Analyzing Data

Running an efficient call center requires having good data on how the work is being processed. Call center analytics give managers the tools to oversee and optimize staffing and workflow. Analytics can be used in three basic ways, and for best results planning should encompass all three.

The Past

Call center analytics provide reports on how the team has performed in previous time periods. This might be last quarter, last month, or even last shift. This information can be used to gauge performance of the department as a whole, or broken out to analyze each team. Which teams are meeting their goals? Which shifts are being overloaded and which don't have enough work to do?

Past reports can be used to recognize high achievers, creating incentives for all teams to work harder. They can also be used to spot trouble areas so managers can brainstorm solutions. The information can be used to justify staff increases by demonstrating how average call volume is rising. These kinds of metrics have been available for many years, but increases in information technology offer other perspectives to today's call center managers.

The Present

Real time analytics tell both managers and agents how call volume is being handled right now. It allows the center to adjust to changing volumes quickly so customers aren't frustrated by long hold times during heavy traffic, and employees aren't twiddling their thumbs during slow periods.

A center might set up teams assigned to different call volumes. Team A might be on the phones all the time. Team B has other duties but automatically moves to cover the phones once the electronic wallboard shows call volume at moderate levels, returning to their other tasks when volume drops. Team C could be an emergency group who works the phone only during periods of very high traffic. In addition, managers could monitor the call center metrics and react to changing call volumes in real time.

The Future

The real power of call center analytics come in predicting call volume before it happens. Managers get a feel for call patterns and can plan future staffing accordingly. As a company becomes more successful and call volumes rise, the center can be expanded in anticipation of future growth rather than trying to hire after employees have become overworked.

Flexible staffing solutions might be implemented to cover expected fluctuations in call volume. When analytics show that the center is always busiest on Mondays, or in the afternoon, or in the first week of the month they can bring on extra staff to cover those expected increases. Managers could bring on additional help right before new product launches or in response to positive or negative publicity. Proactive decisions are more powerful than reactive ones.

Be Healthy !

Compared to most jobs nowadays, the job of a call center agent pays more money. Their body is being prone to many illnesses because of their lifestyle before they can receive their salary. Most call center agents sleep during daytime instead of having their sleep during the night.

The human body has been designed to sleep during the night and work during day time. And it is very difficult to go against the rule of nature. However, with proper adjustment of the body and also with some practice, this can be adapted by the body. But unfortunately, it would still be stressful for call center agents. The reason is that the whole night, they give uninterrupted services. It is still essential to take care of their health because it gives more success and income for the business. During work, they are being exposed to stress, continuous fatigue, and weakness.

You can think of health tips to stay healthy to shield our body from harmful illnesses and to remain fit. To be able to follow a healthy lifestyle, there is a need to take care of their diet. This is necessary for the call center agents to function productively in their work. 8 hours of sleep per day is still what the doctors suggest for call center agents. This would help you to recharge yourself and to unwind for the next working night.

There is a need to eat a balanced and healthy diet. If you consume foods which are greasy, oily, and overcooked it would make you sleepy. Foods which are nutritious are still needed by our body. It will make you to be active and awake. Overeating and also skipping meals would be dangerous to your health. If you do that your brain will become inactive and work slower. If you will not eat properly, you will have poor listening and speaking capabilities. Water is also essential in keeping our body healthy.

Since you are using your voice too much at work, it can strain your larynx and our throat. Also, you can consume liquids which are alcohol free. Call center agents has sedentary lifestyle and must always be remembered. To be fit and healthy it is necessary to have exercise. Lastly, sleep is not the only way to help your body relaxed. It is important to have a relaxation time. After a week of hard work, you can have a fun and enjoy in a trip or vacation.

The rapid growth overseas comes as the company seeks to change the terms of its $52 million incentive agreement with the city of Cincinnati that requires it to keep at least 1,400 workers here.

The expansion in the Philippines will raise the company’s workforce in the Southeast Asian nation to 25,000 by the end of the year, reports said.

Source: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100719/BIZ01/307190112/Convergys-hiring-3-600-more-workers-in-Philippines

Call center job description is highly volatile and depends upon company to company. The basic function of call center job is public dealing and selling of products. The job description requires excellent communication skills. The call centers are now dealing with multinational clients; hence the job demands proper language and accent control.

