Achieving High Performance – Building Strong Links Between the Contact Center and Enterprise
Achieving High Performance – Building Strong Links Between the Contact Center and Enterprise The contact center is a major contributor to enterprise high performance. High performance is about measuring the right parameters and managing them in order to excel. To do so, contact center management must be able to gain a unified view of their [...]
Categories: Call Center Management, Call Center Service, Call Center Services, Uncategorized Tags: Achieving, between, Building, Center, Contact, Enterprise, High, Links, Performance, Strong
Managers in Call Center Companies
Managers in Call Center Companies The managers in call center companies have a very crucial role to play. There is considerable difference between the way managers in other industries function and how they do it in a BPO. Call center managers are expected to know everything about technology, the call center services and the manpower [...]
Categories: Call Center Management, Call Center Service, Call Center Services, Uncategorized Tags: Call, Center, Companies, Managers
Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management Customer Relationship Management “Marketing takes a day to learn. Unfortunately, it takes a lifetime to master.” – Philip Kotler Introduction In today’s competitive business customer is the king and important member who is said to contribute towards the overall success of a business enterprise. Identifying and building a strong [...]
Categories: Call Center Management, Call Center Service, Call Center Services, Uncategorized Tags: Customer, Management, relationship
Contact center 2.0: a (r)evolution of enterprise interactions
Contact center 2.0: a (r)evolution of enterprise interactions
Today´s world has made Skype, LinkedIn, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube household business names. We are witnessing the expansion of the collaborative and social dimension of the Web, an extremely fast, global and unparalleled phenomenon in the history of mankind.
However, the people leading organizations and making decisions still tend to diminish the scope and immediate influence of this phenomenon, despite the “noise” generated by the media. They tend to think that the successful impact of the social networks on the business plan will not match the success already experienced in the lives of a great number of people.
The tendency do diminish the success of the phenomenon subsists even with the impact of auto-organization initiatives on the Web, such as Wikipedia (with several versions for each language), TripAdvisor or eOpinions that thrive without any kind of hierarchical coordination. These have shown how millions of small individual contributions can be organized, resulting in a useful service to many millions.
Contact centers, as a privileged point of contact with customers, cannot remain indifferent to this profound social mutation that impacts organizations and the business success. This article points out a few clues to the evolution of the new individual and social contexts that will generate a new orientation in customer service and a new reality that we call Contact Center 2.0.
Traditional business metrics, such as average answer time or number of calls are no longer sufficient and many contact center managers need more information based on different types of data and KPIs. New times bring new expectations from people, customers, and potential customers and a new reality that reflects the change of customer expectations and the contact center regulatory laws.
According to our experience, the new relationship with customers will require the development of a “digital nervous system” based on new information architecture to manage interactions with customers. The new information architecture should leverage, in real time and for all interactions, customer information, monitor performances and results, trigger workflow processes and create business opportunities and customer satisfaction.
Therefore, the new customer management paradigm should:
Focus on First Call Resolution (FCR). Gear operations towards business metrics (KPI). Combine interactions with the main business processes. Follow the legislation and apply it in real time. Include and manage the most relevant new channels, such as social networks.
Focus on First Call Resolution
The majority of call centers should be clearly focused on First Call Resolution as the main performance KPI. Focusing on First Call Resolution develops the discipline necessary for the continuous improvement of contact center performance and associated business, ironing out problems, such as poorly designed menus in voice portals and inadequate agent scripts or desktops, and in the final analysis introducing levels of qualification and autonomy that allow agents to exercise common sense, which is a key ingredient for the customer satisfaction. Therefore, First Call Resolution as the main contact center KPI provides the closest indication of customer satisfaction and customer service.
A Key Performance Indicator Metrics Management
Operational management based on KPIs aims at measuring and tracking, in real time, key business variables and services provided by the contact center. This approach is the most appropriate for an effective contact center management, especially because it highlights the added value and not only efficiency. Indicators such as the activation of contracts, recovered debt or first call resolution show the positive contribution of the contact center as generating revenues and customer satisfaction instead of focusing only on costs.
