sachin&vivek CALL CENTER PROJECT-SOM

8/7/2019 sachin&vivek CALL CENTER PROJECT-SOM

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Service Operations Management (SOM)

GROUP PROJECT

Design & Establishment of a CallCenter

Submitted To: SubmittedBy:

Prof. B.K. Srivastava

Group Members:Faculty, SOM Sachin

Dang, F37

Vivek Chaudhary, F-43

Amity Business School, Noida 1 | P a g e


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MBA (G) Classof 2011

SOM

Executive Summary


1. STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE& CUSTOMER

ALIGNMENT


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A call centre or call center is a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A callcentre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support orinformation inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing,

clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition toa call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails atone location is known as a contact centre.

A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace for callcentre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent,a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or moresupervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked withadditional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network,

including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice anddata pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologiescalled computer telephony integration (CTI).

Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers.Examples include utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, andcustomer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesseseven service internal functions through call centres. Examples of this includehelp desks, retail financial support, and sales support.

Call Centers in India is a leading Indian customer care organization, havingalliances with leading BPOs in India who ensure fast and prompt service. Itoffers a range of blended customer care services including inbound andoutbound voice services. E-mail management, telemarketing services, dataconversion, claim conversion, claim processing, real-time web-based chatservices to global clientele and the like.

A call center is traditionally defined as a physical location where calls areplaced or received in high volume. This may be for the purpose of sales,marketing, customer service, telemarketing, technical support, or other

specialized business activities.



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INTRODUCTIONOrigins of the Call Center Industry

Around 30 years ago in the USA, the travel and hospitality industry began tocentralize their reservation centers into what we would recognize now ashuge call centers. This happened at around the time the first large-scalehigh-volume premise based telephone switches became available.

Banks have also used them since the 1970s at least, and later in thatdecade, with the rise of the catalogue shopping movement and outboundtelemarketing, call centers became a staple within many industries. Eachindustry, however, had its own way of operating centers, its own standardsfor quality, and its own preferred technologies. This trend persisted untilearly in the 1990s, when call center managers became more recognized ashaving a consistent set of skills and an operational knowledge.

Technologically speaking, call centers have advanced in the last ten years.Earlier, it was just a labor intensive department trying to handle somecustomer queries. Now, it is supposed to be a vital link in the entire processof marketing and improving customer interaction. Unlike an airlinereservation where the queries are generally simple and easy to handle,requirements of a technology customer support are different and needtechnical knowledge. A pre-requisite for any call handling person is

extremely good customer relationship skills and command over languageaccent.

India has woken up to the call of Business Process outsourcing and is fastpaving its way to become the largest hub of call centers in the world. Takingleverage from this growing phenomenon, Call Centers in India has devised aclear and competent business strategy wherein you post in your query andwe act as an intermediary, forwarding your requirements to our concernedcall-center-service providers. In this manner, our motive of providingcomplete support to our customers in terms of answering any of their

queries remains fulfilled.Call Centers in India is a leading Indian customer care organization, havingalliances with leading BPOs in India who ensure fast and prompt service. Weoffer a range of blended customer care services including inbound andoutbound voice services. E-mail management, telemarketing services, data



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conversion, claim conversion, claim processing, real-time web-based chatservices to global clientele and the like.

A call center is traditionally defined as a physical location where calls areplaced or received in high volume. This may be for the purpose of sales,

marketing, customer service, telemarketing, technical support, or otherspecialized business activities.

Definition

A call center is a physical place where customer and other telephone callsare handled by an organization, usually with some amount of computerautomation. Typically, a call center has the ability to handle a considerablevolume of calls at the same time, to screen calls and forward those tosomeone qualified to handle them, and to log calls. Call centers are used by

mail-order catalog organizations, telemarketing companies, computerproduct help desks, and any large organization that uses the telephone tosell or service products and services. Two related terms are virtual callcenter and contact center.

Call center is a centralized office of a company that answers incomingtelephone calls from customers or makes outgoing telephonic calls tocustomers. They can handle a considerable volume of calls at the same timeand can also log calls. It is the focal point of customer service for mostcompanies today. Using a variety of technologies including computer

automation, call centers connect the customer and the organization to meetcustomers need in real time.

