Leveraging Technology to Create a More Agent Friendly Call...

L.S. (Larry) SchwartzCEO, WorkFlex Solutions LLC

Leveraging Technology to Create a More Agent Friendly Call Center

WorkFlex and the WorkFlex logo are registered trademarks of WorkFlex Solutions LLC – All Rights Reserved Page - 2

About the Presenter – Larry Schwartz

- Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of WorkFlex Solutions

- Formerly President/EVP Global Operations - Convergys Corporation

- 25 Years of Global Enterprise

Software Management Experience including Executive Roles at Compaq

Computer, Tandem, and Nortel

- 45 Years of Ice Hockey Experience (accounts for slight accent and limp)


Topics

- Sources of Call Center Agent

Frustration

- How Traditional Call Center

Technology Investments haven’t

fully addressed these issues

- 5 Ways in which Technology Can

be harnessed to improve Agent Satisfaction

- Some Real World Use Cases


Key Sources of Agent Frustration

- High stress work environment

- High call volume

- Lack of coaching

- Slow change request approval

- Short shifted (VTO)

- Missed overtime opportunities

- Lousy hours

- Mandatory overtime

- Scheduling confusion

- Supervisor subjectivity in scheduling

CompensationScheduleEnvironment

WorkFlex and the WorkFlex logo are registered trademarks of WorkFlex Solutions LLC – All Rights Reserved

- Average Handle Time

- After Call Work

- First Call Resolution

- Schedule Adherence

- Agent Occupancy

- Cross Sell/Upsell Rate

- Number of Calls Handled

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Everything about Agent Performance is Measured


- Schedule Flexibility

- Doing a Good Job

- Extra Hours Opportunities

- Better Coaching & Training

- Timely Change Request Approvals

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But how about the things agents care about …




- Doing a Good Job




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But how about the things agents care about …



- My Schedule is Typically Locked

Down Weeks in Advance.

- My Schedule is Difficult to Change Schedule Once its

Locked Down

- Process for how Extra Hours and Voluntary Time Off is Assigned is

Subjective and Unfair

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Scheduling Flexibility Issues – An Agent Perspective


Workforce Forecasting is Like Weather Forecasting

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Forecast Accuracy Decreases with Time

Variances Drive Intraday Staffing Activity

Transforming Workforce Administration Through Automated Intraday Staff ingSWPP Annual Conference – Nashville TN March 2011


Forecasting Scheduling Intraday Management

AgentForecasting

AgentScheduling

Workforce Administration Processes

Intraday Reporting

So Why are Scheduled Locked Down Weeks in Advance

Workforce Management (WFM) Product Footprint

Months Weeks Days Hours Minutes

… especially with intraday management being such a difficult and time-consuming manual process

“WFM does a wonderful job of telling me every 15 minutes how b ig a problem I

have to solve today”.


Intraday Management is Hard Work

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• Monitoring Fatigue

• Multi-Issue Triage – Prioritization

• Timely Issue Analysis & Solution Identification

• Timely Agent Communication

• Avoiding Perceptions of Agent Bias in Assigning Overtime (OT)

and Voluntary Time Off (VTO)

• Making Timely System Updates


Some Consequences of Manual Intraday Management

Tendency to Preschedule to High End of Forecast because it is easier to send people home than bring in people.- Expensive approach

- Agents don’t generally like VTO

Difficult to identify optimal solution to staffing variances - Time Pressure to respond- Subjective Decisioning

- Compliance Adherence Risk- Time to Execute

Hard to Balance Business Needs with Employee Needs & Preferences- Objective Assignment of OT/VTO- Accommodating Employee Change

Requests



Technology Solution 1 – Automate Intraday Staffing

Forecasting Scheduling Intraday Management

AgentForecasting

AgentScheduling

Workforce Administration Processes

Intraday Reporting

IntradayStaffing

WFMExtension

Workforce Management (WFM) Product Footprint

Months Weeks Days Hours Minutes

Adapt Real-Time Supply Chain Technology for The Call Center


How to Implement Automated Intraday Staffing

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Six

Key Ingredients


Ingredient #1: Access to Reporting Data & Scheduling

- Read Access to Workforce Management

Performance Data

- Write Access to Workforce Management

Scheduler

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WFMSystemAccess


Ingredient #2 : Business Rules Engine

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- Threshold for Action

- Actions to be Taken- Staffing Changes - Alerting/Reporting

- Agent Selection Criteria- Proficiency- Past Responsiveness- Overtime Hours Worked- Distance to Call Center

BusinessRules

WFMSystemAccess


Ingredient #3: Agent Information Database

Agent Database Elements

Proficiency | Wage Rate | Seniority

Distance to Call Center | Overtime Hours WorkedAvailability | Past Responsiveness

