It's hard to imagine walking into a contact center and not seeing employees wearing headsets. But while most headsets look pretty much the same on the ear, there's a big difference at the end of the cord. When it comes to connecting to a phone or ACD terminal, users have two fundamental choices: a direct connect headset or a headset with the addition of an amplifier. For contact center operators, the choice between the two can make a big difference in productivity and return on investment, and making the right decision requires balancing cost and capabilities.

Direct connect headsets plug directly into the headset port of the phone equipment. Users adjust the headset volume using the volume control on the telephone equipment itself. Alternatively, you can attach a headset to an amplifier, which in turn connects to the telephone equipment and ensures compatibility. While some phones — especially newer IP phones — provide a headset port that allows users to directly plug in a headset, many telephones do not, and consequently require an amplifier.

Amplifiers
Buyers are often confused by the term "amplifier" because much like in the consumer audio arena where today's so-called amplifiers pack the power of entire home theater systems, Plantronics amplifiers offer many capabilities beyond simply providing volume control and a means to physically attach a headset to a telephone.

Plantronics amplifiers, like the Plantronics Vista M22, improve operator productivity and customer satisfaction by incorporating a number of features that enhance sound quality. For example, advanced audio control helps to minimize operator fatigue, which can prove critical to customer satisfaction by allowing operators to respond to customers more efficiently without annoying repetitions and with fewer errors while inputting data. Automatic volume control allows users to select their preferred listening level. A call volume equalizer then adjusts the level of the incoming signal so that no matter the volume of the incoming call (cell phone, poor line, great line), the received audio is always at the same preferred level. Advanced echo management also delivers quality audio on all calls — even when delays in the line would otherwise result in echo on the call, which is especially true on IP connections. This is important since phones are designed to provide echo management with a handset, and not necessarily with a headset.

As more and more phone makers incorporate headset ports into their equipment, buyers often incorrectly assume that many important headset features are also built in. But, for example, these simple direct connect ports typically provide only rudimentary volume control.

Another common misconception is that because many new IP phones have direct connect headset ports, amplifiers are not needed. In fact, amplifiers are recommended even more for IP because of latency and echo issues associated with IP voice communication. IP desk phones are not immune from echo even if they have echo mitigation, since any mitigation they provide is for the handset.

Direct Connect
Compared with a headset and amplifier used in combination, direct connect headsets are less expensive and have a smaller footprint.

Plantronics direct connect headsets offer extremely clear sound quality and superior reliability that comes from our long heritage of working with leading telecom providers to create breakthroughs in everything from wireless and IP technologies to our own patented sound innovations. In fact, Plantronics is the only headset provider offering Avaya-branded direct connect solutions, and when Cisco wanted to provide a direct connect headset port, Cisco contacted Plantronics to collaborate on the design.

While direct connect headsets don't offer the sophisticated volume control of amplifier-based systems, Plantronics direct connect headsets have the highest level of acoustic protection built in to assure optimal safety and comfort.
Both Plantronics direct connect headsets and Plantronics amplified solutions are excellent choices. However, in contact centers where improving productivity, reducing operator fatigue, and improving customer satisfaction are top concerns, the benefits of an amplifier-based solution far outweigh the slight incremental difference in costs.

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, Editorial Director, Customer Interaction Solutions

Nor, for that matter, are any two agents alike. I often get e-mail from individuals starting up call centers asking me what the "best" equipment is. My answer is always the same: "That depends." Call centers are not stamped out from cookie cutters. They have different clients. Different customer demographics. Different demands for their call center agents. Different demands on their equipment. What's important is understanding your call center's requirements first, before you go shopping for equipment.

Are your call center's customers primarily calling from home, from work, or on mobile phones? Is more of your traffic carried via by VoIP than PSTN? What is the complexity of your average transaction? How long are your agents typically on the phone per transaction? How much data entry to agents need to do for a typical transaction? How many agents do you have? Do agents share workstations? Is keeping agent turnover low important to you? How much would shaving just five seconds off each call impact your bottom line?

A decision like whether to direct-connect your agents' headsets or use amplifiers is a great example of this need to know your call center and weigh its needs. Too often, the decisions regarding what equipment to buy for the call center are left in the hands of individuals who don't understand that in a high work volume environment like a call center, a decision that is perceived to save a little money will in the long run cost the company a great deal of money.

Imagine a large-volume call center that takes calls from customers of a wireless Internet service. Each customer has a 20-digit account number. Because of the nature of the business (wireless Internet service), the customers are very mobile. Most call from the road on their cell phones. Now imagine that the less-than-optimal sound quality provided by the agents' headsets, combined with the fact that most customers are calling on mobiles, requires that a third of the customers need to repeat their customer numbers at least once. What does that add onto one-third of the call center's calls? Ten seconds? Fifteen? Multiply that time by several million calls, and the extra agent time, the increased margin for error and the extra toll-free time the company is paying for, not to mention agent and customer frustration, all combine to become a hidden drag on business.

So can the wrong headset solution sink your business? OK…maybe not. But it can certainly mean the difference between succeeding and merely existing.

The author may be reached [email protected]