Centers have application in many industries offering customer service. Manyorganizations use call centers to solicit clients or customers for new sales ordonations and contributions. They can also be used to accomplish surveys of customer satisfaction or public opinion. Call centers are also known ascontact centers.

Call centers can be any of the following:-

Huge telemarketing centers

Fund-raising and collection organization

Help desks, both internal and external



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Outsourcers (better known as service bureaus) that use their largecapacity to serve lots of companies

Reservation centers for airlines and hotels

Catalogue retailers E-tailing centers and e-commerce transaction centersthat dont handle calls so much as automated customer interactions.


2. HARDWARE &

SOFTWARE


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Call Center Hardware:-

In order to run a successful and manageable call center, you must first have

all the right equipment. Depending on the purpose and campaigns of yourcenters, you might need different pieces of equipment to build yourcompany. Some equipment includes, but is not limited to, the following:-

The PACER and WIZARD - Elite phone systems used in call centersthat can handle inbound and outbound calls. They are also known asauto-dialers. For outbound telemarketing, once the end receiver picksup, the phone system will automatically distribute the call to one of thetelemarketers standing by. As for incoming calls, the PACER phone willdistribute the phone according to who is available. Recordingcapabilities are featured on the phone along with IVR and ACDcomponents.

Predictive dialers - Used for dialing several numbers at once. Whenthe end receiver answers, only then does it transfer to an agent, thusavoiding busy signals and answering machines.

IVR phone system - An automated service that collects informationbefore transferring to an agent.



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Complete computer systems for data collecting purposes -Telemarketers can be on the phone while typing the neededinformation.

Microsoft phone dialer - Gives the capability of making voice andvideo calls from your computer. With an IP address of the recipientscomputer and a click of a button, you can be connected.

Auto alarm phone dialer - Calls pre-programmed numbers whenthere is an emergency. This is an elite security system for call centersto protect their equipment.

Headset

Call center agents wouldnt be effective without their tools. Some agents areonly as good as the tools at their disposal, since these devices help themsimultaneously accomplish a number of tasks. Multitasking is one skill thatall call center agents must possess. Performing several functions at once isno easy chore, but with these helpful tools around, a call center agents jobis never too difficult.

Equipment used by call center agents refers to both hardware and software.

Hardware used by call center agents includes a computer and a telephone;these help facilitate clear communication between the customer and theagent. Software, on the other hand, refers to computer programs such asInternet browsers and text editors. Such tools help the agent take note of the customers problems and come up with an effective solution.

Some of the above mentioned call center tools are discussed below:-

1. The PACER :- The PACER is a call center phone system that handlesinbound and outbound calls for a wide range of contact centers. Callsare either initiated by the phone system or accepted from the outsideand distributed in an intelligent fashion to your service agents. ThePACER includes ACD and IVR components, plus call recordingcapability. Using industry standard components, the PACER phonesystem has features and functions that can only be found in largescale PBXs, but at a fraction of the cost. And the PACER has predictivedialing capability that cannot be found in most of these larger phonesystems. The PACER phone system can connect calls to your



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employees working at home or in a local or remote office. The PACERcommunicates with applications written on Unix, Linux, or PC serversover a LAN.

2. Predictive dialers :- This call center tool has many features. There

are some dialers that are capable of dialing several numbers at once,while some have auto-answer functions. This particular tool alsoenables call diverting or redirecting. Transferring a call from one agentto another is the primary purpose of call diverting.

3. IVR phone system :- A call center company that handles a largevolume of inbound calls makes extensive use out of IVR systems. AnIVR system helps call centers authenticate and segregate thecustomers who call the company. After going through the automatedsystem, customers are given the option to talk to an agent orrepresentative regarding the issue or problem theyre experiencing.

4. Headset :- Gone are the days when call center agents have to hold ahandset to listen and talk to clients. The phones used by most agentsthese days are equipped with headsets, to allow the agents to typeinformation about the customers problem while the call is ongoing.This convenience helps the agent handle the call and resolve theproblem quickly and more effectively.

Call Center Software:-

There are many different types of software that can increase the productivityof any call center. Many are very generic and can work for any company,but there are also many that can be tailored to meet your companysspecific needs. For call centers to help ensure effective management in theirclients business activities, the following software should be considered:-

Call center software includes the following state of the art technology:-

ACD Software - Automated call distribution software routes calls tophone agents based upon hunt groups established by administrator.