Depending upon the profile of company, the job description of call center can demand selling of products, troubleshooting and maintenance support or customer help desk. Selling of products requires you to have good marketing skills and a sharp memory. You should be spontaneous to address the customer queries. You should have the product names and specifications at finger tips; no one wants to keep holding the line while you search for the item. You should also have the ability of multitasking. On one time you may have to take the order and simultaneously type the order in the computer.

If you are handling the customer support section, you should have good reasoning skills. You should be technically versed with the problems faced by the customers and provide them with a satisfactory solution. This calls for good event handling techniques and excellent communication skills. You have to make the customer understand what you are speaking. Since here the customer base is varied you have to handle different type of customers with different backgrounds.

Excellent spoken communication skills, good typing speed, sharp memory, analytical reasoning, spontaneous are a few skills that are required for call center job. The salary has a wide range depending on experience, skills and location. Education qualification is not a major concern for call center jobs.

Most customer service representatives in a call center environment dread call coaching. By turning call coaching into a positive experience for agents, supervisors and managers can relieve the anxiety that customer service representatives may feel about call coaching. Doing so may also increase the agent's willingness to approach a supervisor when questions about call handling arise, simplifying future call center coaching.

Tips to Make Call Center Coaching a Positive Experience

There are several things that supervisors can do to help their customer service representatives view call center coaching as a positive experience. Supervisors can help agents perceive the call coaching experience as positive by letting agents know what they're doing right, not just what they're doing wrong. Encouraging customer service representatives to deliver feedback to team leaders in the organization can help agents view call center coaching and other forms of feedback as a positive tool to improve job performance.

Don't Just Focus on the Negative in Call Center Coaching

Although there are always things that a customer service representative can do to improve his or her performance, those things shouldn't be the sole focus of a coaching session. If a customer service agent established great rapport with the customer during the call, he should be complimented and encouraged to continue doing so. If he did a great job of verifying customer information, paraphrasing the customers problem, or did anything that left the customer with the impression that the agent 'went the extra mile' in resolving his issue, these things can all be used as positives to let the agent know that the call coach appreciates the things that he is doing well.

When delivering a call coaching session to an agent, it's best to begin the session on a positive note, emphasizing the things that the agent is doing correctly, then move onto the things that the agent needs to improve upon. Call coaches should always try to include at least one positive item that the agent is handling correctly in each call center coaching session, and end each session with a word of encouragement.

Positive Feedback as Part of the Business Culture

Make positive feedback a part of the business culture. Encourage customer service representatives to provide feedback to team leaders on their peers or other members of the organization, be it kudos for something they see another agent doing well, or a suggestion to help another agent improve his performance. Stress to customer service representatives that feedback, when it involves suggestions for improvement, shouldn't be perceived as tattling.

Agents that provide team leaders with feedback that does seem to be tattling, snarky or vindictive should be educated on how to provide appropriate feedback. A one-on-one session with a call center coach on how to provide appropriate feedback should be enough for most agents to understand what feedback is meant to accomplish, and the spirit in which the organization provides it to agents.

Team meetings should be a time to share kudos that customer service representatives have received directly from customers or from other agents. This provides coaches with the opportunity to show customer service representatives how the feedback system actually works, and gives those agents that have received positive feedback for a job well done the opportunity to share with their peers tips and techniques that they are using to deliver outstanding customer service.

As agents begin to see feedback and call center coaching as the valuable tool that it is, they may show more willingness to seek the help of a coach or other senior member of the team when they have questions about call handling. When customer service representatives begin exhibiting these proactive behaviors, they should be heartily encouraged. The practice of approaching more senior team members or coaches with legitimate questions can help agents to improve their performance more quickly and vastly improve the quality of service being delivered to customers, before coaching on a problem area becomes necessary.

The Benefits of Positive Call Center Coaching

When call center coaching is delivered in a positive way, everyone benefits. Customers receive better service when customer service representatives continually strive to improve their skills, agents that see call center coaching in a positive way feel better about their work performance, even when suggestions are made for improvements, and coaches experience better relations with their agents when their suggestions are not perceived as a hostile critique of the agent's job performance.

Call center is a terrific job. Many young professionals work in call center because of higher chances of boosting their career to the maximum level. Customers are expanding their channel in contact in which call centers are on top of the list. It is a challenge to every contact center to integrate strategic planning in order to maintain its presence towards the global trend in this industry.

