Call Center Quality Monitoring and Recording

Monet Workforce Optimization Honored Twice in 2014

2014-12-19T12:05:00.000-08:00

Monet Software picked up a little hardware during 2014, with two contact center awards from TMC.

Back in March, Monet WFO Live: Workforce Optimization in the Cloud was selected as a 2014 Product of the Year for exceptional innovation, by TMC’s CUSTOMER magazine.

And last month, WFO Live was designated as a finalist for the 2014 Customer Experience Innovation Award, presented by the same publication.

In this season of good will, we would like to express our appreciation to all of those that helped make this happen. Thank you to our customers that trusted in Monet, and thank you to all of the managers, supervisors and agents that use Monet software on a daily basis.

We would also like to thank all of our employees for their hard work and dedication. As we look back on the achievements of 2014, they inspire us to work even harder in 2015 and beyond to continue providing the best contact center solutions to meet the needs of our clients.

What are your Contact Center Resolutions for 2015?

2014-12-15T17:24:00.001-08:00

Even if New Year’s Resolutions aren’t always kept, they should be attempted. At the very least, they focus our attention on the areas of our lives that require the most improvement.

That same philosophy can be applied to your contact center as well. As 2015 approaches, where could your business get better? And what will be required to bring about a positive change?

If we were to survey a number of contact centers of all sizes and types, these are the resolutions we’d be most likely to hear.

1. Improve the accuracy of forecasts and schedules
Is it time for a change from spreadsheets to an automated workforce management (WFM) solution?

2. Improve adherence tracking
Tracking adherence at the end of a shift or a day is a missed opportunity to correct any issues more quickly. Such improved tracking is practically impossible with just a spreadsheet.

3. Improve quality monitoring
A call recording system is invaluable. But call recording software without integrated quality monitoring is not helping contact centers make the most of the technology.

4. Getting data in real-time
Spot-checking schedule adherence can be beneficial, but without the real-time tracking provided by WFM there is a much higher risk of over/under staffing, shrinkage and missed service levels.

5. Key metric alerts
Through real-time alerts of call center metrics such as average handle time, abandoned calls and first call resolution, agents and managers gain the data necessary to address the most important customer service issues.

Best of Performance Management 2014

2014-12-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

The primary objective of performance management is to improve overall business efficiency in the contact center. Of course, this is easier said than done, but Monet has been proud to provide tips on improving your performance management efforts throughout 2014. Here are 5 of the most popular posts on this important
topic.

1. Finding the Optimum Metrics and Reports
Do you have the right performance reports and metrics in your contact center?

2. Performance Metrics and Agent Incentives
Incentives for call center agents are great – every employee likes to feel appreciated – but do you have the metrics to determine which agents are most deserving of special recognition?

3. It’s 11am – Do you Know What your Customer Service Agents are Doing?
Proactive performance management takes the guesswork out of knowing what your agents are doing, and how well they are doing it. Monet Metrics takes the guesswork out of performance management.

4. 12 Tips to Ramp Up Contact Center Performance
A good contact center manager is always looking for new and innovative ways to improve customer service and performance. Here are 12 tips that might be helpful.

5. Planning Contact Center PTO (Paid Time Off) Made Easy
It’s the manager’s job to make every minute count in the contact center, and that’s a challenge when dealing with different schedules and constantly evolving exceptions. That makes PTO requests even more difficult, even if they are presented a week or more in advance.

Best of Call Recording 2014

2014-12-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

Call centers may be contact centers now, but surveys show that the majority of customer first-contacts with any company are still via telephone. How those calls are handled is critical to a company’s success.
Call recording is one of the best ways to make certain that your agents are handling calls quickly, efficiently, politely, and within the guidelines of your business. This is software that should play a key role in how a contact center meets its customer service goals and how well agents perform their duties.

We have discussed the finer points of call recording throughout 2014. Here are some of our more popular posts on the subject.

1. Is Your Contact Center PCI Compliant?
Call recording security measures must be made in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). These rules encompass privacy, access control and network security.

2. Why Record Customer Calls?
An OrecX blog post details the many ways in which contact centers use recorded calls, and how it improves both customer service and agent performance.

3. Does your Call Recording System Provide Quality Monitoring?
Call recording software without integrated quality monitoring is like buying a Ferrari and never going faster than 30 mph – you’re not making the most of the technology at your disposal.

4. Cost Comparison of Call Center Recording Software
While there are a number of ways to compare and contrast how call recording solutions perform, the one that may be a determining factor for most businesses is cost.

5. Call Recording Health Check for your Call Center
There may be ways to augment your call recording capabilities to provide even more benefits to your agents and your customers. These questions should help you determine if your call recording solution is being used to its fullest potential.

Best of Quality Monitoring in 2014

2014-12-08T11:38:00.003-08:00

Call recording with integrated quality monitoring offers a valuable reference tool for determining which agents are doing well, which are missing key components of their customer interaction, and which need additional training.

If you missed any of these 2014 posts about quality monitoring, here’s another chance to review them.

