Table of Contents. Metrics That Matter Page 6. Interactions Recording Page 6. Automated Call Quality Evaluation Page 7. Performance Analytics Page 8

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2 Tble of Contents Mking the Business Cse Pge 3 Business Cse Versus ROI Model Pge 3 Key Business Strtegies Pge 3 Preprtion Pge 4 Understnd Expenses Pge 4 Cost Svings Pge 5 Revenue Gins Pge 5 Investment Cost Pge 6 Metrics Tht Mtter Pge 6 Interctions Recording Pge 6 Automted Cll Qulity Evlution Pge 7 Performnce Anlytics Pge 8 Trining nd Coching Pge 10 Prepring the Anlysis Pge 11 Architecture nd Economics Pge 13 Service Oriented Architecture Pge 13 Stndrds-Bsed Design Pge 13 Centrlized or Distributed Pge 13 Migrtion to VoIP Pge 13 Suite, Point, or Both Pge 13 Summry Pge 14 About the Author Pge 14 About Pelorus Group Pge 14 About VPI Pge 14

3 Mking the Business Cse You hve delt with opertionl nd qulity chllenges, done your reserch, nd know its time to modernize your contct center(s). This mens dding some new workforce optimiztion (WFO) pplictions nd upgrding or replcing others, such s voice nd screen recording, cll qulity mngement, performnce mngement, electronic lerning nd coching, nd speech nlytics. You hve n ide of vilble options nd costs. Now it s time to zero-in on the most pproprite technology nd sk mngement for the money. This mens prepring cpitl funds pproprition. ROI, NPV, nd IRR re not the KPI s tht contct center mngement is ccustomed to using. This is never fun but no business function gets pss these dys, no mtter how mission-criticl. Most businesses nd growing number of non-profits require business cse before pproving substntil cpitl investments. This cn be lot of work, but it s lso chnce to shine. Think of yourself s n entrepreneur going before venture cpitlist to request funding. The entrepreneur s presenttion includes numbers, but does not stop there. It s s much bout ides nd vision s sles nd profit projections. Business Cse versus ROI Model A business cse should not be confused with n ROI model. Mngement looks t the numbers nd they lso look behind the numbers to see if the nlysis is solid nd to ssess how well the proposed investment fits with the broder of gols of the orgniztion. These gols include cost control nd revenue growth, but they lso include customer stisfction, customer retention, employee loylty, nd other chllenges fced by tody s business orgniztions. The business cse cptures ll the resons to mke n investment in contct center workforce optimiztion (WFO) pplictions, while the ROI model only presents the reltionship between the cpitl investment nd finncil benefit of tht investment. Key Business Strtegies A good plce to strt is to list the key strtegies of your orgniztion nd the mny wys your proposed investment will contribute to the success of these strtegies. Business strtegies re the reflection of n orgniztion s understnding of its strengths nd weknesses nd the best utiliztion of its potentil to mximize opportunities nd minimize risk. Mny of tody s orgniztions formulte their business strtegies round objectives such s: Differentite bsed on superior customer service nd stisfction Expnd orgniclly in existing business ctegories Develop new business Expnd mrgins Think of yourself s n entrepreneur going before venture cpitlist to request funding. The entrepreneur s presenttion includes numbers, but does not stop there. It s s much bout ides nd vision s sles nd profit projections. Since the contct center is the customer-fcing frontline of n orgniztion, it mkes direct contribution to the execution of these strtegies, with mesurble impct. Exmples include: Differentition bsed on superior customer service nd stisfction Develop correltions between customer stisfction levels, repurchse levels, QA scores, nd selected KPIs to better understnd which fctors drive customer delight. Implement customer stisfction trcking systems Identify, nlyze, nd replicte success Develop new metrics for mesuring the strength of customer reltionships Implement n gent incentive progrm bsed on customer reltionship metrics like stisfction scores nd retention rtes Implement nlytics to monitor customer ssessments of the competitive lndscpe Expnding orgniclly in existing business ctegories Anlyze effectiveness of ll ctive cmpigns nd perform root cuse nlysis where pproprite Initite n outbound cmpign to existing customers, lerting them to new products/promotions Follow-up with personlized emils thnking customers for recent orders Revise the script to mke sure every gent sks questions tht led to up-sell opportunities Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

4 Developing New Business Develop specilized scripts for new services or products Provide specil trining on new products nd new trget customers Enble nd encourge cross-selling between product lines Route clls from the most importnt customers to the most skilled gents Expnding Mrgins Improve productivity t both Agent nd Mngement levels Speed up hndling time nd first contct resolution by consolidting the views gents need to see nd utomting business processes Use technology to utomte reports Reduce nd simplify IVR menu options Implement skills-bsed cll routing nd scheduling Ech of these ctions could involve dditionl investments in cll routing, CRM, IVR, interction recording, workforce mngement, nlytics nd elerning. For exmple, orgniztions tht hve implemented Activ! Performnce Optimiztion softwre from VPI Corportion hve found tht their investment hs resulted in significnt svings while lso supporting the compny s growth nd customer cre objectives. Preprtion Itemizing how your proposed investment supports the gols of the orgniztion is the most criticl first step. This step goes hnd in hnd with justifiction of the investment s cost. Your proposl will be judged ginst others ll of which will show lofty py-offs. No deprtment is going to submit cpitl funding request tht shows