Working in call center is not only aiming to receive higher pay. There are dos and don’ts in order to set limitation to the workers. If you are one of the millions of people connected in customer service, you should know the guidelines to avoid committing violation. Call center companies always make sure to deliver efficient services to their clients worldwide as possible. Because call center is a promising industry, keeping the best employees and hiring more service representatives should always set part of expanding the business. Hiring the right people is very important. The call centers should provide ongoing training to the agents and employees; practice the transparency like communicating openly with the agents and managers, discovering the quality performance of the best people, investing to the state-of-the-art technology to increase customer satisfaction.

Any contact center should have a strong organization in achieving the long-term goal of the company. Making the call center dynamic and flexible can promote better output all the time. The call center management should always strengthen the relationship with the customer. Maintaining customer relationship is important above anything else.

There are many good things you can do to support the call center industry. Avoiding the don’ts in this industry can lessen the burden that may bring to the customers and the company you work for. The following are the don’ts that call center employees should do:

Avoid Tardiness

Time is precious. Never be late in your duty. Though you are one of the best agents in the company but with your constant tardiness will give you the honor to be recognized by your team leaders or supervisors. Also, you are not the asset of the company because call center is a fast paced regulated industry that time is important. Your tardiness can affect the operation of your company.

Don’t Slack Off

Do your job promptly. Slacking off the floor by letting other people do the job which is supposed to you is simply a bad impression to you not only as a person but to your job performance. Be productive always and serve as role model to your fellow agents. Show them the real you that you are happy with what you are doing. There are many call center agents who were terminated because of this bad impression despite several times of IR (incidental report) issued to them.

Avoid Obscene Behavior

Displaying your obscene behavior while you are inside your company’s premises is a big NO. When taking to the customer, talk with them with pleasure and with care. Never throw seducing words which sounds like you are doing phone sex to your customer. If caught, this may the end of your promising career in your in the call center. And worst, this may left bad wound in your previous job and to your co-workers.

Stop Horsing Around

Think of your responsibility as an employee of the company. While you are on duty, avoid playing around and horsing with other agents. Respect their privacy while they are on call and focusing on their job. This behavior can cause immediate violation because you are disturbing your co-workers instantly. Always put the fun in the right time. Implementing self-discipline is the best way to get rid of this disturbing behavior.

There are so many don’ts that you we need to implement. This can make the job easier if everybody is following the simple orders stated under the rules and regulations. It is important that the discipline must start on our own. Later on, other people who are new in the call center will learn the virtue that you showed. If you love your job then keep it.

The call center industry continues to give outstanding opportunity to everybody. It helps the economy prosper and lower the unemployment rate in the world.*

"Advantage You"

Are you in charge of a business? If so, have you thought about adding or contracting with a call center? It can be a tremendous boost to you. By reading this article, you will learn how call centers can be an advantage to businesses.

The First Way they may be able to do this: They can be available to aid customers and answer any questions they have when regular businesses are closed. Many call centers are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week while many businesses open during the middle of the morning and close by late in the evening.

The Second Way they may be able to do this: They provide a huge convenience to customers in regard to not making them have to travel to get help. Instead of making a visit to the place where they made a purchase, they can stay home in their pajamas and simply make a phone call. This can be one of the biggest perks in existence.

The Third Way they may be able to do this: This can help companies by allowing them to have their employees do other things, mainly the duties that fit their job description. Anything that saves you time is something you should consider.

The Fourth Way they may be able to do this: They can help elevate your standing. Including them in your operations might lead your business to having a higher satisfaction ranking.

The Fifth Way they may be able to do this: They sometimes participate in the collections process. Do you sometimes have a few customers who fall behind in making their payments to you? If so, the representatives who operate the telephones can track them down for you.

The Sixth Way they may be able to do this: They can help you look better. Your image might be enhanced once it becomes known you go out of your way to help your customers.

The Seventh Way they may be able to do this: They can allow your clients to make their voices heard and subsequently receive extra service. For example, they can process the complaints customers have about a purchase they made.

You have learned how call centers can be an advantage to businesses. If you have not already done so, now is the time for you to open or start working with one in order to make your firm even more successful.