1. Five Reasons (Plus one) to use Screen Recording
Screen recording, which captures both audio and video of each agent’s desktop, isn’t as widely used as call recording alone – but more contact centers are discovering the efficiency improvements and quality monitoring benefits that can be derived from this technology.

2. Five Tips for More Effective Quality Monitoring
Contact center quality monitoring begins with establishing goals, then creating a plan for achieving them.

3. Five Tips to Boost Quality and Performance in your Contact Center
The objective of boosting contact center performance is an ongoing one. While you may have weekly or monthly meetings with agents and managers to explore what is working and what needs attention, these are issues that should be part of your focus every working day.

4. Quality Scorecards for Call Centers: How Do They Work?
Find out more about what makes an effective quality monitoring scorecard.

5. What is Quality Monitoring for Call Centers?
There are plenty of blogs and whitepapers delving into the benefits of quality monitoring and its challenges, but few seem interested in clarifying the term before diving into their talking points.

Quality Management in 2014: Success, or Time to Start Over?

2014-12-01T11:07:00.001-08:00

“Quality,” that elusive attribute for which a contact center strives, can sometimes be as hard to achieve as it is to define.

But maintaining quality is critical in every aspect of a company’s operation, and especially in the contact center where thousands of people have their first experience with how a company treats its customers. A positive impression can lead to a long and profitable relationship; a bad one can end it before it has a chance to start.

If you have a quality management program, the end of the year is a good time to review the results, and assess whether it has achieved its goals, or if changes are necessary. If you don’t yet have a quality management program, this is also the right time to think about putting one in place.

Whether the objective is to start a program or refine an existing one, here are a few questions that will help achieve better results.

What are the goals of the program?
Clearly define your contact center quality monitoring goals, which should be based largely on what your customers deem as necessary to excellent service delivery. You can discover the specifics of what your customers want through feedback from agents and operations teams, as well as customer satisfaction surveys.

Is everyone on the same page?
Sometimes contact center performance metrics and quality guidelines get in each other’s way. Clear expectations should be set based on customer experience. If a metric like average handle time has to occasionally be set aside so an agent can spend a few more moments and keep a customer, such actions should not only be allowed, but encouraged. Also, check that your quality associates are scoring employees the same way, so the program remains consistent and repeatable.

Are you working with sufficient data?
It’s important to monitor a large enough sample to ensure quality for individuals and the group as a whole. And make sure your quality management efforts extend beyond the telephone and encompass the work that agents to on their computers as well. Agents must be accurate with their after-call work in order to avoid a repeat call with an angry customer.

Have you set performance goals and rewarded achievement?
Institute specific performance goals – and make sure they are the right goals – then hold agents accountable for their achievement. Reward outstanding employees for their performance, so they know their work is appreciated. A financial bonus is always welcome, but make sure their work is also recognized within the company, so it serves as a positive example for other agents to follow.

Are you starting with agents from day one?
Contact centers experience a lot of employee turnover. Because of that, managers sometimes have to play catch-up just to maintain adequate staffing. But quality management relies on agents that are qualified and well trained from day one, and are familiar with the role they must play in the business. It’s not just about answering phones – it’s engaging with each customer, empathizing with their situation, and having the knowledge to answer questions and the right temperament to work through difficult situations.

Who monitors the monitors?
Quality audits will provide accountability and a standard of performance management for your quality team. But this will only happen if your quality monitoring team, those responsible for call analysis and agent coaching and feedback, are also being audited regularly.

Are you testing before implementation?
When launching a quality management program, or making changes to an existing program, a “pilot phase” is recommended before rolling out these efforts to the entire organization. This will help identify potential issues, and allow you to make adjustments before the full launch of your program.

Do you have the right technology in place? 
Of all the questions that should be asked about establishing or maintaining a quality management program, this could be the most important. Measuring quality manually is long and arduous process, that is made much more efficient when relevant data is accurately compiled and analyzed automatically.

The most effective way to measure contact center quality is call monitoring. By listening to a statistically valid sample of customer telephone interactions and scoring them against various criteria, companies can learn if their agents are performing effectively, and ensure that the agents most in need of coaching actually get it.

And yet, many contact centers have still not implemented an automated call monitoring solution, and are thus not gathering the measurable metrics that can only be garnered through effective call monitoring and evaluation.

Before selecting a technology solution, or launching any quality assurance effort, three additional questions should be asked:

1. Will it improve agent performance?
 2. Will the data we collect improve efficiency? 
3. Will our call center monitoring solution protect us from a legal challenge?  

Choose the Right Call Monitoring Software 
Without the right software, a quality assurance program is going to struggle. Monitoring of customer interactions should be simple for agents, and the intelligence gathered through the system should be easy to analyze for managers. Also, consider future growth – the software you select should be able to grow with your company, and meet your needs not only today but tomorrow.

  Establish and Follow Best Practices 
Call monitoring software is a tool that can provide great benefits to a call center, but will only pay dividends when used consistently to help that call center follow the proper procedures and meet the standards set for agents and managers. Every capability of the software, from call assessment and playback to evaluation questionnaires and reporting, should be utilized toward this goal.   