n unfvorble return. Build on your dvntge the contct center hs better bck-up dt, llowing you to present more defensible business cse. You need to identify nd vlue (1) the cost svings, (2) the revenue gins, nd (3) the investment costs. Understnding Expenses In the contct center, costs fll into one of three ctegories: lbor, fcilities, nd overhed. Lbor The cost per hour for ech employee clssifiction, including benefits. You multiply this number by the hours worked to determine totl lbor costs. Lbor costs need to be verged by lbor clssifiction to clculte the verge cost per hour for mngers, supervisors, tem leders, nlysts, QA specilists, triners, gents nd others tht my be on the pyroll or otherwise chrged to the contct center like HR triners, IT support, nd outsourcers. Lbor is the lrgest budget item, ccounting for percent of nnul expenditures. Itemizing how your proposed investment supports the gols of the orgniztion is the most criticl first step. This step goes hnd in hnd with justifiction of the investment s cost. Your proposl will be judged ginst others ll of which will show lofty py-offs. Fcilities Fcilities costs cover ll the hrdwre, softwre, utilities, nd externl services required to operte the contct center. The lrgest components will be voice nd dt services, deprecition on invested infrstructure, nd softwre license fees. This ctegory would lso include incidentl office expenses. Fcilities re the smllest prt of the totl contct center budget, ccounting for percent of totl budget. Overhed The contct enter budget will include chrge for corporte overherd. Overhed covers everything tht cnnot be redily ssigned to specific deprtments. Exmples re corporte stff slries, electricity, wter, nd building mintennce. Overhed will run percent of totl budget nd is n uncontrollble expense. Unless otherwise specified by your finnce deprtment, overhed should not be considered in your finncil justifiction models. The expense ctegories you will be most concerned with re lbor nd fcilities. In some cses, where orgniztions hve committed to policy of energy conservtion, you will wnt to consider the cost of electricity to run your servers, worksttions, rederbords, nd other power-hungry devices. It is very importnt to know differentil lbor costs since WFO investments impct different employee clsses. Interction recording systems, for exmple, hve no meningful cost impct on gent lbor, Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

5 but do produce svings in terms of supervisor nd QA specilist time. It is lso essentil to know how much time is spent performing specific tsks, such s mnully creting workforce schedules, coching gents, ttending trining sessions, crfting emils, or prepring reports. Some orgniztions keep time sheets or use outside experts to perform time studies to get this informtion. Cost Svings Cost svings my be direct or indirect. Direct svings result from reduced gent hours to provide the sme level of customer cre, perhps s result of more efficient scheduling or utomted workflows. Lower network services costs my result from new technology, lower holding times, nd fster cll hndling. Indirect svings include cost voidnce nd productivity gins. Cost voidnce occurs when plnned cost increses re mitigted due to new technology or new work processes. An exmple of cost voidnce is the purchse of n integrted suite of pplictions tht shre common pltform. In this event, softwre upgrdes nd dt bse chnges re dministered simultneously to ll pplictions, voiding the cost of mintining seprte relese schedules, duplicte dt entries, nd mnul merging of seprte reports. Another exmple of cost voidnce is risk mitigtion. There re mny lws nd regultions governing privcy, outbound clling, mndtory disclosures, nd lbor lws. Applictions like fulltime interction recording, script uthoring, nd workforce mngement softwre help insure ginst violtions nd provide n udit tril to prove or disprove chrges. Productivity gins ccrue when more work gets done with the sme or lower level of lbor units. An exmple is the replcement of mnul qulity monitoring systems, such s side-by-side gent monitoring, with utomted recording nd retrievl systems. The investment in utomted recording mens supervisors will be ble to evlute more gents in the sme or less time nd hve more time vilble to spend working oneon-one to more effectively coch gents. Exmples of Cost Sving Benefits: Reductions in hed count Reduced turnover nd the consequent lower cost of recruitment nd trining Reduced costs for voice nd dt services Revenue Gins Revenue gins my lso be direct or indirect. Agents engged in outbound clling, up-selling, nd cross-selling generte direct revenue. In environments like direct mrketing, reservtions, enrollment, nd debt collection, the vlue of the contct center contribution cn esily be mesured. However, in most contct centers, gents do not hve the uthority to ctully tke orders. They cn nd should probe for selling opportunities, but the qulified leds must then be turned over to individuls with the proper uthority to negotite terms nd ccept orders. The contct center lso genertes indirect revenue by tking ctions tht reduce customer defections. This is especilly importnt in the wireless industry where the churn rte cn be s high s 30 percent nnully. It cn cost $300 or more to replce lost customer. Preserving tht customer perhps by providing gents with more comprehensive customer dt nd empowering them to mke modest concessions not only sves the time nd cost of replcing the lost customer but preserves the lifetime vlue of tht customer. Customer lifetime vlue (CLV) is concept gining recognition in the industry. CLV clcultes the full strem of revenue tht loyl customer genertes over the period of time tht they remin customers. The presumption is tht highly stisfied ( delighted ) customers will remin customers for longer period of time. Exmples of Revenue Gins Higher collections rte Direct sles