Be Prepared: Planning
for the Unexpected
From the
Call Center Planning and Design Toolkit
In today's unpredictable
world, you must be prepared to handle customer contacts in the event of a
business disruption. It is essential to have a well-documented and up-to-date business
continuity plan so that everyone is aware of what to do when an event
occurs.
Causes of business
disruptions
There are many situations
that can prevent your call center from functioning normally, including the
following:
-
Unexpected
spikes in contact volumes (from product or billing
issues, market situations, unplanned publicity, uninformed marketing
or advertising efforts)
-
Weather events
(e.g. hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods)
-
Fire
-
Vandalism,
terrorism or bomb threats
-
Computer system
crashes
-
Illness, epidemic
-
Industrial action/withdrawal of labor
Minimizing disruptions and reducing their
impact
Disruptions can involve
many areas of your organization. They can directly affect your ability to
provide quality service. Here are some
of the ways you can plan to deal with them.
Contact volume spikes
To minimize the opportunity for disruptions:
-
Meet with groups that drive contact
volume into your center on a regular basis (e.g. marketing, sales,
billing) so that you can plan for projected
volume.
-
When volume spikes occur:
-
Direct a portion of your
contacts to other resources,
such as backup groups, alternate locations or a service bureau.
-
Be ready to call in
additional
resources including overtime for staff on the floor or other
personnel trained to help during peaks.
-
Promote
self-service options to
customers.
Telecommunications
To minimize the
opportunity for disruptions:
-
Use multiple
carriers.
-
Have dual, diversely routed connections
to your Central Office.
-
Have
backup routing schemes.
When you have a telecommunications outage,
make sure that backup routing schemes are activated.
Facilities
To minimize the
opportunity for disruptions:
-
Plan for
"mirrored" sites that cover for each other in case of
disaster (owned or service bureau).
-
Consider remote
offices or telecommuting options.
When you cannot use a facility:
Technology
To minimize the
opportunity for disruptions:
-
Arrange for
off-site storage of data.
-
Do not put all of your data in one data
center.
-
Do not install key technology components
on the top floor or basements - lightening and floods have put
contact centers out of business.
-
Design
redundancy into mission critical systems.
When you must take calls manually, have a
process for receiving contacts and following up and bringing closure
when technology systems are restored.
Power
To minimize the
opportunity for disruptions:
-
Install
uninterruptible power systems (UPS)
-
Consider diverse, dual power feeds to
the building
When you lose power:
Personnel
To minimize the
opportunity for disruptions:
-
Cross-train
your employees and document procedures.
-
Consider
diverse locations.
-
Consider remote offices or telecommuting
arrangements.
-
Maintain open
communication with Union representatives.
When you do not have a sufficient staff,
route a portion of the calls to your mirrored site, service bureau
remote offices or telecommuting positions.
Tips for an effective business continuity and
recovery plan
-
Keep up-to-date equipment inventories,
and contact lists of employees, vendors, contractors and service
firms.
-
Identify your essential functions and
put them on top of your recovery list.
-
Develop a communication plan, detailing
who will inform whom of what and when.
-
Define who "owns" each facet of
recovery, including wiring, telecom, mainframe, LAN, employees and
facility.
-
Make sure that all managers are fully
aware of their personal role in business recovery.
-
Plan for informing, caring for,
transporting, lodging, and feeding your employees if necessary.
-
Update your business continuity and
recovery plan quarterly.
-
Conduct regular recovery drills to test
the effectiveness of your plan.
Planning Checklist
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