VIRTUAL CONTACT CENTERS - Ningapi.ning.com/files/TZqf*gH2QnKJn07c9YRnVpgfU-KMr-F3w2PDGq19... · Virtual Contact Centers ... Typical Motivation for Home Agents ... Specialized agent

Customer Care Anywhere

VIRTUAL CONTACT CENTERSHow can Home Based Agents reduce costs

and improve the customer experience?

March 24, 2010

Virtual Contact Centers – Could Home Based Agents

reduce costs and improve your customer experience?

Virtual Contact Center Solutions provide companies with sophisticated telecommunications

capabilities including Home Based Agents. As an alternative to offshore outsourcing, companies are

incorporating Home Agents in the USA to increase sales, reduce costs and improve customer

satisfaction.

Join us as three experts give their take on Home Agents… Topic's include:

• What is a Virtual Contact Center?

• How does a Home Agent Model work?

Risks & Rewards

A look into the future

Panel discussion

Our Panel:

- Cynthia Williams, Area Manager Home Agents, Apple

- Kimberly Odom, Sr. Director Marketing, Contactual

- Sharon Pettigrew, Principal, Call Center Group (moderator)

About:

Apple leads the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, applications, digital media

products - iPod, iTunes, iPhone and iPad.

Contactual is the leading global provider of hosted contact center software with multiple industry awards.

Call Center Group designs solutions for customer contact centers to improve performance and customer satisfaction.

Customer Care Anywhere © Call Center Group 2010 Proprietary and Confidential.

VIRTUAL CONTACT CENTERSHow can Home Based Agents reduce costs

and improve the customer experience?

Sharon Pettigrew

Call Center Group

March 24, 2010

Customer Care Anywhere © Call Center Group 2010. Proprietary and Confidential.

Panel Discussion

1. Sharon Pettigrew – Call Center Group

Home Based Agent Overview & Trends

2. Cynthia Williams – Apple Inc.

How Home Agents transformed Apple &

Marriott

3. Kimberly Odom - Contactual

Benefits of Virtual Contact Center Technology


Virtual Contact Center

Definition – Agents and managers work froma variety of locations:

Branches

Home offices

3rd party outsourcer

Key Technology

Call Recording /Monitoring – Quality Assurance/Training

VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol – reduced cost, global routing

Intelligent Routing – route to best available agent

Workforce Management – schedule on call, training, other

Knowledgebase System – intelligent answer system

Virtualization – Same desktop deployed to all agents


Why Virtual Contact Centers?

Corporate Call Center

Virtual Contact Center

Regional Offices

Home Agents


Why Home Agents?

Reduces costs (average annual savings of

$25,000/agent on office space, utilities, overhead)

Reduces investment in corporate infrastructure

Improved agent utilization

Attracts top talent and previously untapped talent

Disaster Recovery – Workforce Continuity (Storms,

etc)

Improves morale

Rewards / retains top customer support reps

Saves employees time and money (commute, etc.)

Enables more flexible work schedules for employees

The green solution


Typical Motivation for Home Agents

If you are using or planning to use Home Agents, what is your primary motivation?

44%

32%

12%

9%3%

Attract/Retain more highly qualified agents Save $$ by reducing or eliminating bricks & mortarProvide Business Continuity Reduce environmental impact of commutingOther

Source: Avaya – Best Practices for Home Agents Report - 2008


At Home Agent Solution

The real motivation for deploying and managing the at-home agent is based on one simple principle: improved agent satisfaction leads to increased customer satisfaction which results in improved customer loyalty.

(Ken Landoline, Yankee Group Sr. Analyst)


Business Drivers – Why now?