through inbound orders Increses in verge order size Up-selling nd cross selling Higher re-purchse rtes Reduced costs of internl or externl IT support Avoidnce of fines nd potentilly costly litigtion Better utiliztion of mngement personnel New ccounts Customer retention levels Leds generted Top box customer stisfction Our Agents benefited from it s well. Employees now hve the bility to not just listen to, but wtch their cll nd mke immedite improvements! Esy extrction of recorded clls llows us to send btches to our clients s well with little to no preprtion nd overll mintennce of the pplictions re quick nd efficient. In pproximtely one yer s time, we hve hd no mjor gps or rodblocks while using this tool. As our business grows, so does our demnd for the more in depth fetures VPI offers. Dt retrievl, offsite storge nd form utomtion re ll items currently being explored or implemented. In short, it ws the right purchse for our business. - Cole Helmer QA nd Trining Mnger Arvto Services Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

6 Investment Cost You will need to know the totl cost of ownership (TCO) over the useful life of the investment. This includes the cost of front-end engineering nd trining, the initil softwre cost, the ongoing mintennce fee fter the wrrnty, expected cost nd frequency of system upgrdes, lbor expenses of dedicted personnel to dminister the system, nd the cost of internl IT support. There my lso be dditionl costs for infrstructure, such s servers, worksttions, dt storge systems, system security, operting system upgrdes, nd internl wiring. Depending on the policies of your finnce deprtment, you my lso hve to ssess deprecition chrge to the items tht re cpitlized. Exmples of Investment Costs Cost to prepre RFQs Cost to evlute vendor proposls Front-end engineering to identify needs nd expecttions Acquisition of servers, worksttions, nd other hrdwre required to support the new ppliction Instlltion of softwre, including dt bse entry, progrmming, nd testing Metrics tht Mtter We sid erlier tht the contct center hs significnt dvntge over most other deprtments tht re lso lobbying for scrce investment cpitl. You hve the dt to prove your cse. However, this dt is only useful if it is expressed in wy tht is directly pertinent to investment decisions. ACDs generte hundreds of sttistics but no ACD cn report cost per cll, cost per chnnel, revenue per cll, customer stisfction, cost to recruit nd trin n gent, customer retention, or customer lifetime vlue to cite just few. Collecting these metrics tht mtter is n ongoing chllenge. Modern performnce mngement softwre does the hevy lifting for you by scooping dt from enterprise dt bses nd contct center support systems nd mssging the informtion so tht it comes out just s you wnt to see it. Interctions Recording Vendor trining costs Initil license fee Post-wrrnty service contrct Anticipted cost of future softwre upgrdes Cost of internl IT support Cost to mnge nd dminister the ppliction Cost of cpitl VPI ws the only vendor tht could meet our specific customers requirements nd within the tight timefrme s well. No other vendor ws ble to provide n integrted nd ll-encompssing solution like VPI could. They provided 100 percent IP voice nd dt cpture, semlessly nd smoothly, nd lso met our customers remote dt storge requirements. - Mtthew Chow IT Infrstructure Mnger Arvto Services The two min purposes of interction recording systems re to llow mngement to review nd evlute the qulity of gent interctions nd to provide bsis for determining complince with regultions nd corporte policies. Some systems re designed to cpture only smll portion of interctions. Others cn cpture nd rchive nything from frction to ll interctions, using built-in intelligence to determine which clls to record nd retin. Although ll recording systems provide the bsic functions of cpture, storge, nd retrievl, they vry considerbly in terms of design rchitecture, technology, ese-of-use, chnnels recorded, cost, nd specil fetures. An exmple of n importnt technology distinction is how the systems process VoIP clls. From the perspective of business user, recording cll sent over IP or trditionl TDM lines should be no different, relting clls to specific gents nd business events, no mtter how mny different phone systems nd loctions re involved. Aprt from providing for ll this, the ltest-genertion recording systems re cpble of hndling high-volume of VoIP trffic in very efficient mnner, minimizing the impct on your network. The benefits gined from these systems is further expnded when they provide for Web-bsed ccess nd tight integrtion with other performnce optimiztion pplictions. Specil fetures include the bility to record screen ctions simultneously with voice in both the TDM nd VoIP relms nd the bility to quickly nd esily drill down to specific interctions bsed on business sttistics from performnce nlytics. Another exmple is embedded evlution forms. This speeds nd simplifies the evlution process nd llows for more meningful nlysis. Since recordings cn nd should be used for evlutor clibrtion, the resulting qulity evlution cn Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 be much more objective. With integrted cll recording nd qulity evlution, it becomes more difficult for gents to chllenge the subjective judgments of evlutors, which would invribly led to unproductive disputes, time losses, nd growing gent turnover. The gent qulity scores become dt points from which trend nlyses cn be prepred nd relted to specific events. For exmple, did gent scores improve fter trining sessions? The most dvnced systems lso include n option to nlyze speech. This enbles mngers to serch for specific words, phrses nd events to ctegorize interctions nd zoom in on the best clls to plybck in order to explore business opportunities or nlyze filing cmpigns. For exmple, how mny people referred to specific cmpign incentive when they