Technology vendors in the contact center market frequently sell their technology by presenting their clients with a Return On Investment (ROI) calculation. This is usually along the lines of how much money an organization can save by reducing Average Handling Time or increasing First Call Resolution.
Contact centers are service delivery organizations, so are airlines and hotels. Airlines usually buy their aircraft from the same manufacturers. They all fly similar routes and at the same speed. Most hotel rooms contain an en suite bathroom, TV and double bed. Breakfast is usually served as a buffet. The differentiation is in the service. It’s the service and positive customer experience that keeps customers loyal to brands when there are cheaper alternatives. It’s the service and positive customer experience that turns customers into fans.
Great service that sets an organization apart from the rest is not achieved by good luck, nor is it achieved by magic. Good service is achieved by developing a robust and rigorous set of standards, making sure that staff are trained to handle all eventualities in accordance with these standards and running frequent checks and feedback sessions to ensure that standards are properly adhered to.
Excellent service: technology, passion and hard work combined
To achieve this in the contact center environment, the contact center needs the right technology to enable them to monitor interactions, evaluate them quickly, impartially and accurately and deliver the feedback to agents.
What the contact center also needs is hard work from the management team itself. Success in contact centers comes from what people do. Someone has to listen to and evaluate the calls, and then give agents the appropriate feedback and follow up. Missing evaluations is like taking your eye off the ball when playing competitive tennis. It will result in failure.
Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon women's champion 2011, keeping her eye on the ball.
Like most matches, the battle to achieve great service is won by a little bit of technology and know how and a lot of determination and persistence.