Secure Storage
 Calls are saved so they can be recalled later, either for training purposes or to help settle a customer concern or legal matter. Use call monitoring software to automatically capture and secure all audio transactions. Monitoring software should also be used in a way that is consistent with federal government and respective industry guidelines on call recording.

Conclusion
Strategic planning is the key to success in quality management. These questions will allow you to take a closer look at your program and make changes based on the needs of your business in 2015 and beyond.

What You’re Missing Without Speech Analytics

2014-11-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Speech Analytics Dashboard

Call monitoring is essential for a number of customer service initiatives, from quality assurance and script compliance to measuring an agent’s performance vs. KPIs.

However, call monitoring without speech analytics provides only part of the data necessary to get the most from your agents. And if recent industry surveys are to be believed, there’s still work to be done in this area. Just seven percent of consumers reported that their experience dealing with companies exceeded their expectations. And more than 1 out of every 4 on average reported being transferred between agents, and still not having their issue resolved.

How can speech analytics improve these disappointing numbers? By providing additional insight into how agents do their jobs, call after call, day after day. Without that insight, developing effective training programs based on prioritized needs becomes more difficult.

Merging call recording with speech analytics can significantly boost lead conversion rates, as well as increase customer retention levels. At the same time, it’s a way to be 100% assured that agents are always in compliance with federal and industry regulations.

Studies show that a 10% increase in customer retention levels equates to a 30% increase in company value. Any opportunity to add or keep customers that is not acknowledged is one that, in effect, ignores potential sales and profits. With speech analytics, contact centers are assured of gathering all of the valuable data contained in every incoming call.

Do You Really Know What Customers are Saying?

2014-11-20T17:03:00.002-08:00

Your contact center agents spend the majority of their time every day speaking with your customers. Sure, that means they hear what is being said, but does your business have the tools in place to analyze their comments and questions, and use this data to improve customer interaction and agent performance?

Call recording and monitoring is a good place to start. But with speech analytics, you’re adding another dimension to your call recording solution. Speech analytics digs a little deeper into content, identifying patterns and key words and phrases that can help to further refine customer service efforts.

Once the data generated is reviewed, managers can adjust agent scripts accordingly, and provide better answers to handle questions and concerns that are occurring more frequently.

Yes, this is something that might be addressed through call recording alone. Attentive agents can make note of recurring themes in calls, or provide a description of the caller’s demeanor during the call. But with this method, changes can only be made after the fact.

Today’s speech analytics software automates the search process for important words and phrases, and provides automated alerts when certain issues or opportunities arise. The faster these issues are addressed, the better the customer service.

It’s also fair to say that even the most qualified, experienced agents cannot mine each call for relevant data in real time. It’s simply more efficient to automate this practice so calls are instantly categorized by purpose and/or outcome, while the agent is clear to focus only on delivering a positive engagement.

By combining the more precise capabilities of speech analytics, such as keyword spotting, with a more general review of how customers and agents speak with each other, a contact center is better equipped to proactively solve issues before they can impact the company.

What Traits are Most Important in a Contact Center Agent?

2014-11-14T16:01:00.001-08:00

The hiring of new contact center agents is a critical task that can make a profound impact on the efficiency of your business, and the level of service your customers receive.

Chances are you already have a system in place for interviewing prospective agents. But are you sure you are looking for the qualities that are most important? If you find a candidate with these five skills, odds are he or she will become an asset to your contact center.

1. Quick Thinking
The agent will have a script to work from, but prepared statements will not cover every caller’s question or complaint. The best agents are those that react quickly and decisively to solve problems.

2. Clear Communication
When managers assess communication skills, the focus is usually on the speaking voice. Can this potential agent communicate clearly? Does he or she speak with intelligence in a pleasing voice, without a lot of hesitations and “ums” and “ahs”? But as call centers have evolved into contact centers, and agents may be required to engage customers on other channels, managers should also test a candidate’s written skills – particularly spelling and communicating ideas in complete but concise sentences.

3. Technology
How familiar is the potential agent with various technology platforms? How quickly will he or she become acclimated to the programs and software in your contact center?

4. Product Knowledge
There will always be a learning curve for new agents as they become educated on the products or services your company offers. But it is important that an agent grasp the essentials quickly. That may require homework – is your candidate willing to put in the time?

5. Personality
Agents don’t have to be happy or outgoing all the time to be successful. But the job interview is the time to assess an applicant’s manners, temperament and ability to empathize with the customers he or she may be assisting every day – these qualities are essential.

Monet WFO Live Receives Customer Experience Innovation Honor

2014-11-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Monet WFO Live - Workforce Optimization in the Cloud has been named a finalist for the 2014 Customer Experience Innovation Award presented by TMC’s CUSTOMER magazine. The award recognizes best-in-class companies setting the standard in delivering exceptional customer experiences.

It’s always rewarding to be recognized, especially when it comes from such a prestigious source. The TMC website is read by more than 1.5 million business and contact center professionals every month, and their publications, such as CUSTOMER, are as close to an official publication as this industry has.

CUSTOMER has been around since 1982. The contact center industry was much different back then and, today more than at any other time, it is technology that drives efficiency and customer service. So it’s especially gratifying to have our technology singled out for the contribution it makes at contact centers of all sizes and types.

