New technologies are not passive — they are changing customer expectations, causing reallocations of resources, creating power shifts in organizations, and changing the responsibilities of agents and managers. The best contact centers identify the technologies that further the mission of the organization, and they implement them with the necessary foresight, planning and training. They also recognize that an important (according …
    
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Contact centers that consistently get the best results view the operation as a total process. This viewpoint takes many forms: Ensure that everyone in the contact center, and those with key supporting roles outside the center, have a basic understanding of how contact centers operate. Recognize the process to be where most quality problems occur — and also where the opportunities …
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Contact center measurements are plentiful and it’s easy to get buried in information. The contact centers that get the best results from using their reports and information have several things in common: They focus on a relatively small number of measures and objectives that support their mission and direction. They know that trying to focus on too many things is …
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Effective planning is a central theme in the best contact centers. A major objective of good planning is to get the right number of skilled people and supporting resources in place at the right times, doing the right things. But systematic planning accomplishes more than that. It also improves communication and culture in the following ways: Creating a body of …
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One of the most critical — and difficult — aspects of managing a contact center is to provide services that satisfy changing consumer demands. Those who fall behind pay a brutal price: dissatisfied customers, insufficient support from the organization and low morale in the contact center. But those who stay ahead of the curve enjoy strong customer loyalty and the …
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Cultures vary dramatically from one organization to the next. You’d likely notice some hairstyles that you don’t see every day at some tech contact centers. Some centers who cater to a younger workforce have break room amenities, such as video game consoles, that put most others to shame. Other centers, especially those who serve business customers, maintain a somewhat more …
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Characteristic #2: They Have a Supporting Culture Culture — the inveterate principles or values of the organization — tends to guide behavior, and can either support and further or, as some have learned the hard way, ruin the best-laid plans for organizational change. While there is no guaranteed formula for creating a supporting culture, many seasoned managers agree that shaping …
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In some organizations, you can feel the energy as soon as you walk in the door. It takes many forms: pride of workmanship, a feeling of community, good planning, coordination and the willingness to make the “extra effort.” Everybody knows what the mission is and everybody is pulling in the same direction. The contact center “clicks.” While there are a …
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Many contact centers have been through consolidations or restructurings that are really just cleanup efforts for lack of having or using an effective customer access strategy. For example, I recall helping an insurance company with agent group “consolidation.” Their sales team would sell an account to a major client and, if pressed by the prospect, would agree to provide a …
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The very forces that are making scheduling difficult — more complex products and services, additional contact channels, faster pace of change, and the need for diverse agent skills — are creating an environment in which accurate scheduling is absolutely essential. Fortunately, scheduling is a process that can be learned and continuously improved. You get better at it with practice! We’ve …
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