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Software: Making call centres run smoothly involves an ever-greater dependency on technological trickery behind the scenes

IT IS a familiar litany. Your call is important to us. An operator will be with you as soon as possible. Your call may be recorded for quality-control and training purposes. These phrases are familiar because the use of call centres has become so commonplace: in 2007 companies worldwide spent some $280 billion on outsourced call-centre services, according to NASSCOM, a call-centre trade group in Delhi. Costs are rising (they jumped 30% last year in India), customers are becoming more demanding, and competition is increasing. So the companies that operate call centres are adopting new software to monitor and improve performance.

Illustration by Robin Chavalier

One trick, which can shave seconds off each call, is to take into account “context data”—such as the caller’s location, the local weather, the time of day and records of their recent transactions—when routing a call. Cisco, an American communications-equipment provider, recently upgraded its call-centre software to provide this feature, which is popular with financial institutions. The caller can then be put through to an agent who is experienced at handling a particular sort of transaction. 

Aneesh Nair, head of the Academia, a call-centre training school in Bangalore, says context data may also include information gleaned from news reports. Storms, sporting events and transport strikes, for example, can affect callers’ moods and purchasing dispositions, he says, and can be used to provide tips to agents. “Demographic mapping” features provide additional information about the products callers are most likely to buy based upon their location, time of call, and whether they are calling from a land-line or a mobile phone.

The next step, beyond analysing the context around a call, is to examine the call itself, using “word spotting” software to evaluate the performance of the agent and the reaction of the caller. There is strong demand for quality-control software, says Donna Fluss of DMG Consulting, a specialist consultancy based in West Orange, New Jersey, because call-centre managers are only able to listen to a few calls per agent each month. Word-spotting software allows managers to monitor agents much more closely.

As word-spotting systems spread, call-centre training schools have started coaching students in gaming the system so they look good under the additional scrutiny. JTS Institute, a cramped school in a bustling Bangalore neighbourhood, now shows students how to “prompt” callers with questions and statements that elicit the replies that word-spotting software, and call-centre managers, are looking for, such as “I understand” and “that’s great”. In addition, says Basheer Shaik, the head trainer, a good accent is even more important now that employers can see tallies of how many times a particular agent is asked to “repeat that”. Students are encouraged to practise English even “with their parents who hardly understand English”, he says.

The market for word-spotting systems is “gaining a lot of momentum,” says Barak Eilam, general manager of NICE, a provider of word-spotting software based in Ra’anana, Israel. Its latest systems are designed to foil prompting by taking into account the context of high-scoring phrases. A caller who says “wonderful” shortly after the agent has said it, for example, may have been prompted.

As well as being used to evaluate the performance of agents, Mr Eilam says, word-spotting systems can also provide valuable insights about what callers think about a particular product, and how their vocabulary changes in response to advertising campaigns, recalls and publicity stunts. In one case word-spotting technology quickly alerted a refrigerator-maker to a design flaw after the words “tipped”, “top-heavy” and “fell” were uttered to call-centre agents in different countries just half a dozen times.

Much of India’s call-centre industry, which employs roughly 300,000 agents, is located outside the ring road that encircles Bangalore, in a string of smart new business parks with tidy lawns and private security. Were it not for the stray dogs, a visitor could be forgiven for mistaking the area for Silicon Valley. Costs, of course, are much lower, but business leaders are aware of a growing threat from call centres in other countries such as the Philippines. Vasudevan Bharathwaj of 24/7 Customer, a call centre in Bangalore where 5,000 agents handle calls for 30 companies, explains that firms like his must innovate and develop intellectual property for sale to other firms.

Listening to the customer

Accordingly, programmers at 24/7 Customer have developed “neurolinguistic” software that does not just spot which words callers use—it tries to provide agents with insights into their psychology. Callers’ words and cadences are analysed to create a profile that helps agents adjust their vocabulary and behaviour to improve their rapport. Agents receive on-screen tips on which phrases, sales pitches and conflict-resolution tricks are most likely to resonate. For example, callers who use “kinesthetic” terms such as “digging through the website” will be answered slowly with phrases suggesting body movement: “Please hold while I pull up more information.”

Similarly, Cisco’s voice-analysis system monitors parameters including volume, cadence, tone, pitch and inflection, and then sorts callers into six personality types to help agents fine-tune call handling. “It’s the bleeding edge,” says Laurent Philonenko, vice-president of Cisco’s call-centre business in San Jose, California. Ms Fluss says “tremendous innovation” is under way in this area, and sales of caller-profiling systems will increase by 70% this year compared with 2007.

CUMA Mutual Group, a credit-union insurer in Madison, Wisconsin, installed such a system last year. Rick Roy of CUMA says it provides agents, who receive tips and script changes automatically during calls, with “another set of ears”. The same software can also be used for quality control, says Mr Eilam, by scoring agents depending on the way the caller’s emotional state changes over the course of the call. Supervisors at many companies, he says, retain customers by phoning back those who exhibit “negative excitement” at the end of a call.

Some in the industry worry that voice analysis smacks of Big Brother, and prefer to keep quiet about it. Callers are usually told only that their call may be recorded for quality-control purposes. The JTS Institute does not mention the technology to its students. “Too much information”, says Mr Shaik, “is not good for them.”

http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/hBSnr0THiHE0Mo0Etfn0EB

Op deze site staat een handig overzicht.

