Call centers are deluged with statistics. ACD's, IVR's, quality monitoring and workforce management systems – among others – churn out plenty of numbers. Arguably, no group of employees are as systematically measured and evaluated as call center agents. Managers do not lack for data – but they often lack for information. We know what agents are doing with their time, we just don't always know if it's good, bad or in-between. To deal with this information overload several vendors now offer performance management applications. These products allow managers to establish objectives then measure performance against objectives. By integrating with multiple customer databases, managers can drill down to find the "root cause" of deviations. Numbers Alone Don't Cut It But human interactions are complex. Numerical KPI's cannot capture the richness of live discourse between agent and caller. Hidden within these dialogues are important clues to improving the performance of the entire organization, not just the call center. Callers are telling us why they likeor dislike our products or services. They offer useful suggestions for product or service improvements. They tell us how successful – or unsuccessful – branding and service initiatives have been. They alert us to potential defects that could lead to costly litigation if not acted on promptly. Callers may even tell us about competitor actions that could lead to a loss of market share. | Dick Bucci Market Intelligence & Consulting Technology Marketing Associates |
To the extent that senior management – and call centers themselves – perceive their role as primarily to reduce the cost of handling customer queries, then the call center function will inevitably go to the lowest bidder or least expensive technology. This need not happen, if call centers embrace the belief that they are the primary customer touch point to the customers that drive the business and are in a unique position to impact sales and profits./font> To really understand what is going on in these interactions, you need to listen to the actual conversation. Recording systems contain the raw data, but who has time to listen to thousands – if not millions – of minutes of recorded interactions? So how do you unlock the treasure-trove of information that resides in the call center? The answer may well lie in the evolving science of Speech Analytics. In theory, you simply interrogate recorded interactions and the system spews out the answers you are looking for – a form of Ask Hal. You type in, "Why is my average handle time up 5 percent this month?" or "Why is new revenue per agent up 10 percent over last quarter?" The device then generates reports replete with colorful charts and graphs that give you all the reasons, rank ordered in frequency. While this sounds like the Nirvana of performance management the rapidly maturing technology of speech technology has gotten us very close. Speech Analytics Speech Analytics is an emerging offshoot of performance management that takes business intelligence to the next level. Rooted in the sciences of Bayesian statistics, Statistical Machine Learning, Discriminative Speech Recognition, Neural Networks and Natural Language, Speech Analytics is a form of artificial intelligence that treats compressed voice files as searchable databases for gathering any aspect of the customer-agent interaction, including statistics on operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction. Call center management establishes categories for call classification. Typical categories may be billing questions, late shipments, quality issues, promotions, customer satisfaction, technical support, or new orders. These categories can be changed as needed, although the ease with which this is done varies by vendor. Users must input key words or phrases associated with each category. Some systems are smart enough to automatically include words and phrases that closely match those that were predetermined. The Speech Analytics engine can then be interrogated for all recordings that occur in each category. The number of responses for each category is also reported. For example, If product defects are frequently reported by callers, managers can get daily statistics and drill down to the exact call fragments that mentioned the nature of the defects. This can be immensely helpful to quickly and accurately diagnosing the causes of the problems. Continental Airlines uses the technology to refine its categorization of call types then use the information to route more calls through self-service. The results are lower call handling costs and more efficient deployment of agent resources. From Cost Center To Strategic Resource Speech Analytics adds the richness and texture to performance management that cannot be achieved by statistics alone. When integrated with compatible third-party data bases and recording platforms, Speech Analytics provides the high-level intelligence needed to drive core business strategies. However, having the technology and leveraging it are two different things. Call center managers need to think ROI as well as KPI. They need to aggressively champion the value of their value to senior management. Speech Analytics may be the tool that really catches management's attention. The human voice has far more impact than numbers. Share files of conversations that clearly reveal the success of a marketing initiative or the root cause of customer complaints and you will be sure to catch management's attention – and then the resources to build an even stronger organization. About Dick Bucci: Prior to establishing his own consultancy Mr. Bucci was a research analyst and consultant for Frost & Sullivan, a market research company. He has also held senior marketing and sales management positions with equipment manufacturers and solutions providers. Mr. Bucci has published numerous market research reports, articles and white papers. About Technology Marketing Associates: Technology Marketing Associates is the Market Intelligence and Consulting service for emerging growth companies in the contact center and enterprise communications markets. Services include market research, competitive intelligence, corporate communications and consulting. Typical engagements are custom market research, competitive analysis, channel management, customer success stories, white papers, marketing collateral, and media relations. |
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