Combine Interactions With the Main Business Processes
Companies across the world are replacing the old paper based processes and procedures, through digitalization and automation, with Web pages and electronic processes allowing significant reduction of costs and time and a more accurate performance measurement.
From the perspective of the contact center, several limitations have been consistently detected in these implementations:
Lack of automatic interconnection between processes and communication platforms. Clear separation between the internal and external processes of the contact center. Excessively rigid management tools.
In the context described above, it is vital to have all the business processes integrated through workflow technologies that connect the structured contact platform in all stages of the interaction life cycle.
Even if the step of a process is as simple as approving an invoice, automatic contacts, managed by the contact center, help to accelerate the process and improve customer satisfaction. Questions raised by the customers regarding other processes may be managed at the contact center if the contact center has the information of the processes and a tight link with the back-office systems of the organization.
New Ways of Interacting Online
Social networks and online communities are reaching hundreds of millions of users at an unprecedented speed. The amount of information that flows in these communities can define attitudes and campaigns, build and destroy brands and services, accelerate choices or delay product adoption. Due to the massive growth of this new social media, companies will have to take them in to close consideration because their positioning and performance may be highly influenced by this phenomenon. Although this is still an emerging trend, sometimes risky and with some pitfalls, the first companies committed and willing to invest resources and time will be the ones harvesting the profits later on.
To systematically address these requirements, contact centers must define good processes, train agents and implement the right technology to automatically assure that the rules are followed.
Technology alone will not solve those requirements but it brings an even bigger benefit as it allows the precious resources of the enterprise (people) to focus on solving customer problems and higher value tasks, while the software handles tracking and response time!
Conclusion
These vectors represent an enormous challenge and a true revolution in customer relationship. However, its implementation means building an entrepreneurial architecture of information circuits based on collaboration and able to immediately impact the business model and the success of companies.
The new requirements to adopt when selecting interaction management solutions are as follows:
Proprietary platform independence Focus on business performance metrics Speed of adaptation of new processes Simple connection of interactions within processes Real time compliance with legal requisites Integration and management of new channels like social media.
Implications for top managers include seeking partner solutions that have a strong track record, are close to the market, have a strong vision and offer to address these markets. One example of such a company is Altitude Software, global leader in contact center solutions.
It is crucial for companies to have a central nervous system that revolves around the contact with customers, with the ability to collect information, react quickly and give sequence to complex and intense interaction processes.
Only then it is possible to create differentiators in a new world of interconnection between online and offline realities.
Miguel has 15 years of international experience in the CRM software industry and, for the past six years.
Currently, his responsibilities include defining the company strategy, managing the product life cycle, defining and executing the marketing plan, and supporting the sales force in 15 offices globally, which enables to get the customer feedback into the company roadmaps with R&D.
Article from articlesbase.com
Categories: Call Center Management Tags: Center, Contact, Enterprise, interactions, Revolution
Lastest Call Center Management auctions
Some recent call center management auctions on eBay:
Call Center Customer Relationship Management Handbook and Study Guide (ICMI's Ha | US $108.78 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 10:51:32 PST Buy It Now for only: US $108.78 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Categories: Call Center Management Tags: auctions, Call, Center, Lastest, Management
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT X 2 BOOKS (call centre & internet)
Most popular call center management eBay auctions:
Call Center Customer Relationship Management Handbook and Study Guide (ICMI's Ha | US $108.78 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 10:51:32 PST Buy It Now for only: US $108.78 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $14.95 End Date: Wednesday Feb-15-2012 1:39:03 PST Buy It Now for only: US $14.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Categories: Call Center Management Tags: BOOKS, Business, Call, Centre, Internet, Management
Real-Time Call Center Reporting Increases Call Center Profitability
Real-Time Call Center Reporting Increases Call Center Profitability
In business, time is money. And businesses operate in “real time” — especially in a call center environment. In order for a center to be effective, reports must provide management with complete real-time data so that agents and managers can modify their company’s behavior quickly to achieve higher productivity and efficiency and thus be more profitable. Real-time call center reporting delivers key indicators in an instant by showing performance over the last hour, day, week, month, etc.
