Without clear processes, customer contact would lack a clear
path of resolution. The core of your call center operation
are your business processes, including:
- why and how customers will contact you
- how your agents handle customer interactions
- how your call center handles day-to-day business
transactions and operations
- how you manage your call center
staff and scheduling
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The Contact Center Model,
shown in Figure 1, illustrates how processes fit into the "big picture"
of the call center. To learn more about the
Contact Center Model, see
Module 1 of
this tutorial series.
 |
Figure 1 - Prosci's Contact Center Model |
Impact of call center strategy
Before you can take an in-depth look at your call center processes,
you need to understand the role
that the call center plays in the success of your organization.
Your business strategy is the critical starting point for planning a
call center, and a necessary prerequisite to optimizing the performance
of your call center. To learn more about call center business
strategy planning, see Module 2
of this tutorial series.
Processes in the call center
All work is done in processes. For processes to be successful
and optimally efficient, three key elements must be present:
- Process must be defined.
- Identify the customer (internal or external customers)
trigger that makes the process necessary
- Identify the internal parties involved in the process
- Outline the steps of the process by continuing to ask "what
happens next?" after the trigger occurs until desired results
are achieved
- Process must be documented.
- Provides clear, easy-to-follow, consistent guidelines that
outline what employees need to do and how they do it
- Assures uniformity for consistent customer service
- Serves as a key input to the agent training program
- Process must be in-control.
- Continually monitor variability of process and take
necessary steps to correct problems
- Look for opportunities to streamline process by identifying
unnecessary steps or loops
- Assure that process remains relevant to the business by
adjusting definition
Processes are abundant in all areas of the call center. The
table below outlines the most common call centers processes:
|
Process
Component |
Description |
Contact types and volumes
|
The core data that affects all of your
call center processes is why and how customers contact
your center. You should have a solid understanding
of the following information:
- Why customers are contacting your center
(order-taking, sales activities, billing,
collections, technical support, etc.)
- How customers are contacting your center (phone,
email, web chat, fax, postal mail)
- How often customer are contacting your center
(contact volume)
|
Contact routing
|
Contact routing is the process of
getting the customer to an appropriate agent for
assistance. Centers should
customize routing on
business and customer needs. |
Customer contact processes
|
Call centers should detail how each type
of contact will be handled to ensure that your customers
are handled effectively and efficiently. |
Workforce management processes
|
To manage an efficient call center, it
is critical to accurately forecast the quantity of work
to be done and to schedule the right number of agents to
complete the work. Overstaffing is bad for the
budget and understaffing results in poor customer
service and frustrated employees. |
Productivity and performance reports
|
The best call centers have established
goals based on business needs that everyone works
toward. Reports provide managers with information
on performance and productivity so they can see
how individuals and groups are meeting those goals.
Armed with this data, managers and supervisors can make
decisions and run the call center more efficiently in
the short and long term. |
Quality monitoring program
|
Quality monitoring is the
process of observing an agent's interactions
with a customer (via telephone call, email,
text chat, web call, fax) and providing feedback based
upon predefined criteria of an evaluation form or
scorecard. Every contact center needs a quality monitoring
program to understand how it is performing. Scores
indicate not only how an individual agent handles
contacts, but also provide insights on the performance
of other areas of the organization, such as training,
technology, tools and processes. |
Contact center policies
|
You must also design an
administrative framework to ensure the
smooth-functioning of your contact center that
addresses:
- the policies that your center follows
- the administrative procedures you have in place
|
Internal and external communication
|
Communication must be
considered at both internal and external levels:
- Internal audiences include call center team,
management, IT, Human Resources and other relevant
departments
- External audiences
include partners and
suppliers, vendor support and of course, customers
|
Operations, administration and maintenance (OA&M) plans
|
Call center technology is an
essential part the center's operations. This
technology needs constant care and attention to assure
ongoing service delivery. The OA&M plan details:
- who the user will contact and when for
system
support
- who will perform each OA&M task and
how often
- escalation and communication procedures for
technical problem resolution
|
Disaster recovery planning
|
You must be prepared to
handle customer contacts in the event of a
business
disruption. Examples of a business disruption can
include weather events, natural disasters, fire,
computer system crashes, illness, epidemic or labor
strikes. It is essential to have on hand a
well-documented and up-to-date business continuity plan
so that everyone is aware of what to do when an event
occurs. |
How effective are your call center processes?
Think about the process from the
table above that has the greatest impact
on your call center operation. Then ask yourself the follow
questions:
- Is the process well-defined?
- Is the process well-documented?
- Is the process in-control?
If you answered "no" or "maybe" to any of the three questions, you
need to take a deeper look at the process to determine how to make it as
effective as possible. The
Call
Center Planning and Design Toolkit contains a
Master Planning Guide to lead you
through the process evaluation and redesign. This toolkit
addresses call center processes with checklists
and guidelines to make certain that all critical process
elements are present.
Summary
This tutorial focused on the important components of call center
business processes and how to determine if they are relevant and
efficient for your organization.
The
Call
Center Planning and Design Toolkit provides step-by-step instructions, templates and
checklists for developing your own specific Contact Center Model - including your
strategy, processes, technology, human resources and facilities. The toolkit was developed by industry leaders in the Call Center field, Vanguard
Communications and Prosci. The toolkit provides:
- a comprehensive planning checklist and design guidelines for
successfully setting up a new call center or redesigning your existing call center
- the approach and tools to help you create
and/or maintain a best-in-class contact center strategy
Find out more about the Planning and Design Toolkit by visiting the webpage, emailing callcenters@prosci.com or by calling 970-203-9332
to speak with an analyst.
Recommended Resources:
Call Center Planning and Design Toolkit
A comprehensive guide to call center strategy, planning and design; an excellent resource
for new contact center start-ups, existing call center improvement and future planning
with detailed templates and planning roadmaps.
Controlling the Cost of Call Center
Operations Toolkit
Provides a systematic approach to reducing your call center costs. With this toolkit, you
will critically examine multiple channels for reducing expense. The outcome is a set of
identified and prioritized cost saving initiatives that are most suited for your contact
center.
Call Center Measurement Toolkit
How to measure and improve call center performance; an excellent guide to developing a
performance measurement system with concrete recommendations for improving call center
performance. With an entire section dedicated to measuring, benchmarking and
improving cost per contact, this toolkit is your step-by-step guide for cost metrics.
Call Center Best Practices - Operations
Edition
Benchmarking report - Over 240 call centers from around the world share how they have
improved service quality, productivity and customer satisfaction. This report shares cost
benchmarking data from several industries, including average hourly cost per agent,
average cost per contact, average annual manager salary and many other valuable
statistics.
Motivating Call Center Agents Toolkit
A comprehensive guide specifically designed to increase productivity and motivate
agents. Discover what truly motivates your agents to do their best work with
easy-to-follow steps that guide you through the principles of motivation and how to
overcome the agent-manager disconnect. Interactive assessments are included that allow you
to find the root cause of low agent productivity and reduce your turnover rate.
Quality Monitoring Toolkit
A complete and in-depth guide to implement or improve a quality monitoring (call
monitoring) program.
Complete
Call Center Series
Save 30% off the list price when you purchase the complete
call center business performance series!
Call Center Business
Performance Packages
Find a call center package to meet your needs and save 20-25% off the list price!
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