Monet WFO Live is a complete suite for call centers to automate workforce management, call recording, quality assurance and agent analytics. Call centers can quickly and easily optimize all aspects of their workforce with one affordable solution, resulting in better utilization of resources, better cost management and improved service levels.

Awards are great, but it’s the feedback from our customers that means the most. We know the difference that WFO Live is making in contact center efficiency because you have told us with your calls and emails.

If you haven’t discovered the benefits of WFO Live, find out more here.

5 Tips to Boost Quality and Performance in your Contact Center

2014-11-07T13:12:00.001-08:00

The objective of boosting contact center performance is an ongoing one. While you may have weekly or monthly meetings with agents and managers to explore what is working and what needs attention, these are issues that should be part of your focus every working day.

Here are 5 more tips to discuss at your next efficiency meeting.

1. Redefining Quality
You may have a definition for what constitutes a quality customer interaction, but is that description shared by your customers? There’s only one way to find out – ask them. You may be surprised by some of the responses, and you may wish to incorporate their answers into your agent training.

2. Reward Outstanding Performance
If your contact center provides quality evaluation scores for each agent, turn that practice into a contest. High scores would receive drawing tickets, and once a month or once every quarter, a winning ticket can be drawn, and the winner would receive a cash prize, a dinner for two, or some other reward.

3. Don’t Settle for Average
Your contact center probably has an average performance level, which is adequate to get the job done. But too many companies settle for this, and only become concerned when the numbers drop. Make ‘average’ your baseline, and strive for something better. Before long, your new ‘average’ will be much higher than the previous standard.

4. Have Agents Choose Reviewed Calls
For training sessions, ask that each agent select a recorded call that went well, and one that could have been handled better. This helps with agent self-evaluation.

5. Post Calls Online
What better way to show how well your contact center treats customers than to make some calls available to the contact center team? These examples will also serve new agents well as a reference tool. If you want to learn more about how to easily record and score calls follow this link for an online tour.

How to Prepare your Contact Center Workforce for the Unexpected

2014-10-31T17:26:00.002-07:00

“Planning for the unexpected” may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s an important aspect of contact center management.

Of course we can’t see into the future. But sometimes making an educated guess at future events is an important part of the contact center manager’s job. The crucial functions of forecasting and scheduling can help to eliminate uncertainty, by using available intelligence to predict the resources that will be necessary for customer volume.

Unexpected, or Just Poor Planning?
Whether a contact center experiences relatively steady calling patterns or frequent periods of uncertainty, a workforce optimization solution is the key component of forecasting future call volume. The access it provides to historical call history can help managers navigate the scheduling challenges posed by seasonal promotions, special offers and new, aggressive marketing tactics.

These regular practices, of drawing upon 1-2 years of call history, and uncovering call patterns that can predict future patterns, is the best way avoid unexpected circumstances. Such calculations are rendered more precise by including non-call activities as well, such as breaks, training, after-call work and internal communication.

A workforce management solution can also employ skill teams (skill sets, or skill groups) based on each agent’s capabilities to handle certain skills/queues/competencies. This allows the forecast process to select the best skills combinations for either blank shifts to be filled later, or to place existing agents. It’s another way to plan ahead for whatever the next shift or day brings.

Visibility into agent activity is another priority. The contact center is made up of many employees. While the overall performance is driven by processes, and efficiencies, it is the individual performance of each employee that drives the engine. Knowing that, it is obviously very important and critical to have better visibility into the performance and activities of each agent.

Surprisingly, many contact centers still have not installed the tools that makes this possible, such as adherence dashboards, reports, status alerts and an AUX Setup to track overuse of ACW, lunches, breaks, or other non-productive or limited statuses.

What about factors outside the company and the contact center? Historical data may not exist for some of these, but it’s too simple to categorize them as “unexpected” and hope for the best.

Perhaps you don’t know exactly what the weather will be like tomorrow or next week, but you should recognize how it can impact call volume. If it’s bad, more customers are likely to stay home and shop. If it’s sunny and clear, call volume may be reduced.

How will call volume be changed by an election day, or a championship series with a team in your city? How is the national economy faring? Are the products or services your company sells more in demand when times are good, or when a recession looms?

Running multiple simulations and gauging the outcomes can better prepare contact centers for almost anything that comes along. Most surprises can be avoided this way.

When You Can’t Predict Everything
Still, unexpected events do occur: One of the top agents calls in sick at the last minute. There’s a glitch in the system that could not have been foreseen. There’s an increase in call volume that was not anticipated by the historical data. While a proactive approach to forecasting and scheduling always pays dividends, there are times when a manager will have to be reactive to a situation no one could see coming.

When this happens, it’s vital to have the tools to monitor activities and receive alerts, so managers can react quickly and make changes as necessary (and make sure those changes are communicated to all personnel). The two best weapons available to meet these challenges are utilizing the intra-day management and exception management capabilities of a workforce management solution.

