With the recent creation of the National Do Not Call (DNC) registry, the teleservices industry has been the target of a full out assault by doomsayers predicting the end of the industry. From the New York Times to CNN, nearly every media outlet or industry authority has opined that first-day statistics of those who enrolled with the DNC registry – signaling loss of jobs en masse and financial devastation to the economies of rural towns where many contact centers are located. And that's just the most well-publicized of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) / Federal Trade Commission (FTC) mandates that also include the transmission of caller ID, abandon call restrictions, message announcement and compliance reports! This feeding frenzy has created an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and doubt that has caused even the most seasoned contact center executive to lose sleep. | |
So before you hit the speed dial to your therapist, let's consider the validity of some other myths – the Bermuda Triangle, the Fountain of Youth, and the Tooth Fairy. Still not convinced? Then read on as we tackle some of the greatest myths related to the FCC/FTC's amendment to the 1995 Telemarketing Sales Rule.
Myth #1: The FCC/FTC mandates mean the end of the teleservices industry Furthermore, consider these two things. First, that Darwin's theory of natural selection applies to business – the strongest do, in fact, survive. And secondly, industry historically makes its greatest advances in the face of adversity. We believe that not only can savvy contact centers survive, they can increase market share by leveraging technology to regain efficiencies lost by complying with the mandate, or by identifying and providing new, value-added services, thus differentiating themselves in the market place.
Myth #2: Contact centers will go out of business As a result of growth and acquisitions over the past decade, many large contact centers have already decentralized operations with multiple, distributed call centers typically supporting between 20-100 agents each. But with the recent FCC/FTC mandates, contact center operators need to seek additional ways to increase productivity and scale back ongoing operational costs. We have already begun to see a paradigm shift in business strategy in which companies are starting to consolidate their operations centers in order to lower overhead expenses. This strategy enables companies to significantly reduce costs including facilities, IT equipment and redundant headcount. Similarly, we are seeing many contact centers leverage emerging technology in creative ways to reduce overhead costs. Some centers are using remote agents who are connected back to the predictive dialer switch using voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology. Others are relocating their centers outside the U.S. through VoIP to support agents located in countries such as India and the Philippines. Alas, while the ability to leverage overseas or at-home agents through VoIP technology is a sound business strategy, it is one that requires an investment in sophisticated telephony infrastructure. According to the META Group, an alarmingly high number of dialers in the industry are at risk of poor performance when having to operate in compliance with the FCC/FTC mandates. It is critical that contact centers invest in technology that can address not only the FCC/FTC regulations, but more importantly, the business challenges that their enactment has created.
Myth #3: Network signaling is the best solution to ensure regulatory compliance Outbound dialing systems that rely only on network signaling from the telephone carrier cannot perform answering machine detection. As a result, agents are forced to handle answering machines, fax machines, pagers, voice mail, and operator intercepts. These are estimated to make up between 30% - 40% of all outbound calls. And as you can imagine, the cost to contact centers is significant with the drop in agent productivity. Outbound dialers that use a combination of network signaling and Digital Signal Processing (DSP), or voice detection technology, provide contact center operators with the most accurate answer detection system on the market today. This translates directly to maximizing agent productivity, reduced costs and overall campaign success.
Myth #4: Compliance with abandoned call regulations will severely hamper campaign productivity metrics In accordance with the "3 percent abandon call rate" mandate, leading vendors who utilize sophisticated dialing algorithms will be able to comply with this requirement, as well as with stricter California legislation. These solutions are also configurable to ensure that the telephone will ring for at least 15 seconds or 4 rings before disconnecting an unanswered call. To comply with the "2-second transfer to agent" requirement, vendors have drawn a line in the sand. Some vendors position network signaling (i.e., predictive dialing without answering machine detection) as a method to guarantee the 2-second transfer requirement. While effective at meeting FCC/FTC compliance, this less sophisticated solution fails to maximize agent productivity. Conversely, those solutions that leverage voice detection technology adhere to the mandate while ensuring a high talk time per hour. This technology automatically detects the end of a person's greeting and transfers the call to an agent within the 2-second requirement. Coupled with an automated message delivery system, in the unlikely event that an agent is not available to answer a call within the 2-second requirement, a pre-recorded message can be played to the individual as mandated by the legislation.
Myth #5: Transmission of Caller ID will dramatically lower results Our industry is a numbers game — dials per hour; leads or sales per hour; conversion ratio; etc. So let's face it, productivity and profits are maximized when agents make contact with individuals who want to hear from a certain business or organization. For example, as an American Express® card member, the likelihood that I will answer their call and listen to their pitch is higher than if I received a call from Citibank®, with whom I do not have a relationship. To achieve compliance, a contact center can simply rely upon its carrier to transmit Caller ID. Of course, this means that the contact center's telephone number will be transmitted for all calls across all campaigns. Savvy contact centers, however, recognize that the specific information they transmit impacts their bottom line with respect to the DNC registry. Suppose teleservices agency ABC transmits its caller ID when calling the Jones' residence on behalf of American Express. Under the mandate, should the Jones' request that the center remove their name from the calling list, the ABC contact center may not make any calls to that telephone number, regardless of whether another client, such as Citibank, seeks to target the Jones'. Conversely, by transmitting the client's name – in our example, American Express – the ABC contact center may continue to place calls to the Jones' on behalf of other clients, provided the Jones' have not requested that particular client to remove their name from the list.
Myth #6: Proving compliance through archiving detailed call records will be difficult To facilitate compliance with the mandate, leading contact center solution providers are building into their offerings the capability to timestamp and log all compliance-related events including: off-hook, detect live voice, transfer/connect to agent, play a message, disconnect call, and abandon rate by campaign. Not only do these offerings enable contact center operators to capture detailed campaign information, but also to store the information in an easily accessed and retrieved database.
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Published: Monday, September 1, 2003
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