Using Business Optimization Analytics to Solve Your Critical Contact Center Issues Faster

Transcription

1 Using Business Optimization Analytics to Solve Your Critical Contact Center Issues Faster Authored by Paul Stockford, Chief Analyst SADDLETREE RESEARCH North Scottsdale Road, #475 Scottsdale, AZ Tel: (480) Fax: (480) Website: Provided by

2 Executive Summary The quest for operational improvement in the customer service center is ongoing. Contact center professionals are always seeking ways to improve internal business performance and enhance the customer experience. This goal of constant improvement has been among the most important drivers in the development of technology solutions such as quality management and performance analytics. Among the recent developments in contact center productivity enhancement is Business Optimization Analytics, the process of gaining better insight into business and security issues through the analysis of specific customer interaction recordings. Beyond quality monitoring, which typically provides a small sample of calls for analysis, Business Optimization Analytics is based upon the analysis of the most appropriate and best qualified of 100 percent of all calls as determined by the parameters set by the users. Business optimization analytics rapidly identifies broken business processes, customer issues, and employee training needs with targeted analysis of high-value customer interaction recordings. VPI Fact Finder has been developed to specifically address the challenges of contact center business optimization analytics. Besides recording and categorizing all voice and screen activity at an agent s desktop, VPI Fact Finder provides users with pre-configured application packs that address specific business topics. Designed to work out-of-the-box with minimal setup required by system users and administrators, application packs target identifiable business issues and problems and allow the user to quickly reap the benefits of the business optimization analytics process. Custom applications are available as required by the buyer. VPI Fact Finder has been designed to deliver significant value in a short period of time through the identification of actionable business information and improvement opportunities. Business optimization analytics and VPI Fact Finder are fundamentally changing the way analytics are applied to the customer service process. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 2 of 9

3 Introduction The contact center industry can best be described as an industry on a permanent quest for improvement. Whether minimizing and managing costs, maximizing agent productivity or optimizing business processes, contact center professionals are constantly searching for ways to hone their businesses. The industry s technology suppliers have recognized this need and over the years have created many products that work toward helping their customers identify productivity problems and opportunities in their operations. Many customer service professionals instinctively know when there is a problem in the contact center and have an idea about where the problem originates. Coupled with technology solutions such as performance analytics, speech analytics, and desktop screen analytics, it is often possible to determine the actual business processes responsible for the potential problems. Once problems are identified, it is then up to contact center management to address the affected business process and identify the root cause of the problem. Given the number of activities and volume of data collected, getting to the root cause of a problem can often be a daunting task. Beyond affecting productivity, deviations in business processes can also become a security and legal risk to any operation given today s regulatory environment. Customer-sensitive information must be protected with assurances that this information is not compromised in any way, especially if it becomes part of the evaluation process when business process improvement opportunities have been identified. The Root Cause Quandary While most contact center managers and supervisors understand that finding the root cause of a potential business problem is the key to productivity improvement, they also know that the process of finding that root cause can be a tedious one. Traditional solutions such as quality monitoring rely on the evaluation of a small, random sampling of agent calls to identify problems and search for the causes. Speech analytics analyzes much larger samples of recorded interactions, but is often out of the financial reach of many contact centers. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 3 of 9

4 In both methods of root cause analysis discussed above, considerable resources must be devoted to the process in order to gain the maximum benefit. In today s business environment, the required resources are often not available. For those tasked with identifying and addressing business improvement opportunities, finding the root cause of a business process productivity obstruction can be a lengthy and costly process. Introducing Business Optimization Analytics In order to address the issues discussed in the previous section, VPI has introduced a product that has, by necessity, created a new category of contact center industry solutions Business Optimization Analytics. Business Optimization Analytics refers to the process of gaining better insight into business and security issues through the analysis of specific customer interaction recordings. Beyond quality monitoring, which only records a small percentage of each agent s calls, business optimization analytics is based upon the analysis of the most appropriate and best qualified of 100 percent of the calls as determined by the parameters set by the users. Business optimization analytics rapidly identifies broken business processes, customer issues, and employee training needs with targeted analysis of high-value customer interaction recordings. VPI Fact Finder VPI Fact Finder is VPI s answer to the challenges of business optimization analytics. VPI Fact Finder is a unique software solution that automatically detects screen content events and classifies them for analysis as appropriate. More specific to business content than performance analytics and less expensive and easier to implement and manage than speech analytics, VPI Fact Finder is the latest innovation in technologies for the monitoring and improvement of contact center operations, business performance, and customer experience. VPI Fact Finder uses desktop analytics to identify events and data from an agent s desktop screen and tags them within the context of the recorded transaction. Recorded interactions are then automatically sorted and classified based upon the key business issue targeted. Examples of business issues to be All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 4 of 9