clled nd wht did they sy? If your contct center is mong the 40 percent tht do not currently deploy n utomted cll recording systems, then the business cse must estblish the qulittive nd quntittive benefits of the utomted system compred to mnul systems like silent monitoring or tpe recorders. Following re some exmples of how recording systems contribute to profitbility nd revenue growth: Finncil Benefits of Interctions Recording Cost Svings Revenue Enhncement Lbor Productivity Other Direct Indirect Reduced inctivity between clls Improved work processes Model clls s teching ids Reduced legl fees Reduced complince/litigtion risk No need to replce tpes Reduced hndle time Automted Cll Qulity Evlution Qulity monitoring is vitl function for ny contct center. As prt of differentition strtegy tht builds on commitment to superior customer service, qulity monitoring relly gets down to the bsic purpose of the contct center: ssuring tht customers re provided with the qulity of cre they both expect nd deserve. The contct center hs significnt dvntge over most other deprtments tht re lso lobbying for scrce investment cpitl. You hve the dt to prove your cse. However, this dt is only useful if it is expressed in wy tht is directly pertinent to investment decisions. While utomtion is key best prctice for qulity monitoring, only two thirds (66 percent) of contct centers currently hve n utomted qulity monitoring system (QMS) in plce. Of those without QMS system, nerly three qurters (74.6 percent) indicted lck of funds s the reson (The Benchmrk Portl). Without utomted qulity monitoring, however, there re costs of lost opportunities to be considered. Contct centers often hve limited resources to perform tedious direct observtion, mnul recording, storing, rchiving nd retrieving of customer interction dt. When supervisors tie up their time this wy, they re unble to devote ttention to other importnt functions, such s trgeted trining. Without n utomted system, supervisors or qulity ssurnce specilists re forced to spend hours of unproductive time listening to clls or ded silence witing for cochble interctions tht cn be scored. Subsequently, they only spend s little s 10 percent of their time ctully reviewing nd evluting clls. And even with ll the time investment tht goes into looking for the cll to be evluted, the results re rrely objective. Agents often don t perform nturlly when they re wre of being directly observed; mny will either perform unchrcteristiclly well or flter under the pressure. This cn be solved by remote monitoring, but even tht hs downside: there s no tngible record of the cll for lter use in gent disputes or s coching tool. A contct center tht uses n utomted qulity monitoring system, on the other hnd, cn utilize best prctices for ensuring tht gents represent the center consistently, re properly trined, nd re efficiently using their knowledge. With the ltest-genertion qulity monitoring systems, best prctices re lredy built in supervisors cn effectively review ny number of contcts in timefrmes tht fit their schedules, nd without ded time. 7 There is no need to wste time by mnully crunching numbers up-to-the-minute reports nd sttistics re 2010 Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

8 ccessible t ny time. This lso llows for delegtion of the QA function to QA specilists, which lowers lbor costs nd frees up supervisors to provide feedbck, coching, trining, nd to hndle esclted clls. Selected vendors, such s VPI, provide QA evlution nd trcking systems tht cn scle well, llowing even the smller centers to enter utomted qulity monitoring t resonble price tht buys incresed supervisor productivity (typiclly 30 to 50 percent), incresed QA productivity over live monitoring (up to70 percent), in ddition to reduced turnover due to more objective performnce ssessments. Since the most significnt direct svings ccrue from incresed supervisor productivity, let s explore this re further. In best cse scenrio, without n utomted system, which ssumes tht every cll is cochble, supervisors will be ble to score two clls per hour. More relisticlly, the supervisor will evlute nd score three clls every two hours per gent or 1.5 clls per hour. If the gol is five evlutions per month per gent, 200-gent contct center will likely spend over 660 supervisor hours per month just doing evlutions. Tht s the equivlent of four full-time supervisors. If the verge hourly compenstion (including benefits) ws $35.00/hour, tht s monthly cost of $23,100. If n utomted system reduced tht time by 50 percent, the contct center would sve over $138,600 nnully. The ltest-genertion Cll Qulity Evlution systems leverge integrted recording nd nlytics for the utomted selection of most pertinent clls for evlution eliminte unproductive supervisor nd evlutor time. With tools for intelligent, utomted, business-focused selection of cll recordings, mngement lso gins the opportunity to locte nd use the most cochble interctions s teching exmples. VPI s solutions offer the cpbility of cpturing ll interctions with retroctive rndom or intelligent, rules-bsed selection for evlution. This results in substntil productivity increses for QA stff. Combined with the benefit of intuitive nd esily customizble cll qulity evlution tools, VPI s customers typiclly see further QA productivity increses. With these systems, you cn focus your qulity mngement efforts by selecting the most meningful interction recordings for evlutions bsed on specific compny objectives, leverging integrted pplictions. You cn evlute bsed on rel-time performnce mngement notifictions of incresed or decresed up-sell performnce, frequency of specific topic or phrse detected nd reported vi speech nlytics, or customer stisfction issue identified by post-cll IVR customer surveying. Finncil Benefits of Automted Cll Qulity Evlution Cost Svings Revenue Enhncement Improved ccurcy of performnce ssessment Fster, more efficient