2012 Contact Center Resolution: Improve Integration

January 10, 2012 — Kelly

After a quick review of the 2011 postings, it was easy to identify a consistent theme: integration and alignment!  As the new year begins, now is a great time to assess integration within your contact center.

Integration between customer service, marketing, and product management

Have you made any strides in integrating your customer service department with your marketing department?  Strong relationships among your departments will both make your contact center more productive and increase the success of other company departments.

Ultimately, this integration will allow you to pursue options for proactive customer care, which offers the potential double whammy of increased customer satisfaction and additional revenue:

Integration of agent training and tools

Are your agents fully equipped to handle all of their customer contacts?  Providing them with training to enhance the appropriate depth of knowledge as well as the proper tools to do their jobs will have clear impact on your contact center productivity.

Integration of smart phones and other devices

With the increasing trend for smart phone use, it is critical to find ways for you, your customers, and your employees to integrate these devices.

Posted in Business, Call Center Management, Call Center Resources, Customer service, Miscellaneous, Training. No Comments »

Holiday Rewards for your Employees

December 15, 2011 — Kelly

It’s that time of year again…when many of your employees are focused on their own holiday preparations and less motivated regarding the work that needs to be done.  For many companies, this holiday slump is poorly timed at the same time as increased call volumes and added pressure to meet annual performance metrics.  Luckily for some, holiday bonuses or gifts for employees can help employees remember that they are valued and important pieces of the corporate puzzle.  However, many companies don’t have a corporate plan for gift giving or bonuses.  If you find yourself in such a situation, consider some alternate ways that you can share some of the holiday spirit with your employees:

Gift cards – If you have any discretionary funds that you can use for employee gifts, gift cards are an easy and much-appreciated treat for employees.  Many retailers offer discounts on gift cards in November and December.  Even if it’s a small amount on each card, your efforts will likely not go unnoticed or unappreciated!   I’ve seen buy three $5 cards, get one free deals at national chain coffee shops; holiday calendars with free items every month at national fast food chains, and $100 gift cards for $80 at many national and local restaurants.

Holiday event – You can be as elaborate or simple as your budget allows with a holiday event; the key is to sponsor some time for employees to visit and socialize with their coworkers.  Consider whether you will offer the event during work hours, if families will be invited, and what exactly you will provide and what employees should bring.

Holiday-specific performance metrics – Bring a little fun into the work day.  Can you think of metrics that you could incorporate related to the holiday season?  Ask employees to tally how many customers they can get to offer a return holiday greeting; a reward as simple as having the winner’s name on your Inova LightLink display may be enough to engage employees.

Reward with time – Depending on how your company works, you may have little control over employee compensation, but some wiggle room in leave time.  If so, consider allowing employees to leave early, arrive late, or extend breaks on a rotating basis.

Personal gifts – Even if the above options aren’t realistic for your call center, you can always use your personal funds or skills to give gifts to your employees.  I’ve seen managers give baked goods, handmade ornaments, movie tickets, and even holiday mix CDs as presents for employees.  Besides, anything from you is likely to be even more appreciated due to its personal nature!

Many people get caught up in the stress of the holidays, which can impact performance at work.  Finding ways to show your employees that they are appreciated and valued will ultimately make your contact center a more enjoyable place to be throughout the season!

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Corporate Social Responsibility in the contact center: Part 2

November 10, 2011 — Camille

My last blog post talked about how to get your company and your customer service representatives (CSRs) involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR).  Over the last couple weeks I’ve thought of a few more ideas to share:

  • Have a food drive competition: Especially since we’re getting near the holidays, food banks are looking for donations.  Have an inter-departmental competition to see who can bring in the most canned goods.  Last year one of our vendors hosted a food drive and Inova employees on each floor of our building competed to see which floor could bring in the largest amount (by weight) of food.  It was a fun competition that boosted morale and made everyone feel good about doing something for others.  You can do the same thing at the start of the school year and collect school supplies for kids in need.
  • Greeting cards: Another idea for the holidays is to make holiday cards for charities.  If you don’t want to ask employees to spend money on gifts for toy drives this is a great way to spread some holiday cheer.  Lots of charities look for people to make cards to send to soldiers overseas and to people in the hospital.  You can turn this into a fun team-building event by getting supplies and letting employees make cards together in the break room.
  • Sponsor employees: If your employees participate in charitable events you can sponsor them.  For example, you can have a company team participate in a charity walk/run or you can sponsor individual employees to complete marathons or bike races that benefit charities.  If your employees have children that play little league you can sponsor their teams for relatively little cost and a tax write-off.