Disaster recovery & business continuity

Number of contact centers has increased due to mergers & acquisitions

Rapid growth in contact centers reduces qualified local agent pool

Rise in teleworking in US

Preference for US based operations

Improvements in IP telephony and networking deliver Virtual Contact Center

Smaller contact centers reduce attrition


Views on Home Working

Views/proportion of respondents

Strongly

disagree Disagree Neutral Agree

Strongly

Agree

It would be difficult to manage home

working agents effectively. 17% 17% 4% 28% 33%

Home working would bring us flexibility to

add agents and be open longer hours. 10% 7% 12% 40% 31%

The risks around home working are too

high. 17% 17% 32% 13% 21%

Home workers would not be as

productive as agents based in a central

location. 24% 16% 24% 31% 4%

Source: Contact Babel – US Contact Center Report 2008


Home Agent Facts

• Average age is 38, vs. on premises agent is 23. More than 80% college educated, vs. 35% of on premises agents.Experience Matters

• 80%+ per year, vs. less than 25% for on premise agents. Avg. cost to hire/train new agent - $15kRetention Increased

• Staff to peaks (expected contact volume, reduce abandoned calls, expand coverage hours).Flexibility

• 40% more productive (Gartner)Productivity

• Cost – Home Agent average $21 per hour, average on premises - $31 per hour vs. (IDC Survey)Cost

• Average $12K/yr.Real Estate Savings

• Industry average is $25K/yr.Total Savings


Impact on Bottom Line

Reason Percent

Reduced office space/Operational expenses 55%

Fewer work distractions 67%

Attracting better employees 68%

Retention of key employees 68%

Having a continuity of operation plan 76%

Increased productivity 78%

Happier workforce/Agent Satisfaction 91%

Source: The Telework Coalition

How effective is each at home contribution to improving the bottom line?


Positive Results of Home Agents

Effect Commercial Advantage

Larger Pool of Skills Available

Better match via skills based routing. Improved 1st call

resolution.

More balanced work across multiple contact

centers.

Optimized routing overflows calls between contact centers,

reducing queue times and abandoned calls.

Skills may be widely deployed.

Specialized agent skills and capabilities can be deployed with

workforce management scheduling.

Forecast and schedule only once.

Centralized routing means only one schedule for multiple

centers to fully utilize staffing.

Increase global coverage. Global coverage up to 24/7 with follow the sun routing.

Deploy applications in a standardized way.

Virtualization can mean improving and standardizing the

functions available to agents. Each agent has same desktop.

Offer 24/7 availability using flexible scheduling.

Flexible schedules are the norm for home agents. Can

incorporate new labor pools such as disabled, veterans or

seniors. Pay for what you use.

Dynamic use of outsourcers.

Dynamically route to multiple outsourcers based on company

priorities. Global routing across multiple virtual centers.

Source: Contact Babel US Contact Centers 2008


Why not Home Agents?

What's Holding People Back?

31.5%

23.9%

25.5%

19.0%

Personnel Management Issues Technology Constraints Productivity Other - Security/Compliance

Of those not planning to add home agents, why?


Home Agent Options

Why it benefits you

Can complement your current model – blending home and in office agents

Virtual Call Center Solutions reduce costs and increase functionality of Contact Center Solution

Better Agents, Improved Customer Experience, Flexible Workforce for Peaks/Valleys

Candidate Pool is much larger for home based agents

Little initial investment – pilot for fit to your business

Expand and contract based on products and offerings to meet demand


Success Stories!

Jet Blue:

100% home based since inception.

Hotels:

Hyatt, Marriott.

Airlines:

Traditional reservation

centers

Financial Services:

Moving planners home.

Kaiser Hospital:

Advice Nurses go home!

Insurance Companies: Agents and

claims.

Technology Companies:

Making the move!


Cure for Many Business Challenges

Seasonality

Special Promotions

Highly Skilled Labor

Requirements

Weekend & Evening Shifts

Part-time schedules

Flexible Work Hours to meet

demand

High Quality Workforce


Issues & Solutions for Success

Issues: Solutions:

Provide Virtual Desktop

Revise IT Help Desk

Simplify Deployment of Software

Use PSTN

Establish Standardized Phone/Headset

Standardize Desktop Configuration

Specify Approved Broadband Service Providers

Define IP Standards

Data Security

Complexity

Telecom Expertise

Broadband Outage

Agent Support

IT Infrastructure


Thank you

Questions?