CTI Software - Computer telephony integration (CTI) software.



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Answering Service Software - Call answering service software andphone systems.

IVR Software - Interactive voice response software automaticallyanswers phone calls.

Soft phone Software - Embed phone functions within existing PC andweb applications.

Voice Broadcasting Software - Send calls to thousands of individuals and answer machines.

Call center agents wouldnt be effective without their tools. Some agents areonly as good as the tools at their disposal, since these devices help themsimultaneously accomplish a number of tasks. Multitasking is one skill thatall call center agents must possess. Performing several functions at once isno easy chore, but with these helpful tools around, a call center agents jobis never too difficult.

Equipment used by call center agents refers to both hardware and software.Hardware used by call center agents includes a computer and a telephone;these help facilitate clear communication between the customer and theagent. Software, on the other hand, refers to computer programs such asInternet browsers and text editors. Such tools help the agent take note of the customers problems and come up with an effective solution.All the above mentioned call center tools are discussed below, in detail:-

1. ACD Software :- ACD software is an integral part of the PACER andWIZARD phone systems. Routing incoming phone calls to theappropriate agent groups is a critical function of these intelligentphone systems. When combined with DSC's IVR software, our ACDsoftware provides a very sophisticated call distribution business tool.Most ACD systems process incoming calls on a first come / first servebasis. However, DSC's intelligent ACD can route calls based upon

http://www.call-center-tech.com/send-calls.htmhttp://www.call-center-tech.com/send-calls.htm


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dialed number, time of day, caller identification, and custom definedparameters established in an IVR script .

2. Answering Service Software :- Answering service softwareutilizes Interactive Voice Response) software and phone systems. Call

answering services process inbound phone calls that automaticallyanswered using this comprehensive software. Calls can beautomatically processed or these calls can be routed to servicerepresentatives that are local or working remotely.

3. IVR Software :- Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology thatautomates the personal interaction of telephone callers with thecomputerized phone system. IVR software and phone systems usevoice recorded prompts and menus to present information to callers.Touch-tone telephone keypad entries are gathered from the caller tocollect information and to provide navigation through simple tocomplex IVR menu structures.

4. CTI Software :- Computer Telephony Software from DSC is a robustset of library routines that enable your application programs tocommunicate with your phone system. This computer telephonysoftware lets you increase staff productivity while enhancing yourcustomer relationships and reducing costs. This is accomplished bycombining the capabilities of your phone system with the customfunctionality of your Windows, Unix or Web applications.

5. Voice Broadcasting Software :- PACER and WIZARD voicebroadcasting phone systems include software for developing andrunning message broadcast campaigns and applications. A voicebroadcast software that lets you take a step by step approach todefining voice broadcasting programs. Outbound phone campaignscan be developed quickly. Simply record your phone messagesassemble your list of individuals to be called and fill in the blanks usingour VB Wizard.

6. Softphone Software :- Softphone connects to our PACER (digital) andWIZARD (analog) Series of phone systems. PLUS extensive reports,statistics, and graphs are included with this Softphone to help youeffectively manage the use of your phone system.

http://www.call-center-tech.com/ivr-script.htmhttp://www.call-center-tech.com/ivr-script.htm


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Call Center Technology:-

1. Answering Service Software

Automatic Call Distribution


3. IT & TELECOM (ICT) LINKAGEAND NETWORK ARCHITECTURE


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Call Center PBX

Call Recording & Call Monitoring Solution

Call Track Software

Communication Software

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)

Contact Management Software

CRM Solutions

Digital Call Recording

e-CRM

Emergency Alert Systems

Help Desk Software

2. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Technology

Open IVR Software

Phone System Auto Dialers

Predictive Dialing

Programmable/Soft Switches

Remote Access Software

Soft Phone

Telecommuting Software

Text to Speech (TTS) Software

Voice Messaging

Voice Recognition

VOIP

Windows over Web

Answering Service Software:-Answering service software is software that provides answering servicesystems to customers.