Intra-day Management
Tracking schedule adherence for a shift or a day after they have ended is a missed opportunity to correct an issue more quickly. Monitoring intra-day activities, from lunch breaks to training sessions, helps to maintain service levels.

When the unexpected occurs, managers will instantly know the best way to react without sacrificing customer service. Using a graphical display of agent schedules, a manager can drag and drop breaks, lunches and other exceptions to adjust the contact center schedule as needed. Real-time updates are instantly recorded, and any surpluses or shortages are displayed for any part of the day.

Exception Planning
The best workforce management solutions, such as Monet WFM Live, provide a fully integrated Exception Planner, with the ability to schedule exceptions such as vacations, training meetings, jury duty, etc. These can be scheduled far into the future or recorded as recurring exceptions.

While many of these activities can be documented days or weeks in advance, the Exception Planner also supports mid-day exceptions as they occur, taking them into account while choosing shifts and scheduling breaks.

Conclusion
The first step in planning for the unexpected is differentiating between those occurrences that are truly unexpected, and those that are not.

For some events you can plan ahead by learning from the past, using ACD call history, running scenarios in forecasting, training people on multiple skills and creating flexible staffing schedules. Such precautions make it easier to overcome certain challenges as they occur.

For other events that cannot be anticipated because they happen outside your control (such as call volume spikes or a flu bug infecting multiple agents) real time intra-day alerts to dashboards and mobile devices quickly notify managers, so they can make changes that will have an immediate impact.

Finding the Optimum Reports and Metrics

2014-10-28T10:53:00.003-07:00

Example Report: Adherence by Time of Day

Do you have the right performance reports and metrics in your contact center?

The more information you receive from your performance management solution – KPIs, scorecards, alerts, dashboards, reports – the better equipped you will be to take effective action to better meet the customer service goals of the contact center.

But it’s helpful to know where to start, especially for those contact centers still acclimating to an automated solution that delivers an abundance of actionable intelligence.

These are some of the key reports to measure the most important performance metrics:

Agent Adherence
This is the report that lets you know if your forecast and schedule is on track, or is no longer being met. Even a minor fall out of adherence can impact service levels. Find out more about agent adherence in our previous blog post.

Agent Status
Track the agent's total times in each status, compared with what was planned in advance. Is the agent providing what is expected, or is there an issue with longer lunches, unscheduled breaks, too much time on non-call activities, etc.?

Hours Worked
This report provides additional insight into assigned activities. Any hour when an agent is on duty is considered time worked. Here you’ll find whether that time is being used for optimum productivity.

Coverage
Identify gaps in staffing to avoid abandonment spikes. This report can also help identify the underlying reasons why these coverage gaps occurred, from inaccurate forecasts to adherence issues to schedule/shift patterns that are not matched to the demands of the workload.

If you would like to learn more, please watch a recording of our recent webinar about workforce optimization and performance management.

New Video: Workforce Management and Optimization in the Cloud

2014-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

In case you missed our recent webinar about cloud-based workforce optimization, you can now watch it on demand in our webinar video archive. People who attended the webinar learned a great deal about the role of cloud-based WFO in improving:

Workforce management
Quality Monitoring, and
Performance Management

See yourself how Monet's cloud-based WFO can help gain more insights and improve the performance and service quality of your contact center.

Watch Video Now

We invite you watch the recorded webinar in its entirety at your convenience - just click the link above.

Five Reasons (Plus one) to use Screen Recording

2014-10-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Call recording is fast becoming standard practice in the contact center. Screen recording, which captures both audio and video of each agent’s desktop, isn’t there yet – but more contact centers are discovering the efficiency improvements and cost-saving benefits that can be derived from this technology.

A recent blog post from OrecX lists five reasons why contact centers should consider recording screen activity during customer interactions. It points out how some issues with customer service that would normally be attributed to human error can now be more accurately identified as a technology issue. Managers will also gain insight into how well agents navigate and interact with screens and applications, which also impacts customer service.

According to the blog, screen recording can:

•    Identify application or system breakdowns
•    Uncover areas where agent efficiency can be improved
•    Reveal unauthorized personal activity by agents
•    Identify PCI or HIPAA compliance issues
•    Record best-practice performance

To these benefits, we would add one more: screen recording provides a way to learn what customers want most from the contact center or the company itself, while also improving the overall processes of application use and service delivery.

There may be some “Big Brother” concerns among personnel aware that their activities are being recorded, so they should be made aware that screen recording also provides a means to reward outstanding agents. Those that are performing their jobs consistently should have nothing to worry about.

How to Improve Productivity when “Insourcing” Your Contact Center

2014-10-17T14:39:00.002-07:00

After years of watching contact center jobs leave the U.S. for India and other foreign shores, companies are now bringing these positions back home. This article explains some of the reasons for this welcome phenomenon.

When outsourcing is replaced by “insourcing,” it’s great news for U.S. workers and for the customers of these contact centers, as they will now be treated to a better level of service.

But for the companies, there may be a challenge in upgrading contact center technology to what is necessary to remain competitive in this industry. Systems have become much more sophisticated in the last ten years, and it’s important to equip agents with the tools they need to prosper.