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AgentData

WFMSystemAccess

BusinessRules


Determine Optimal Agent-Criteria Fit:� Proficiency

� Seniority� Responsiveness

� Overtime Hours � Location

Ingredient #4: Real-time Matching Engine

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AgentData

WFMSystemAccess

BusinessRules

MatchingEngine


Ingredient #5 – Automated Call-out

Flexible Alert System

SMS | Voice call | e-mail | Screen-pop

WFMSystemAccess

BusinessRules

AgentData

MatchingEngine

Call Out


Ingredient #6 – Automated Schedule Update

Automated Schedule Adjustment

Update WFM system

WFMSystemAccess

BusinessRules

AgentData

MatchingEngine

Call Out

ScheduleUpdate


How Auto-Optimized Staffing Helps the Agent

Eliminates need to pre-schedule to the high end of the forecast - Reduces amount of VTO

Eliminates Perceptions of Bias in

Intraday Staffing - Replace manual subjective process with

automated objective process

Increase Extra Hour Opportunities- More opportunities identified

- Faster Execution


Real-World Use Case – Automated Intraday Staffing

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Previous Company Process (Manual)- Supervisor determines which agents should be

contacted for overtime or VTO.

New Company Process (Automated)- Automatically select optimal agent for VTO and

overtime based on predefined criteria- Agent identified preferred/available hours- Performance, Hours Worked, Responsiveness

- Alert agents of schedule opportunities/changes via email, phone, or text message.

- Automatically update schedules in WFM System

Results- Significant increase in Agent Satisfaction due to

elimination of Perception of Subjectivity/Bias- Reduced Costs of Administration- Reduced Overtime Costs- Improved Occupancy

Technology Solution 1



- Doing a Good Job




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Addressing the things agents care about …




Agent Job Complexity Continues to Grow …

Average Number of Information Systems being accessed > 7

Average Number of Different Information Systems

being accessed for call center operations > 7(*)

(*) Source: 2013 Customer Response Summit



Agent Job Complexity Continues to Grow …

Average Number of Information Systems being accessed > 7

“In my 15 years as a call center supervisor I have

yet to see new technology introduced that actually

makes life easier for my agents”.


- Too many screens to

navigate or too much information on one screen

- Client Info not passed from IVR/web

- Continual Pressure to minimize AHT/ACW

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Agent CRM User Interface Challenges


Technology Solution 2 – Speech Recognition

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Innovative UseInstead of pointing Speech recognition

Technology at the Customer, Point it at the Agent.

Benefits to Be Achieved

Reduce AHT/ACW

Improve Agent Performance- Improve Customer Sat on Problem Resolution

- Improve Upsell/Cross Sell SuccessImprove Overall Agent Satisfaction

Improved Agent Performance and Satisfaction


Agent Speech Recognition Uses & Benefits

PAGE - 28

Improved NavigationInstead of clicking through Multiple Screens

agents can create verbal shortcuts to enable agents to quickly get to the screen they need.

Improved Customer Information Capture

Agents can capture more comprehensive information by talking versus typing.

Reduced TypingSpeech Macros enable multiple lines of text to be

entered using a single phrase Less typing

reduces risk of agents developing work related health issues (e.g. Carpal Tunnel syndrome)

Improved Agent Performance and Satisfaction


Real-World Use Case – Agent Speech Recognition

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Mobile Services Company Process- Agents spend 5-10 minutes of wrap up time to

take post-call notes (ACW)

Speech Recognition Enabled Process- Allow System to capture dictation during call - Leverage Agent verbal summary to client

Results- Reduction of ACW by 80%

- More accurate information capture

- Less typing – higher agent satisfaction



- Doing a Good Job




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Addressing the things agents care about …


Improved Agent Communication

Is The Key


Agent Communications tend to be Rigid and One-Way

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I Need to log into system to see shift

changes and opportunities

Management Communication is

generally negative and focused on

Scorecard misses.

Timely Coaching & Training is Rare

Talking about an issue days or weeks after it happened is not that helpful.

Waiting For Supervisor Approval of

Change Requests creates a lot of

uncertainty and stress for me.


Creating more flexible agent-friendly communications

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What’s the best way to communicate

with agents when they are outside the

center?

How can you make performance

feedback, coaching and training more

timely and relevant ?

How can you ensure agent

communication is more balanced ?

How can you speed up change agent request approvals ?