Telephone Answering Service Applications include the following:-



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Account Status

Locator Services

IVR Outsourcing Services

Shipment Tracking

Employee Testing/Studies

Customer Surveys & Loyalty Programs

Market Research

Payroll Services

800 Service Voice Mail

Claims Reporting

Emergency Notification

Credit Collections

Mortgage Marketing

Charitable Contributions

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD):-ACD facilitates controlling the distribution of telephone calls coming into thedepartment. ACD systems are call routing utilities for incoming calls and canbe even used to route calls originated by the predictive dialer to the nextavailable agent. The staff log in/out of the ACD system as they are available,and the system answers the calls and distributes them. When staff areunavailable, the ACD systems hold a call in queue and then forward it to thefirst available staff member.

Automatic Call Distribution is ideal for areas where multiple staff answers ahigh volume of calls e.g.:-

Help Desk

Appointment Scheduling

Message Taking

Properly managing calls can be a key in providing excellent customerservice, and the ACD system provides the tools needed to optimally manageincoming calls.

Some of the tools offered by ACD are as follows:-

Call Type Priority



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Customizable Queue

Training Supervision

Call Metrics

Call Center PBX:-PBX is an acronym for Private Branch Exchange. It is a small telephonesystem within a call center that switches calls between call center agents onlocal lines allowing all users to share a certain number of external phonelines. The main purpose of the PBX system is to save the cost of requiringthe number of telephone lines used in an enterprise.

PBX includes:-

Telephone trunk (multiple phone) lines that terminate at the PBX

A computer with memory that manages the switching of calls withinthe PBX and in and out of it

The network of lines within the PBX

Usually a console or switchboard for a human operator

Features of PBX:-

Even load distribution

Skill based call routing

Self managed agent presence

Queue optimization

Overflow queues

Protected queues

Call waiting signals

Custom on hold information

Real time monitoring

Queue logs

Functions of PBX:-PBX performs three main functions as discussed below:-

Establishing connections (circuits) between the telephone sets of twousers



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Maintaining such connections as long as the users require them

Providing information for accounting purposes

Call Recording & Call Monitoring Solutions:-Call recording and call monitoring solutions help to train the agents andimprove customer service. They are designed to be a complete call centersolution including Predictive Dialing, ACD, IVR, and Digital Voice Recording.

The call recording and monitoring systems are very scalable and flexibleWindows-based voice recorders live monitoring and archiving systems.Besides being fully prepared for all current and future needs, they offersuperior voice recording quality and huge recording capacity by effectivelyusing this software system the organizations can manage:-

Complete contact management

Call history

Order entry

Literature fulfillment

Some of the features of Call Recording & Monitoring Solutions are asfollows:-

Call Center Recording, logging and monitoring

Quality & service assurance

Verbal transaction recording

Agent training & efficiency improvements

Follow up information

Financial & stock dealing

Telephone order applications

Superior voice recording quality

Encrypted and access secured voice file storage and playback

Fully configurable recording parameters

Built in phone book with import facility for your relational database

Local and/or LAN/WAN call playback and monitoring

Advanced user, application and security/access management

Automatic multiple hard disk content and capacity management

Extensive search, filter and storage marking capabilities



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Call Track Software:-Call Tracking Software is software that automates the process of receivingand responding to customer phone calls.

Benefits of Call Tracking Software:-

Log calls easily through a Windows interface or Web interfaceIncrease service levels by resolving calls faster

Decrease the number of calls received by your call center

Provide 24*7 customer support

Provide faster response time to customer calls

CTI Software:-

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is the advanced technology thatsserves as the focal point of the working of modern call centers. It integratesthe organizations computer and telephone systems and facilitates effectiveapplications to make every phone call, inbound and outbound.

Features of CTI Software:-

Launch PC/WEB applications Specific PC, Unix or Web applications cabe automatically launched using the telephony software based uponthe data provided by your phone system.

Caller Identification (Called ID or ANI) Information from the existingcaller database appears on-screen when the telephone rings andremains on the screen during the call.

Called Number Identification (DNIS) With each call, special campaigninformation can be displayed from the application based upon thenumber dialed by the caller.

Vital information collected by the phone system from the caller can bepassed to the application. The computer telephony integrationsoftware manages this process and free agents to be more productive.

CTI software allows you to generate real time reports and graphs. Thisimportant measuring system helps you to observe and control theperformance of call center and phone system, with clear andmeaningful displays. Graphs and charts of operational statistics let youmeasure the effectiveness of each user and campaign. Reports andgraphs include both inbound and outbound statistics.

