Friday, June 28, 2013

Keeping an eye on first call resolution


In both workforce optimization (WFO) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), "First Call Resolution" (FCR) is defined as meeting the customer's need the first time they call, thereby eliminating the need for the customer to follow up with a second call. 

Average Talk Time (ATT) is another common call center statistic which is used to measure the average time an agent spends on each call. 

Typically, Call Center Managers look for lower ATTs, but if lower ATTs are combined with poor first call resolution trends, it's a danger sign indicating that customers may be receiving unsatisfactory answers when they call.

It's important for Call center managers to monitor the FCR rates as well as ATT as one way to gauge performance.

Follow-up calls will create an increase in call volume and require more agents on the floor (hello, workforce management!).

In the call monitoring and workforce optimization world, we know FCR to be a focal point for contact center managers, so we've added a new component to our dashboard analytics features which offer a dynamic glimpse into this metric, as well as ATT and "Calls Answered".

FCR may be viewed differently from company to company, based on preferred interpretations of a basic "Repeat Call for the Same Issue" measurement. 

In order to deliver FCR for Virtual Observer customers we needed to build business rule(s) which considers how each company defines a repeat call. 

For instance, one company might consider a call to be a "repeat call" if the same ANI has called within the last 30 days. 

Another company might say a call is a repeat if the Account Number has called within the last 10 days. 

In summary, FCR is an important metric which is available in Virtual Observer for customers seeking to improve performance.

In both workforce optimization (WFO) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), "First Call Resolution" (FCR) is defined as meeting the customer's need the first time they call, thereby eliminating the need for the customer to follow up with a second call. 

Average Talk Time (ATT) is another common call center statistic which is used to measure the average time an agent spends on each call. 

Typically, Call Center Managers look for lower ATTs, but if lower ATTs are combined with poor first call resolution trends, it's a danger sign indicating that customers may be receiving unsatisfactory answers when they call.

It's important for Call center managers to monitor the FCR rates as well as ATT as one way to gauge performance.

Follow-up calls will create an increase in call volume and require more agents on the floor (hello, workforce management!).

In the call monitoring and workforce optimization world, we know FCR to be a focal point for contact center managers, so we've added a new component to our dashboard analytics features which offer a dynamic glimpse into this metric, as well as ATT and "Calls Answered".

FCR may be viewed differently from company to company, based on preferred interpretations of a basic "Repeat Call for the Same Issue" measurement. 

In order to deliver FCR for Virtual Observer customers we needed to build business rule(s) which considers how each company defines a repeat call. 

For instance, one company might consider a call to be a "repeat call" if the same ANI has called within the last 30 days. 

Another company might say a call is a repeat if the Account Number has called within the last 10 days. 

In summary, FCR is an important metric which is available in Virtual Observer for customers seeking to improve performance.


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Friday, June 07, 2013

Call monitoring and workforce management processes improved through automation

Having just gone to the annual Northeast Contact Center Forum, which is a great conference jam-packed with valuable contact center-focused content for its' audience.

I did get a chance to talk to a percentage of attendees, and I observed one trend which I found eye-opening:

A handful of contact centers today are still running their key call monitoring and workforce management processes with Microsoft Excel! 

Organizations like the NECCF exist to help contact center professionals learn what is available to help them in their day-to-day contact center lives, and the industry consultants and analysts will likely be less surprised than I was about the amount of companies still using Excel.

In fact, using Excel must be better than using nothing. I am sure many managers have done many amazing things with Excel macros and pivot tables.

Still, the ROI and benefits of automating those processes seem extremely compelling:

- Time Savings: Not only will supervisors be freed up to do additioal tasks, they can also evaluate more recorded interactions, including screen recordings, web chats, email support and more. They will also be able to evaluate the most important interactions based on the data analytics streaming through their dashboards.

- Cost Savings: Under and Over staffing is a challenge which can be solved quickly with the right workforce management solution.

- Efficiency gains: Average Handle Time and First Call Resolution are two key metrics which can be improved with the help of a call monitoring system.

- Customer Service Improvement: Using an advanced call monitoring solution will allow your staff to ensure training focuses on the key needs for improvement.

- Improve Scheduling: With the help of an automated workforce management solution, schedulers can create forecasts & schedules based on multi-skilled agents with the click of a button. Another click will yield what-if scenarios.

- and the list goes on and on...

I suppose there still are reasons (cost may be one, but even the cost of a robust, scalable enterprise workforce optimization solution has been made more affordable in recent years) companies resist bringing in a modern, automated workforce optimization solution. I just can't think of any.
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