December 2007 Archives

Call centers are always looking for ways to get more productivity out of their agents.

Now, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have discovered something which could one day help call center managers squeeze every last bit of energy out of their workers: A brain chemical call Orexin A. The naturally occurring chemical is said to regulate sleep. The researchers found that when the chemical is administered to sleep-deprived monkeys, they can perform just as well as if they had a normal night’s rest. So now, pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Actelion are developing new drugs which will let sleep-deprived people perform just the same as if they a full night’s sleep – supposedly without any side effects.

If and when this drug becomes available, you can be sure that the call center outsourcing firms in the Philippines and India will want to start slipping it into the water coolers. As many of you already know, call center agents in those parts of the world are expected to put in long hours – typically more than 10 hours a day – as there are no restrictions on shift length (or the labor laws simply are not enforced). With this drug, an agent could, in theory, work two 20 hour shifts in a row (or more) and still perform the same as if they had a normal nights’ rest.

Interestingly, the drug companies are working on a nasal spray for fast administering of the drug. In lab testing, Orexin A reportedly “reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.” The drug will likely be used initially to treat the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.

If the new drug is approved, it will probably be a great alternative to using stimulants such as coffee and Red Bull (however, personally I’d want to experiment with it and see how I really feel, before I try it “on the job”). Obviously, there are a lot of jobs out there where this drug might play a useful role -- not just call center agents, but also truck drivers, security guards, air traffic controllers … hmm, come to think of it, who wouldn’t want to use it from time to time?

To learn more about this new wonder-drug-in-development, click here.

Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year! Maybe next year, if the Orexin drug is available, you’ll be able to stay up and party all night and show up for work the next day refreshed and ready to go another 20 hours! Too bad it’s not already on the market … I have to be back in the office bright and early on Wednesday morning!

The Software-as-a-Service trend continues to take hold in the contact center industry – but how many more organizations will take this route for their contact center systems over the next few years is anyone’s guess. Although some organizations still seem dead-set on keeping their systems in house, the vast majority now seem like they are at least open to the idea of going with the hosted delivery model. From where I sit, it appears that a surprisingly large number – perhaps upwards of 20 percent – of all contact center operators have already deployed hosted solutions – however, it seems most are using only one hosted application, or a set of applications, to test out the waters, and not very many have not shifted their entire architecture over to the SaaS model.

It’s interesting to talk about the SaaS trend with the software vendors operating in the contact center space. Most of the vendors I’ve spoken with which do not yet have hosted versions of their software say they eventually will … in fact, most make it sound inevitable that they must move in this direction, regardless of the level of interest among current customers. Many of the software vendors which offer “middleware” or peripheral solutions are saying that as contact centers increasingly migrate over to all-hosted systems, they, too, must evolve to offer their solutions on a hosted basis (here I’m talking about solutions such as CRM integration, which have traditionally been on-premise only).

The benefits of going with hosted solutions are now well established. To name a few of the big ones, there is lower up front cost because companies don’t have to shell out for equipment, installation and maintenance; there are much lower initial licensing fees; and because the software is Web-based it can be accessed by any authorized user from any end point -- plus it can be centrally administered and typically offers more advanced reporting capabilities. What most companies like best about the hosted model is the fact that it helps them avoid unexpected costs: Now the software is consumed just like any other utility (electric service being the more common analogy), and thus it can be represented as a recurring line item in the monthly operating budget – there are no equipment failures or network problems to deal with and throw off the budget. It also takes the strain off the company IT department, as it is no longer required to maintain and troubleshot the contact center system when there are problems.

Because it is Web-based, hosted contact center software is also ideal for facilitating the “Virtual contact center” where all end points on the network are “equal.” Thus it is ideal for facilitating the home-based, or remote agent model, as well as the “informal contact center” model, where the walls of the contact center are broken down and other knowledge workers within an organization can be used to deliver customer service. In this sense, other knowledge workers in an organization – including back office workers -- can serve as “advanced contact center agents” who specialize in certain areas. They can handle more difficult requests, complaints or problems – or even higher value transactions – thus freeing up “regular” agents to handle more routine matters. The virtual contact center leads to vast efficiencies in operations and improves customer service across all touch points. With this model, the customer gets the sense that they are contacting a whole organization, not just some company division or department which is “siloed” away from the rest of the organization.