Any phone number can be pointed or clicked in the computer databaseor Soft phone. The telephone then dials the call a must for



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maximizing the productivity of outbound telemarketing or call centerservice desks.


4. PEOPLE,COMPETENCIES, TRAINING


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PEOPLE

1) The Supervisor/Coach/Manager :- The manager of anorganization is the person that facilitates the needs of the organizationand the employee and act as the orchestrator between both. Themanager can represent the perspective of the organization and theemployees bridging the gap between the two. The role of the managerin training and staff development is very crucial as they are the onewho organize, facilitate and interact with the employees. They shouldcreate different activities that will compromise both the goals and aimsof the organization and employees. The managers are responsible for

the outcome of the activities and if it meets the goals and requirementsthat are expected and what to do with the skills and knowledge that areacquired.

2) The Employees :- The employees are the agents that areneeded to be trained and developed in order to meet the changingdemands of the industry. The employees will need to constantly beupdated of the new trends needed in the organization in order to keepup in the industry. Employees should check on their interests and skills

and if they are in line with their objectives. Upon knowing this is a bighelp in knowing the areas that are in need of development. Theemployee should not only be the recipient of change but also an agentof change in the organization. The employee must take the initiative toimprove their skills and knowledge essential for their career growth.The employees should expressed support to the activities for a win-winsituation for the workforce and the organization that will yield to therealization of the employees full potential and getting the edge to facethe demands of the work environment. The job satisfaction, higherproductivity and harmonious relationship in the workplace willeventually follow.

COMPETENCIES

The never-ending pursuit for the improvement of skills and knowledge is theprimary aim of career development. This includes the mastery of the job and



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professional development together with activities for career planning. Theskill in mastering ones job is important in satisfying the needs of ones job.Knowledge and skill that are above the level required by ones job are whatprofession development skill are about; although indirect job performanceimprovement may still indirectly progress.

Career growth is a continuous process and is associated with differentmeasures that would help in ensuring career development of the employees.Employees should constantly check their aims and activities and are in needof self-examination and self-motivation in order to attain job satisfaction. Theorganization, on the other hand, plays a vital role in helping their employeeswith their goals and activities.Career development of the workforce can be beneficial for the organizationand allow them to adapt fluidly on the demands of the industry. Learning

activities and training outside the workplace is useful in acquiringinformation; although its real effect will be unknown unless it is put intopractice. Significant involvement can come from you through advocating thecareer enhancement programs that are offered in your respectivedepartment.

Guiding Philosophy:-

This will serve as a guide in your pursuit of improvement and development inthe aspect of your career and will help in attaining the organizationsmission.

Facts regarding the organization and future movements can aid yourpeople in developing more practical objectives for their career.

The effect on learning opportunities can be achieved through centering ondeveloping the workforces abilities.

The peoples career contentment is acquired through the new

opportunities in promotion and lateral movement available.

The skill of organizing your own career at hand can increase your sense of responsibility, and with that self-confidence is also improved.

Harmony between the organizations and the employees goal is achievedthrough the career development and planning, translating into greater

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engagement and continuous performance improvement, which in turnprovide for greater levels of achievement.

To save on cost, you can have one of your people handle the career growthopportunities in your area.

Efficiency and passion for work are increased through the endeavor.

Focus on developing employees career aids you in drawing highperforming employees and keep esteemed staffs.

Career development and improvement support for the workforce is inalignment with the Philosophy of Human Resource Management.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENTThe evolving nature and the constant change in the work environment aresome of the issues in the workplace that should be immediately addressed inorder to meet the demands of the current dynamic global society. Theseattributes of the current workplace environment demand updated andefficient skills and knowledge from the members of the organization.

Training and development of the employees at all levels are of vitalimportance in every organization for it will update the skills and knowledge

of the employees on the current trends needed to be applied in the workenvironment.

The managers play a key role in the development of all the members of theorganization as it is his or her responsibility to encourage growth and careerdevelopment of employees through a variety of means such as coaching,helping employees with their goals, adequate training and staff developmentand provide opportunities for career growth and advancement.As they say, there is no I in the word TEAM. The development of theemployees will only happen if everyone is willing to participate and take part

of their roles in the activity aimed for their development.The key players are the organization, coach or manager and the employees.There is a mutual relationship among the stakeholders and everyone willbenefit from the training and development. Each one has a particular role toperform in order for the training and development to be successful.

