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Contact NICE: Customer hotline: (888) 217-0593 Customer support: (800) 642-3611 (800) NICE 611 email: Welcome@nice.com On the web: www.nice.com |
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NICE Systems, Inc. 950 Herndon Parkway Suite 250 Herndon, VA 20170 |
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| UP CLOSE WITH CALL CENTER EXPERT, AUTHOR, BRAD CLEVELAND | |
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 Brad Cleveland Noted call center expert & author President, Incoming Calls Management Institute |
This month, NICE News Special Edition gets up close with Brad Cleveland, author of several books on call center management (including an Amazon.com best seller). Brad is also president of Incoming Calls Management Institute (ICMI), an organization dedicated to helping call centers achieve operational excellence and superior business results. In this interview, Brad shares his insights on how call centers can deliver value to the entire enterprise. He also talks about notable industry trends that will impact call centers large and small. NICE News: Brad, what value do contact centers create for our organizations? |
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Brad: That's such an important question to ask. It's one we should all be asking - and answering - on an ongoing basis! Customer contact centers have the potential to create value on three levels. Level 1 is basic efficiency. Because call centers pool information, people and technology resources, they are a highly-efficient means of delivering service. Disciplined planning, accurate staffing and schedules, and effective real-time management complement and further the call center's inherent efficiencies. Level 2 is customer satisfaction and loyalty. In recent years, research has begun to reveal the powerful connection between high levels of customer loyalty and profitability. One of the call center's major objectives should be to ensure that customers' views always end up in the "top box" on customer satisfaction surveys. Level 3 is contribution to other business units. Call after call, hour after hour, day after day, the call center captures information that can literally transform an organization - for example, intelligence that helps other departments improve quality, further research and development, focus marketing campaigns, detect potential legal or publicity problems, and provide input on how to improve self-service systems. So, we've got to see handling contacts as the means to a larger set of objectives - what can we learn from these contacts that can strengthen the entire organization? NICE News: How many call centers are living up to that potential right now? Brad: Historically, for many organizations, objectives, measures and development efforts have been primarily focused on Level 1 processes, and I believe most are achieving some basic efficiencies. Perhaps up to half are positively impacting customer satisfaction and loyalty. But a smaller number of call centers (our estimate is 10% to 15%) are making significant strategic contributions. ICMI did a study earlier this year that found that 54% of call centers actively share information with other departments. But a little more digging, and we found that only about 25% of the 54% - that's the 10% to 15% of the total mentioned previously - have the information and processes in place to really communicate and act on what's being delivered. NICE News: How do you know when you've arrived? Brad: I don't know of anyone who believes their call center has arrived. In fact, a notable characteristic of the best call centers is that they recognize all of the areas in which they can still improve. But as we look forward, it's a great time to take inventory of our job roles, processes, objectives and technologies. Are they designed and aligned to deliver maximum value on all three levels? NICE News: Would you say that good collaboration across the organization seems to be a key theme in effective call centers? Brad: Yes, it is. For one thing, numerous objectives and processes depend on cross-functional support. Forecasting, quality improvement, career development, budgeting and training all require efforts from across the organization. But also, root-cause resolutions and innovation opportunities must often be implemented in other parts of the organization. The call center may be the repository of customer intelligence, but often the resulting improvements must be implemented in other parts of the organization. NICE News: What are you seeing in organizations that work most effectively with other departments? Brad: We're seeing some common trends emerge. For example, in effective organizations, the call center leadership team develops strong working relationships with the people running other areas. You can't develop ties with "departments" per se but you can and should develop strong working relationships with people in these other areas. Second, they seek first to understand the needs and objectives in these other areas. Then they work to ensure that the projects and initiatives they undertake not only take these needs into account, but support the organization's overall objectives as well (for example, revenue, market share, efficiency, customer loyalty goals, etc.). Finally, these effective organizations are tenacious in developing people, processes, reports, and policies that enable robust and ongoing communication. And when they're successful, they find that this level of communication can have a snowball effect. Invariably, it improves the perception of the call center's role and value - which, in turn, leads to higher levels of support, responsiveness and collaboration from others. It really has a cyclical effect. NICE News: Maximizing the call center's value also seems to require a very good understanding of what quality means and what has to happen during interactions. Would you agree? Brad: Yes, that's absolutely right. Quality must reflect our business environment and objectives. It must include such things as applying customer service policies, performing business retention