Recently in Call Center/CRM Category
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) in Q1 2006 registered its largest increase since 2003, according to University of Michigan Professor Claes Fornell, ACSI head and director of the National Quality Research Center. An announcement from the ACSI says the index rose by 0.8% to 74.1 for the quarter.
Fornell points out that this increase in customer satisfaction comes at the same time as a fast growth rate in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Fornell says rising customer satisfaction as measured by the ACSI is correlated with greater inclination to spend on the part of consumers. Fornell comments in the ACSI announcement:
"Even with climbing energy prices, higher interest rates, a soft dollar, a low approval ratings for the President, satisfied American consumers will likely continue to spend only if they can find the money to do so, and that is certainly unclear. But as consumers feel a bigger economic pinch, companies will be competing for fewer and fewer dollars, making customer satisfaction increasingly important."
The ACSI measures relative levels of customer satisfaction among major companies within sectors. The first-quarter ACSI measured five sectors: Transportation, Information, Utilities, Health Care, and Accommodation & Food Services.
Of particular interest to the TMCnet audience are the figures for Fixed Line Telephone Service, Wireless Telephone Service, and Cable & Satellite TV, all included under the Information sector. Here are the figures for those industries:
Fixed Line Telephone Service
Cox Communications, Inc. -- 76
All Others -- 71
AT&T Inc. -- 71
BellSouth Corporation -- 71
Qwest Communications International Inc. -- 70
Comcast Corporation -- 69
Verizon Communications Inc. -- 69
Sprint Nextel Corporation -- 64
Wireless Telephone Service
T-Mobile USA, Inc. -- 69
Verizon Wireless (Cellco Partnership) -- 69
All Others -- 68
Cingular Wireless LLC (BellSouth Corporation, SBC Communications Inc.) -- 63
Sprint Nextel Corporation -- 63
Cable & Satellite TV
The DIRECTV Group, Inc. -- 71
EchoStar Communications Corporation -- 68
All Others -- 63
Cox Communications, Inc. -- 63
Time Warner Cable Inc. -- 61
Comcast Corporation -- 60
Charter Communications, Inc. -- 55
AB -- 5/11/06
One of the most interesting news items from today appears on TMCnet's IVR Channel:
Angel.com and Skype Bring IVR Solutions to More Than 94 Million Skype Users Worldwide
Skype has been making important moves into the business market, and this partnership with Angel.com adds an exciting component. Angel.com's Site Builder provides an easy way to build voice applications, and now you will be able to add a sophisticated IVR system attached to your Skype account.
Here are some screen shots giving you an idea of the user experience for building Angel.com voice apps:
AB -- 4/27/06
Susan Campbell has a good article on TMCnet about the abuse suffered by agents working in call centers in India: see "Indian Call Center Agents Suffering Health Problems Due to Caller Abuse." According to a recent survey, Susan writes, "25 percent of call center agents identified hate calls as the main reason for workplace stress."
This calls to mind an article from David Sims from last year, "Call Center Workers Allowed to Hang Up." That article commented on a trend in Indian call centers toward giving agents more options in dealing with abusive callers. David quoted one Indian software industry expert who said, "Indians are by nature courteous towards foreigners, but there can be too much of a good thing and companies increasingly provide assertiveness training. If people felt in the past they had to be polite in the face of brazen rudeness, now they say, 'I don't think I do.'"
An article directed at call center agents in India, "How to handle abusive BPO customers," gives 10 tips from call center trainer Nasha Fitter of Fitter Solutions:
- Learn to count to 10.
- Speak calmly.
- Politely ask the caller to speak slowly and clearly and to lower his voice.
- Put the caller on hold for a few seconds if you need to recover your composure.
- Keep a picture that helps you to stay calm in front of you -- a peaceful scene or a photo of a loved one.
- If a call continues to get worse, escalate it to your supervisor.
- Ask the caller to refrain from using abusive language, if that's permitted.
- De-stress after a rough phone call -- Fitter suggests yoga or breathing techniques.
- "Press the mute button and swear back," while using "your sweetest tone" when actually speaking with the caller.
- Talk with your supervisor or group leader after a stressful day with difficult callers.
AB -- 4/20/06
The Merchant Risk Council (MRC) is reporting that online fraud rates for merchants in its study are decreasing and are approaching the fraud rates experienced in "card-present" brick-and-mortar retail environments. The association does a yearly survey of online merchants and says fraud rates have been dropping although they are still a concern. 48% of the retailers surveyed said that their fraudulent chargeback rates were less than 0.1%.
Today's announcement from the council quotes co-chair Julie Fergerson commenting on one important security concern: "As fraud prevention tools gain widespread use, their effectiveness declines, and fraudsters are always looking for ways to 'beat the system.'"
The survey found that the use of Address Verification Systems (AVS) rose from 70% to 83% since 2001 but their effectiveness at preventing fraud actually declined from 70% to 25%. Card Verification Codes (CVC) also dropped in effectiveness, though not as dramatically. Use of CVC increased from 38% to 73% since 2001 but the effectiveness of this measure dropped from 49% to 31%.