For most contact centers, the first priority would be an automated workforce management (WFM) solution, to replace the spreadsheets that may have sufficed in the past.

Productivity: WFM delivers a means to improve the productivity and cost-efficiency of the contact center by making so many vital tasks easier. These includes running simulations for more accurate forecasting, and scheduling that incorporates all call types and other activities. Exception planning, performance analysis, intra-day management, and other practices are streamlined through the real-time data generated by today’s WFM systems.

Cost: Of course, the last thing these companies want is a significant investment (in some cases $100,000 or more) in new hardware and software, on top of the other costs involved with insourcing. But with a cloud WFM system, a unified solution can be implemented quickly without a large upfront cost. Instead, users pay only a low monthly or yearly subscription fee.

Scalability: For companies bringing back multiple call centers in a gradual transition process, the cloud-based system offers additional advantages as well. A cloud platform provides maximum flexibility and scalability during this period, and is more easily deployed even across multiple locations. Since all data is stored “in the cloud,” it can be retrieved at any call center workstation.

With WFM, managers can spend more time managing all of the new agents in these new stateside facilities, instead of spending hours on Excel planning forecasts and schedules.

Why Does Your Contact Center Record Customer Calls?

2014-10-07T16:17:00.001-07:00

How many calls does your contact center record? Some of them? All of them? Do you record the entire call or just a portion?

Answers will vary by contact center, but if your business is among that ever-shrinking percentage that has yet to implement call recording technology, it may be time to add this capability.

A recent OrecX blog post details the many ways in which contact centers use recorded calls, and how it improves both customer service and agent performance.

Feedback was solicited from more than 80 industry professionals on this topic. While better service and agent assessment were indeed the most-cited motivation for call recording, there were several other responses as well. These included dispute resolution, risk management, training and coaching, and customer order verification.

The blog post also explains how call recording and quality monitoring software used to be a luxury only larger businesses could afford. That is no longer the case, as today’s call recording solutions are more affordable, easier to implement, and simpler for agents and managers to operate. Find out more and watch this video about call recording.

The Capabilities and Cost Saving Benefits of Workforce Management Software

2014-09-30T16:38:00.002-07:00

Every year, the website Software Advice conducts a poll of contact center software personnel, seeking information on industry trends and product preferences. The 2014 results revealed that nearly half of all businesses surveyed – 46% – are buying contact center software for the first time this year.

Whether that number is being impacted by the rise in popularity and acceptance of cloud-based software, or the increase in small businesses choosing to handle their call center needs in-house, it’s a positive sign for both agents and customers that these companies will soon be reaping the benefits of an automated software solution, particularly in the area of workforce management (WFM).

However, many small and midsized contact centers are still attempting to get by without the capabilities, conveniences and cost saving benefits that WFM provides. Yes, it is possible to do so; but it requires that managers and supervisors confront daily challenges that could be streamlined or avoided altogether with software that is readily available, affordable, and easy to implement and employ.

A closer look at some of these challenges reveals the remarkable distinction workforce management software makes in everyday contact center operations. Here are just some of the advantages it provides.

1. Visibility in Schedule Adherence

Without WFM
Visibility is extremely limited. At times, it may be nonexistent.

With WFM
Managers access real-time adherence on a dashboard that compares planned agent activity to actual activities throughout the day, as well as real-time views of forecasted and actual call volumes, handle times and other key performance indicators. WFM systems can be customized to track overuse of ACW, lunches, breaks, or other non-productive or limited statuses. At one glance, the manager can see the exact status of each agent in real time against the planned activity.

2. Shuffling of Breaks, Lunches and Non-Call Activities
 
Without WFM
These adjustments have to be made manually, which is more time-consuming and less efficient.

With WFM
Roster assignment functionality handles these adjustments automatically, based on the business need in the forecast, the schedules produced using the guidelines the shift profiles provide, and the most significant guidepost, employee availability.

3. Shift Change Communication

Without WFM
Even a minor shift change, such as adjusting a break by 15 minutes, must be manually communicated to agents. Doing so, through such means as editing an Excel file and posting it on a bulletin board, provides no assurance that these changes will be noticed in time.

With WFM
Whether it’s a supervisor requesting a schedule change for an agent, or a schedule change request submitted by an agent, WFM will immediately alert supervisors, workforce planners and all appropriate personnel, so the request can be reviewed and then approved or declined. If approved, the change is immediately reflected in the schedule. Agents are notified of approvals or denials and the request is kept for future reporting.

4. Scheduling Agents in Sufficient Numbers in a Multi-Skilled Environment

Without WFM
These calculations can be very difficult when attempted manually.

With WFM
A workforce management solution, such as the one provided by Monet, employs skill teams (skill sets, or skill groups) based on each agent’s capabilities to handle certain skills/queues/competencies. This allows the forecast process to select the best skills combinations for either blank shifts to be filled later, or to place existing agents.

5. Creating Multiple Versions of a Forecasting, Scheduling or Roster Period to Explore Preferable Options
 Without WFM
Managers find it helpful to create “what if” scenarios to plan ahead for higher or lower call volumes, higher or lower handle times, different service level targets, different abandonment tolerances, and different shift possibilities. But creating different employee settings and templates takes a long time to complete manually.

