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What is meant by skills-based routing?

Skills-based routing refers to a call-assignment strategy used in call centers to assign incoming calls to the most suitable agent, instead of simply choosing the next available agent. It can be considered as an advancement to the ACD systems found in most call centers. Call centers these days have become larger and have to deal with a wider variety of call types. Skills-based routing comes as a perfect solution to this problem. A successful skills-based routing strategy enables you to increase agent productivity by allowing agents to draw on their personal knowledge and experience base to answer questions faster. this further reduces call-handling time, increases the likelihood of first-call resolution and increases customer confidence and satisfaction.

Skill based routing
Skill based routing

 

A simple automatic call distributor (ACD) system might do nothing more than route calls to the next available agent irrespective of that agent’s expertise and skills. On the other hand, skills-based routing allows contact centers to designate agents as specialists in certain products or issues. Basically, skills-based routing is used to assess the skills needed for a particular call by the dialed telephone number and the calling number or caller’s identity, as well as choices made in any associated IVR system. Thereafter, this highly efficacious system attempts to match the call to a suitably trained agent. The basic idea behind the functioning of skills-based routing is that an agent with matching skills will be able to provide a better service and enhance the customer experience.

Enhanced customer service
Enhanced customer service

According to manufacturers skills- based routing provides the following benefits:

i) it improves customer service

ii) shortens call-handling time

iii) makes training shorter and easier

iv) increases agent utilization,

v) boosts productivity

vi) increases revenue growth

 

Thus, skills-based routing has become a major selling point, over the simpler ACD that it replaces efficaciously!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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All you need to know about call center shrinkage

Call center shrinkage is a measure the time wasted in the call center due to things like vacation, breaks, lunch, holidays, sick time, training and more. Shrinkage is a measure used in contact centers that helps calculate the difference between the number of staff that a forecasting system says is required and the practical considerations of how many employees are available at a particular time.

Call center shrinkage
Call center shrinkage

It consists of two main components namely:

i) Internal shrinkage: 

This type of shrinkage is also known as in- center shrinkage. The factors responsible for this type of shrinkage include training, team meetings, unplanned facility breaks, system downtime etc.

ii) External shrinkage:

This type of call center shrinkage is also called in- center shrinkage. It is caused due to sickness, holidays, public holidays, paid breaks etc.

Call center shrinkage
Call center shrinkage

Mostly, call center managers take all these factors into consideration. However, there are a few factors that affect the shrinkage to a great extent. Some of them include lateness, talking to associates, personal calls, and emergencies, leaving early and taking longer breaks. The bottom line on shrinkage is the number of minutes per day that agents are being paid to be on the phone when they are not actually working or available to receive calls or work on customer related issues.

Calculation:

The mathematical formula for calculating call center shrinkage is:

Shrinkage (%) = [Total hours of external shrinkage + Total hours of internal shrinkage] / Total hours available * 100

Call center shrinkage is a major factor in failing to meet service level targets. According to a research, all centers that take shrinkage parameters into account in their forecasting and scheduling achieve higher service levels at lower operating costs. This is achieved by including all call related activities into the forecast and schedule planning process beforehand. This helps in exceeding the expected level of service.

 

 

 

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Why you should employ a predictive dialing system: II

1. Helps organize and maintain client database appropriately:

Making use of a predictive dialing system can help organize and manage the client database and maintain all relevant records systematically. In other words the manual process of manually scribbling down the notes is replaced by an automated one. Also, it can rework the call structure based on the record of previous calls, so the fear of misplacing the data is eliminated as well. Predictive dialing provides you a separate list of numbers which were busy or had received no answers, so that, you can call these. In addition to this, it also mantains a do-not-disturb log so that the manager knows who doesn’t want to be called again. The entire process helps filter the other numbers which don’t have any potential of generating sales so that the agents can focus entirely on the productive ones.

Organized database
Organized database

2. Keeps the database updated:

The predictive dialing system helps ensure the database is always up to date. Relevant information about the customer and past call history are taken into consideration. Also, separate call-back lists are maintained along with the time of preferred calling. The predictive dialing system automatically places the call at the right time, puts an agent on the call and supports him on a real-time basis with the relevant and updated information required to handle the call and solve the queries.

Update
Update

3. Improves administration-workforce relationship:

Sice in this system, workload is assigned by an automated system, so, all the agents get an equal chance to improve. This makes the work challenging and hence, improves the efficiency of each agent working in a team. Also, it helps improves agent morale and makes it easier for them to fulfill sales targets. This further improves the professional relationship between the administration and the workforce.

Professional relationships
Professional relationships

4. Cost reduction

With this highly efficient system, there is no room for an expensive PBX setup or an operator who manually maintains the call log or routes calls to agents. Thus, it helps in cost reduction to a large extent.