Technology Solution 3 –Communication Preference Portal

Agent Preference Portal Attributes

- Web Based – Universal 24/7 Access

- Identify preferred contact method

(SMS, email, Voice Call, Social Media)

- Identify do not disturb periods

Benefits

- Increase Agent Connection Success

- Improve Extra Hours Earning Opportunities

- Reduce Communications Spam-effect

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new

Improve Agent Communication



Technology Solution 4 - Automate Training/Coaching

Automated Training/Coaching Attributes

- Dynamically schedule training during identified low occupancy periods (an Alternative to VTO)

- Automatically schedule training to ensure required hours per month are achieved.

- Automatically generate training effectiveness reports

(Feedback loop for Training Department)

- Analyze performance dashboard to optimally prioritize training and coaching focus for individual agents

- Generate positive Agent KPI Performance feedback especially post training

- Generate real-time supervisor alerts for timely high return coaching opportunities

Benefits

- Improved agent performance and satisfaction



Real-World Challenge – Speech Recognition Introduction

Page - 35

AHT benefits are not achieved if agents don’t use the technology- You can still handle a call without

Speech-to-Text

How do you avoid having to track yet one more metric ?- Speech-to-text Utilization

Speech-to-text Utilization is only an indirect metric for AHT/ACW performance- What about agents that can type as

fast as they can talk ?

- How does the real-time administrator

figure out where the real issues are ?


Real-World Use Case – Active Performance Management

Page - 36

Wireless Services Provider Process

Identify Agents with Poor KPI’s - High AHT and/or ACW

Correlate Relevant Related Metrics- High AHT/ACW and Low Utilization of Agent

Speech-to-Text Tool

Generate Real-Time Alerts- To Agent (Should have used Tool)

- To Supervisor (Coaching Opportunity)

Generate Daily Custom Reports- Training Department (Training Effectiveness)

- Management (AHT/ACW Trend Report)



Technology Solution 5 – Agent Self Service

Page - 37

Implement “FedEx Self Service” Model

Agent Schedule Changes

- Agent Sick Line Management

- Agent Schedule Swapping

Benefits

- Improve Intraday Performance

- Eliminate Management Approval Delays

- Improve Agent Satisfaction

- Reduce Administrative Overhead


Real-World Use Case - Automated Agent Attendance Line

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Current Process- Agent calls into attendance line and leaves message- Workforce administrator listens to messages and

manually updates system- Real-time coordinator determines whether additional

resources are required

Automated Process- Agent enters sick day on IVR or Web Portal

- Schedule automatically updated- Instant Agent Feedback (e.g. Sick Days Remaining)- Impact immediately analyzed and additional resources

are scheduled as required

Results- Improved Agent User Experience- Automated Schedule Update

- Improved Intraday Staffing Management

Agent Self Service


Real World Use Case - Automated Agent Schedule Swap

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Current Process- Agents can post schedule swap requests on Workforce

Management System- Requested swaps go to supervisor for approval

- Uncertainty as to whether/when request is approved

Automated Schedule-Swap Process- Agent can log onto system and see what agents meet

approval criteria for schedule swap- Agents agree to swap shifts- Both agents submit change request and it is

automatically approved and schedule is automatically updated in system

Results- Elimination of Manual Approval Overhead - Improved Agent Empowerment

- Improved Agent & Supervisor Satisfaction

Agent Self Service


Leveraging Technology to Help the Agent



- Doing a Good Job



- Timely Change Approvals

Automated Intraday Staffing

Agent Speech Recognition

Tailored Agent Communication

Automated Coaching & Training

Agent Self-Service


How Agent-Technology also Helps Administrators

Repetitive Manual Task Automation- Enable focus on High Value Activities

- Reduce stress / Improve job satisfaction

Accelerated Communication- Real-time alerting & automated reporting - Instant confirmation of change requests

Better Overall Results- Real-time issue analysis and solutioning- Consistent execution


How Agent Technology also Helps the Business

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Improved Cost-Performance- Automation of repetitive manual tasks

- Improved agent performance

- Reduced Agent absenteeism/attrition

Compliance Assurance- Regulatory (e.g. overtime)

- Contractual (e.g. seniority)



Leveraging Technology to Create a More Agent Friendly Call Center

Agent Benefits

Increased Convenience

Increased Fairness

Administrator Benefits

Minimized Manual ActivityImproved Execution

Improve Employee Satisfaction and Business Performance

Business Benefits

Improved ProductivityAssured Compliance



Additional Resources

White Papers - What’s Missing from Workforce Management

- Proactive Performance Management

- Transforming WFM via Intraday Staffing Automation

- Optimizing @home through Intraday Auto-Optimization

Newsletter Articles- Transforming Monitoring into Active Performance Management

SWPP Newsletter – Spring 2011

- Auto-Optimization of Workforce Performance

CCNG (Queued IN Newsletter – September 2011)

www.workflexsolutions.com

[email protected]

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