Another huge advantage is that organizations can get the latest software solutions and the very best Web-based technology through then third party providers that offer the software and the hosting services. Software updates are delivered automatically and the client gets the very latest versions of the software as soon as they become available. Best of all, these upgrades can take place remotely, without any expensive truck rolls or prolonged technician visits.

And, of course, the more hosted solutions you deploy the easier it becomes to integrate those solutions with other solutions, whether they are also hosted or in-house.

To learn more about the advantages of going with hosted solutions for your contact center, I suggest readers check out the new Hosted Contact Center channel on TMCnet, sponsored by Five9, a leading provider of hosted contact center solutions. Today, TMCnet’s Susan Campbell posted an informative article to the channel outlining some of the benefits afforded through the hosted, or SaaS deliver model. To check out her article, click here.

A recent report from the UK Contact Centre Operational Review confirms what most of us already know -- that low pay is one of the main reasons for the high turnover rates found in contact centers in the U.K. and the U.S.

From where I sit, it never ceases to amaze me that companies are now putting more emphasis than ever on providing quality service to their customers (in fact, providing good customer service is largely viewed as critical in order to stay alive in today’s highly competitive business world), yet the people on the front lines -- the call center agents who are expected to consistently deliver this high quality service -- are among the lowest paid (and often the worst treated) in the corporate hierarchy.

But, as the report points out, low wages aren’t the only reason agents leave – in fact, in the UK it isn’t even the main reason. Lack of opportunity and the repetitive nature of the work are more likely to result in high attrition rates, the report finds.

The report suggests that if companies offer more opportunities for agents to move up the ladder -- and also give them more varied roles and tasks to take on during the course of the work week -- it would go a long way toward reducing turnover and improving customer service.

However, the study recommends that contact center managers first survey their agents to find out what areas they would like to see improved -- whether it is wages, benefits, opportunity for promotion, more varied tasks or whatever -- before jumping to any conclusions as to why agents are leaving (after all, every center is different, isn’t it?).

I’m still waiting for the study that concludes that all the money spent on recruiting and training new agents would actually be better spent on offering higher wages to existing agents, which in turn, might, just might, make them want to stay longer …

For more about the report from UK Contact Centre Operational Review, check out Susan Campbell’s article.

Speech analytics software vendor Verint -- which acquired workforce optimization software vendor Witness Systems earlier this year -- has integrated the contact center solutions of the two companies on a single platform.

The combined solution, called Impact 360 (named after the popular WFO solution from Witness), is “analytics-driven workforce optimization software,” with an emphasis on the word “analytics.” This tightly integrated suite of apps includes workforce management, performance management, call recording/monitoring, speech and data analytics, customer feedback and eLearning. The company has added new functionality to most of the apps – enhancements which it claims will help organizations “improve the entire customer service delivery network, from contact centers to branch stores and remote offices to back-office operations.”

Verint has been working toward this integration for some time – in fact, it reportedly started working on it before the acquisition of Witness Systems got into the “official talks” stage. As explained by Erik Laurence, vice president of solutions marketing for Verint, during a visit to TMC’s offices yesterday, the acquisition is all about “creating a better and stronger company … it’s a merger of growth.”

When asked about the restructuring and what the new company should be called, Laurence explained that the parent company will continue to be Verint Inc., with Verint Witness Actionable Solutions now operating as a separate division within the company. As he explained, Verint Inc. was originally comprised of three divisions, Video Intelligence, Communications Intercept and Contact Center. Witness Systems, he explained, has been combined with the Contact Center division, and this is the new Verint Witness Actionable Solutions. The Video Intelligence and Communications Intercept divisions continue to be separately run under the Verint umbrella.

Laurence said unlike other acquisitions which have resulted in the “dead-ending” of the acquired company’s product lines (leaving the customers hanging), Verint took the approach that it was going to “protect customers’ investments” and keep the Witness portfolio of “battled-hardened” contact center applications intact. As such, the new Impact 360 is a tight integration of the existing apps – there was no major rewriting of the code on either side – including an upgrade to the “look and feel” of the GUI, to give the feel of a cohesive suite. The fact that was no major rewriting of code is good news for customers using legacy Witness or Verint apps, because they now have a seamless migration path for upgrading to Impact 360 (or any pieces of it they want to use).

