Testing In The Call Center: Not For The Faint Of Heart
By Tracey E. Schelmetic, Editorial Director
The call center can be a jungle.
Well, not literally. I've been through too many companies, large and small, to count, and without fail, the call center is always the busiest, most intense, crowded, noisy and high-traffic part of the business.
Many solutions designed to make life easier in the call center — both software solutions and physical products — often underestimate the amount of abuse the solutions will be subject to. For this reason, rigorous testing designed by people who understand the intense call center environment is absolutely essential.
There are solutions that simulate calls, demands on Web servers, incoming e-mail, denial of service attacks, power outages, hacking attempts, system crashes and mechanical failures. But many companies don't employ them, and they only find out where their weak spots are when the real emergencies come into play.
Headsets should not be an exception to rigorous testing. The average call center headset takes a regular beating. Being dropped, sat on, stepped on, scratched, bent and possibly flung across the room in frustration (nobody ever said call center work is easy) is an everyday occurrence. (I've seen call centers in which one would be wise to wear a hard hat.) In many call centers, headsets are not dedicated to one user. It's not uncommon for different shift employees to share headsets, which means they are being adjusted (earpiece, headpiece, boom, etc.) several times a day to fit the preferences of different users.
Additionally, the turnover rates in call centers are typically high, which means that incoming employees are frequently inheriting the headsets of exiting team members. The chances that a departed employee and a new hire will have the same size head, same hairstyle and same comfort preference are minimal.
Headsets of sub-par standard can be adjusted a limited number of times before they break. I've seen it happen. I've HAD it happen. Broken headsets end up in a "dead headset" bin, and cost companies money, lost productivity and administrative time.
So before you buy another headset, inquire about the company's testing policies. Ask to see the stats. Try the headset on yourself, and put it through a full range of abuse (as in, bending, twisting, adjusting and dropping from a reasonable distance — don't break out the sledgehammer).
You'll probably find that there's no such thing as "a bargain."
The author may be reached [email protected] |