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September 2009 | Volume 12 / Number 9
Integrator’s Corner

Overcoming the Human Challenges of Implementing VoIP in Call Centers

Implementing VoIP in your call center may be the most difficult part of transitioning your company to VoIP. The reason, surprisingly, is not technology, but people. While the benefits of VoIP in the call center are unmistakable, you must overcome three human challenges in order for VoIP implementation to be a success.

Information Flight

Employee turnover complicates the consistency and accuracy of a call center team. As leaders change and teams shift, background knowledge can be lost and the advancement of a VoIP project can stall. To avoid this situation, it is important that projects are prioritized, tracked and recorded. Historic information, timelines and objectives should not be lost to staff turnover.




Resistance to Change

For many within your organization, transitioning to a new system means time-consuming training and workplace disruption. Not only are many people uncomfortable with the idea of change, but they also have true concerns about the time required to learn a new system. To overcome this challenge, a team of dedicated migration professionals – representing all sides of the call center, network and telecommunications organizations – should be engaged. Each manager brings different perspectives and expertise. An open dialogue among these experts will make for a clean transition. Being inclusive will also help to stimulate buy-in and reduce conflict.

Fear of Showing the Uglies

The first step to VoIP migration is a call center assessment, and the network should be the focus of this review. Because the network supports VoIP in the number of calls and throughput, it is vital to know up front whether the network’s bandwidth, quality of service, trunking and voicemail capacity is sufficient. Many managers, both call center and network, are uncomfortable with assessments because they expose the ugly underbelly of their organizations. To conquer this fear, it is best to employ a neutral third party. An IT consultant can provide an honest evaluation of the inconsistencies in call flow and call center procedures and help to make important and impartial decisions.

Implementing VoIP in your call center can be difficult but not impossible. Taking a few steps to consider the human issues related to VoIP migration will save you valuable time and money. IT

David Brandon is a senior technical consultant in the networking practice at Forsythe Technology. He has extensive expertise in contact center design, installation and integration, advanced telephony design and general networking architecture. Brandon brings more than 10 years of experience as an in-house network architect and systems manager as well as a technical consultant.

» Internet Telephony Magazine Table of Contents



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