'm revealing any divine truths to anyone out there. What I am trying to do is emphasize the importance of recognizing an emerginging trend and acting in time to take advantage of it and position your company as a leader rather than as an imitator. Probably the biggest competitive advantage a company can acquire today is advanced technology. Obviously this is a hugely general term, but I'm using it to mean the latest in call center technology solutions - all the tech stuff I listed in the opening paragraph of this Outlook. If you're not sure what some of those technologies are and what they can do for you, please find out.

The Web Of The Future
If you want specifics, let's talk for a moment about something that could truly revolutionize the way in which companies in our industry do business -IP (Internet Protocol) telephony or VoIP (Voice over IP). Basically, this means talking to people over the Internet or Intranet. This means no charge for the customer (or you) other than your regular IP service provider access fee and associated hardware and software costs. A pipe dream? This technology is already in place in call centers where a customer, via a Web browser, can click on a button on a company's Web page and be connected to a live agent in the company's call center without breaking the Internet connection. Not only can the agent see the page the customer was on when the call was initiated, but they can also "push" information to the customer based upon the conversation, they can quiet doubts and answer objections, and they can upsell and cross-sell. Sounds good, doesn't it? It sounds even better when you consider that the whole "customer interaction" process is much cheaper than paying for that 800 number.

According to the statistics generated by our Top 50 Inbound and Outbound Service Agency Rankings, approximately 4,739,000,000 transport minutes were used by the Top 50 companies to conduct business in 1997. If we figure that the average long-distance call costs 6 cents per minute, then the total cost of those minutes is about $284,340,000. Can you imagine the order of magnitude of growth if that money were freed up from telephone bills and could be funneled into other channels - marketing, advertising, research and development, training, incentives, you name it. That dollar figure only relates to those Top 50 companies (see the March '97 and May '97 issues) - think of how many thou-sands of call centers are run by corporate America alone! What about foreign companies! It staggers the imagination.

Humanware
Drifting back to the IP scenario I mentioned earlier, the focus was on the technology. Let's shift the focus from the enabler of that amazing business solution to the one doing the work. That agent who receives the Web call, for instance, has to be motivated and pretty well trained, not only in the use of the technology itself, but also in interpersonal and sales skills. Not only that, but they have to be friendly and courteous with each and every customer interaction. That's a tough job. No wonder turnover in call centers is so high. Who can be nice day in and day out for weeks and months on end? What if the agent realizes that there isn't much of a career path at the company? - not much reason to stick around. What if they are treated poorly by supervisors or looked down upon by others for doing "phone work?" How do you think this contributes to employee morale?

There was a Fortune 500 company that in the mid 1980s set up a highly sophisticated call center in the Northeast of the U.S. It was outfitted with every high-tech piece of call center equipment that could be found -it was the talk of the industry. They sowed the seed of their undoing, how-ever, by treating the people expected to work in that environment poorly. We heard every manner of horror story about employee mistreatment at the hands of management. And what happened to that technological Taj Mahal? It was closed down.

In a call center environment, at least 50 percent of expenditures should be spent on employees. Motivate them, reward them, coddle them - do what-ever it takes to keep a good person happy and satisfied in their job. Management must create positive employee morale. Give them an opportunity to participate in the grand mar-keting schemes. Create an avenue for employee contribution - make up forms that allow them to record their observations and let them submit them to their supervisors. That way, they'll feel like they're contributing. Just as it's about five times more expensive acquire a new customer as it is to keep an old one, I'd venture to say it's least that expensive to lose a good employee and have to replace him or her, and incur, once more, the cost of hiring, training and all the other costs of adding a new employee.

Lori Laub, vice president of Corporate Information Systems Remedy Corporation, made a similar point in her article in the July issue of this magazine. "Mission, tenets, structure, goal setting, incentives and appreciation - these are all factors to consider when trying to not only create but maintain the culture and productivity of your support staff. Consider your organization: humming with activity on any given work day, it may even be chaotic at times. Now imagine walking through your company at 2 a.m. or on a major holiday. Most departments will be quiet. The lights still work, the hum of systems will be there, but the entity - people - will be missing. Who those people are and the culture they create has tremendous impact on how successful your organization will be."

Treat good people well and they'll make your technology hum and sizzle like it was meant to. You'll be rewarded by outstanding revenue and enjoy leadership role in your industry. Make certain you deploy advanced technology to maintain your competitive edge, but focus on your people because they are the ones who make it work.

As always, I look forward to your comments and opinions. Please send them to ntehrani@tmcnet.com.

Sincerely,
Nadji Tehrani
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief