Quality not quantity counts in call centres

Jacada is urging companies using contact centres to consider the quality of their customer interactions, not just the quantity.

Jacada, a provider of unified desktop and process optimisation solutions for customer service operations, has urged companies to concentrate on measuring the quality of their call centre agents' customer interactions - and not just the 'Average Handle Time' (AHT) of support calls.

For years, there has been a belief that a reduction in AHT (the average duration of one call, typically measured from the customer's initiation of the call, and including any hold time, talk time and related administrative tasks that follow the call) will equate to a reduction in costs.

In addition, it was believed that reducing call times would make customers happier because their calls would be shorter.

Recently, however, customer satisfaction ratings across most industries have dipped to an all-time low, revealing a situation that many companies - particularly those operating in increasingly competitive and commoditised markets - have recognised needs to be rectified in order to ensure continued success.

One of the biggest obstacles keeping customer service representatives (CSRs) from offering a better quality of interaction with their customers is the chaotic maze of applications and tools that reside on today's contact centre desktops.

Anecdotal evidence points to some CSRs having between 20 and 30 open applications on the desktop at any one time, which can be both distracting and confusing for CSRs who are trying to provide efficient customer support, while trying to reduce call times.

At the same time, the increased level of data input demanded by the multiple applications are increasing the non-call element of the AHT equation, as agents struggle to complete the required wrap-up and other administrative tasks.

"Research released just last week month revealed that only 29 per cent of a customer service agent's time is now spent actually talking to the customer: the remaining 71 per cent is then split between entering data, making notes, seeking advice and reading from multiple information screens," said Guy Tweedale, senior vice president of European operations for Jacada.

"These findings defy common sense, which is why many customer service departments are now beginning to look at new metrics in order to drive the desired results.

"The desire and ability to nurture the customer must remain at the forefront of all interactions".

As such, instead of focusing on AHT, Jacada is urging companies to consider using a more appropriate measure for agent efficiency - Average Interaction Time (AIT).

Jacada defines the formula for Average Interaction Time as Average Process Time + Average Nurture Time + Average Wrap-Up Time, thus taking into account the actual dynamics within each call.

Average Process Time is the time it actually takes for the CSR to navigate systems, find data, update information, calculate payments, research a knowledgebase and so on.

Average Nurture Time, on the other hand, is the time that the CSR actually spends understanding what the customer really needs, recommending additional services, building a relationship, being empathetic - whatever is needed to improve satisfaction and retention.

According to Jacada, a new breed of solutions is emerging to address this very issue in the form of unification and automation solutions that make sense out of the disparate array of information systems.

This new approach to call management will not only provide intelligent views of customer data, but it will also offer a number of intuitive interaction processes that map calls according to type, while giving management all of the tools needed to measure AIT in real time.

"Have a look at your CSRs' desktops, and you'll see the complexity that they're being forced to deal with on every call," Tweedale added.

"By reducing desktop complexity, businesses can give their CSRs the time that they need to deliver real value to the business.

"The result will be happier customers, more opportunities for CSRs to add value in terms of revenue and customer retention, greatly reduced training costs, and happier employees who stay longer and deliver better customer service.

"And using a measure of AIT rather than AHT facilitates rather than hinders".

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