Management Development:-



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Leadership and management are two essential things in every organization.This is the main reason why growth and development of the management isalso a continuous process. The goals and objectives of the job and theorganization are embodied in the development of an individual. Theopportunities to enhance skills and learning can be beneficial to the wholeorganization.

Management development can yield to positive results. The means of thecompany for management development are constantly changing that aim toproduce competent leaders. Management development work hand-in-handwith the performance management tools and provide opportunities of careerenhancements to the leaders. Through management development, leaderslike managers and supervisors are able to adapt on the evolving nature of the organization and the industry.


5. MEASUREMENTS,CONTROLS & CONTINUOUS


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MEASUREMENTS

Service Level Dilemma:-

What is easy to measure is not necessarily what is most relevant tomeasure.

A classic example of this is the 80/20 calls-answered service-level target that

so many organizations still have, where 80% of the calls should be answeredin 20 seconds.



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Very few centers reach this mark (the average is 55% of calls answeredwithin 20 seconds*) and yet it persists, driven, we believe, by senior

managements desire to have one number to focus their efforts on.

Most centers genuinely believe that achievement of this service-level targetis key to delivering customer satisfaction, but when measuring what theimpact of a 30-second shorter hold time is, we see that it hardly affectscustomer satisfaction at all.

The measurement of most relevant things in a call center and their methodis as follows:-

1. Performance:-

Performance, when defined as productivity, is the most common area of measurement. Most centers measure the same things:-

abandonment rate hold time calls per agent calls per day, etc.

As previously mentioned, however, there is no rule book for choosing yourkey performance indicators (KPIs); different companies have differentstrategies.

The list below shows the KPIs most high-performing centers are measuring.However, it is only when measuring employee engagement and customersatisfaction in parallel that they get the full advantage.



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2. Call Wait Time:-

For example, call wait time only becomes useful as a measure when you also

measure the customer satisfaction in relation to the same calls. That wayyou can see how far (and thus cost efficient) you are able to reduce your callwait time. That is the difference between standard performance measuringand a fuller holistic way of measuring .

3. Average Handling Time :-

Another good example is average handling time (AHT). Yes, this is a goodtactical metric for managing individuals (for instance, when you want to seehow you can improve sales and FCR) but it shouldnt be a KPI because theAHT in itself doesnt drive strategy, it drives the KPI. When we break downagents AHT versus sales and FCR figures we do not see a correlation;different agents have different ways of reaching higher FCR and conversionrates.

4. Hold Time :-

Contrary to what you may read in the media or remember experiencing fromyour last call to your telecoms provider; the average hold time isapproximately one and a half to two minutes. The problem is that during ayear this fluctuates significantly and that there are a group of centersaveraging 10 minutes hold time on average and its those experiences thatwe remember.


EFFICIENCY

Calls peragent/ day

Cost percall

Self Service

QUALITY

Abandonment

Hold Time

FCR

RESOURCING

Utilization

Attrition

Absence

Ready Time


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Even though we dont see as strong an impact of this on customersatisfaction as previously thought, we do see an impact on conversion ratesif the center is up-selling.

5. Self Service :-

At the same time as you hear friends complain about endless IVR menus, inour benchmarking we see that the top performing centers have a highpercentage of self-service calls. Customers like self service when its set upcorrectly and there is the option to speak to a live agent.

However, we saw a worrying trend increase from 16% to 22% of abandonedcalls in self service from 2007 to 2008,* indicating that consumers aregrowing tired of poor scripts.

6. Agents per team per leader :-

In search of differentiators amongst the top performers we analyzed 800reviews and saw that the centers with 8-15 agents per coach (or teamleader) had a significantly better result on all of the other key metrics.*Above 15 the results dropped dramatically but under 8 the results stayed thesame. The top performers all have between 8 and 15 agents per coach. Thisresults in:-

10% higher ready time 5% higher availability 5% higher FCR Lower absence



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More satisfied agents Higher competency

7. Utilization Level :-

The spread of outcome here is symptomatic of the wide range of performance levels in our industry. In 2008 the lowest utilization level(incoming calls and talk time compared to the resources assigned to handlethem) in the Bright Index benchmark was 18% and the highest 188%.