There are lots of ways to promote CSR among your CSRs while boosting morale for little to no expense.  Has your company found success with programs like these?

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Corporate Social Responsibility in the contact center

October 27, 2011 — Camille

Everyone in the contact center industry is familiar with the acronym CSR, among what seems like thousands of other acronyms.  Today I propose we focus on a different kind of CSR…as in Corporate Social Responsibility.

Having worked at several non-profits before coming to Inova Solutions, I feel it’s critical to give back to the communities in which you do business.  Even in a down economy, most companies can find a few spare dollars or time to give to local charities.

Here at Inova we support the Charlottesville, Virginia community in several ways.  Every year the local United Way has a Day of Caring where local businesses sign up to volunteer at charities and schools in the community.  Inova participated again this year and did projects like organizing books at a school, planting flowers at another school and several other projects.  This year we’re also sponsoring “The Producers” at a local theater called Live Arts.  If you’re in Charlottesville between December 9, 2011 and January 14, 2012 be sure to check it out and look for one of our call center readerboards being used in the play!

So how can your CSRs (customer service representatives) participate in CSR (corporate social responsibility)?  Here are a few ideas:

  • Promote volunteerism:  Encourage your CSRs to volunteer at local charities like the SPCA, Salvation Army, shelters or whatever other options there are in your community.  If your company allows, let employees take an hour or two off of work once a month to go volunteer.
  • Match employee donations:  Even if money is tight, you can match employee contributions to charities up to a certain amount.  If nothing else, your company gets a tax write-off and it will make your employees feel even better about their contributions.
  • Participate in community events: If budget doesn’t allow for monetary sponsorships, you can still get your company involved with local charities through volunteering at events or loaning your products and services.  Many charities have auctions for fundraisers which allow companies to donate products and services without having to spend large amounts of money.

Does your company have a formal CSR plan?  In what ways does your call center staff give back to your community?

Read part 2 of this blog post: More ideas to get your CSRs involved in CSR

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Connecting Smart Phones to your Contact Center

September 20, 2011 — Kelly

Look around you and you’ll notice that it seems like everyone has a smartphone or is thinking about getting one.  I’ve found that I actually spend much less time on the computer now, because the smartphone allows me to do many of the same things and functions nearly seamlessly among my email, Internet, and phone.  Curious about how smartphones integrate with contact centers, I found “Customers, smartphones, contact centers: Are you making the right connections?,” by Brett Schockley on the Avaya blog.

The biggest factor that Shockley highlights for integrating smartphones as part of your contact center plans is to bring mobile interactions into contact centers in “full context”.  This context could include the customer’s navigation of the mobile application or account information as well as a free pass to “cut” in line, based on the time the customer has spent trying to help himself on the phone.  For customers and employees alike, he points out the option to send and receive pictures to facilitate the communication process as well.

What other ways can you assimilate smartphone usage into your contact center?

  • Are there applications that your company could develop and market to encourage and improve customer service?  Consider apps that allow a customer to check account status or make inquiries from their phones.
  • How can you include images as part of your communication with customers?  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a photo could save time and frustration in the communication process.
  • Can you use outgoing contacts (text and emails) to keep customers informed?  Especially for time-sensitive information, being able to contact customers who are on-the-go can be critical.
  • Can you integrate other smartphone capabilities as part of your communication process?  Beyond cameras, you could utilize GPS, texting, email, and the Internet to aid communication between the agent and the customer.

Shockely points out that within the next four years, 80% of customers will own smartphones!  Contact center personnel must start planning now so they can seamlessly serve the majority of their customers as the technology continues to evolve.