Cost reduction
Cost reduction

 

 

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Why you should employ a predictive dialing system: I

As we all know, predictive dialing refers to a state-of-the-art pacing mode used to call a large number of customers within a short period of time. Predictive dialing system helps optimize agents’ time by reducing the idle times between connected calls and freeing agents from dialing calls. Predictive dialing gathers statistics related to the duration of calls, how long it takes for calls to be answered, and how often calls are answered. The system places several calls when an agent is about to become idle.

1.Enables call blending:

Predictive dialing system can help blend calls in a call center which deals with both outbound sales and inbound customer service.  Calls can be efficiently assigned to the agents if predictive dialer and an automated call distribution system are used in combination. This system provides a provision for keeping the callers on the queue if agents are not available. It further allows the agent to pass on a message regarding the same. Thereafter, the agent can call the customer back and provide him and proceed with the query resolution.

Call blending
Call blending

2. Encourages unbiased delegation:

Predictive dialing system encourages unbaised assigning of calls such that all the available call agents have calls to attend. Since all agents on the team are expected to be equally competent professionally to handle any call, so, equal opportunities are given to all of them. Also, this eliminates the chances of the agent ignoring a call.

Calls assigned to agents
Calls assigned to agents

3. Allows call monitoring:

Employing a predictive dialing system means, it is possible to monitor the performance of agents through the integrated call monitoring and recording interfaces. In addition to this, these systems also include in-built reporting tools that allow the managers to extract the performance reports of each agent. Based upon these reports, agents can be provided with adequate training in order to improve the agents’ call handling skills and hence deliver an exceptional customer service.

Call monitoring
Call monitoring

 

 

 

 

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Steps to design an effective quality monitoring process

Quality monitoring process aims at evaluating the agents in an effective manner. It is employed to identify the calls failing to meet predefined standards. Thereafter, you can make informed decisions to make the process better, faster and quicker. The following steps need to be followed when trying to design an effective quality monitoring process:

1. Determine and define the objectives:

The very first step of this process is to determine important goals. Once it’s done, these goals need to be defined along with intended results. Based on the goals and intended results, tasks should be assigned to the various individuals.

Goals and objectives
Goals and objectives

2. Educate the agents about the process’s merits:

When you decide to install a quality monitoring system, you may face resistance from the agents. You can combat this problem by explaining the merits. This would encourage them to support you.

Educating the agents about the process
Educating the agents about the process

3. Call selection:

Non-routine customer calls need to be selected for greater effectiveness of your QA program. These calls include the ones:

i) that were transferred multiple times

ii) those were either shorter or longer than usual

iii) that originated from certain geographies or customers

iv) that involved some particular activity on the PC screen of the agent

Call monitoring
Call monitoring
4. Conduct a monthly audit procedure:
Conducting a quality audit procedure can help examine the various qualities and skills like adherence to processes, product knowledge, call control, courtesy, empathy, accuracy, and clarity of voice. The scoring evaluation should be capable of reflecting the goal of a contact center. Moreover, scorecards or quality monitoring forms should be arranged by categories.

Call scoring
Call scoring

5. Make use of process maps:

Consider creating and documenting a process map for the call center’s quality monitoring system. The document should describe responsibilities of people, their roles, and the techniques/tools to be used. Calls recording should be employed and the agent must listen to his/her own calls from time to time to conduct a self-assessment.

Process map
Process map

 

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All you need to know about call scoring

Call scoring is a process that enables you to derive additional benefits from efforts to analyze recorded calls for information. This process can benefit customers, agents and company sales and marketing plans. It provides a systematic means to conduct these reviews and identify the weakest areas of agent performance. Moreover, it lets you know the steps necessary to improve the agent’s performance.

An example of call scoring
An example of call scoring

Contact center call scoring can be regarded as a useful training and management tool. Scorecard is an essential element in the entire process. Using this scorecard and setting contact center standards, you can improve your contact center performance. Call scoring can be done by determining whether:

i) the customer was met with a friendly greeting or not

ii) he/ she was asked their name and was it used during the call

iii) the agent keeps a positive attitude across all customer contacts

 

Call scoring tools
Call scoring tools

 

The very first step in the call scoring process is to determine what elements are important in each customer engagement. This is followed by a process of knowing how each effort should be scored against these pre-determined criteria. As a matter of fact, most of the scorecard elements are fairly standard and are derived from dividing a call into segments. Moreover, the calls can be scored on a 1-10 scale, or 9 in the form of A-F letter grades.

Example of scorecard
Example of scorecard

A basic open-middle-close format is employed in many companies. This approach focuses on determining:

i) how the customer is greeted

ii) how the problem or question is resolved

iii) how the call ends

iv) whether the agent was able to answer all questions

v) whether the agent was friendly when the caller was hostile

vi) if any upsell opportunities were missed

Once the scoring has been done, the results can be shared with each agent. Additional training can also be scheduled in cases where the agent performance falls below the expected level.