•  Een bloemlezing van deze ideeën staat op de Coniche website.

Hewlett-Packard heeft sinds 4 jaar een manager customer experience die verantwoordelijk is voor de ervaringen van klanten over de verschillende afdelingen (operations, sales) heen.

Joseph gaf in een korte tijd inzicht in de rol die goed onderzoek naar de klantbeleving heeft gespeeld in het verbeteren van de service.

Al met al een interessante case waarbij duidelijk werd dat goed onderzoek vanuit klantperspectief een goede uitgangspunt kan zijn om de service van een bedrijf te optimaliseren. En dat zaken die binnen een bedrijf als waarheden worden ervaren regelmatig getoetst moeten worden op juistheid.

•  Meer over Perceptie vs Klant realiteit bij HP.

Meest in het oog springende ergernissen van consumenten die aan het onderzoek deelnamen waren lange wachttijden, verkeerde doorverwijzingen en – misschien het meest verontrustend voor contactcenters die daarin hebben geïnvesteerd – geautomatiseerde of afgespeelde boodschappen aan klanten. Jane Brett, director of applications van Avaya’s, denkt overigens niet dat laatstgenoemde ergernis is te wijten aan slechte technologie, maar aan de beroerde implementatie daarvan: ‘We weten dat het vasthouden van de service levels een behoorlijke uitdaging is, maar mijn gevoel zegt me ook dat Britse contactcenters niet echt serieus stilstaan bij service vanuit het oogpunt van de consument. Ze beperken zich door geld te smijten in de richting van het probleem. De technologie, zoals IVR en intelligent routing, zijn er natuurlijk om te helpen, maar organisaties moeten ook nadenken over een holistische intelligente communicatiestrategie.’

In tegenstelling tot wat algemeen wordt aangenomen wijst het onderzoek ook uit dat first call resolution niet noodzakelijkerwijs hoog op de prioriteitenlijst van consumenten voorkomt. ‘Uit ons onderzoek blijkt’, aldus Brett ‘dat consumenten behoefte hebben aan zeer snelle interactie en – terwijl ze dus geen one call resolution verwachten – ze bijvoorbeeld wél de zekerheid willen dat ze snel worden teruggebeld met een oplossing. Ze willen het gevoel hebben dat de organisatie om ze geeft als klant. 44 procent van de consumenten zegt niet het gevoel te hebben dat bedrijven genoeg doen om hen via contactcenters ondersteuning en service te bieden. De helft van de ondervraagden denkt overigens niet dat er iets gebeurt met een klacht die wordt doorgegeven aan een contactcenter.’

Bronnen: Telecommerce,  CCF magazine

You think your call center deals with some exotic issues? We recently heard from Steve Coyle, a training consultant who visited what is one of Afghanistan’s first call centers in Kabul.

By Steve Coyle, ServiceWinners International

11/06/2006, 10:55 AM ET

Bron: www.callcentermagazine.com

Recently our training team went to Kabul to train Roshan Mobile’s employees, some of whom included call center managers. Outwardly , the Afghan call center looks and functions like any well-run call center worldwide, but with different challenges. I’d like to share some challenges that call centers in Afghanistan face compared to the rest of the world.

One challenge confronting the Afghani call center industry is that in Afghan culture, males and females, who are not blood relatives, are generally not allowed to speak to one another. In many towns women are forbidden to venture outside without a male family member escort. But in some cases, a male customer may call just to speak with a female agent. Being able to call a woman you’re not related to is a delight, especially when it’s free and virtually unsupervised. It’s not phone sex, but it’s about the closest you can get to it in Afghanistan. Queue times can be exceeded when call center lines become chat lines, especially at normally late non-peak periods. One remedy being considered is charging a small fee for each customer service call.

Contrary to managerial difficulties traditionally faced in other regions, employee retention is not a big problem in Afghan call centers. Most Afghans are proud to have a job with a modern company such as Roshan. In fact, engineers in other parts of the company ask to be transferred to the call center in order to meet the women who work there. For other technical employees, the call center is a plum job since they don’t have to venture out into the field where there are other hazards of life and limb.

But a call center cannot always be considered a professional safe haven. During the Afghan equivalent of American Idol, every time an Afghan voted via SMS, his or her cell phone would receive a confirmation SMS acknowledging the receipt of their vote. In one district, the phone switch tallied the vote but was unable to return an SMS confirmation. Many Afghans vote along ethnic and tribal lines, and when that district’s candidate failed to win, the local fans thought their SMS wasn’t tallied. As a result, the enraged fans attacked the local sales office.

While the agents sit in gender-segregated rows, the buzz is like any other call center. The KPIs are the same and everything else looks like another call center, though the location is unique. The Roshan call center is headquartered in an ex-embassy decorated in ornate Indian sub-continent fashion, similar to European baroque style. It’s palatial, beautiful, and at times a bit gaudy.

Outside the call center embassy, armed guards greet those who enter the complex. Remember, this is Afghanistan after all. Still, all in all, once you get inside you will see it’s like any other call center the world over. It buzzes. Agents are chasing against hold times, KPIs are strictly monitored, and young agents are dedicated to serving their customers in the best and fastest way that they possibly can. They will make any call center professional around the world proud.