ICMI Call Center Ops 101 - ICMI @ Dreamforce 2010 Handout - Brad Cleveland

Copyright © 2010 International Customer Management Institute (ICMI). All rights reserved.

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Call Center

Operations 101

Brad Cleveland,

ICMI

blog:

www.bradcleveland.com/blog

Twitter:

www.twitter.com/bradcleveland


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Today’s Agenda

• The emerging environment

– Customer expectations

– CC as hub of communication

• 7 key operational dynamics


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The 10 Key Customer Expectations

• Be accessible

• Do it right the first time

• Meet commitments, keep your promises

• Provide well-trained employees

• Tell me what to expect

• Be socially responsible and ethical

• Treat me courteously

• Be responsive to what I need and want

• Do what I ask promptly

• Follow up


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Contact Centers as Emerging Hubs of Communication


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1. The inbound workload arrives randomly

2. There’s a direct link between resources and results

3. There are underlying patterns to customer workload

4. Service level and quality work hand-in-hand

5. Important immutable laws are continually at work

6. You need more staff on schedule than on the phones

7. The demands on agents are increasing

Call Center Operations: 7 Essential Issues


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0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

Cal

ls

Minutes After the Hour

Calling Pattern A Calling Pattern B

The Effect of Random Call Arrival

The Workload Bunches Up!


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The Two Major Types of Contacts

1. Those that must be handled when they arrive.Performance objective: Definition:

2. Those that can be handled at a later time.Performance objective: Definition:

Service Level

Response Time

100% response within N hours

X% answered in Y seconds


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Internal View: Base Staff Calculations

Source: ICMI QueueView

Average talk time in seconds = 180

Average after call work (wrap up) in seconds = 30

Contacts per half hour = 250

Service level objective in seconds = 20

Input:

Output:

30 208.7 23.5% 97% 54.0

31 74.7 45.2% 94% 35.4

32 37.6 61.3% 91% 30.2

33 21.3 73.0% 88% 28.0

34 12.7 81.5% 86% 26.8

35 7.8 87.5% 83% 26.1

36 4.9 91.7% 81% 25.7

37 3.1 94.6% 79% 25.4

38 1.9 96.5% 77% 25.3

39 1.2 97.8% 75% 25.2

40 0.7 98.6% 73% 25.1

Agents SL Occ TKLDASACalls / Agent

8.3

8.1

7.8

7.6

7.4

7.1

6.9

6.8

6.6

6.4

6.3


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QueueView Staffing Calculator by ICMI, Inc.Average Talk Time (Sec.) = 180After-Call Work Time (Sec.) = 30Calls per Half-Hour = 250Service Level Objective (Sec.) = 20

|<========= Number of callers waiting longer than x seconds

=========>|

Agents SL% 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 60 90 120 180 240

===== === ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ====

30 24 203 199 195 191 184 177 170 163 145 129 101 80

31 45 156 149 143 137 126 115 105 97 74 57 34 20

32 61 118 111 104 97 85 74 65 56 38 25 11 5

33 73 89 81 74 67 56 47 39 32 19 11 4 1

34 82 65 58 52 46 37 29 23 18 9 5 1 0

35 88 47 41 36 31 24 18 14 10 4 2 0 0

36 92 34 29 24 21 15 11 8 6 2 1 0 0

37 95 24 20 16 14 9 6 4 3 1 0 0 0

38 97 16 13 11 9 6 4 2 2 0 0 0 0

39 98 11 9 7 5 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0

40 99 7 6 4 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0

41 99 5 4 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

42 100 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Customer View: Calls Delayed



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12

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

170

180

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Month

Call

s in

Th

ou

san

ds

Yr. 1

Yr. 2

Yr. 3

Yr. 1

Yr. 2

Yr. 3

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

Day of the Week

Call

s

Calls by Day of the Week

6-May

13-May

20-May

27-May

020406080

100120140160180200

8:0

0

9:0

0

10:0

0

11:0

0

12:0

0

1:0

0

2:0

0

3:0

0

4:0

0

5:0

0

6:0

0

7:0

0

8:0

0

Time of Day

Ca

lls

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

SUN

Monthly Calls Offered

Half-Hourly Calls Offered


131. Choose service

level/response time objectives.