Real-time reporting allows management to spend less time on reports and more time to coach their agents and lead their call center. Improving the bottom line results in minimizing waste, rejects (unsuccessful calls), and identifying non-value adding tasks. With proper assessment of real-time call center reporting, costly problems can be avoided and the center may continue smoothly.
For all these reasons and more, real-time call center reporting can make call centers more efficient and profitable.
The Purpose of Call Center Reporting
In real estate, the watchwords are “location, location, location.” For contact center reporting, the watchwords are “data, data, data”– and there’s a massive amount of data that can be recorded to arm a center with useful stats.
Call center metrics are measurements and data that indicate the successes and shortcomings of the company. These metrics are gathered in call center reporting so that management can make strategic and operational decisions that improve efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and customer satisfaction. The collection of data needs to be structured and organized for quick and easy access.
Critical Call Center Reporting Metrics
So what metrics are especially important in call center reporting based on the specific needs of management? Activity in call center reporting includes inventory status, whether the merchandise has been shipped or not, what freight carriers were used, and the funds received. Other measures include call waiting times, average speed to answer, length of calls, service level, upsells, success and shortcomings of continued programs, and saved sales.
On a human level, other call center metrics include key process performance, employee attitude, customer satisfaction, and continually tracking and updating customer requirements. Usually, all incoming and outgoing calls are recorded for review if need be; these recordings are also considered to be an element of call center reporting.
Investing in Real-Time Call Center Reporting to Keep Profitable
Companies who believe in the power of data invest in specialized hardware and software that run at maximum efficiency. Reporting should simplify the complexities of all the data. The report should be custom-designed to suit the specific needs of the call center management, so that they can get the information they need at a glance and help them to adjust their plans as necessary when unexpected problems arise. The real-time reports allow management and executives to convert knowledge into action that will drive their team to higher efficiency.
Real-time reporting empowers call center executives to make strategic decisions based on real-time facts. Users can quickly assess a high-level overview of their business and operational metrics. Real-time alerts allow call center management to instantly compare actual performance against the company’s goals. When shown side-by-side with real-time data, historical data provides context. By pairing the two, management can see what is currently happening compared to what has happened in the past.
Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on call center management or call center reporting, please visit http://www.inovasolutions.com/
Article from articlesbase.com
Categories: Call Center Management Tags: Call, Center, Increases, Profitability, RealTime, reporting
Most popular Call Center Management auctions
Some recent call center management auctions on eBay:
CALL CENTER MANAGEMENT, ANTON, Acceptable Book
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Call Center Management on Fast Forward by Brad Cleve...
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Call Center Operations Management Handbook and Study Gu
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Categories: Call Center Management Tags: auctions, Call, Center, Management, Most, popular
Applying Data Center Performance Measurement to Mitigate Challenges
Applying Data Center Performance Measurement to Mitigate Challenges
Organizations increasingly depend on their IT infrastructure to support mission-critical activities. IT personnel are held accountable for managing this infrastructure and data center performance measurement is a vital tool in maintaining high performance and delivery. From assessing and ensuring the availability of critical facilities, monitoring geographically dispersed environments, and improving the overall organizational bottom line, IT personnel require tools that allow them to measure performance and proactively identify and mitigate potential issues. Several industry-related publications and groups have noted the importance of data center metrics, and have named the need to measure data center performance as a key issue for 2006 and 2007. (1)
Recommended Data Center Performance Measurements and Solutions
Issue #1: Ability to Track and Assess Equipment Availability
For most organizations, the cost of server or network downtime is significant and internal customers expect network and system availability of “Five Nines” or 99.999% (2). On a daily basis, IT managers need to be able to assess availability/reliability of equipment and all external components that support operations, so that they can reduce downtime, identify and mitigate issues, and provide a secure environment for an organization’s mission-critical equipment. IT professionals also need an effective way to review historical trends to identify equipment or systems that need to be redesigned or replaced.
