Contact Center Optimization

How are your contact centers performing today (and why)

Contact Center Performance Assessement

• Organizational Assessment – Reviews Contact Center Operations and supporting organizational structures.
• Detailed Contact Analysis – Utilizes specialized tools to gather and analyze a statistically valid sample of interactions across defined channels and servicing groups.
• Technical Analysis – Reviews current systems design, implementation, and configuration for all systems supporting the contact center (ACD/PBX, IVR, WFM, WFO, Reporting & Analytics, etc.).
• Statistical Analysis – Gathers and analyzes available performance statistics from existing systems to evaluate current performance and performance trends.

The organizational assessment is completed through a series of individual as well as group interviews with key contact center personnel including senior management, center management, supervisory personnel, and staff.  In addition, we will interview and collect other data from supporting functions within the center(s) which include workforce management, workforce optimization/quality, and reporting & analytics teams to understand how these support the contact center design and operations.

The detailed contact analysis is completed through direct observation of agents as they process both inbound and outbound interactions in the centers. Our goal is to obtain a statistically valid sampling of calls from all servicing groups in order to ensure that the data gathered provides a solid representation of actual operations in the centers. The tools we use to gather information are specifically designed to allow us to code the calls across six interaction handling segments and capture key data that may be used to better understand call types, sources, dispositions, and handling within each service group.

The technical analysis is used to allow our team to develop a better understanding of how contact center infrastructure has been implemented and configured to support the overall contact center design and customer experience strategy.  This data allows our team to develop an understanding of the center’s current and future capabilities relative to any findings or recommendations that are provided.

The statistical analysis includes gathering historical data from all existing contact center infrastructure systems so that historical interaction handling can be trended over time. In many cases, we will be able to gather this information even in cases where the organization does not capture and use historical data consistently today.

Together, these activities allow our team and our client’s teams to develop a deep and thorough analysis of contact center operations and to make data-driven recommendations for both long-term improvements and “quick-hits” to improve the contact center design, operations, and overall customer experience.

How do your centers compare to others within or outside your industry

Performance Benchmarking

Performance benchmarking can provide your organization with an objective comparison of how your contact centers are performing relative to industry benchmarks, other companies within your industry, or selected companies outside your industry. If your company is attempting to achieve world-class performance, benchmarks can provide a “north star” to guide and inform your efforts.

Which vendor solution(s) will best achieve your desired future-state customer experience

Vendor Selection

Selecting the right vendor solution is key to the success of any project.  Over the course of 25 years, we’ve selected, designed, and implemented countless solutions. In addition to rigorous tools required to conduct the selection properly, we have exceptional implementation experience with most premise and cloud-based solutions. This experience allows us to ensure that your company asks the right questions in the right way to ensure the system can actually meet your needs and expectations. We have conducted vendor selections for all infrastructure and applications supporting most contact center operations including:

• UCaaS
• CCaaS
• ACD/PBX/UC solutions (premise-based)
• IVR
• CTI
• WFM/WFO
• CRM
• Integrated Performance Management
• Enhanced Reporting and Analytics

Ensures that you get the benefits and capabilities you paid for

Solution Design

Somewhere between vendor/solution selection and implementation, most companies push their vendors hard to get both license and implementation costs as low as possible. While this is understandable, the vendors only levers are component and/or license costs and professional service fees (implementation fees).  The unintended consequence is often an implementation that is fatally flawed before it even begins. Whether the solution is a cloud-based, premise-based or a hybrid solution, completing a detailed solution design is critical to the success of the project.  Without a detailed design, implementation projects run a significant risk of running well behind schedule and over-budget long before the solution is in place.

Our solution design services will provide a detailed solution design that includes all required technical infrastructure, services, applications and integration points required to achieve your company’s requirements and objectives. We will work with your internal teams and the selected vendor(s) to develop a detailed design and will ensure that the solution is implemented as-required to meet all business and technical requirements.

What is the Customer Experience across all channels and at every state in the customer lifecycle

Customer Journey Mapping

Journey mapping provides a powerful set of tools to identify, visualize and elaborate on the customer’s experience as they interact with your company and the products and services you provide.  Depending on the scope of the engagement and desired outcomes, our Journey Mapping approach can include up to three tiers including the following:

• Tier 1 – Customer Lifecycle – provides a high-level view of the end-to-end customer experience across all touch points and channels.
• Tier 2 – Moments of Truth – provides a detailed view of key interactions that can either make or break the customer experience.
• Tier 3 – Experience Capability Map – elaborates on the customer experience by identifying technical and business capabilities that are required to deliver the desired customer experience.

Understand current performance and historical trends

Reporting & Analytics Optimization

Whether you are trying to make the most of the reporting and analytics you have or implementing a new solution to supplement your reporting capabilities, we have the experience and expertise to ensure that both the reporting solution and underlying infrastructure are optimized to meet your needs and requirements.