Prosper or wither in tough times – it`s in your contact centre`s hands

Over the last year, companies have had to change the way they do business, due largely to the global economic downturn driving cost reduction or control. In times like these, contact centres should be seen as competitive differentiators, rather than as compulsory cost centres.

Recognising that the performance of the contact centre can make or break the company`s ability to meet its goals is key in driving overall performance. Contact centres that align strategic business objectives with the goals of frontline employees are much more likely to achieve success.

However, for contact centres to positively affect operations and related cost, an important step to take is to analyse the customer experience and the centre`s overall performance and attend to the basics: optimising the use of existing contact centre technology resources, employing tools such as skills-based routing or alternative answer resources for instance interactive voice response (IVR) and improving customer satisfaction and loyalty by increased first call resolution.

Considering that the cost to acquire a new customer is often ten times the outlay of retaining one and that the profitability of a customer relationship only begins after two years of recouping acquisition costs, customer loyalty is vitally important to maximise profitability.

Another big expenditure issue is agent turnover. According to communications company, AT&T, the average cost to replace a contact centre agent is between $5,000 and $17,000. Not only are skilled agents lost to competitors, but replacements have to be found, interviewed and researched, offered an equal or often higher salary, and be trained. Focusing training on agents` needs and enabling open communication to the entire workforce can help curb this evacuation. Setting clear expectations in advance also ensures that employees can be rewarded for meeting corporate goals or held accountable if they don`t.

A contact centre`s staff complement must meet the changing demand of daily peaks, seasonal cycles and planned events, but managers shouldn`t overstaff just to exceed a service level target. Labour costs make up an average of 70 percent of the operating budget of most contact centres and therefore hold immediate savings potential.

Outsourcing is a good option to cater for overflows or sales and collection campaign requirements and can provide budget relief.

Furthermore, performance management applications can assist contact centre managers to continuously monitor, measure and improve contact centre processes. Managers need to be able to identify and address the areas that need improvement and ensure that the right agents are available to handle the right calls, monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and regularly check that workflows are providing customers with a positive experience as they interact with the contact centre.

An advanced performance optimisation tool can create fully customisable dashboards that show at-a-glance summaries of key reports with personalised content for both managers and agents to help them track their performance, flag performance shortfalls and automatically trigger coaching initiatives, reducing reliance on supervisor and manager diligence, while enabling executives to track performance issues.

Ultimately, a performance management solution has to drive action by making it possible for contact centre managers to develop a logical, structured plan through which a company can take steps to improve overall performance, instead of just reporting on results.

In addition, intelligence created through the data gathered by automatic call distributors, diallers, voice portals and other telephony platforms provides critical agent and queue level data that can be used strategically to provide an even greater opportunity for engaging customers, maximising agent performance, optimising resources and improving the quality of interactions and customer experiences.

However, the right tools and analytics won`t make a difference in a contact centre that isn`t analysing and evaluating the right metrics, has not properly trained its agents or does not have a solid plan in place. Following a comprehensive roadmap not only significantly heightens the potential for success, but also reduces risk in implementation and eliminates unforeseen costs. A comprehensive evaluation and strategy specific for contact centres should be performed by an experienced and trusted partner to evaluate the potential benefits and financial implications.

There has never been a better time for organisations to take action to counter the effects of a negative economy with a focused contact centre.