 

 

 

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Benefits of using speech analytics: I

As we mentioned in an earlier post, speech analytics refers to the process of analyzing recorded calls to gather customer information to improve communication and future interaction. The information cumulated using speech analytics can be used to discover information relating to strategy, product, process, operational issues and contact center agent performance. Moreover, it can be leveraged to identify areas in which contact center agents may need additional training or coaching, and can automatically monitor the customer service provided on calls. Easing out a number of processes at the call center, speech analytics provides a number of benefits.

1. Helps manage operational and performance issues:

Speech analytics can be used by call center managers to monitor customers and call center agents simultaneously. They can actually keep an eye on their performance in order to make sure regulatory requirements are met. Moreover, this highly efficacious technology can be used for coaching call center agents. Well trained agents are efficient enough to resolve customer queries which further improves first call resolution and reduces call volume. In other words, operational and performance issues that occur throughout the enterprise can be tracked and managed, hence, resulting in improved service quality.

Monitoring call center agents
Monitoring call center agents

2. Provides valuable insights regarding marketplace:

Not only call centers but the entire enterprise can benefit from speech analytics. As an example, sales organizations can leverage the power of this amazing technology to identify up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. The tools engaged in this process can actually be used to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Sales managers can utilize the data gathered using speech analytics to learn about how a particular up-sell or cross-sell impacted a customer’s level of satisfaction. They can also determine how different customer demographics respond to the offers, using this technology. This does not end here! Personalized up-sell and cross-sell opportunities that meet a customer’s specific needs can also be created using this wonderful technology.

Upsell and crossell
Upsell and crossell

 

 

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Call blending and its unmatched benefits

Call blending refers to the capability to make outbound calls while also being able to receive inbound calls, all in one easy technologically created the system. It helps in the equal distribution of calls among the workstations in a call center. This means that all the agents have the same workload which further leads to increased customer satisfaction. These days, call blending is being used by a number of call centers to maximize the productivity of agents without overworking them. This process is entirely automatic as an agent finishes with an outbound call and becomes free, a tone will emit from his or her headset signaling that the line is connected to another caller.

Call blending
Call blending

There are a number of benefits of using call blending:

1. It increases customer satisfaction:

When you allow your agents to take both inbound and outbound calls at the same time, a number of incoming calls lowers down. This causes the workload to be equally distributed such that each agent receives the same number of callers. Since everyone stays busy and productive, the number of net calls accommodated in a day boosts up which further results in a higher satisfaction level from your customers.

Increased customer satisfaction
Increased customer satisfaction

2. It helps cut down on expenses:

Call blending enables your agents to take inbound and outbound calls which cut down your need to hire more employees. Thus, you can save on your payroll. With proper training, each agent can take on the responsibility of handling both inbound and outbound calls. Also, they can carry out the task without sacrificing the quality of customer service calls.

Cutting down the expenses
Cutting down the expenses

3. It helps accommodate customers’ needs efficiently:

With call blending each agent is provided with all the necessary information through utilizing a feature called screen pop. This enables all your representatives to respond more intelligently to their calls. Thus, with sufficient information on hand, an agent is able to accommodate a customer’s needs effectively.

An example of screen pop
An example of screen pop

 

 

 

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Your guide to call center schedule adherence

Call center schedule adherence is an important terminology related to call centers. It refers to the common metric used in the call center to determine whether or not call center agents are working the amount of time they are scheduled to work. Schedule adherence can take into account time spent on breaks or do non-call related work.

Call center schedule adherence
Call center schedule adherence

Measurement:

Schedule adherence is measured as follows:

Total time a call center agent is available for call work /  The time they are scheduled to work

The result is expressed as a percentage. Most call centers define a target schedule adherence percentage that allows for some free time beyond the known scheduled lunch and break times. However, there are instances where agents to go out of adherence as call center schedules tend to be complex.

Measurement
Measurement

Importance:

Call center schedule adherence is a crucial call center metric that ensures smooth transitions between shifts assigned to the agents. These days, web-based call center scheduling solutions have become essential to track schedule adherence in real-time with automatic alerts. You can leverage these tools for an appropriate calculation of schedule adherence. Moreover, these tools can be used to track adherence in real-time. Thereafter, these adherence reports can be shared with agents and they can be told how they are doing as it is important to give regular feedback regarding adherence statistics.

Web based tools for workforce management
Web-based tools for workforce management

You need to consider informing and educating your agents before implementing a new program. This is vital in order to reduce negative backlash from your agents in such cases. Agents need to understand the relevance of schedule adherence and how it affects the call center’s performance. Also, providing incentives by rewarding agents that adhere to their schedule through recognition within the team, will further motivate them to perform better and deliver exceptional services.

Rewards
Rewards