According to Gartner, the worldwide market for customer service outsourcing is set to grow from $8.4 billion in 2004 to $12.2 billion in 2007, but the offshore component will remain small. Despite the hype surrounding offshore call centers, offshore customer service outsourcing represents less than 2 percent of the worldwide market in 2005, increasing to less than 5 percent in 2007.


Gartner reports that by 2007, about 80 percent of organizations outsourcing customer service and support contact centers with the aim of reducing cost will fail.


Despite these gloomy predictions, other analysts are predicting rapid growth of call centers in Asia Pacific. Frost & Sullivan foresees the number of call centers in 2006 to exceed 26,000, supporting 1.9 million-strong workforce. By 2011, it will mushroom to 40,000 manned by nearly 3 million agents.


Who wants to hire a call center?

Historically, a call center is a competition-driven internal response to provide better service or generate new sales opportunities. As businesses streamline operations and identify core opportunities, call center functions are outsourced to external providers for a number of reasons such as better utilization of internal resources, reduction of per unit call cost, increased focus on core competency.


There are two main types of call centers: consumer transactional-based systems, which lend itself to a lower cost location (and therefore readily outsourced); and the more complex interaction contact centers such as those that provide technical helpdesk services, which are generally kept in-house.


However, as improvements in technologies and processes take shape, businesses are turning to external call centers to provide everything from over-the-phone technical helpdesk support to helping execute lead generation and tracking campaigns.


The primary sources of business for call centers are the US, Europe and Australian markets. Companies from these countries outsource to Asia because of the perceived lower labor cost, improved computing/communication infrastructure, and the high level of English-language competency.


China, Korea and Japan represent sizeable opportunities for Asia’s growing call center market. However, language will be the biggest hurdle in serving the domestic markets as traditional call centers leverage English-speaking staff.


Transformation trends

Executive level managers must understand that the call center operation is a strategic element of a business and that the amount of time a call center agent spends with customers is greater than customer interaction by any other member of the organization, including sales people. The call center is therefore a critical element to the strategic success of the company.


There is a technology shift toward self-help systems. This automated interaction, enabled by interactive voice response systems, is as important as a live interaction and requires just as much focus to ensure positive customer experience.


“For many enterprises, the customer experience is the basis of competitive differentiation and the call center is at the heart of that experience. Empowered by IP-based solutions, next generation customer service practices are expected to undergo significant changes in such areas as matching the level of service to the lifetime value of the customer,” says Tom Cheong, managing director, ASEAN, Avaya.


Focus

Certainly, technology plays an important role in ensuring that campaigns are executed on time, on schedule and within budget. However, the customer should always be the focal point, whether the point of contract is through the phone, by email or via the web.


According to market research firm Gallup, lack of customer engagement influences customer attrition. Disengaged call center agents cost organizations millions of dollars in lost opportunities. Where customers rated their experience as much worse than expected, this equated to a loss of 15 percent of customers or $4.5 million in revenue.


Continuous training

Staff retention is a never ending issue within the call center industry. Having a well-rounded training strategy and program is tantamount to survival and success.


Ed Saldajeno, managing director of Alva Pacific Franchise, a thriving call center operator Philippines, reminds aspiring call center entrepreneurs of the importance of training. “Continuous agent skills training and development are critical to ensuring customer satisfaction.”


Dynamic, flexible organization

It is often said that as an organization grows in size, it becomes less and less nimble in the way it executes strategies. In a business that thrives on understanding peculiarities of individual customers, flexibility is key to success.


Peter Chai, country Manager, Southeast Asia, BT, suggests that: “Successful call center businesses have a proven ability to seamlessly ramp technology and agents up or down. They have use flexible commercial models that include risk and reward sharing, as well as utility-based costing. As competition builds up, building vertical expertise on existing service offerings will ensure sustained business relationship with clients.”


Location, location, location

The core elements of a call center are its people, and availability of appropriate communications service. A rural location may be cheap but if you don’t have a stable broadband connection, how will you do your business?


“Having good telecommunications infrastructure is important in a call center business. A lot of places in Asia currently do not offer stable and robust IP network infrastructure to support reliable center business. It is therefore important to identify the right location when setting up a call center business,” says Junie Pama, country manager for Five9 Philippines.


Source: Opening a Small Business