Sharon Pettigrew, Principal

Call Center Group

866.425.4992

[email protected]

Home-Based Agent ProgramsCynthia Williams – Apple Inc

HBA Experience

Marriott Experience

Piloted the first Marriott HBA program in early 2005 with direct hire group of 10

In 2006 hired first group of 40 in a completely remote environment

- Hired Remotely -Trained remotely

Grew to 150 HBA within 1 site by end of 2007

Moved to 250+ HBA across 4 sites by middle of 2008

Apple Experience

Hire to Apple to Oversee HBA program

Work with first Direct Hire Group in Fall 2008

Expanded College Intern program

Hired Remote Managers within the model

Piloted remote Training in Spring 2009

Have moved from pilot of 70 in/out to 1200 by Spring of 2010

Agenda• Determining Needs

– Will HBA meet these Needs?

– Do I have resources to actualize

• Project Goals

• Virtual Call Center Path

– Establish a viable pilot

– Tracking Overview and Learning

– Analyze Risk

– Evaluate Learnings

– Scalability Evaluation

• Virtual Culture & Team Building

• On boarding & Training

• Integration

• Misc Lessons Learned

– Questions

HBA Planning Path

• Determine Needs

• Research and pilot program

• Track to clearly defined business goals

• Expansion of Program

• Understand change and set expectations

Determine NeedsWill the HBA Model Meet Needs• A way to add internal employees

and increase our ratio of internal to vendor/contractor

• Needed a scalable solution to support our growth at a lower cost

• Costs falls between internal and out-source vendor

• Reach knowledgeable labor pool

• Enhance Quality of Life for employees

• Will Reduce Overhead

Are Available Resources Adequate

• Changes in technology making it feasible and cost effective

• Recruiting Team can penetrate long distance markets

• Posses a Company Culture that will tolerate virtual interaction

• Have identified a potential training solution

• Necessary Equipment is mobile

Pilot Goals

• Increased capacity and staffing flexibility

• Improved attendance and schedule adherence

• Increased productivity/Decrease costs

• Increased morale and employee satisfaction

• Improved customer satisfaction

Pilot Overviews

Company A Primary Goal: Reach New Labor Market to Allow for

Cost Effective Growth

• 3 month timeframe - phased approach

• ~ 70 agents - phone, email, fax/back-office admin (technical and non-technical)

• Existing agents near an internal site

• Set performance criteria for participation

• Semi-remote model with scheduled onsite visits

• Hotel cubes, onsite training, onsite technical/equipment support

• Mixed teams (onsite and HBA)

Company M Primary Goal: Reduce Brick and Mortar Space to Reduce

Costs

• 6 month pilot review• All training done at

internal site • 30 days on phones before

move to home• Mixed teams • On site visit for Team

Meetings, etc• Hired for Educational

experience• All equipment returned

and issued on site

Pilot Program Learnings

• Go big enough to demand focus/ small enough to address issues

• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

• Existing employees do not show the truest picture

• Assign a resource to review all ongoing communication and procedures for HBA compliance

• Make sure child care expectations are clearly defined

• Test other Labor Markets

• Avoid Mixed Teams

• Weigh Technical savvy high in Manager selection

• Look for direct hires who have not been out of the workforce for an extended amount of time

Tracking and Measurement

Company A

• Tracked performance in several areas of the business

• Measured success based on Outlier Management

• Unable to measure scheduling flexibility

• Developed separate “report card” for HBA team

• Tracked HBA as separate entity• Measured ramp up time

Company M

• Confined HBA to one area of business

• Measured success based on total team performance

• Measured scheduling flexibility based on percentage of Overtime and Downtime taken in relation to in site

• Included HBA in total site measurement, not singled out

• Measured ramp up time against control group

Tracking and Measurement Learnings

• Tracking HBA against like in-site and vendors is truest picture

• Make sure to consider tenure• Consider all cost components – extra

travel, anticipated space savings, fully burden cost/minute, occupancy, schedule adherence, etc

