Recent stories in "People Management"
Live Chat Vs. Phone Agents: How to Find Top Performers at Scale
More and more consumer interactions are going to online channels, making live-chat support the fastest-growing business segment for contact centers and business process outsourcing providers worldwide. As businesses digitize, the pace of this growth can only be expected to quicken and outpace other forms of support, such as phone and email. Providing the quick, friendly […]
Important Trends in Workforce Management Technology
At Pelorus Associates, we have studied the workforce management (WFM) space for over a decade. Our biannual reports delve deeply into the size, composition, market shares, trends, drivers and obstacles. The reports are quantitative and qualitative. We examine 30 significant trends that impact the direction of management practices and WFM technology. Reports include over 50 […]
Boost ROI by Enhancing Agent Performance
An inbound customer service call center generated a 1,000% ROI in just four months of work. An outbound telesales call center doubled sales of a key product in just two months. These are just two examples of companies that generated significant ROI by changing focus and investing in their managers and staff. Calculating ROI for […]
Four Ways to Attract and Retain Millennial Agents
Pew Research Center defines millennials as anyone born between the years 1981 and 1996 (ages 22 to 37 in 2018). Today more than one in three members of the American workforce are millennials, making them the largest generation in the U.S. workforce and the prime pool for current and prospective contact center agents. Because of […]
Innovative Training for the Contact Center
Frontline agents are under pressure to perform in a role that has become increasingly challenging due to more complex products and services, constantly updating information, and an internet-savvy, informed customer base. It takes a lot of knowledge and confidence to deliver a quality service experience on a call-by-call basis under such circumstances, even for seasoned […]
Employee Engagement And The Quality Management Renaissance
What we believe is driving this renewed interest, or renaissance, if you will, in QM is an industry focus on employee engagement that is driving the majority of operational changes in the contact center. I like the word “renaissance.” To me, it conjures up thoughts of something refined, elegant and important. The Renaissance period in […]
Workforce Optimization In The Cloud: Types, Advantages, Adoption
Many organizations are taking advantage of the cloud for information technology and business operations benefits, and workforce optimization (WFO)—the portfolio of solutions that typically includes interaction recording, quality management and learning, workforce management, performance management and emerging tools like gamification and various types of analytics—is no exception. That said, the cloud means different things to […]
Decrease Attrition Through Training Done Right
While training is a top 2016 priority for contact center managers, a recent study finds that the type and frequency of training that most contact centers are planning will not adequately address the top call center challenge—staff attrition. Regular, planned training that balances process and behavioral skills, reinforced by a certification program, will not only […]
The Profession Of Contact Center Management
How many of you reading this chose contact center management as your career? Like many of you, I “fell” into this industry. I had just graduated college, was willing to take pretty much any job I could find, and landed at a company that had recently launched a large call center. Back then, simply having […]
Quality Management – Then, Now And In The Future
Dictaphone, a company founded by Alexander Graham Bell and since absorbed by Nuance was the pioneer of call loggers. Other early players were Racal Recorders, ASC telecom, Lanier and Eyretel, among others. These devices were primarily used for public safety and liability management issues purposes. When deployed for quality monitoring calls would have to be […]
State Of The Industry: Tools In The WFO Suite
WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION (WFO) TECHNOLOGY CONTINUES TO ADVANCE. While tools such as workforce management (WFM) and quality monitoring (QM) have achieved widespread deployment, gaps remain in filling out the suite of performance tools and applying them effectively to business needs. This article provides an industry update: what’s part of today’s WFO suite, what’s happening with vendors […]
Agent Attrition: Time For A Change
“WELL, YOU KNOW, IT IS A CALL CENTER.” That phrase always seems to be uttered at some point when discussing turnover at a contact center. It suggests a certain resignation to a situation that is not only problematic on its own, but symptomatic of bigger issues in an organization. Ironically, the same people who often […]
Are You Ready For A Performance Management Tool?
How would your contact center rate its performance management? Have you brought the right combination of people, processes and technology together to identify and capitalize on opportunities for continuous improvement? If your center is like most, there is room for improvement in either process or technology—or both! A recent SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) […]
Empowered Agents : How Much Power Works For You?
Over the years I have heard, and even have preached, that empowered agents provide better customer experiences. But how much “power” do your agents need to maximize satisfaction while not giving away your company? To determine the extent of control you want to provide your agents, you must first understand the cost of losing a […]
The Science Of Hiring The Right Agents
A customer’s initial and often lasting impression of a company’s brand is formed by his or her interaction with a customer service professional. Many companies have launched cross-departmental “customer experience” initiatives designed to help ensure that every customer interaction is exceptional. Despite predictions from industry experts over the years that most customer interactions would be […]
Three Keys for Improving Agent Performance with Gamification
MORE AND MORE enterprises have experienced how gamification stimulates a friendly competitive spirit and positively reinforces staff to achieve higherquality performance and greater productivity. According to 1to1 Media, “Gamification is a new concept in employee engagement that is gaining popularity as a solution to improve performance and retain good customer service agents” (“How Gamification Can […]
How to Improve Your Center’s Loyalty and Retention Rates
There is no such thing as, “just an address change” or a “simple customer question.” Every interaction is a loyalty situation: How that interaction is handled can either generate customer commitment or drive that customer away. For example, I called my phone company to request a business calling card. I had to navigate a painful […]
What about speed?
Here’s my latest interaction with a contact center. I was calling an organization that provides a service that my business uses (and pays for). I needed to add an employee to my account. I won’t bore you with the details, except to say that, at the close of the call, we were successful. And it […]
Can’t we just outsource it?
Executives often perceive outsourcing as an easy, fast and/or cheap alternative to tackling performance, capacity, technology, facility or budget issues. But it’s not the simple solution many hope for. Take this message back to management: You need a considered approach to figure out if outsourcing makes sense for your center, and if so, to what […]