Posted in Business, Customer service, Miscellaneous, Technology. No Comments »

Proactive, Focused Marketing in the Call Center

August 25, 2011 — Kelly

In the September issue of CRM Magazine, David Myron, the editorial director, writes:

The best chance a company has at regularly winning a customer’s business is to make sure the information it presents is relevant to each customer’s needs…organizations [need] to break old mass marketing habits and create more personal interactions. 

Know your customersHe goes on to say that this more personal marketing isn’t just including the customer’s name on a mass email or other superficial efforts; instead, organizations that actually know their customers will have more streamlined ways to improve revenue and to foster customer loyalty.  He cites a few examples for retail banks:  a home purchase triggers an offer for a home equity line of credit; a custodial account for a child triggers a reminder about a college savings plan.

This concept of proactive and focused marketing has its place in the call center as well, and its value is really too big to be ignored.  The only time I’ve seen this type of marketing is when I call my insurance company.  Their system seems to be set up so the CSR can see my whole file and identify holes in coverage or areas with duplicate coverage.  When these issues are identified, I’m ready to listen because, ultimately, I want an insurance package that covers just enough but not too much.

Outside of insurance companies, though, think of the options for this type of marketing in other contact centers:  extended warranties on technology through a help desk, a subscription offer for a new magazine through a publication service center, a discounted hotel rate through a reservations line.  The possibilities are nearly endless; look at your business type and the types of calls that your contact center receives.  Chances are there are some great opportunities for more proactive marketing that really focus on knowing your customers’ needs.

Many customers will find that there is a fine line between big-brother-watching or pushy marketing and offers that are truly relevant and helpful; finding that line can be tricky for companies.  One of the best ways to counter the negative connotations is:

  • Offer only what is truly relevant.
  • Provide additional discounts or other bonuses; it’s hard for a customer to be too upset with your marketing efforts if the suggested product/service is a bargain!
  • Highlight products or services that are new.
  • Most importantly: if the customer turns down the offer, let it go!  You don’t want to alienate your customers with high-pressure marketing.

Successfully using interactions with customers through the call center to market products or services can lead to a near perfect combination of satisfied, loyal customers who understand and take advantage of particularly valuable and relevant offers.

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Emergency notification in the contact center

August 10, 2011 — Maureen

Like all businesses, contact centers must be prepared to quickly and efficiently distribute information and instructions to staff during an emergency situation. This may involve a severe weather alert or other more dire circumstances. Is your contact center prepared?

Assuming that technology systems aren’t down, centers can often utilize systems that they already have in place for the purpose of emergency communication. For example, if your center utilizes digital signage displays for regular call center metrics reporting, administrators can create additional views for emergencies, or incorporate RSS feeds in existing views to update staff on the latest news or weather information. Be sure to keep the views concise and easy-to-read. In an emergency, it is more important than ever to communicate clearly. Also, it is best to post status updates to employees regularly, even if you are waiting on more complete information. Nothing is more frustrating than hearing no word at all.

Many of the same principles apply to LED displays, which are ordinarily used for daily, real-time data reporting for operations departments. RSS feeds or emergency messages can be set to override all other messages on these devices, and the simplicity of digital reader boards may make message distribution faster and easier when time is limited. Make sure staff is cross-trained on message creation and delivery in the middleware system, in case a need arises when the principal administrator is not on call.

In addition to mass communication display devices like LED and LCD wallboards, you may decide to keep employees updated via email or desktop messages. Desktop message applications also have the advantage of setting emergency messages to override all others, so the latest information is always on top.

Since emergency situations often affect more than just the contact center, senior management may choose to expand the existing data display devices to locations outside the center, such as above   elevators and in break rooms, lobbies and other department offices. Since these devices can be controlled by the same middleware already utilized in the contact center, the additional expense is minimal, and your emergency messages may reach a larger audience.

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Do you have real-time reporting in your contact center?