evlutions Fster ccess to reports Ability to evlute more clls Delegtion of monitoring function Improved work processes Lower gent turnover More time for coching Lbor Productivity Other Direct Indirect Reduced hndle time Performnce Anlytics Performnce nlytics empowers mngement to ccess, bsorb, nd ct on dt more quickly. With multiple missions, contct centers cn no longer rely on KPIs nd other informtion generted by the utomtic cll distributor nd relted support subsystems. Informtion must come from multiple dt bses nd devices. For exmple, if the objective is to grow revenue, then the contct center needs to know how much revenue is being generted in whole or in prt from the gent pool nd mesure this by gent nd by time unit. If the gol is cost reduction, then it is necessry to understnd the cost of processing cll through vrious chnnels. No ACD or workforce mngement system knows wht revenue or costs re relted to contct center interctions. The dt resides elsewhere in the orgniztion. Now, we pull up the right cll instntly, reply it to the customer, nd if the cll proves tht they were wre of the chrge, they understnd tht we cnnot offer refund. Insted of ngry yelling, we re now hering n pology. - Angel Elchepp Customer Service Mnger Tony Hoffmn Productions Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

9 Performnce nlytics (PA) softwre scoops dt from vrious sources, sets it side in centrl DtMrt, unifies it so it cn be extrcted nd mnipulted, then presents it to gents nd mngers in the form nd chnnel tht best stimultes improved performnce. Performnce nlytics softwre is invluble for cpturing nd reporting expense nd revenue dt. One of the gretest dvntges is the bility to mke fster nd more effective decisions tht result from hving rel-time ccess to the informtion. The most immedite nd most esily mesured benefit is shrp reduction in verge hndle time. The softwre reduces hndle time in two wys. First, consolidting the informtion tht gents need into vriety of views reduces the time it would otherwise hve tken to wde through multiple dt bses nd Web sites nd log in nd out of seprte pplictions. The other wy PA reduces hndle time is through pre-configured workflows. Another importnt money sver is utomting the reporting process. By some estimtes, supervisors spend s much s 30 percent of their time prepring reports. Go bck to the exmple of mesuring the revenue contribution of the contct center. Customer sles dt my reside in n ccounting or sles utomtion ppliction. Supervisors or full-time nlysts hve to look up the needed informtion in vrious reports (which my or my not be immeditely vilble) then mnully enter the dt into spredsheets in order to build revenue per gent or cost per contct metric. This is time tht could otherwise be spent in trining nd coching gents. Mnul reporting involves completing complex spredsheets bsed on dt from vrious contct center support systems nd enterprise dt bses. Performnce nlytics clcultes the vrious mesurements (for exmple, cost per cll), nd displys grphicl tbles tht show rel-time performnce. The softwre spotlights significnt devitions tht need immedite ttention. Although it s hrd to quntify, perhps the most importnt contribution is the more informed decisionmking tht results from hving ll this informtion redily vilble. If, for exmple, there is service level problem in the Denver contct center, mngers get n lert or emil messge. The mnger cn then drill down to find out the cuse perhps there is problem with the network, ttendnce is down becuse of bd wether, or trining session ws erroneously scheduled during pek clling period. Once the cuse hs been identified, mngers cn then tke the pproprite ctions, like notifying home gents to login or deflecting more clls to contct center tht is experiencing low trffic. Lcking this centrlized depot of informtion it could hve tken mny hours of phone clls nd nlysis of ppliction-specific reports to get to the root of the problem. Cse Study - HouseVlues Finncil Benefits of Performnce Anlytics Cost Svings Revenue Enhncement Lbor Productivity Other Direct Indirect Consolidted informtion Presenttion of Metrics tht Mtter Automted reporting Integrted workflows Centrlized messging Rel-time lerts for fster decisionmking Drill-down to identify cuses Fster cll processing Higher first-contct resolution HouseVlues genertes 100 percent of its revenues through telephone contct. The primry contct center is locted t the hed office in Kirklnd, WA (suburb of Settle) with stellite center in Ykim, WA. Account Executives mke outbound clls to sell rel estte gents on HouseVlues services. Bruce Allison, Cll Center Opertions Mnger, determined tht the biggest obstcle Customer Cse Study: VPI s customer Tony Hoffmn Productions is good exmple. In ddition to the monetry losses tht resulted from the inefficiency of the previous recording system, Tony Hoffmn Productions ws wre of the high price of n overworked, underutilized QA deprtment. Becuse the old system could only gurntee ccess to clls recorded the dy before nd couldn t differentite between clls bsed on outcome, QA supervisors were listening to between clls per dy, nd mny were sttic nd silent. VPI s system completely chnged this process. Tody, the QA stff is only listening to the clls tht resulted in sle nd those where sles were ttempted unsuccessfully. All clls re recorded, tgged, nd stored, llowing for the flexibility to serch nd reply. This gives the QA stff time to mke determintions bout clls nd evlute them Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