Meeting the Challenge: Environmental monitoring solutions provide real-time feedback about critical systems with continuous, proactive monitoring of all pertinent factors including temperature, amperage draw, humidity, dew point, and physical security. These solutions allow administrators to set thresholds for environmental conditions and send alerts securely via e-mail, text message, or SNMP if said thresholds are exceeded. In addition, environmental monitoring systems provide valuable historical reports, alert information, and logs that allow administrators to identify trends and adapt practices accordingly. This data can help with statistical analysis, modeling, and forecasting.
Centralized Environmental Monitoring Solution
Issue #2: Ability to Assess Availability/Reliability of Critical Facilities
When assigning critical resources, IT professionals need to determine the highest-priority sites and facilities. Several organizations have proposed systems to help administrators classify and rate their facilities. For example, the Uptime Institute applies a four-tier classification system based on factors such as fault tolerance, useable capacity, sustainability, and concurrent maintainability (3). As another approach, the Syska Hennessy Group provides a seven-level criticality classification system that aims to help data center managers evaluate facilities that are vital to the mission of their organizations and provides a framework to help assess potential data center vulnerabilities (4). After determining critical sites, administrators need to be able to implement appropriate management and control systems.
Meeting the Challenge: Enterprise management solutions, such as KVM over IP or service processor aggregation appliances, provide administrators with 24/7 access to servers, serial devices, remote power, and other equipment both locally and remotely. These solutions provide BIOS-level access to mission-critical equipment, reducing system and network downtime by enabling immediate access to failed resources and centralizing data center management. These solutions also provide visibility to daily operations and occurrences through comprehensive audit logging and reporting tools. Enterprise-level management tools provide redundant architecture, including primary failover access at both the hardware and software levels.
Issue #3: Ability to Measure Energy Consumption in the Data Center
Across almost every industry, rising data center power consumption and heat are major issues, particularly as organizations are incorporating blade servers and high-density server racks into their IT infrastructures. Many organizations are studying how power consumption can be reduced in the data center. For example, the EPA is studying ways to make computer servers and data centers more energy efficient, and is considering a possible Energy Star designation for servers and other data center equipment. (5) The Green Grid, a newly formed non-profit consortium of information technology companies, is proposing the use of Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Datacenter Efficiency (DCE) metrics, which would enable IT personnel to estimate the energy efficiency of data centers, compare results against other data centers, and determine if energy efficiency improvements need to be made. As defined by the Green Grid, Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)= Total Facility Power/ IT Equipment Power; Datacenter Efficiency (DCE)= IT Equipment Power/ Total Facility Power. (6)
Meeting the Challenge: Utilizing PUE and DCE information, IT personnel can begin to evaluate their own energy efficiency. Using these metrics, as well as application-specific data, data center managers should start to consider ways of reducing data center power consumption. Standalone data centers can also use the EPA Energy Star building performance rating tool, Portfolio Manager, to rate a facility’s energy performance in comparison to similar facilities (at the whole-building level). Some answers include transitioning to 208V or three-phase power provisioning. Higher voltage power reduces amperage requirements, allows equipment to operate more efficiently, and can reduce the amount of hardware required. IT personnel should conduct a thorough audit of equipment, determine if any servers can be consolidated or discarded, and clean up any clutter under the data center floor, such as cabling, that might be impeding air flow. The use of blanking panels and cable management accessories in the rack can also assist in these efforts.
How Can The Latest Technologies Help You Improve Data Center Performance?