In the first case the centre has extreme over-capacity, in the latter theagents start every day knowing that they will hardly be able to handle half of the calls coming in. Both are equally de-motivating and neither is costefficient.



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CONTROLSCustomer service is not something which will generate you sales directly, butcustomer service is something that is really important for any business.Actually, good customer service can generate you a sales as good as a well-trained sales agent does. The question is: how to make a customer servicedthat will generate sales?

The answers must focus on measure and control. One must measure and

control the performance of call center trying to identify potential problemsand good solutions, it's important to find and share both - good and badexperience, it's important to make a training process perfect, it's importantto make the control process better than ever, as it's very easy with up todaytechnologies.

Let's talk about technical means people have to access your customersupport service. Sometime it's obvious that it's necessary to use a supportphone line, but when it comes to solving serious technical problems, andthen it's much more convenient to use an email or instant massagers. Youalways can analyze the results, it's easy to find a message which wasdiscussed last month and find the answer that solved the problem. Also,email is cheaper as you can guaranty a 24 hours response time withoutkeeping your employees in office at night.

What about phone? Today it can be really cheap with VoIP technologies. Thetrust is that most service-oriented businesses must use the phone support,as people are willing to call rather than write by email.



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There are a lot of web-based solutions that will help to manage customerqueries, for instance CRM is not only about "relationship", but it will also helpto streamline the customer support process, giving a full, precise answers ina timely manner. Having your CRM system online will enable you to answerquestions from all over the word.

It's a good idea to establish a set of metrics which will help to identify whatparts of your customer service work well and what need to be re-engineered.It sounds simple, but collecting metrics of most successful companies willnot help you much, unless you will think about your very business andsuggest your own metrics to work.

When designing metrics to measure and control the performance of callcenter you should carefully divide metrics into these which allow measuringthe quality of the customer service and these which allows measuring thefinancial impact of customer support quality on your entire business.

Running a customer service which bases on performance and controlprocedures, might generate you more leads and sales, just because of youwill know what your customers what from your business.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Call centers are the most thoroughly measured area of most organizations.

There is multitude of statistics, guidelines, industry standards, benchmarks,and measurement tools. A practical approach to continuous improvement isdiscussed as follows:-

One of the most common benchmarking is the automated process that asksparticipants to answer questions via an automated system and compiles theresults on an automated basis. While this allows for a large number of participants and easy analysis, the results may be misleading.

Another form of benchmarking is a survey for a small subset of companies

that are essentially comparable. They may be in the same industry,generally in the same size range, and have other commonalities. The surveymay be administered very carefully to ensure that every respondent hasinterpreted the question in the same way, and may even validate that theanswers given are truthful and not wishful thinking. As you can imagine,these types of benchmarking processes are fairly limited in scope and veryexpensive potentially costing $20,000 per participant or more.



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Quality Monitoring (QM) is another way that call centers focus on continuousimprovement. A small sampling of calls is reviewed in detail to determine if there are things that were done well to reinforce and things that neededcoaching for improvement. QM is a good mechanism to determine if thecompanys policies and procedures are being followed and if the techniquesused by the agent are efficient. The only problem is that it can only be doneon a small sample of calls and the results are often shared with the agentdays and even weeks later. And if the coaching doesnt follow the scoringprocess, the effort is largely wasted.

Some call centers are now using post-call IVR and post-contact emailprocesses to gather data from nearly every customer. The customer isrouted to the survey either automatically at the end of the contact, ormanually transferred by the agent. Amazingly, the transfer and response

rate is very high, with 85% or more participating when the survey is welldesigned and the agents understand the importance of encouraging everycustomer to participate. And now the information is provided not only inquantity, but in near real-time. An unhappy customer can be identifiedquickly and routed to someone who can resolve the problem before it affectsloyalty. And agents who need coaching on a particular technique or error areidentified quickly and the problem resolved before it affects a large numberof customers .

Amity Business School, Noida 30 | P a g e6. FINANCIALS &

BUSINESS VIABILITY


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FINANCIALS & BUSINESS VIABILITY Leading contact centers today are measured on a new set of metrics thatquantify their financial contribution to their organizations. They are rated ontheir ability to improve cash flow and business outcomes, as well as to driveimprovements that extend beyond their organization. Optimally, contactcenters should pay for themselves by directly generating revenue or savingsthat meet or exceed the cost of delivering service or by positively impactingcorporate cash flow. Organizations also can measure contact center valuebased on the quality and quantity of critical business intelligence in areassuch as customer satisfaction, unmet needs and buying preferences,information that is gleaned from contact center interactions.