This confirms the saying I've used in the past about security: 'We build a higher wall and the bad guys build a taller ladder.' Security is a process of continual escalation as data thieves develop greater sophistication.
AB -- 4/18/06
Jenzabar announced enhancements this week to the CRM portion of its Total Campus Management (TCM) suite targeted at the high-education market. The enhancements particularly have to do with giving faculty and students better functionality for advisement, course selection, degree and course requirements, financial aid, grades and similar processes having to do with the logistics of higher ed.
When Jenzabar uses the acronym "CRM" they mean it to refer to Constituent Relationship Management, rather than "Customer," as commonly used in the business world. Having worked in the education field, I understand that the use of the word "customer" can go contrary to sensibilities and organizational models. And in a college or university, the crucial relationships go far beyond that with the customer, that is, the student. You need to consider parents, faculty and staff, alumni, donors, community, referring schools and institutions, regulators, accreditation agencies and others, so "constituent" is an entirely appropriate term.
Even when you just consider just the primary customer, the student, I have thought for a long time that CRM has many exciting applications in higher education. Think about how long the customer relationship might be between an institution and a student. Consider this possible progression of the relationship:
1. Age 16 -- A high school student learns about the college from a high-school counselor and receives a brochure. Touch-point: marketing.
2. Age 17 -- Time to apply. The applicant fills out an online admissions form or fills out a hard copy and sends it in. Touch-point: admissions.
3. Age 17 -- Campus visit to learn about the school and experience the atmosphere. Touch-point: admissions, student services, faculty, others.
4. Age 18 -- Acceptance and orientation. Touch-points: student services, registrar, financial aid, academics.
5. Ages 18-22 -- Student years. Touch-points: Faculty, student services, registrar, financial aid, housing, food service, finance and accounting, others.
6. Age 22 and beyond -- Even after graduation, the student is likely to maintain a relationship with the school based on loyalty, relationships with faculty, and benefits offered to alumni. Touch-points: alumni services, faculty, institutional advancement.
7. Death: Estate planning can result in a bequest to a beloved institution that has maintained a strong relationship with a former student over the years. Touch-points: alumni services, institutional advancement.
Jenzabar's offerings extend far beyond its CRM modules, encompassing administrative and financial modules, ERP, data marts and a learning management system. Everything is delivered through a web-based portal call Jenzabar's Internet Campus Solution (JICS). This kind of unified, integrated suite is a strong selling point, obviating the need to 'manage multiple connections to various constituencies' through "deployment of dissimilar and disconnected portals," says Jenzabar. JICS is built on the Microsoft .NET platform.
Good clear screen shots are hard to come by on the Jenzabar web site, a common fault in the world of CRM marketing (and in software marketing generally for that matter). However, I did find a good example in this screen shot of a faculty access page:
Jenzabar is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. Its solutions are operating in 700 campuses globally.
AB -- 3/23/06
Recently I had a chance to interview Joellyn Sargent, marketing vice president for Alerts and Notifications Solutions at Premiere Global Services. Premiere Global provides business communications and data solutions, including conferencing, document management and marketing automation, as well as the alerts and notifications service line.
I got in touch with Joellyn because I heard she was speaking on the topic of "The Fight Against Fraud" at the National Collections and Credit Risk conference last week. I thought it would be interesting to get her to speak to some top-of-mind issues around the mitigation of data vulnerabilities. In addition, I was curious to find out how Premiere Global's alerts and notifications services tie in with companies' efforts to fight fraud.
Q: How has the information technology boom contributed to an increase in credit fraud?
A. The information technology boom created advances in business processes never seen before, but at the same time the wealth of information available to anyone with Internet access provided opportunity for negative uses. For instance, greater access to online credit information, as well as better technology to hack into systems and steal information has greatly increased credit fraud. A simple customer list with email addresses even provides thieves with enough information to “phish” for personal information. These “spoofed” emails ask for financial data and personal background, sufficient to supply the means necessary to steal identities. And fraud victims feel comfortable in giving out their information because these emails hyperlink them to similar sites operated by legitimate companies.
More importantly, geography is not an issue with the Internet. According to a 2005 Dove Consulting study, “Fraudsters in foreign countries can send fake e-mails, collect card (and debit PIN) information, produce counterfeit cards and then use these cards to make unauthorized purchases or ATM cash withdrawals in their home countries.”
But the Internet is not the only outlet for credit fraud. Criminals are using all means available to them. Even cell phone cameras are used by fraudsters to photograph credit cards at the point of sale, and then use those card numbers for phone and/or Internet purchases.
Finally, an explosion of websites in an attempt to remain as secure as possible for their customers has contributed to a proliferation of password requirements. This has made people lazy in selecting difficult and varied passwords for each site. Therefore stealing one password is usually all a culprit needs to access other sites visited by a victim, creating another viable method for fraud.
Q: What are the biggest vulnerabilities, from the point of view of a company in the business of granting credit or collections?