Laurence said other benefits of the merger include greater scale for the company’s enhanced support and services. He said the new Verint has seen a 150 percent increase in support services and service resources. In addition, the company is undertaking a concerted effort share best practices across all departments for the purpose of building a stronger support/service organization. In addition, the new Verint has greater scale for R&D investment, and has, in fact, seen a 200 percent increase in R&D resources.

This not to mention the company’s sheer size, market reach and overall profitability: Verint now has more than 5,000 customers worldwide, including about 75 of the Fortune 100 companies. It has 2,500 employees spread in offices all over the globe. It is now one of the top 30 tech firms in the U.S., in terms of revenue, having seen 24 quarters of sequential growth to the present.

Laurence said the introduction of the new Impact 360 means the end of the IntelliFind brand, as this technology has now been absorbed into the Impact 360 platform (of course, the company continues to support its IntelliFind customers, as this is only a name change). He said company officials had pondered the idea of coming up with an entirely new name for the suite of apps, but decided to keep the name “Impact 360” because of brand familiarity (and also simply because it worked). The only dovetailing between the two solution sets is the Recording/Quality Monitoring solutions, which are now both represented in the new Impact 360.

Major improvements to Impact 360 include a new, more integrated dashboard style portal, giving managers and agents (in fact each and every user) just the views they need and just the views they are supposed to get (as defined by business rules); faster and more accurate speech analytics (including “category wizard” and “root cause clusters” to give supervisors better business insights through more sophisticated control over the speech analytics); a richer data set for data analytics (including the integration of speech and data analytics); and a streamlined architecture (including better support for enterprise wide data and improved virtual contact center support). It also sports a “single sign-on” feature which lets any user securely sign on using a single password from any end point. Also new is the “integrated customer feedback” – which includes tools for creating, maintaining, administering and analyzing customer surveys which are delivered post-transaction over the phone or on the Web.

The integration also means users will be able to perform speech analytics on recordings made using the legacy Witness QM platform.

The next generation Impact 360 also adds new functionality for back-office operations. This is a key move, because, as contact centers become more and more “virtualized,” through Web technology, many organizations are now adopting the “informal contact center” model, which breaks down the walls of the traditional center and lets other knowledge workers within an organization take on the role of “company representative.” As such, as employees working in back office operations find themselves increasingly coming into contact with customers, it has become increasingly important that they be able to have access to the same resources as traditional agents -- and they be able to deliver the same level of customer service. With the new Impact 360, these back office workers can handle more difficult customer requests, or complex or “high value” transactions, just as if they were an agent in the main center. Furthermore, their interactions can be recorded, monitored and later analyzed so that customer service can be improved across all touch points.

Another key selling point for this flexible solution is that it lets organizations use just the apps they need, and then seamlessly grow into other apps as they become larger and more successful, or as their needs change. With the next generation Impact 360, a company can start with a few basic pieces, such as workforce management, call recording/monitoring, and analytics, and then later add other pieces, such as performance management and eLearning, without the “integration headache.”

Other enhancements include:

WFM Enhancements:

--Outbound forecasting and scheduling

--Strategic forecasting enhancements

--Desktop application adherence

--Improved multi-week forecasting and scheduling

--Time of withdrawal and wait list

 

eLearning Enhancements:

--Self assignment of lessons

--Competency-based learning enhancements

--More and better reporting

 

Performance Management Enhancements:

--Create and save multiple scorecard views

--Spot trends easily with flexible graphing by time period or KPI

--Backdate goal and organizational changes

 

QM and Recording Enhancements:

--Evaluation and scoring enhancements

--Solution that supports PCI compliance standards

Perhaps most importantly, this one of the first WFO solutions to come tightly integrated with both speech and data analytics -- therefore it not only has the ability carry out analytics on the recorded interactions on the agent side and on the customer side, and to carry out analytics on the data coming from agent side and the customer side, but to carry out analytics on both speech and data, simultaneously, to get a more insightful (and balanced) view of all contact center operations (this is why the name “Impact 360” – indicating a 360 degree view—was deemed appropriate).

Verint claims that with the next generation Impact 360, “organizations can uncover valuable, previously undiscovered information, gaining a new level of visibility into contact center and enterprise performance for faster, improved decision-making.” With these new insights, they can “streamline processes” and “ensure consistency in new ways for maximum customer service effectiveness.” Organizations can also “better understand contact center growth trends through tighter links between strategic planning and tactical daily forecasting and scheduling functions, so users can combine their strategic forecasts with their tactical forecasts to increase forecast accuracy.”