With WFM
The most critical and useful step in the workforce management process is forecasting. With WFM it is easier to run simulations to calculate a precise forecast for future call volume, agent requirements and average handle time for any time interval of the day, based on historical data.

Monet’s WFM solution analyzes work history data that has been entered or received through ACD and PBX systems. It calculates a forecast for future call volume, average handling time, and agent requirements for each 15-minute period of the day based on service level objectives. The forecast can then be used to convert the anticipated call volume into the number of agents required for each time interval to meet service objectives.

Additional Benefits
In addition to those previously described, an automated WFM solution provides even more dividends, especially when delivered via the cloud, a method that significantly reduces upfront costs.

Employee motivation and empowerment: when agents have more say in their scheduling, and are provided with the flexibility to accommodate their needs, they will be more likely to remain with the contact center.
Greater accountability: Both agents and supervisors are monitored more closely, making it easier to discover issues and correct them.
Comprehensive reporting: The more accurate, real-time reports that are generated on workforce activity, the easier it is to make faster and better decisions.

Conclusion
While the economy is steadily improving according to most measurements, companies are still taking a very cautious approach when it comes to new investment. That is one reason why some contact centers have hesitated when it comes to workforce management (WFM) software.

However, making the case for this purchase should not be difficult given the inherent benefits derived from its installation, not the least of which is a boost in efficiency that will have a positive impact on the yearly budget.

Workforce management software is used instead of spreadsheets for forecasting and scheduling. These critical tasks can now be performed more quickly and more accurately, with data that is automatically collected and organized, rather than having to be entered manually.

With WFM, costly instances of overstaffing and understaffing are reduced, schedule adherence is improved, and more flexible scheduling is possible. This benefits agents, and provides an incentive to stay with a job that takes their needs into consideration. For more information, please watch any of these workforce management videos.

Planning Contact Center PTO (Paid Time Off) Made Easy

2014-09-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

At the contact center, as in several other types of companies, PTO stands for paid time off, and for your agents they are three of the happiest letters in the alphabet.

For managers, however, they are three letters that can induce headaches, as well as conflicts and scheduling issues that can impact customer service.

It’s the manager’s job to make every minute count in the contact center, and that’s a challenge when dealing with different schedules and constantly evolving exceptions. That makes PTO requests even more difficult, even if they are presented a week or more in advance.

A workforce management (WFM) system can streamline the processes related to PTO, and take some of the pressure off both managers and agents.

When WFM (as with the system provided by Monet) is used to plan and track PTO accruals, it automatically enters the necessary information into the contact center’s schedule and staffing roster. It is also possible to integrate the WFM system into the company’s human resources system to track and manage all related data.

Once the system is in place and procedures are established, WFM can also allow agents to schedule their own PTO. Result? Happier agents.

If PTO is still an issue at your contact center, contact us to find out how you can make time-off planning less difficult – and perhaps even fun.

12 Tips to Ramp Up Contact Center Performance

2014-09-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

A good contact center manager is always looking for new and innovative ways to improve customer service and performance. Here are 12 tips that might be helpful. Some are a little outside the box, but sometimes that is where the best ideas can be found.

1. An office makeover
Will a more colorful workspace and new office furniture make a difference in how agents perform? Studies have shown that most people are more comfortable and motivated in appealing surroundings.

2. Call your competitors
Have your agents and supervisors pose as customers and call competing businesses. Find out how they handle typical situations. Doing so will provide a better sense of how your company is doing, as well as more insight into the customer experience.

3. The magic wand
Ask everyone in the contact center, “If you had a magic wand, what is the one change you would make here?” You may be surprised at some of the answers.

4. The challenge of the week
Every week, focus on one specific goal where improvement could be made.

5. Email follow-up
If a customer had a difficult call with an agent, follow up via email with that customer, even if the situation was ultimately resolved over the phone. It’s a nice gesture that will be appreciated.

6. Start the day with a team meeting
Team meetings are always helpful, but once the workday begins it is difficult to get everyone assembled. The best time for these events is just before the shift begins.

7. Role swapping
Have a manager and an agent switch jobs for one day. Doing so may renew the appreciation each has for the work of their counterpart.

8. Celebrate the small successes
Agents do many things in the course of their shift that are beneficial to the company. Pick out 1-2 of these smaller successes and make sure they are recognized.

9. Share customer feedback
When feedback is received via survey or email, whether positive or negative, make sure it is shared among all agents, managers and supervisors. This will provide important discussion topics at the next team meeting.

10. Suggestion box
The suggestion box been around for decades, but it is still effective because it offers a means for agents to provide feedback in a way that is anonymous.

11. Choose your own reward
Employee incentives are always a good idea, as long as the incentives are really something that would be appreciated. A vegetarian would not want to be rewarded with dinner for two at a steakhouse. Offer agents the chance to create their own rewards (within reason, of course!)

12. Team building competitions
Boys against the girls? East coast natives vs. west coast? There are several ways to divide the agents of one shift into teams, and have a friendly competition on general service or specific KPIs. Make sure the winning team is recognized (see previous tip).