10 hindering contct center productivity ws the difficulty in getting timely nd comprehensive reports. Creting performnce reports nd clculting incentive ernings ment hours downloding cll sttistics into Excel then sorting nd reformtting the informtion lot of work to get the reports they needed. The ACD dt hd to be mnully merged with dt from the sles utomtion system nd pyroll to figure out how much revenue ech gent ws generting so incentive pyments could be ccurtely clculted. Bruce hd herd some good things bout VPI. VPI produces VPI PERFORMANCE, unique ppliction tht combines mny of the fetures of nlytics, e-lerning, performnce mngement nd CRM. The VPI PERFORMANCE softwre gives gents the informtion they need to mesure their own performnce ginst set trgets nd mke immedite self-improvements. The Activ! Intelligence Suite consists of three powerful modules Anlytics, elerning nd Messging. HouseVlues piloted the VPI PERFORMANCE for four months. At the conclusion of the tril they observed substntil improvements in the time it required to prepre reports nd in contct center effectiveness: Svings of nine hours per month in prepring mnul reports Svings of 15 hours per month in verifying time sheets Svings of 15.5 hours per month in reporting trcked sles leds to AEs. Svings of six hours per month in prepring specil sles reports for mrketing deprtment Account executives gined n dditionl 40 minutes per dy to spend generting new business nd they used it well. For one of the test tems, revenue climbed 22 percent over the control group. 13 percent gin in certifiction sles reported by one of two tems. Helped reduce bndoned clls by 50 percent; Collections were up substntilly due lrgely to the 50 percent drop in bndonment Trining nd Coching Trining nd coching is the most importnt prt of the supervisor s job. It is lso very costly. Recruiting nd initil trining typiclly costs $3,000 to $15,000 per gent (or more) depending on the nture of the contct center nd the types of gents needed. Centers requiring specil skills like technicl support or multilingulism will be t the higher end of the scle. All contct centers experience higher thn desired ttrition rtes. Assuming the contct center hs 200 gents, experiences 30 percent nnul ttrition, nd spends $4,000 to recruit nd trin ech new gent, the nnul cost to mintin the gent pool will be $240,000 per yer. This does not tke into ccount fryed customer reltions nd lost sles opportunities ttributble to inexperienced gents nd the demnds on supervisor time spent trying to get new people up to speed. While best prctices dictte tht supervisors should spend percent of their time coching nd developing gents, few if ny chieve tht lofty gol. Supervisors re chllenged just to keep up with chnges in products, prices, business processes, prepring reports, nd ttending meetings. Best prctices lso cll for one supervisor for every 15 gents. This low rtio is rrely chieved, which further reduces the time ech supervisor hs for individul coching. In perfectly run contct center coching occurs in rel-time, t the moment tht cochble event occurs. The supervisor runs to the gent s side or picks up remote phone nd intercepts the cll herself to rescue potentilly difficult sitution. In fct, supervisors report tht significnt mount of time my pss between the occurrence of n gent ction tht requires coching nd the time the coching ctully hppens. In the mentime, the opportunity to hve rel impct is lost nd the gent continues to deliver the sme sub-pr performnce. Purchsers of VPI s recording nd qulity monitoing pltforms report supervisor productivity gins of 30 to 50 percent nd qulity ssurnce productivity increses over live monitoring of up to 70 percent Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

11 Finncil Benefits of Electronic Lerning nd Coching Fewer forml clsses more time on the phones Reduced need for dedicted triners Reduction in herding fctor Reduction in pper drops Cost Svings Revenue Enhncement Lbor Productivity Other Direct Indirect More timely nd effective coching Shorter nd less frequent forml trining sessions More effective gent development Incresed sles per gent Lower dministrtive costs Improved bility to ssess trining effectiveness Electronic trining nd coching re best used s djuncts to live trining, not complete substitutes. Only live triners cn nswer questions nd provide the motivtionl sprk to encourge trinees to immeditely implement their new knowledge. However, there re mny instnces when electronic tools cn do the job s effectively nd in some cses more effectively thn live triners nd t frction of the cost. Good exmples re updtes of new informtion, such s new product fetures, pricing, nd internl procedures nd reinforcement of more conceptul lerning like turning service clls into sles opportunities. Agents re tested right fter the trining to ssure tht the messge got cross. The more dvnced systems re tightly integrted with qulity monitoring nd workforce mngement systems to mke sure the trining ppers on the gent desktop when the gent hs both the need for specific lerning nd the time to tke the course. Contct centers tht hve implemented electronic lerning report cutting both the number nd durtion of forml sessions in hlf. There is no need to tke lrge numbers of gents off the phones, herd them into clssrooms, reproduce nd distribute hndouts, then lose vluble time while gents settle bck into their worksttions. The simple tsk of getting gents to nd from the trining room cn esily dd hlf hour per gent. Besides the significnt cost dvntges, electronic lerning elimintes triner error. Mngement cn be ssured tht everyone received exctly the sme informtion nd t the sme time. Knowledge retention cn be mesured in minutes nd scores dded to the gent dt bse so tht supervisors cn evlute the effectiveness of the trining nd the gents bility nd willingness to use the informtion. With the implementtion of electronic coching, orgniztions cn mximize ech gent s potentil with trgeted, timely trining nd motivtion. The system lso llows you to lign utomted distribution of electronic trining content with your workforce mngement schedules, bsed on performnce sttistics from the performnce mngement system nd schedule dherence vi the workforce mngement system, focusing on the specific needs nd tlents of ech gent. You