The changing world of call centers

In today’s multichannel world, the call center is in the midst of a transformation. This transformation is comprehensive and involves rethinking performance metrics, staffing issues, and work space design.

In the area of performance metrics, financial institutions are recalibrating to better align in a multichannel world. No longer can institutions look at average talk time, abandonment rates, and after call processing. The call center agent is now responding to customers through several channels – telephone, social media, instant messaging, and live Web chats to name a few. Agents are now perceived as a financial institution’s ambassador, information officer, and mediator. One performance metric that has evolved in some call centers is “one and done” as described by Jennifer Fox, SVP Customer Care Contact Center Operation Manager for Associated Bank in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This philosophy empowers the agent to resolve a customer’s issue in one call. This philosophy lends itself well to the new instant-gratification generation of customers who are reaching out to the bank as part of their busy schedule. As this example illustrates, the traditional metrics by which a call center is measured must be reviewed in light of the new challenges and customers expectations that a multichannel world presents. Further, the call center employee must by “smarter” than ever. Their knowledge base and training must be sufficient to allow them to meet the customer’s expectations of a “one and done” experience.

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Organizationally, call centers are being transformed by the introduction of Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs) as a service distribution channel. ITMs bring the dynamics of retail transactions once associated with retail branches into the call center. The ITM requires both visual and audio communication with the customer, amplifying the emphasis on personal service. This dynamic requires financial institutions to rethink the hiring, training, and staffing models for the call center.   Today’s agent needs to be comfortable conducting video sessions and maintaining eye contact with the customer.   For those institutions with a geographically diverse network, the agents also must be able to relate to the various needs of their customers as well as the diversity of products that may be associated with these regions. In most cases, these agents need to be empowered to resolve the customer’s issues in keeping with the “one and done” philosophy.

Beyond the staffing issues, the physical environment in the call center needs to be addressed with the addition of the ITM channel. The agents for the ITMs need to be isolated within the call center space to eliminate any background noise, including any visual background activity. Because ITMs often operate during non-traditional hours, the space needs to include access to the restrooms, breakrooms, and points of ingress/egress without violating other security zones in the facility. The non-traditional hours also require safety considerations regarding ingress/egress into the facility.   These are important steps when designing a new facility to house a call center and doubly important when retrofitting a call center in an existing space.

Great results can be achieved by providing ITM agents with the resources and space required to meet customer needs and serve their clients while keeping with the “one and done” attitude. One Southern institution embraced the multichannel approach and weaved it’s on line banking, ITMs and call center into a cohesive strategy, over a three year period its revised multichannel approach generated 1,400 new accounts and $140 million in new deposits.

In consideration of the discussion above, the three pillars of customer service in a multichannel world are: Smarter Support, Personalized Service, and Faster Connect and Up-Time.

  1. Smarter Support: Agent’s must have at their fingertips a knowledge base that provides them the ability to deal with the majority of customer requests. This knowledge base consists of product information, empowerment guidelines to resolve customer issues, and a decision tree for dispute resolution beyond their authority. All of this geared to the “one and done” philosophy.
  2. Personalized Service: This concept connects the knowledge base with the agent’s ability to customize services or products to fit the customer’s request.   Agents must be able to interact with the customer to determine his/her true needs elevating the agent’s role beyond that of an order-taker.
  3. Faster Connect and Up Time: This addresses the infrastructure of the call center. The goal is to ensure the center is able to operate even if there are power outages or systems issues.   Continuous system monitoring insures the center can absorb a sudden spike in activity. The worst thing for a customer is the inability to reach the contact center in a timely manner.

A call center’s ability to attain these three pillars will enhance its effectiveness and better equip agents to serve customers through multiple channels, leveraging the “one and done” concept which has become the customer’s expectation!

Tommy Loo

Tommy Loo

As the Director of Business Strategies, Tommy Loo is responsible for providing operations consulting services for LEVEL5 clients. His work develops capacity, and utilization requirements to reach our client’s ... Web: www.level5.com Details