A. Probably dealing with customers who are victims of fraud or identity theft, determining if a debt is real or the result of fraud, as well as dealing with increasingly sophisticated technologies used to perpetrate fraud. Companies need to be aggressive about combating fraud, but they need to balance increased security with customer-friendly methods so that customers feel protected. If fraud prevention technologies and policies are not implemented appropriately, customers can be frustrated – or worse yet, feel they are being treated like criminals themselves. Finding the balance between security and customer satisfaction is a real challenge.
Q: What are the best strategies for safeguarding and authenticating data?
A. Employee screening and monitoring their access to and use of data. A 2000 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey states that “insiders pose as significant a threat as outsiders. It is common to think of security in terms of protecting network perimeters from hostile outsiders attempting to gain access. But inappropriate insider behavior can be a bigger threat, both more common and often causing greater financial losses than outsider attacks.”
Data security policies and good standard procedures that are mandated throughout the organization are instrumental in putting safeguards in place for a company to protect itself against employee theft.
Q: What is it that brings Premiere Global Services into this discussion? (How do your services touch on these issues?)
A. Communicating with customers – proactively to stop potential fraud and reactively to let them know what the company is doing about it.
A great example is a personal one for me – my checking account number was stolen, and if I had not discovered it myself through my online banking tool, it could have gone on for more than a month before my paper statement came. If my credit union had detected unusual patterns in my account (in this case, the check numbers were in a different sequence) they could have alerted me to come in to verify some transactions. I’ve also had my credit card company do this, but they did it with a live person, which is time consuming and expensive. We provide our customers with an automated process, which authenticates recipients and provides updates – such as “the money has been returned to your account!”
Q: Anything else you think we need to know about this topic?
A. The way a company deals with fraud can make or break a customer relationship. Having solid communications and crisis plans in place are essential to demonstrating a company’s commitment to integrity, transparency and quick resolution to fraud.
Financial Institutions are required by laws in 23 states to inform customers on the violation of their privacy rights in the event a breach occurs. Whether or not these notifications are required by law, being proactive in issuing fraud alerts gives customers the sense of being protected and cared for, which goes miles towards creating loyalty. Not only customers but employees, business partners, suppliers and regulators should be notified as well of breaches to an organization’s security.
Premiere Global Services sends these proactive communications via an alerts and notifications system, providing all parties with the necessary information through a variety of delivery options such as SMS, voice, fax or email. The rapid response system results in maintaining positive relations with our customers.
The Alerts and Notifications process includes:
• Augmenting existing incident response process with customized notification processes utilizing company templates in line with regulations.
• Ongoing maintenance and assessment of templates, process improvement, and handling of Personally Identifiable Information.
• If an event occurs, process actual notifications based on usage and chosen communication method.
AB -- 3/21/06
Yesterday, March 15, 2006, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) announced that it has fined Merrill Lynch (ML) $5 million in connection with the brokerage firm's Financial Advisory Center (FAC), a call center operation housed in Hopewell, N.J., and Jacksonville, Fla.
The fine centered around practices within the call center operation in 2001-2004 that gave incentives for representatives to convince customers to switch mutual funds and invest in ML's proprietary products, even if those switches were to the customer's detriment. ML was charged with "supervisory failures" that allowed sales contests with non-cash awards such as tickets to rock concerts and sports events.
The FAC was originally set up as a channel to provide investment services for customers with lower assets (accounts of $100,000 or less) or with lower transaction volumes, so advisors in ML's full-service branch offices could focus on more lucrative clients. ML transferred over a million clients to FAC between March 2001 and August 2002. NASD says FAC was managing $20 billion in 1.3 million accounts at its peak in 2002.
NASD has released an Investor Alert, "Customer Advisory Centers: Not Your Typical Securities Firm Call Center," containing warnings and tips for dealing with sales-oriented investment call centers.
The $5 million fine appears to be a harsh penalty, but to put it in perspective, the FAC's gross revenue was about $210 million just for 2002. The greater damage here might be to Merrill Lynch's reputation and its credibility as a provider of investment services.
And I would even go a step further and say that the damage might easily be extended to the financial services industry in general. Consumers and small investors aren't stupid, at least fewer of them are these days, and they are sick of seeing hard-earned savings go down the drain when a big company goes belly-up because of executive dishonesty or when the bottom drops out of the stock market. And they're not likely to be happy to find that their money ended up in a costly or low-performing fund when something better was easily available.
These days consumers are much more likely to be on guard when communicating with anyone calling himself an investment or financial advisor, consultant or counselor, because often such representatives have a hidden sales agenda and an incentive to push the customer toward certain products. Savvy investors are able to pick up on the nuances. And the less savvy become more savvy after getting burned the first time. All this contributes to an atmosphere of suspicion and cynicism.
A scandal like this over abusive sales practices adds to the atmosphere of distrust in the consumer market for financial services and can contribute to pressures on government for stronger regulation. NASD, which describes itself as a "private-sector provider of financial regulatory services," is an example of the value of industry self-regulation. This kind of self-regulation is essential and probably needs to be even stronger to forestall greater consumer backlash and more restrictive legislation and government enforcement.
AB -- 3/16/06