5 targeted include customer churn, first contact resolution, hold time, product issues, multiple transfers, escalations, up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, etc. Once the sorted recordings have been presented to the appropriate manager, the manager can filter and further refine the search criteria based upon any combination of telephony and business data. The manager then reviews the calls most qualified to provide the insights that he or she is seeking. These focused efforts allow for the rapid address of any strengths or weaknesses in operational effectiveness and customer service. VPI Application Packs In order to better focus the implementation of VPI Fact Finder, VPI has developed a series of preconfigured application packs that target specific business topics. These application packs target predefined metrics which are collected and aggregated in fact tables for use in dashboard widgets, tickers, scorecards and business reports. As illustrated in Figure 1 below, VPI Application Packs present actionable information in a format that is efficient in layout and precise in detail. Widgets can be created and customized to display VPI Fact Finder metrics captured by each VPI Application Pack. Figure 1: Example of VPI Actionable Information Presented in Dashboard Widgets Source: VPI Figure 2 presents an example of the type of information presented in VPI Fact Finder always on desktop tickers. Data and event metrics from desktop applications can be displayed to managers and agents in near-real time along with other important ACD, dialer, quality assurance and workforce management metrics. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 5 of 9

6 Figure 2: Example of VPI Actionable Information Presented in Desktop Tickers Pre-configured application packs are available for the following business topics: Order Management; Account Management; Case Management; PCI Compliance Management; Incident Management. Source: VPI VPI application packs are designed to be used out of the box; however, expansion of the performance metrics beyond those provided is possible. Customization of application packs can be arranged through VPI Professional Services. Resolving Security and Compliance Issues As previously mentioned in this paper, today s legal and regulatory environment dictates a heightened need for security compliance. VPI Fact Finder is an ideal solution for ensuring the protection of customer sensitive information. Whenever customer sensitive information is entered into an agent s desktop application, extra security precautions against unauthorized access are deployed. VPI Fact Finder monitors the events when an agent enters or accesses specific data fields within his or her desktop screen. As illustrated in Figure 3, VPI automatically marks the section of an interaction where customer sensitive data is being discussed and categorizes the call as sensitive and restricted. While the call and screen activity continues to be recorded for review as required, access to sensitive customer data is limited at the user level. VPI Fact Finder provides the flexibility to either delete the entire file or mute and mask the portions of audio and screen video containing sensitive information. Management can be assured that any restricted information is protected. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 6 of 9

7 Figure 3: S creen E xample of VP I F act F inder s Ability to Detect S ens itive or R es tricted Information Analytics Made Actionable Source: VPI VPI Fact Finder makes analytics actionable with several powerful built-in, fully automated capabilities based on user-defined rules built around Key Performance Indicator (KPI) thresholds, including: Key Metrics Distributed to Employee Desktop Tickers, Scorecards and Web Dashboard Reports VPI Fact Finder delivers accurate intelligence, such as the number of successful sales or collections attempts and values, as well as the number of repeat interactions and FCR in the right context to executives, managers, supervisors and agents, thus enabling operational problems to be resolved quickly. VPI s flexible, consolidated reporting tools offer a means to improvement in targeted metrics and business processes. VPI provides a convenient, single point of reporting across all agents, departments and programs. Assignment of Targeted Coaching, elearning Content and Quizzes to Close Agent Skill Gaps VPI enables the distribution of targeted, self-paced training to agents based on performance gaps without impacting call handling or service levels. Additionally, VPI integrates with most major workforce management systems to optimize training delivery during scheduled, slow or idle times. Targeted Delivery of Proactive Early Warning Alerts and Notifications Early warning alerts can easily be created based on pre-defined thresholds to automatically notify individuals or teams of negative outcomes or trends. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 7 of 9