With its performance management software, agents can have a window on their desktop showing how well they’re performing, in terms of key metrics or KPIs, real time and compare their performance with the rest of the group. If an agent isn’t performing well, he or she might trigger an alert, which the manager will get, whereupon the manager can atake appropriate action. This might include additional coaching or training which can be delivewred directly to the agent’s desktop via Impact 360’s eLearning component. In addition, with its sophisticated workforce management software, training and coaching can be delivered automatically, via the eLearning system, with training modules delivered directly to the agent’s desktop at off-peak times. This not only increases productivity, as agents no longer need to be shuffled off the contact center floor into a training center, it also leads to better customer service, as agents are trained right at their desks and can thus apply what they learned immediately – while it’s still relevant - on the very next call they handle.

And these are only the more basic capabilities which this powerful software suite delivers.

All existing customers of Verint Witness Actionable Solutions have a seamless upgrade path, regardless of which legacy product they have installed. Companies using Verint’s ULTRA 6.x, ULTRA Select, ULTRA 8.x, ULTRA 10.x and Balance R5.x, can upgrade to Impact 360 version 10, while customers using Balance R5.x, Balance/CS R6.x, Witness Impact 360 7.x, Contact Store TDM/IP, and WFM Director Enterprise can upgrade to Impact 360 version 7.8. Both offer the same new applications and integration capabilities.

“We are very proud to be able to offer our customers and the market at-large a unified suite in such a short period of time after announcing the Verint combination with Witness Systems,” said Dan Bodner, president and CEO, Verint Systems, in a press release. “The new combined business remains strongly committed to all legacy solution sets – so much so that we unified capabilities from across our portfolio to create the next-generation Impact 360 suite.”

“It’s clear that by capturing customer intelligence and improving workforce performance, organizations have the greatest opportunity to leverage technology to optimize the customer experience and achieve competitive advantage,” added Nancy Treaster, senior vice president and general manager, Verint Witness Actionable Solutions. “Building on our base of industry leadership and experience, Verint and our partners are squarely focused on delivering tangible business outcomes for our customers. We are engineering the components customers want and expect from a single provider to work together in a unified way.”

“Regardless of an organization or contact center’s size and requirements, we have an offering designed to meet its specific needs today, as well as a path for growth as the company advances its customer service objectives,” Treaster explained. “We designed the next-generation Impact 360 with our global customers’ needs in mind.”

The next generation Impact 360 is available now. For more information, visit
www.verint.com.

If you’re a fugitive from the law -- or even if you’re just super paranoid about your privacy -- you might want to steer clear of a new biometric payment system which has been implemented at about ten Shell gas stations in the Chicago area. The biometric payment system, developed by San Francisco-based Pay By Touch, works by linking a user’s fingerprint to his or her credit card or checking account. For now, customers must scan their fingertips at a kiosk inside the gas station – however, Shell is reportedly considering the idea of having the scanners installed on the pumps to facilitate even faster payment.

But what if the scan taken could be linked to other databases – even be cross-checked against the NCIS database? We’ve heard about how this technology can be used to create “theft proof” smart cars which can only be used by the driver registered to that vehicle. And now it appears the technology can be used to verify a credit card user’s identity as well. But where is the fingerprint information stored and who has access it? Is it possible that, one day in the future, even people wanted for minor offenses, such as failure to appear in court or failure to pay child support, could be “nabbed” by police at the local gas station or some other store, should they attempt to pay using this new system?

Of course, I’m intentionally being absurd … obviously, Shell is using the technology to see if it will provide a new level of convenience for its customers … it probably has no intention of using it proactively as a crime fighting tool. Furthermore, if you’re on the run, you’ll probably be smart enough not to use such a system.

Still, as adoption of this technology grows -- and if one day it becomes ubiquitous -- one can’t help but wonder what role it might play in identifying and tracking people as they move about and make purchases. By the same token, one can also speculate whether it might be possible for the bad guys to use this technology against consumers: For example, maybe someone will come up with a way of “faking” people’s fingerprints, as part of an impressive effort to steal their identities.

Shell is reportedly the first gas station company in the U.S. to install biometric payment devices. The company is also reportedly testing hand-held wireless devices that allow full-service customers to pay electronically without getting out of their cars. For more information, check out this article.