• Measure source and demographic of new hires - adjustments may need to be made

• Compare management performance among all HBA and previous to HBA

Risk Assessment

Company A

• Reevaluated Recruiting targets

• Looked to outside resources prior to expansion

• Leveraged flex site staffing to grow program

• Looked for Web Solution to reduce travel

• Remote on boarding, training, technical/equipment support

• Addressed Documentation gaps

• Compared cost advantages against all staffing options

Company M

• Compared productivity measures as it related to offline time

• Set up separate account to track all related travel and shipping

• Reviewed timeline of termination dates on existing leases

• Explored ability to “package” program – Could it work for all sites

• Wage Rate based on closest in site location

• Reassessed Educational requirements

• Conducted Employee Survey

Program Development

Company A

• Transitioned to remote model only

• 3 Tracks - In/Out, Direct Hire, College Program

• Agents in 8 metro areas, Managers in 4 metro areas (~800)

• Remote on boarding, training, technical/equipment support

• Culture, team-building and recognition done virtually

• Retail partnership and rotation

Company M

• Expanded to 3 sites

• All direct hire – no in/out

• Did open up HBA for all positions, creating mixed teams

• Expanded technical support to include Corporate level participation

• Identified one manager to oversee all HBA frontline management positions

Program Development Continued

Company A

• No separation of HBA technology support

• Hired within Hub cities to facilitate direct contact meetings

• Mixture of in-site TMs and new hire TMs

• Cultural events developed separately for HBA

• Increased team size from 16 to 25

• Project Team assembled representing the Business, HR, Recruiting, Technical laision, and strong PM

• Strong support at all levels of the operation

Company M

• Individual site given autonomy to develop on own and then present

• Expectation that there would no direct contact once pilot was revised

• All cultural events created with HBA consideration

• Technical support stayed at Call Center level

• Increased team size from 30 to 50

• Management group all on site

• Strong support at all levels of operation

Virtual Culture & Team Building

• Use technology - videos/photos, chat rooms, blogs, web conference tools

• Culture web page and virtual water cooler

• Make a decision as a team regarding Rewards and recognition events. Are they done both virtually and in-person?

• Be very clear on in-person involvement up front

• Provide tools to create company environment in home office

• Encourage and promote communication (within program and across business models)

• Keep an eye out for isolation related issues - be inclusive

• Avoid onsite to remote comparisons - HBA is its own site

• Train Managers on HBA communication tools – Benchmark against each other

• Be prepared for shipping issues

• Delegate resources to coordinate events

On boarding & Training

• In/Out - Specific HBA orientation (program overview, HBA policies, set expectations)

• Direct Hire - 3 day orientation held locally (includes new employee and HBA overview)

• Home environment requirements

• Conduct Information Sessions

• Distance learning tool - combination of leader led and self-guided modules

• Re-developed content for remote learning

• 2 Trainers per class

• Shorter training days (~6 versus 8 hours)

Integration • As group increases restructure might be needed

• Include ALL areas of the business in decision making from the start – Mail room, Equipment Procurement, Administration, Training, HR, etc

• In the large arena be careful not to single out HBA (“We’re going to roll this out, but don’t know how it will work for HBA”)

• Dedicate resources and training in HBA Technology issues

• Have a designated manager responsible to represent HBA in all meetings and processes

• Avoid Mixed Teams if possible

Lessons Learned & Challenges• Pilot - Weekly/monthly office visits too frequent

• Culture and pie-day phenomenon (in/outs to onsite comparisons)

• VPN related issues (disconnects and remote desktop monitoring)

• Telephony challenges (low-volume, headsets, phone features, phone provider options)

• ISP relationship

• Mass communication for large events

• “Away from Desk” guidelines and expectations need to be defined

Current State

Company A

• Continued expansion forecasted

• Experimenting in staffing flexibility options

• Overall HBA program continually posts highest metrics

• Dramatically reduced Turnover

• Continued focus on expanding virtual training modules

Company M

• Closed 4 Brick and Mortar Sites

• Run all HBA programs from one main

• Maintained overall statistical performance

• Decrease in Turnover

• Increased in Adherence for HBA teams

• Still no in site interaction

Q & A

For more information contact:

