Contact Center Strategies

The Evolving Contact Center Architecture

March 30, 2009 4:57 PM |

So many things in our daily world have been changed by technology, and mostly for the positive. Advancements in radio technologies paved the way for the mobile telephone; research in compression technologies helped usher VoIP to our desktops and ultimately laptops; and now we have combined the best of each of these on the supercomputers we each carry in our pocket - the smart phone. "Why does this matter for the contact center?" you ask.

Contact Center architectures are a hybrid of technologies; call routing engines, dialers, databases, phone systems, analytics and reporting tools - just to name a few. In many cases, these tools are interconnected using various protocols that provide integration under the guise of CTI (Computer/Telephone Integration). This integration has provided the glue that allows contact centers to provide for the rather transactional nature in which they operate. Merging customer databases into outbound dialing campaigns; enabling "screen pops" for agents handling incoming customer calls; capturing sales trends and close ratios for agents while mapping this to customer detail. All of this requiring rather complex CTI scripting and ultimately, customer routing along the way.

No longer is the simple transaction the simple transaction. In much the same way that telephony matured to provide for mobility and the mainframe matured to provide for mobile computing, customer's expectations have matured along with these trends of increased intelligence. No longer is it acceptable just to manage the transaction.

This is requiring contact centers to evolve their architectures and processes for serving their customers. The move towards a managed contact center began a number of years ago as they began to see the need for measuring agent performance, customer satisfaction, and automated support. The implementation of measurement allows for the easy transition into an optimized contact center model where the performance and customer data can now be used to make real time decisions.

Many companies operate contact centers in this optimized manner today and they're able to balance their investments and customer satisfaction. However, as the end-customer's expectations are again changing, contact centers too will have to evolve. I'm calling the next phase of this architectural revolution enterprise integrated.

In the enterprise integrated contact center, technology deployment allows for front and back-office integration with business systems. The entrance of speech analytics, automated agent selection, non-traditional agent usage models, and a deep integration with CRM systems are more of the advancements we'll see in those contact centers operating in this model. Today, there are very few who can honestly place themselves in this model.

As technology evolves, we'll move into the customer integrated model. Here, real-time customer treatment is possible - leveraging every breadcrumb left behind from every interaction to provide the best possible experience for end customers. This will require significant integration of the legacy systems I talked about in the transaction-based model. We're making progress in the direction to allow for this and are able to provide many of the tools today.

Today at VoiceCon, we are announcing new technologies and solutions that enable this transformation to occur.

When Self-Service Applications Fail to Deliver

February 20, 2009 7:42 PM |

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Yesterday, while getting ready to fly back home from a meeting, I thought I would try a new auto-identification application the airline had installed some months back. I'm normally a first adopter of anything that can make my life easier (Tivo, Roomba, etc.), but I had to wait a number of months to see this new offering mature. So, I found myself with a few moments to register with the Web site and on the dial tool as well. I put in my cell number, confirmed it and went off to call them to arrange my seating preference for the flight.

I phoned the 800 number and hit the first IVR prompt - asking for an agent immediately. It responded with: "Hi, welcome to the tool (we'll keep it anonymous), I can confirm your online preferences if you like". I'm instantly pleased! It told me my name, I confirmed that I was in fact that person and answered a few other personalization questions and now I'm ready to get to that agent I so badly wanted. I told it that I was in need of travel in the 50 states and I got routed off immediately. I'm really happy.

Next I hear the agent come on the line, my expectations are high, exciting building, and then.... She asks for my frequent flyer number. I respond with a simple question of: "Didn't you get that on your screen when the call routed?" I'm then told that no, I'm sorry, I didn't get that information, but I can help you - which in fact she did without issue. But the fact of the matter was that I really wanted to see the technology work. I mean inbound calling, coupled with number recognition, CTI integration to my profile, and a screen pop - that's just a simplistic application, but for those of us who travel and have had to deal with the background noise issues on speech recognition systems - it's a huge upgrade!

So, I decided to give it another try, after all, I know there's a ton of backend systems being deployed to get this all working. So I phone again, this time it recognizes me immediately and indicates that I'm flying from airport ABC -- GREAT, I think. I answer the question, that yes, that's correct and I want to speak to an agent. My call gets routed, and again -- the agent has no clue who I am or what flight I'm calling about! I'm deflated, disappointed.

The lesson here is that this is a great example of the customer experience failing the expected performance, and something that this particular airline will need to address for sure. It's not enough to make me not travel with them, but still failed to hit the mark.

What's true today is that many contact centers are struggling to manage their OPEX and CAPEX in these troubled markets. And moreover, many of them are using legacy voice systems from various vendors, ACD's from other vendors, CTI integration from yet, another -- you get the picture. Again, not completely a bad thing, but quite complicated to deploy. Why might you ask? Most all of these systems have evolved over time and are standalone for all the right reasons, but lack a common integration language.

We must evolve the architecture of the classic contact center, as customers expect more and are driving alternate vehicles for interacting with contact centers from instant messaging, voice, the Web, and even video. Each of these can be seen as merely an application supporting the interaction type required, however, the various jigsaw pieces that are deployed in many contact centers today may not scale to support them. Front ending these deployments with various pre-route treatment systems is not the answer to scale for the future for sure. Contact center architectures must evolve and leverage a new set of technologies to support these changing interaction methods. This will be even more true as the population of Gen Y'ers move to become mainstream purchasers, banking clients, etc - since they've grown up thinking differently. This NET generation expects personalization to be ready for them, for systems to anticipate their needs. They're edgy, NET-ready. Many even come with an optional wireless card embedded, making networking a snap wink

Over the coming weeks, we'll discuss how technology is evolving in the core of the communication systems and how that transformation is delivering on a new call center architecture possibility for consideration.

Related Entries:

Realities of managing the customer experience in the contact center.

February 11, 2009 5:21 PM |

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Today, many contact centers are managing their resources and investments on a cost per contact basis. But while this is a core metric for managing those centers, I would argue that in the current economic climate, there may be more to the equation than just this. For contact center managers, understanding the customer experience, and moreover managing it more effectively, is rapidly becoming equally important. With the trend moving more towards a self-service model, managers are increasingly challenged to provide a positive experience, while keeping the overall cost to service their customers low.

Today, the measured customer satisfaction rating for these self service interactions is relatively low, leaving room for improvement, and in some cases, room for innovation. This can come from a myriad of issues that many of us have faced in our own interactions with Web and phone support systems in use today. What's more is that when a failed self service interaction results in a phone call, the lack of connection between the two interactions only further frustrates the consumer.

Customers want and expect more. This calls for self service tools that go beyond basic inbound and outbound voice - and create a productive interaction that uses speech to its greatest capacity, while connecting to live agents only as needed. In addition, there should be a recognition that there have to be self service solutions tailored to specific company needs, based not only on a specific industry's requirements and practices, but also by helping serve the commonly accepted ways in which customers are comfortable sharing information. This, of course, introduces a new set of challenges, such as security and cost to serve, but companies can start with the goal of striving for and providing outstanding customer service. After this is established, companies can build upon this momentum as the company matures.

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