Call Center QA Featured Article
The Benefits of a Hybrid Approach to QA
Quality assurance is a vital part of any call center operation, as it ensures that all customer interactions go smoothly. Without constant quality checks, it’s impossible to know whether or not agents are performing to their highest capabilities and helping customers as best they can.
However, keeping tabs on quality can be difficult, especially in large call centers where the agent to manager ratio is skewed. Managers often find that coaching and training can only go so far; those methods are great for when an agent first starts, but upkeep is needed, and that can be difficult when there are several agents on staff. Managers aren’t superhuman, and it can be difficult to train all the agents and then monitor each and every one for quality purposes.
As a result, call centers typically turn to a 3rd party provider or create an internal quality assurance team. While both of these options are great on their own, they may not have as strong of an impact as manager would like. This is why many call centers decide to create a hybrid program that leverages the strengths of each approach. And, according to C Wenger Group, there are a few ways to go about creating a hybrid approach.
Internal/External. This approach sees a call center using internal analysts and coaches on a day-to-day basis. However, 3rd party remote call monitoring is also involved, which provides periodic, comprehensive assessments of quality. The internal team can focus on more specific goals and changes, while the 3rd party can monitor for larger trends in behavior in quality.
Supervisor/QA. C Wenger Group also suggests dividing duties internally to maximize quality efforts. So, for example, the quality assurance team could focus on service quality by providing an ongoing and detailed analysis of calls. Meanwhile, supervisors could focus on listening in on calls for inconsistent behaviors. Since supervisors have to spread themselves pretty thin, this is a fair approach, as they have to monitor calls for shorter periods of time.
There are several other ways to go about implementing a hybrid approach. However, whatever method you choose, it’s important to remember that you need an “effective, actionable and statistically valid scale,” states C Wenger Group. Call centers can be small, close-knit organizations or massive operations but, no matter the size, you need to utilize everyone to the best of their ability.
Edited by Maurice Nagle