Sharon Pettigrew, Call Center Group

650.579.1298

[email protected]

Taking the “Center” Out of Call CenterBenefits of Virtual Call Center Technology

Contactual at a Glance

Pioneered virtual contact center solutions in 2000

Award winning OnDemand Contact Center

Delivered 100% via Software as a Service (SaaS) model

41

Select Customers

42

Plus hundreds of SMBs/SMEs

Virtual Call Center Benefits

Cost Savings

Flexible Staffing

Gain Agility

43


Cost Savings

Flexible Staffing

Gain Agility

44

Continued Pressure on Call Center Budgets

Pressure on spending continues

43% reported a decrease in op-ex

40% reported a decrease in cap-ex

Exceptions in smaller call centers (less than 50 seats)

43% reported an increase in op-ex

Source: The US Contact Center Decision-Maker’s Guide 3rd Edition – ContactBabel45

On-Premises Call Center TechnologyComplex and burdensome to configure, deploy & integrate

Cost prohibitive - $700K to get started; $200K/year to support

46

Virtual Call Center Technology

Integrated call center functionality resides in “the cloud”

Pay as you grow subscription-based price model

Cost savings 50% with no HW/SW to buy and maintain

47

Customer Spotlight – iPass

Business Needs

Integrate call centers from recent acquisitions

U.S.

United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and India

Desire for single system across 4 remote sites + home-based agents

Consolidated reporting

Monitoring and call recording

Seamless integration with Salesforce CRM

48

Reduced costs by 33% initially; grew to 50% over time


Cost Savings

Flexible Staffing

Gain Agility

49

Growth of the Home-Based Agent Model

Higher Agent QualityHome-based agents are 25% more productive

75% have at least 2 years of college education

60% have earned additional certifications

Tap into new talent pools

Lower Attrition Rates10% for home-based agents vs. 50% for in-house agents

Increased Customer Satisfaction

Source: http://www.witness.com/Content/Solutions/RemoteAgent_WP.pdf50

http://www.witness.com/Content/Solutions/RemoteAgent_WP.pdf

Keys to Ensure Quality and Control

Web-based recording applicationRemote monitoring

Record, retrieve, replay

Flexible recording options

Chat and broadcast toolsFacilitates interaction

Push critical information in real-time

Real-time monitoring Performance dashboards

Accessible to all

51

Customer Spotlight – Schneider Electric

Business Needs

Out-of-date on-premises solution was failing

Dropped calls

Cost prohibitive to upgrade

Unable to expand beyond current location

Moving to home-based agents

Lacked key functionalityLimited reporting and recording

No remote monitoring capability

52

Gained significant functionality & reduced costs by 40%


Cost Savings

Flexible Staffing

Gain Agility

53

Disaster Recovery Considerations

Traditional call center model vulnerable to disasters and pandemics

44% of respondents had centralized call centers

50% of respondents don’t have viable disaster recovery plan

High cost to replicate and difficult to integrate

Virtual call center model includes seamless business continuity

All intelligence is in the cloud

Built-in redundancy

54Source: The US Contact Center Decision-Maker’s Guide 3rd Edition – ContactBabel

Rapid Response to Changes in Business

Seasonal business growth

Product launches & promotions

Economic cycles

New customer interaction methods

55

Customer Spotlight – Boston Market

Business Needs

Difficult to scale current solution for peak seasons (Catering call center)

Stranded investment in licenses and equipment

Reduce dependency on IT for changesIT spending cuts and reduced staff

Catering business not as high priority as retail locations

Needed an easy to use system to drive down training costs

56

Can double capacity on-the-fly; eliminated IT dependency

Questions?

57

Kimberly Odom, Senior Director of [email protected]

650-292-8611http://www.contactual.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.contactual.com/

Thank You

Documents

VIRTUAL CONTACT CENTERS - Ningapi.ning.com/files/TZqf*gH2QnKJn07c9YRnVpgfU-KMr-F3w2PDGq19... · Virtual Contact Centers ... Typical Motivation for Home Agents ... Specialized agent