2. Collect data.

3. Forecast call load.

4. Calculate base staff.

5. Calculate trunks (and

related system resources).

6. Calculate rostered staff

factor (shrinkage).

7. Organize schedules.

8. Calculate costs.

9. Repeat for a higher and lower level of service.

The Resource Planning Process


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Components of a Quality Interaction

• Customer can access the contact channels desired

• Contact is necessary in the first place

• Customer is not placed in queue for too long

• Customer is not transferred around

• Customer doesn’t get rushed

• Agent provides correct response

• All data entry is correct

• Customer receives correct information

• Customer captures all needed/useful information

Continued…


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Components of a Quality Interaction (cont.)

• Customer has confidence contact was effective

• Customer doesn’t feel it necessary to check-up, verify or repeat

• Customer is satisfied

• Agent has “pride in workmanship”

• Unsolicited marketplace feedback is detected and documented

• Others across the organization can correctly interpret and effectively use the information captured

• The organization’s mission and brand is furthered


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Average talk time in seconds = 180

Average after call work (wrap up) in seconds = 30

Calls per half hour = 250

Service level objective in seconds = 20

Input:

Output:

30 208.7 23.5% 97% 54.0

31 74.7 45.2% 94% 35.4

32 37.6 61.3% 91% 30.2

33 21.3 73.0% 88% 28.0

34 12.7 81.5% 86% 26.8

35 7.8 87.5% 83% 26.1

36 4.9 91.7% 81% 25.7

37 3.1 94.6% 79% 25.4

38 1.9 96.5% 77% 25.3

39 1.2 97.8% 75% 25.2

40 0.7 98.6% 73% 25.1

SL Occ TKLDASAAgents

Internal View: Base Staff Calculations



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Key Immutable Laws

• When service level goes up, occupancy goes down

• The law of diminishing returns

• The powerful pooling principle


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Scenario

Talk: 180 seconds

After-call work: 30 seconds

Service level: 80% in 20 seconds

The Dynamics of Size and Pooling

Calls MSRs Occupancy Calls per Agent

50

100

250

1000

9

15

34

124

65%

78%

86%

94%

5.6

6.7

7.4

8.1


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Thank you for holding. Our agents are currently…

On a breakAt lunch

Making internal callsIn a meeting

In the bathroomRebooting their computers

Researching somethingSick

On vacationGetting supplies

Completing after-call workIn training

With other callers

Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold…


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Rostered

Base Staff Required On Staff

SL RT Absent Break Training Schedule Factor

08:00-08:30 18 4 2 0 0 24 1.09

08:30-09:00 20 4 2 0 4 30 1.25

09:00-09:30 20 4 2 0 4 30 1.25

09:30-10:00 25 5 2 3 4 39 1.3

10:00-10:30 25 5 2 3 4 39 1.3

10:30-11:00 31 5 2 3 4 45 1.25

Rostered Staff Factor (Shrinkage)


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Scheduling Realistically

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

9:0

0

9:3

0

10

:00

10

:30

11

:00

11

:30

12:0

0

12

:30

1:0

0

1:3

0

2:0

0

2:3

0

3:0

0

3:3

0

4:0

0

4:3

0

5:0

0

5:3

0

Nu

mb

er

of

An

aly

sts

Time of Day

Rostered Staff Assigned

Rostered Staff Required

Base Staff Required


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The Evolving Role of Agents

• Customers are increasingly informed, connected

• Channels are proliferating; writing, speaking, gen-?

• Interactions that require agents demand ever-higher levels of skill and analysis

• Leading organizations are cultivating experiences


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The Contact Center’s Contribution to Value

• Is a major driver of customer satisfaction

• Enables improved quality and innovation

• Enables more focused products and services

• Enables highly-leveraged marketing

• Provides efficient delivery of services

• Is essential for cultivating self-service systems

• Creates additional revenue/sales


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To Contact and Connect:

ICMI Office:International Customer Management Institute: www.icmi.com or 719-268-0305

Brad, direct:Brad ClevelandSenior Advisor, [email protected] 208-928-7311 (direct)

Blog: www.bradcleveland.com/blogTwitter: www.twitter.com/bradcleveland


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ICMI Call Center Ops 101 - ICMI @ Dreamforce 2010 Handout - Brad Cleveland