Ours is said to be an age of dissatisfaction where, no matter what you do,the customer is not satisfied. It is for this reason that customer gratificationand happiness is of prime concern, no matter what business one is into, be ita large-scale industry or a small business firm. If you have a product orservice that is being aggressively marketed to people, chances are that yourcustomers will expect the moon from you.



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This is where a call center has become an absolute necessity for almostevery type of business. This holds true essentially for financial services. Themain problem is that people dont understand them very well. It is thecompany that provides the service that has to deal with their customer's lackof understanding because at the end of the day, the customer blames theservice provider. In such a case, a call center is not just handy, but anabsolute necessity.

The necessity is multiplied by the fact that nowadays, customers needinstant gratification regarding their queries and problems. With increase intelecommunication services & decrease in their costs, they want to call up acompany and find the solutions to their problems as quickly as possiblewithout delay. This causes a lot of problems for the service providers, asthey have to either hire a call center or set up one of their own to provide

services to their customers.

There are abundant call centers providing financial services in the worldtoday. A firm has an option of hiring such a center to provide customer careto their clients. Each financial domain is different from the other and requiresa specialized set of knowledge and skills. It is very important that the firmimparts to all the employees proper training of all the products and servicesbeing utilized by the company when it hire a call center. The so-calledcustomer care executives should be equipped with the most intricate detailspertaining to the products and services of the company. This might seemobvious, but the more a company pays heed to providing the right kind of training to their employees, the better satisfied their customers will be. Inthe long run, these satisfied customers will stick with the company andenhance its profits.



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BRAND VALUE CREATION

Value creation is the primary aim of any business entity. Creating value for

customers helps sell products and services, while creating value for

shareholders, in the form of increases in stock price, insures the future

availability of investment capital to fund operations. From a financialperspective, value is said to be created when a business earns revenue (or a

return on capital) that exceeds expenses (or the cost of capital). But some

analysts insist on a broader definition of "value creation" that can be

considered separate from traditional financial measures. "Traditional

methods of assessing organizational performance are no longer adequate in


7. BUSINESS SUPPORT &BRAND VALUE CREATION


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today's economy," according to ValueBasedManagement.net. "Stock price is

less and less determined by earnings or asset base. Value creation in today's

companies is increasingly represented in the intangible drivers like

innovation, people, ideas, and brand."

When broadly defined, value creation is increasingly being recognized as a

better management goal than strict financial measures of performance,

many of which tend to place cost-cutting that produces short-term results

ahead of investments that enhance long-term competitiveness and growth.

As a result, some experts recommend making value creation the first priority

for all employees and all company decisions. "If you put value creation first

in the right way, your managers will know where and how to grow; they will

deploy capital better than your competitors; and they will develop more

talent than your competition. "This will give you an enormous advantage in

building your company's ability to achieve profitable and long-lasting

growth."

The first step in achieving an organization-wide focus on value creation

understands the sources and drivers of value creation within the industry,

company, and marketplace. Understanding what creates value will help

managers focus capital and talent on the most profitable opportunities for

growth. "If customers value consistent quality and timely delivery, then the

skills, systems, and processes that produce and deliver quality products and

services are highly valuable to the organization. Some authors wrote it in a

book that Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes. "If

customers value innovation and high performance, then the skills, systems,

and processes that create new products and services with superior

functionality take on high value. Consistent alignment of actions and

capabilities with the customer value proposition is the core of strategy

execution."

Although the intangible factors that drive value creation differ by industry,

some of the major categories of intangible assets include technology,

innovation, intellectual property, alliances, management capabilities,



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employee relations, customer relations, community relations, and brand

value. According to Kaplan and Norton, the link between these intangible

assets and value creation is corporate strategy. It is important to note that

investments made to enhance intangible assets (research and development,

employee training, and brand building, for example) usually provide indirect

rather than direct benefits. In this way, focusing on value creation forces an

organization to adopt a long-term perspective and align all of its resources

toward future goals.

Documents

sachin&vivek CALL CENTER PROJECT-SOM