activities, resolving customer problems, educating customers on products and services offered, capturing needed and useful information, and so forth. We need a good understanding of what it takes to handle contacts correctly, but we should also realize that interactions can provide invaluable insight into customer needs, competitive threats, product improvements, and much more. NICE uses the trademarked tagline, "Insight from interactionsTM." I think it's right on the mark. Maximizing the call center's value means we've got to capture and derive intelligence from interactions that can be used across the entire organization. So from a leadership perspective, we need to think broader. We're not just managing a contact center. We have the opportunity to lead the entire organization in leveraging the insight gained from customer interactions, and transforming that insight into measurable, strategic, company-wide improvements. NICE News: What are some trends you are seeing in other areas, for example, in call center jobs? Are they becoming more complex? Brad: There are some interesting trends to watch. At the management level, job roles are becoming more specialized. Consider workforce management, which is seeing the emergence of forecasting, scheduling, and real-time management expertise. Similarly, quality monitoring depends on monitoring and coaching, program design, calibration and data analysis. Technology can also lead to specialization; for example, individuals specifically assigned to support speech, desktops, networks, quality monitoring systems or workforce management applications. Sure, if you manage or support a small call center, you may wear many of these hats - but they are more specialized hats, nonetheless. At the agent level, job requirements are becoming more generalized. Agents must increasingly understand the access channels customers use, the interrelated nature of services the organization provides, and the breadth of needs and expectations that customers have, so they can effectively identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities. The most successful call centers will cultivate training and development programs at all levels that deliver specific skills and knowledge while reinforcing overall objectives. And the best leaders will encourage collaboration and an appreciation for the diverse responsibilities the call center requires - while keeping everyone focused on the business results that matter most. NICE News: Outsourcing is another big trend in contact centers. What are your views on the internationalization of the industry and outsourcing? Brad: This is a more complex issue than the polarized views suggest. But let's start with the context. In his book, "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century," Thomas L. Friedman illustrates in convincing detail how the worldwide proliferation of broadband connectivity, search engines, inexpensive computers and other trends have created a global economy in which intellectual work can be delivered from anyone to anywhere. The playing field is being leveled - or, as he puts it, "the world is becoming flat." I've seen these developments firsthand in many parts of the world and have often found myself silently nodding in awe at the innovation bursting at the seams. It would be a mistake for anyone to think these trends are only about outsourcing or less expensive sources of labor. There are lots of smart, motivated people in the world. Consequently, I believe any call center that is not creating clear value for their organization and customers will be threatened by others, whether they are on the other side of the world or across the street. But I also believe that handling customer communications is just not the same thing as building computer circuits or designing software programs. There are so many ways to add and create value in call centers! That's where the future is, and those who create value will have a future in the global economy, wherever they are located. NICE News: Overall, are you optimistic about the future of call centers? Brad: Yes! We've got more opportunity right now than at any time in the history of customer contact services. If you think about the "big picture," we are becoming a communication-oriented economy. Ours is often called a knowledge-based economy, and knowledge is essential - but knowledge has no value unless you can get to it when you need it. Our customer contact centers are right in the middle of that development. About Brad Cleveland Brad Cleveland is president of Incoming Calls Management Institute (ICMI), a division of CMP, based in Annapolis, Maryland, USA. He is also the author of ICMI's "Call Center Management Dictionary," editor of ICMI's handbook/study guide series of publications on call center management and customer service, and co-author of "Call Center Management on Fast Forward," which received an Amazon.com best selling award. He has worked in over 40 countries, and has discussed customer service and call center issues on major television networks including ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, and on the in-flight programs of several airlines. Brad's corporate clients have ranged from small startups to multinational corporations, and he has advised governments in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and elsewhere. About ICMI The mission of Incoming Calls Management Institute (ICMI) is to help call centers (contact centers, help desks, customer care, support centers) achieve operational excellence and superior business results. An independent division of CMP Media, LLC, ICMI has earned a reputation as the industry's most trusted resource for: consulting, publications, seminars and conferences, certification services, and professional membership services. ICMI has become the industry's leading provider of membership services, including instant access to prominent research, expert advice and career development tools, and networking forums. ICMI is based in Annapolis, Maryland. For more information, visit www.icmi.com or call 800-672-6177 (410-267-0700). |
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