The team at 42U specializes in needs assessment, solution design, and implementation support to ensure that IT professionals maximize their use of current technologies to improve overall business performance. 42U provides complete remote management solutions, including KVM over IP, intelligent power, environmental monitoring, rack cooling, and rackmount solutions. A 42U sales engineer can help you improve your data center performance by helping you select solutions that are most appropriate for your organization’s particular needs and environment.
References:
(1) Stansberry, Matt, “Top Ten Data Center Stories of 2006.”
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid80_gci1232599,00.html; MacKinnon, Chris, “How Is Your Data Center Performing? A Metric To The Madness.”http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/p2826/09p26/09p26.asp&guid=&searchtype=&WordList=&bJumpTo=True; and “Optimizing Datacenter Performance and Building ROI: The TeamQuest Approach”, IDC/TeamQuest, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.teamquest.com/pdfs/whitepaper/idc-roi.pdf
(2) Brill, Kenneth; Pitt, Turner; and Seader, John. “Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance,” Uptime Institute, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.upsite.com/file_downloads/PDF/Tier_Classification.pdf
(3) Brill, Kenneth; Pitt, Turner; and Seader, John. “Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance,” Uptime Institute, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.upsite.com/file_downloads/PDF/Tier_Classification.pdf
(4) Burkhardt, Jerry and Dennis, Richard. “Assessing criticality levels in the data center”, Data Center Management Advisory Newsletter, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid80_gci1218937,00.html
(5) “Enterprise Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Initiatives” http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_servers_datacenters
(6) “Green Grid Metrics: Describing Datacenter Power Efficiency”, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.thegreengrid.org/downloads/Green_Grid_Metrics_WP.pdf
This article was written by Lauren Nowenstein, Technical Writer, with guidance and input from DirectNET’s team of Solutions Sales Engineers. If you would like to send us feedback about this article, or have any questions, please write to us.
Article from articlesbase.com
Categories: Call Center Management Tags: Applying, Center, Challenges, Data, Measurement, Mitigate, Performance
Veeam PRO-enabled Management Pack for VMware
Hello and welcome to a short demonstration video about the new functionality in the PRO-enabled nworks Management Pack for VMware. My name is Alec King, I’m a senior product manager at Veeam, and Im here to tell you about the new features that we are introducing with the new version of the nworks MP for VMware. First, lets review what makes the nworks MP for VMware the #1 solution for monitoring VMware virtual infrastructure in System Center Operations Manager. •The nworks MP fully integrates with Operations Manager, allowing you to get a unified view of your physical servers, virtual servers and the applications running there – and use System Center Operations Manager as your single management interface. With this full integration the nworks MP provides, you minimize costs for additional training, avoid the expense of buying, deploying, integrating, and maintaining another monitoring framework and agents, and protect your investments in Microsoft System Center Operations Manager. •The nworks MP is agentless technology it does not require any agents running on ESX hosts or virtual machines. We use the VMware VI API, which makes our MP a feature-rich, secure, scalable and future-proof solution. The nworks MP was developed in collaboration with VMware and Microsoft, and was one of the very first products certified as a VMware Ready. It is already used by more than 500 enterprise customers worldwide. •The nworks MP provides Enterprise-class scalability and performance. It …
Video Rating: 5 / 5
The Genesys Customer Interaction Portal for Self-Service provides a simple way to manage touchtone and speech-enabled self-service applications hosted by Genesys-powered Hosted Solution Partner. It is ideal for enterprises that want to offer self-service solutions but do not want to absorb the costs and risks of developing or hosting them. The Genesys Customer Interaction Portal for Assisted-Service allows enterprises to manage agents and network-level routing, call management, and reporting functions. Management is conducted via a thin client Web-based interface, with all of the underlying technology hosted by a Genesys Hosted Solution Partner. It is ideal for enterprises looking for full contact center functionality without the costs associated with buying and deploying the technology.
Video Rating: 0 / 5
Categories: Call Center Management Tags: Management, Pack, PROenabled, Veeam, VMware
