People, and how they react, will make the difference
FOUR out of five of the Times Top 500 companies are evaluating or will be evaluating UC in the next 12 month, according to a survey by Astute. And more than half of the UK’s largest councils in the UK said they are investigating the benefits UC can bring.
When it comes to UC, call centres are at the cutting edge, having ensured information such as presence, availability and contact details have been available to front line agents for years and, more recently, they have started integrating their UC capabilities with the back office.
Drivers for change First call resolution is a main driver for deployment of UC; call centres are increasingly looking for ways to access the available knowledge base within the call centre to address customers’ problems as fast as possible. By providing skills-based presence, highlighting where specific expertise is, UC enables agents to contact the appropriate people to support them. It means that customers don’t have to make endless calls trying to reach someone to resolve their query.
Another important driver is the shift in how results are measured in a call centre. Historically, call centre agents would need to answer an incoming call within three rings, even if only to take a message and have someone call them back. However, first call resolution is seen as more important to increasing customer satisfaction. This eliminates the call backs required for a query to be rectified.
The challenges of UC One of the main problems which can be generated by UC is the risk that some call centre agents may put through query calls to the back office without cause. The back office, although available for support, needs to stay focused on other important objectives to do with managing the call centre. In order to ensure that both teams can use UC effectively and feel its full benefits, this set up needs to be managed correctly. The number of calls which are passed on by individuals should be monitored to and agents be given additional training if they are passing too many calls through.
For the most part, agents are happy to adopt and utilise UC, happy that they are able to achieve first call resolution. It is in the back office where cultural change is needed. Staff there are not as keen to take calls from the floor. Many see this as a backwards step, having worked their way up from being call centre agents. Although back office employees understand the commercial value of UC, some still need to be brought around to this new way of working.
The future of UC In the long run, technology itself won’t change things; it’s the way that people implement it and how they react to the changes it brings to the culture of their business. If call centres use the technology to empower their employees and give them more knowledge then it will help call centres become better places to work, reducing attrition rates and enhancing customer service. If it is not implemented correctly, employees may start to feel overwhelmed by the technology, and thus have the opposite effect.
Richard Kenny is contact centre segment manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa, at Plantronics.
Contact him at: Richard.kenny@plantronics.com