July 25, 2011 — blog@insideinova.com


Real-time reporting

Posted in Miscellaneous, Performance Management. No Comments »

Avaya ACD Utilization in Emergency Call Centers

July 21, 2011 — Maureen

Inova Solutions has partnered with Avaya since the telecommunications giant branched off from Lucent more than a decade ago (and also partnered with its predecessors for many years before that). Inova’s middleware product, called Inova LightLink, integrates with Avaya’s core automatic call distributor, Avaya CMS, as well as its newer products like Aura, to track and display real-time CMS call center statistics.

The primary use of ACDs like Avaya CMS has traditionally been commercial. For example, customer service contact centers utilize CMS to direct incoming calls to available agents, who speak with customers to close a sale or answer a question. This is a profitable and important part of an organization’s customer acquisition and retention strategy, and it still represents a majority of user scenarios for Avaya’s ACD products. However, I was interested to read in a recent Avaya Connected blog post that their ACDs are being utilized outside of the customer service realm, specifically for emergency 911 services.

The function of Avaya’s system hasn’t changed; it still automatically distributes incoming calls to agents based on a complex algorithm that includes skill- and location-based routing. It is just being utilized to handle incoming emergency calls rather than customer service calls. With an ACD, 911 dispatchers can identify callers based on their phone number and pull up public records and location information associated with that caller. This is not unlike a utility company representative identifying a caller and pulling up customer records to aid them in their service. Both types of organizations need an efficient way to route and handle incoming calls.

And while the needs of emergency call centers are unique, they will still require some type of visual display of real-time call data as well automatic alerts of unusual spikes in call volume. LED displays, LCD digital signage, desktop applications and/or web-based dashboards can be utilized to communicate real-time updates to emergency dispatchers. In commercial call centers, not being attuned to queue stats may mean lost revenue, but in emergency 911 centers, the stakes are obviously higher.

Avaya’s blog also discusses future product development for emergency services call centers that will address the industry’s unique and dynamic needs. I’ll be staying tuned to learn of exciting progress in this arena.

Posted in Call Center Management, Miscellaneous. No Comments »

Supervisors: Prepare for Winter Weather!

January 10, 2011 — Kelly

Although the holidays are over, we’re only just beginning the winter season.  Inclement weather can be a challenge all year, but seems to have the most impact in the winter months.  Supervisors can take some proactive steps to ensure that your workplace is prepared to manage winter weather.

Ensure workplace safety.  Make sure that all walkways are cleared of ice and snow and that the parking lot is navigable.  If your employees brave the snow and ice to get to work, you should take steps to keep them safe on the workplace premises!

Develop and communicate your policy. It is critical that all employees be aware of your company’s policies for inclement weather.  Most call centers are unlikely to close, but what is expected of employees?  Will they be able to use paid time off without prior approval in cases of inclement weather?  Be sure to include consequences for late arrival or use of unapproved leave.

Establish a hotline or other efficient method for keeping employees updated about critical information including closures, delays, or even road conditions.  Even if your work location does not close, employees may find it helpful to have a central location where they can obtain all information.

Consider ways you can assist employees.  Since your employees are likely required to work through inclement weather, think of ways you can help them.  If you have a day care onsite, can you staff up to provide a program for school-aged children whose schools have closed?  Can you adjust schedules so employees can work longer shifts, to reduce their number of commutes?  Or, can employees arrive late or leave early, to avoid the worst weather?

Create and distribute a business continuity plan.  Include phone numbers for key personnel, contact information for utility and other vendors, contact numbers of emergency service providers, addresses and directions to a local hospital or emergency shelter, as well as evacuation and closure plans.  Providing this document to supervisors can ensure that your business can continue to operate through all kinds of weather or other challenges.

Finally, while the time to implement options for telecommuting is not when the forecast announces an impending blizzard, winter weather offers a compelling reason to develop options for employees to work remotely.  Whether it is snow storms, icy roads, or even contagious illness, winter seems to throw all sorts of curveballs at the work place.  Offering your employees the option to telecommute will not only earn you some goodwill, it will help keep your employees safe and healthy.

Posted in At-home and remote agents, Business, Call Center Management, Miscellaneous. No Comments »
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