5 Tips for More Effective Quality Monitoring

2014-09-12T15:51:00.003-07:00

Contact center quality monitoring begins with establishing goals, then creating a plan for achieving them. These are decisions that can be made among call center management, but agents must be involved early and often. Clear communication is necessary to let them know what is expected of them.

Here are 5 tips for more effective contact center quality monitoring.

1. Develop a Strategy
What does "quality" really mean for your organization? The more clearly and precisely this objective can be defined, the better the chance it will be achieved.

2. Scorecards
Scoring calls – grading them on a number of criteria – provides the raw data that illustrates each agent’s virtues and faults. Quality monitoring scorecards can be a valuable reference tool for determining which call center agents are doing well, which are missing key components of their customer interaction, and which need additional training.

3. Team Meetings
Talk about quality in team meetings. Often these discussions uncover areas of concern that may not be tracked by any system.

4. Use Automated Tools
A quality monitoring effort will be successful based on how well it incorporates call recording, scorecards and screen capturing. Call recording software provides a source of great calls and terrible ones, both of which can be used in training. Quality scorecards measure performance on every aspect of a call, from the greeting and the close to the agent’s command of center policies, product information and ability to answer questions and resolve issues. Screen capturing adds a record of synchronized video, which provides insight into after-call activities, and can expedite the training process by allowing new agents a chance to watch superstars in action.

5. Create a Quality Culture
The more agents are involved in the quality monitoring process, the easier it will be for them to comprehend what is expected of them, and reach the best practice standards specified by the company. The goal is to create a culture of quality bottom up and top down.

See Cloud-based Workforce Optimization in Action

2014-09-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

We just announced a series of webinars about cloud-based workforce optimization in action. Join us on any of these days and see for yourself how to improve the performance of your contact center. See how workforce management, quality monitoring and performance management can work together in a unified solution to give you more insights, to better manage costs and to improve overall customer experience.

For your convenience, we are offering 2 different webinar times:

We hope that you can join us.

It's 11am - Do you Know What your Customer Service agents are Doing?

2014-09-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

It’s one of the contact center manager’s most important responsibilities – knowing what each agent is doing at any given time during the workday. Of course, one person cannot be everywhere, but technology makes it possible to monitor agent activity without ever leaving one’s desk.

Monet Metrics delivers the information managers need in real-time, not at the end of the shift or the day. That means managers can react more quickly and correct adherence issues before they impact customer service.

Through this one valuable tool it’s possible to obtain actionable data on:

Service levels
Answer and abandon metrics 
Average handle time (AHT) 
Average speed of answer (ASA)
Average talk time (ATT) 
Forecast accuracy
Labor costs and staffing 
Shrinkage and absenteeism

Proactive performance management takes the guesswork out of knowing what your agents are doing, and how well they are doing it. Monet Metrics takes the guesswork out of performance management.

Performance Metrics and Agent Incentives

2014-09-08T16:41:00.003-07:00

Incentives for call center agents are great – every employee likes to feel appreciated – but do you have the metrics to determine which agents are most deserving of special recognition?

If not, the good intentions of an incentive program can backfire, as deserving agents are unintentionally overlooked.

A workforce management solution delivers the performance metrics that are most pivotal to a call center’s customer service effort. Many of these are determined by agent performance. It’s a good idea to track them not only as they relate to agent incentives, but to overall performance efficiency and customer satisfaction. These metrics include:

Average Handle Time (AHT)
The transaction time from the customer’s initiation of the call.

Average Talk Time (ATT)
Which agents are better able to bring a call to a satisfactory conclusion in a reasonable time?

Average Speed of Answer (ASA)
This metric also has a direct impact on the number of abandoned calls, all of which represent potential missed sales or customer support opportunities.

After Call Work (ACW)
Often misinterpreted as non-productive time, ACW should be measured as a percentage of total handle time and adjusted accordingly.

Performance metrics help to easily, quickly and fairly calculate performance for each agent to use as a basis for incentives. With this data, managers will always know that rewards are going to those most deserving. To learn more, watch this contact center performance metrics video.

Strategies and Tips for Back Office Workforce Management

2014-09-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Workforce Management (WFM) software has played a vital role in helping contact centers improve customer service. Those that utilize WFM have discovered how it has boosted the accuracy of forecasts and schedules, and calculates necessary resources based on historical data and other variables that would be very difficult to assess any other way.

However, contact centers are also impacted by such back-office functions as sales, marketing and shipping, which may fall outside the purview of the company’s WFM solution. But that doesn’t have to be the case.

More companies are now discovering the benefits of WFM for the back office, which delivers more precise data and analytics on typical back office operations. Now, it’s possible to achieve the same level of transparency and statistical accuracy on any manual tasks, processes and work times. Please also see our previous post on this topic.

When the back office is in sync with the front office, the result is a streamlined operation that is better for management, contact center agents and customers.

Want some tips for back office WFM strategies? Check out this article by Call Centre Helper, which offers more information on how to set up a consolidated view of all functions, and how to involve key personnel throughout the organization in this effort.