cn leverge the gent coching module of the performnce mngement dshbord to disply messges nd coching tips nd to esily lunch course content. Contct centers tht hve implemented VPI s Coching report the following improvements: We cn mesure nything tht we trck... VPI PERFORMANCE cn cpture tht dt nd deliver the informtion to whomever you uthorize to receive it. A huge benefit is tht we cn get ll of this informtion from ll of our nine sites. - Lou Orsi Vice President Flowers.com Increse in cll qulity scores 14 percent Up-sell increse 1-3 percent Revenue increse 3 percent Prepring the Anlysis Return on investment (ROI), internl rte of return (IRR), nd net present vlue (NPV) re the most common metrics used to evlute cpitl investments. The specific mesures used nd method of clcultion vries mong compnies. In most cses, stndrd models re used by ll deprtments tht seek funding. Performing the clcultion is the esy prt. Collecting the dt is the greter chllenge. Following is simplified model tht puts ll the key metrics in one plce Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

12 Dt Presenttion Model Cost Svings Yer 1 Yer 2 Yer 3 Yer 4 Yer 5 Interctions Recording 1 Costs to find nd retrieve clls 2 Cost to resolve disputes 3 Libility/complince risk 4 Customer replcement 5 Sub-totl ( ) Cll Qulity Evlution 6 Supervisor cost to monitor clls 7 Supervisor cost to complete nd present rting forms 8 Anlysis nd Report preprtion costs Architecture nd Economics The 9 Cost of Supervisor time dedicted just compelling to qulity ROI monitoring benefits nd gins of contct center workforce optimiztion solutions cn often be 10 mximized Sub-totl by selecting ( ) the right technology rchitecture one tht will not limit your options when new business or technology opportunities Performnce present themselves. Anlytics Such technology will not only ddress your 6needs Reporting tody, but costs will lso equip you for successful, economiclly-sound nvigtion through the inevitble 7 Cll chnges hndling tht the costs future lwys brings. 8 Cllbck costs Service-Oriented 9 Sub-totl (6+7+8) Architecture Tody s businesses invribly employ disprte elerning systems nd nd Coching technologies. However, orgniztions must look 10 Agent trining costs 11 Shrinkge cost 12 Sub-totl (11+12) 13 Totl Costs (5+9+12) Revenue Gins Interctions Recording 14 Sles from new leds 15 Sles from higher close rte 16 Sub-totl ( ) Performnce Anlytics 17 Sles from conversions 18 New customer sles 19 Sub-totl ( ) elerning nd Coching 20 Sles from skill enrichment 21 Sles from shorter trining 22 Sub-totl ( ) 23 Totl sles( ) 24 Gross mrgin on sles (GM% x 23) 25 Totl benefit ( ) Investment 26 Initil 27 Ongoing 28 Totl investment costs ( ) 29 Benefit NPV* 30 Investment NPV* 31 ROI/Yer 32 Averge ROI/Yer 33 Pybck * Multiply ech yer s totl by the discount fctor provided by finnce deprtment, djust for number of yers The built-in messging system led to more timely communictions between supervisors nd gents. We use this to lert people to meetings or immedite incentives. The messge pops on the screen immeditely. The rel-time messging hs been huge win for us. - Bruce Allison Cll Center Mnger House Vlues Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

13 Architecture nd Economics The compelling ROI benefits nd gins of contct center workforce optimiztion solutions cn often be mximized by selecting the right technology rchitecture one tht will not limit your options when new business or technology opportunities present themselves. Such technology will not only ddress your needs tody, but will lso equip you for successful, economiclly-sound nvigtion through the inevitble chnges tht the future lwys brings. Service-Oriented Architecture Tody s businesses invribly employ disprte systems nd technologies. However, orgniztions must look for wys to leverge the technology investments they hve lredy mde. Service-oriented rchitecture (SOA) llows pplictions to be evolved nd dpted insted of replced in order to hndle business process chnges, nd it llows for interoperbility nd esy integrtions between heterogeneous pplictions nd technologies For workforce optimiztion technologies, such s those developed by VPI, this design strtegy ffords dditionl benefits for orgniztions like yours, to include rpid implementtion nd stndrds-bsed design, coupled with enhnced security nd sclbility. Stndrds-Bsed Design Stndrds-bsed technologies support nd fundmentlly ccelerte industry innovtion nd broden the rnge of your choices for system interoperbility in both the short nd long term. Orgniztions tht dopt openstndrds strtegy for their technology cquisitions re beneficiries of the best technology experience vilble. The stndrds-bsed pproch directly trnsltes into lower cpitl investment nd lower costs of opertions you cn leverge COTS hrdwre nd other 3rd prty interfces nd dt to subordinte the rules nd procedures for dt ccess to your business processes nd policies. SOA lso llows for customiztions nd integrtions, ssuring perfect fit to ny size nd scope of n orgniztion s workflow nd gols. There is lso less risk from being locked in to one vendor. Centrlized or Distributed? With tody s cost-cutting inititives nd the pursuit of improved efficiency, contct centers leverge offshore, home, nd other off-site gents, combined with consolidtion of technology nd mngement mong multiple contct centers. To support such business strtegies you require options for your performnce mngement technology to be s centrlized or s distributed s needed, while llowing for economiclly defensible chnges nd reconfigurtions. Progressive contct centers prefer solutions with the flexibility to scle from smll to lrge nd lrge to smll without running ginst design-imposed limittions, which tend to result in fork-lift upgrdes or expensive modifictions. Migrtion to VoIP Orgniztions of every size nd nture re either investigting or implementing VoIP technology becuse of its mny