One of the most powerful tools a call center has is the ability to empower its agents, the very people who drive its business. Agents who feel more in control of their performance are more likely to be high producers. There are three elements involved in agent empowerment; tools, incentive and feedback.

Providing the best in performance analytics tools is key to keeping agents informed, tracking their performance, and providing valuable training and feedback. Your performance analytics system should be able to effectively collect and present call center metrics in real-time and then leverage the data into actionable information. It should provide an interactive, multi-view desktop dashboard that shows different types of information including individual and group telephony and sales metrics, messages, links to training, FAQs and other content, as well as Web-based snapshots of customizable key performance indicators showing daily, weekly and monthly performance. A superior analytics system will contain Web-based, in-depth reports that display both real-time and historical performance metrics on an agent, group or site basis so managers can quickly review critical information from all telephony and business systems in one place. Full screen dashboards suited for displaying group and site performance metrics and messages on TV displays should also be included. Once the metrics are delivered and analyzed, the system should be able to trigger automated training and messaging based on agent results. This is the foundation for implementing agent empowerment.

Once under-performing agents have been identified, on-demand eLearning is necessary for intervening in and diverting a performance crisis. The means to trigger training based on agent results provides an unprecedented level of coaching automation.

• Set rules that send targeted training to individual agents or groups when predetermined thresholds are reached;

• Embed quizzes and surveys into training content to get immediate feedback and evaluate agent performance; and

• See agent test scores as well as develop and deliver report cards for proactive management.

This approach directly addresses training needs at the most critical moments by rapidly deploying time-sensitive information without pulling agents into training rooms.

Incentives can be offered in the form of competitions and contests among agents or agent groups. Providing immediate feedback to agents helps keep them on track for success in achieving their incentives. Agents are empowered because they can monitor and self correct their performance in real-time and can measure their performance against the rest of the center. These factors work together to create a competitive environment and enhance performance behavior. The benefits for management include improvements in virtual every key performance metric used to measure an agent's performance. It is easier to identify bottlenecks and drill down on problem areas resulting in better management of agents as well as measuring the impact of training on agents.

The bottom line for a call center is the maximization of agent performance which results in decreased costs and increased revenues. A very classic formula for a great return on investment

About Henry Lach:
Henry is an experienced software executive with a reputation for vision and inventiveness. He has experience in both user-interface and system-architecture design for enterprise software systems, and has brought to market many successful software products. His ability to blend marketing savvy with technical acumen has benefited numerous companies over the years.

About Syntora:
Syntora specializes in agent productivity solutions for contact centers. Its Agentivity software suite optimizes agent performance through its Analytics and eLearning modules, dramatically improving key performance indicators such as calls handled and dollars collected both by delivering real-time and historical agent performance information and by taking immediate corrective action with under-performing agents before they fall into negative patterns. Agentivity has been successfully deployed at customer sites since 2001.