8 Issues of Critical Importance Targeted VPI Fact Finder is designed to address the issues that are of critical importance to the majority of contact centers. These critically important issues include: First Contact Resolution VPI Fact Finder automatically identifies repeat interactions with the same case or incident identification, or repeat contacts from the same customer for the same reason. These interactions are automatically assembled for analysis based upon the application screens entered or the reason codes selected by the agent. Customer Experience and Retention VPI Fact Finder automatically assembles all interactions for evaluation. Users can evaluate effectively a customer s entire cradle-to-grave experience across multiple communication channels in order to identify any delivery gaps and/or opportunities for improvement. Handle Time Optimization VPI Fact Finder can identify opportunities for handle time improvement by uncovering the call types, processes and policies that are unnecessarily increasing handle time and wasting valuable resources. VPI Fact Finder accomplishes this by identifying the beginning and end of key segments within the call handling and after-call wrap process based upon the screens and fields within applications accessed by the agent. It is then possible to identify the root cause of service inhibitors such as inadequate training, poorly designed knowledge management systems, long hold times, multiple holds, and unnecessary transfers with the end result being improvement in average handle time (AHT). Sales and Collections Optimization VPI Fact Finder identifies best practice sales and collections tactics of exemplary interactions and high value interactions. Coaching and training on these best practices will assist managers in closing agent skill gaps. Conclusion The goal of maximizing operational efficiency is universal across contact centers of all sizes, yet solutions for reaching this operational objective have been out of reach for many organizations. Whether the barrier lies in financial, resource or other internal or external factors, many contact centers have been unable to achieve the comprehensive monitoring and analytics program that they desire. VPI Fact Finder breaks through these barriers with a business optimization analytics solution that is affordable and minimizes demands on other contact center resources via the use of pre-configured VPI Application Packs. With nominal training requirements and automated workflows, VPI Fact Finder All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 8 of 9

9 delivers significant value in a short period of time through the identification of actionable business information and improvement opportunities. VPI Fact Finder is fundamentally changing the way contact centers gather, analyze and apply business intelligence to the customer service profession. About the Author Paul Stockford founded Saddletree Research, Inc. in Saddletree Research provides focused communications industry research, including analysis of market trends, issues, technologies, and companies in the Contact Center industry with special emphasis on emerging technologies and developing markets. An industry analyst for the past 21 years, Paul has also done telecommunications research and analysis at Cahners In-Stat Group, Vanguard Communications and Dataquest. Paul began his telecommunications career with GTE. Paul has authored numerous articles on contact centers and related technologies for several industry journals in the U.S. and abroad, and is a frequent speaker at major industry conferences in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. Since 1993 he has authored monthly columns in such magazines as Call Center, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Interface, Voice+ (U.K.), Enterprise Communications and Voice Processing. In addition, he currently serves as research director for the non-profit National Association of Call Centers (NACC) at The University of Southern Mississippi. About VPI VPI (Voice Print International, Inc.) is the premier provider of interaction recording and analytics, quality management and workforce optimization solutions for contact centers, enterprises and emergency service providers. Through its award-winning VPI EMPOWER TM suite of solutions, VPI empowers organizations to proactively improve the customer experience, increase workforce performance, ensure compliance, minimize risk and align tactical and strategic objectives across the enterprise. VPI EMPOWER leverages VPI Fact Finder, a ground-breaking desktop screen analytics technology that automatically detects events and data directly from application screens being used by employees and tags them to appropriate points within recorded interactions. This enables automated classification and more meaningful, targeted analysis focused on key business issues, such as customer churn, first contact resolution, missed up-sell opportunities, product issues, handle time optimization, and much more. For more than a decade, VPI has been providing proven technology and superior service to more than 1,300 customers in 50 countries worldwide. For more information, visit or contact VPI at All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2010 Saddletree Research, Inc. and Voice Print International, Inc. Page 9 of 9