Jonathan Wax, VP, EMEA at Nexidia takes a look at the missing piece in the puzzle when it comes to management information and outlines the top 10 ways to use interaction analytics for performance and quality in contact centres
Having attended the Performance and Quality Challenge: Best Practice Awards in London recently it was fascinating to hear about the importance of analytics when it comes to continuous improvement in the contact centre. The Performance & Quality Challenge was launched four years ago to help define quality and how to use it as a strategic tool for change. Over 50 companies have now taken part and this year participants including AXA Wealth, Bristol City Council, Close Brothers Premium Finance, Chaucer Direct, Network Housing, Great Places Housing, Tesco Bank, RSA and Hastings Direct.
Four companies were awarded Best Practice Awards these were:
• British Gas for best use of advisor feedback
• LV (Liverpool Victoria) for leaving the past behind fastest
• Hampshire County Council for best “Day in the Life of a Performance & Quality Agent and Adviser”
• IGO4 Insurance for best quality statement and performance and quality plan
The companies taking part in the challenge recognised the importance of analytics in terms of performance and quality and use data collected from numerous sources such as CRM systems, telephony data, IVR systems and other data warehouses scattered around the organisation. Analytics is important to answer questions such as:
• Why are customers contacting us? Are there product or process issues that need to be addressed?
• Which agents excel at customer service and what makes them successful?
While “traditional” structured data may provide partial answers to these questions, there still remains an incomplete view of the organisation and its customers. Existing data sources may explain what happened, but not why it happened? What is missing in information from the customer transaction itself? Exactly what was communicated between the customer and the agent and at what point in the conversation?
Therefore when it comes to data for decision making purposes, analytics play a vital role. Here are the top 10 ways to use interaction analytics for performance and quality:
1) The ability to target coaching and training – many hours are wasted in contact centres as a result of general coaching or training of agents, many of whom never go on to use what they are taught. With careful use of voice analytics the relevance of coaching and training can be improved to focus on support where and when it is needed.
2) Cut the gap between the best and the worst – by focusing on specific aspects of calls that drive key performance indicators (KPIs) it is possible to increase the visibility of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. This means contact centre leaders can cut the gap between the best and worst and concentrate on raising the quality of the majority.
3) Process and compliance – in regulatory environments such as finance, insurance and utilities, speech analytics gives the opportunity to monitor 100% of calls to check that specific words or phrases are included or avoided by advisers. This needs to be tightly defined and automatically analysed.
4) Revenue generation or collection – analytics provides the evidence of what the best do and allows this to be replicated. New metrics can be used to measure sales effectiveness and it allows those in need of support to receive special attention.
5) Team managers and coaches benefit from new tools – using call snippets makes coaching conversations more evidence-based and makes it quicker to find the best areas for training for individual agents, therefore saving time on “blanket” training.
6) Customer focus and reality – by using voice analytics to highlight customer reality and introducing a more customer-focused view of advisor performance, training and behavioural change is more likely to “stick”. It is possible to use call snippets to identify issues and bring them alive.
7) Representative samples – the Quality and Performance team are able to evaluate targeted samples in a shorter space of time. Advisors also see evaluation as fairer and respond better to feedback. Meanwhile it is more cost effective to evaluate more calls.
8) Embed behaviours – queries can be created to automatically track who is doing what. These can be specific e.g. questioning, summarising, cross-talk, categorising, use of brand, data capture, selling etc. and necessary action taken.
9) Track the impact – interaction analytics can be used to track the impact of training, coaching, induction and other interventions. It becomes easier to identify the success of individuals or groups plus monitor change over time. What was happening before and what is happening now?
10) Recognition and best practice – remember to celebrate the success of strong performers and share what sounds good and works. Reward in public, correct in private.
At Nexidia we believe analytics isn’t something you buy – it’s something you do. By following these top 10 tips organisations will quickly find the missing link to outstanding performance and quality and transform customer interaction outcomes.
For further information visit www.nexidia.com
ENDS
About Nexidia
Nexidia provides customer interaction analytics solutions with patented technologies and breakthrough applications that enable companies to drive business transformation by capturing, making sense of, and using the full range of communications they have with customers. As the traditional voice of the customer expands from the contact center to include surveys, email, chats, and social media sites, Nexidia provides software and service expertise to help companies synthesize this data into both a tactical tool for operational improvements and a catalyst for strategic business transformation. For more information, please visit www.nexidia.com
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