dvntges over trditionl telephony. Aprt from vst cost svings of integrted infrstructure, businesses tht deploy IP telephony re experiencing other long-term benefits such s improved individul productivity, improved tem collbortion, fster responsiveness to customers, nd better qulity of customer service. This technology cn lso mke it esier to record nd process ll or higher percentge of clls for libility mngement, qulity ssurnce, regultory requirements, nd security issues. Unlike trditionl (TDM) cll recording, IP cptures voice nd dt pckets from spn (or mirroring) port on the enterprise network versus tpping into phone line extensions or PSTN trunks. IP recording requires softwre solution tht will not burden your network needlessly. If selected nd implemented correctly, the solution cn reduce costs over TDM recording, while t the sme time providing mny more options for leverging the cptured informtion. Suite, Point, or Both? There re two brod ctegories of vendors those tht concentrte on single solution ( point vendors ) nd those tht provide suite of solutions. Point vendors, s the nme implies, concentrte on doing one thing well. It is in their best interest to keep current on the ltest technology dvnces, provide top qulity products, nd im for superior service nd support. Suite vendors offer vriety of workforce optimiztion pplictions. These typiclly include cll recording, workforce mngement, performnce mngement, elerning, nd nlytics. Depending on the skill sets of the vendor, the suite my lterntively include predictive diling, interctive Our trining tem cn crete nd send out quiz bsed on trining content tht hs just been provided, nd then revise mterils to clrify points tht gents didn t understnd, this hs been huge benefit. - Lou Orsi Vice President Flowers.com Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.

14 voice response, utomtic cll distribution, or customer reltionship mngement softwre. The trend is to integrte these offers on common pltform. Both pproches hve their dvntges: Advntges of Point Solution vs. Integrted Suite Point Solution Integrted Suite Pltform gnostic More flexibility in choice of vendor nd solution Vendor is dedicted to one solution Esier to lern one ppliction t time Benefit of multiple pplictions Centrlized dministrtion Single point of contct ccountbility Coordinted system upgrdes Vendors like VPI llow orgniztions to combine the best of both worlds by letting them purchse selected components of the suite in modulr wy. By mixing nd mtching, contct centers py only for wht they need when they need it. This flexible pproch llows their customers to re-use wht they lredy hve nd re hppy with. Summry Contct centers contribute to growth nd profitbility in mny wys: by strengthening customer retention, by dding revenue through led genertion, up-sells, cross-sells, nd telemrketing, by reducing litigtion risk, by improving productivity, by strengthening customer reltionships, nd by producing vluble insights into competitor ctivities nd customer behvior. The business cse for contct center investments like interction recording, qulity monitoring, performnce nlytics, nd electronic lerning is compelling. However, stressing only the finncil side of the eqution shortchnges the rel vlue of keeping up with new technology. As we hve shown, enterprises hve mny gols. Finncil success is the most importnt gol but there re other importnt gols s well, such s mintining nd strengthening ties to customers, employees, nd other constituencies. Your business cse needs to be just s emphtic in emphsizing how the proposed investment contributes to the ccomplishment of these vitl gols. Cpitl submissions re reviewed by committee of high level officils. If you cn present your proposl in person, you should. Your presenttion should outline how the proposed investment will produce fvorble return for the enterprise, how you cme to tht conclusion, nd how the investment meshes with the broder corporte strtegy. Don t ssume tht people in your udience know or cre bout contct center jrgon nd cronyms. Use lymn s lnguge nd be right to the point. This is n excellent opportunity to showcse the tlents nd contributions of the contct center. About the Author Dick Bucci is Senior Consultnt for ( where he specilizes in contct center technologies. He hs uthored eight in-depth reports on workforce optimiztion pplictions nd over 20 rticles nd white ppers. Dick is lso mnging director of Technology Mrketing Assocites, mrketing consulting firm. Dick hs over 30 yers of experience in the telecommunictions industry. About Founded in 1987, hs emerged s one of the fstest growing independent mrket reserch nd consultncy compnies in the finncil services nd telecommunictions industries. produces uthorittive nlysis nd reserch reports, provides custom business plnning services, nd offers timely industry conferences. About VPI VPI (Voice Print Interntionl) is leding innovtor nd provider of integrted cll recording nd workforce optimiztion solutions for enterprises, trding floors, government gencies, nd first responders. Through its wrd-winning suite of solutions, VPI empowers orgniztions to proctively improve the customer experience, increse workforce performnce, minimize risk, nd ensure complince. With the power to be proctive, orgniztions re equipped to ctively identify nd mximize opportunities nd minimize risk. For more thn decde, VPI hs been providing proven technology nd superior service to more thn 1,300 customers in 50 countries. Lern more t or cll Besides the significnt cost dvntges, electronic lerning elimintes triner error. Mngement cn be ssured tht everyone received exctly the sme informtion nd t the sme time. Knowledge retention cn be mesured in minutes nd scores dded to the gent dt bse so tht supervisors cn evlute the effectiveness of the trining nd the gents bility nd willingness to use the informtion Voice Print Interntionl, Inc. All rights reserved.