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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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| ASK THE EXPERT: NICE SYSTEMS' JACKIE KNEZ ON INTERACTION ANALYTICS |
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Jackie KnezDirector, Contact Center Consulting Services, NICE Systems NICE News: Jackie, there's a lot of talk and excitement around using audio analysis technologies like word spotting and emotion detection, to analyze captured customer interactions. Can you tell us more about this? Jackie: First, let's define what we mean by audio analysis and customer interaction analytics. There are billions upon billions of contact center interactions that occur through contact centers each year. Today, they are virtually untapped goldmines of information. Because recorded voice is unstructured data, you can't mine it in the same way you would other customer data. This is where audio analysis comes in. Combined with analytics derived from CTI and CRM data, audio analysis technologies like word spotting, emotion detection, and talk-over analysis are helping contact centers unearth insight hidden deep within their customer interactions. NICE News: Can you give us some specific examples of how companies are using and benefiting from this new technology? Jackie: Sure, there are many. The first example that comes to mind is in obtaining customer feedback. Strategic marketing decisions are made on corporate row but the impact of those decisions often first surfaces in the contact center. Customer reactions can be gauged through customer interactions, and most interactions today are through the contact center. In the past, a contact center might have listened to a handful of customer calls, but the randomness of this approach didn't provide any real insight. Interaction analytics is different because it lets contact centers tap into all of their customer interactions, instead of just a random few. Additionally, technologies like word spotting and emotion detection mean contact centers can dig deeper within those interactions than they ever could before. For example, by identifying key words or phrases in interactions, managers can get answers to key business questions, like - why are our up-sell efforts unsuccessful? How can we improve our close rate? What are customers asking for that we do not offer? I'm even aware of one financial services firm that used word spotting along with event triggers on the agent's desktop (e.g. accessing the cancellation policy), to identify customers who were planning to defect. By zeroing in on and listening to their captured interactions, the contact center was able to identify three recurring issues that were the source of their frustration. This information was presented to corporate management and the problems were fixed. Additionally, the contact center proactively contacted these customers to make them aware of the changes and to extend special offers to them to retain their business. Another company in the healthcare industry used emotion detection along with word spotting to identify frustrated customers. When they analyzed the interactions, they discovered that the company's own internal policies were getting in the way of their agents' ability to take care of customers. The company modified its policies, which resulted in a boost to both customer satisfaction and agent morale. Contact centers are also using interaction analytics to improve customer communication. For instance, using CRM and CTI data along with word spotting, contact centers can identify and classify different types of interactions and then go back and review those calls to see how they can be handled more efficiently and effectively. An insurance provider took this approach and analyzed interactions relating to new customer mailings. When they went back and listened to those calls, they were able to identify some common questions posed by customers. The company subsequently modified the mailing packets to clarify these questions and call volume dropped by twenty percent. Most contact centers are under tremendous pressure to increase revenue and drive sales. Audio analysis and the ability to capture and analyze data from the agent's desktop applications are helping here too. They can give contact centers fresh insight into the factors that may be inhibiting sales success. For example, by analyzing customer interactions, one service provider was able to determine that the company's own systems were standing in the way of closing sales. The order entry system would not allow agents to complete orders without scheduling transportation for the goods at the same time. But in some cases, transportation was not available. Prospective customers were told to call back, but instead took their business elsewhere. Interaction analytics helped the company identify and fix the system bottleneck, adding millions to the company's bottom line. NICE News: Those are certainly some compelling examples of how companies are using and benefiting from interaction analytics. What things do these companies have in common that drive their success with this technology? Jackie: First and foremost, they recognize that the value of interaction analytics extends far beyond the four walls of the contact center to the entire enterprise. That includes organizations like product development, marketing, sales, and so on down the line. Contact centers that are successfully deploying this technology actively educate these key stakeholders on what is possible, and then engage them in discussions to ensure that when the technology is finally put to use, it addresses their business concerns and gives them the insight they need. Without question, the organizations that have been the most successful are those that are willing to commit the right resources with the right analytical skills to drive Insight from InteractionsTM within the enterprise. But successful organizations also know when to ask for help and many have engaged NICE to help them build a business case so they can leverage the technology to extract meaningful customer insights for their organizations. Customer interaction analytics is new territory for most contact centers, and NICE has a lot of experience in this area. NICE News: Now that you mention it, how would you recommend that my contact center management go about building a business case and ROI (Return on Investment) for this technology? Jackie: I'm so glad you asked that, because when it comes to building a business case, interaction analytics really changes the playing field, compared to earlier generation technologies. The impact of interaction analytics can be pretty far-reaching. My advice to a contact center manager who is charged with building a business case would be to identify two to three areas where the technology would have the biggest impact, and then quantify those potential improvements using specific metrics, such as:
For those of you who suspect your CFO might be more interested in standard ROI measurements, like increased efficiency and reduced costs, I have good news. You'll find benefits here too - above and beyond any ROI you might achieve from a traditional quality monitoring system. Interaction analytics will help your contact center identify issues that are negatively impacting agent productivity and driving up costs. In fact, by analyzing interactions with anomalies - like lengthy calls, excessive numbers of holds, long hold times, many transfers - you'll likely uncover training needs and/or procedural/system issues that inhibit agent productivity, but when addressed will positively impact the bottom line. About Jackie Knez: Jackie Knez is director of Contact Center Consulting Services for NICE Systems. She has over 17 years' experience in the contact center arena and has helped dozens of companies across numerous industries implement quality and customer experience management programs, reengineer processes, develop performance measurements and drive operational improvements. Before joining NICE Systems, Jackie worked for a leading outsourcer, developing and standardizing QM practices across 60 contact centers. Have a question for Jackie? Want to learn more? You can email Jackie at Jackie.knez@nice.com. Learn more about NICE Perform, NICE Systems' solution for deriving Insight from InteractionsTM at www.nice.com/products/multimedia/nice_perform.php. |
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