I am completely agreed that causal analysis is the only (best) way to save money on reducing the incoming calls. At any point of time, all systems will have 2-5% of residual defects in any format (functionally/technically). In order to eliminate those percentages, we have to do causal analysis as a normal process within our day-day activities.

Banks, telcos and others provide so much generic information on their Web sites, which can be accessed by their customers without any log on. However, when customers call their call centers, most of them insist on knowing the account number, telephone PIN number, and other info that is the voice equivalent of a log on. They do this even when customers only intend to ask for generic info that is not specific to their accounts, for example, what’s the GBP:INR exchange rate today? If only call centers provided this kind of generic info quickly and without any fuss over collecting identity info, they will not only improve the customer experience but also reduce call times, thus saving time and money for both themselves and their customers. Of course, they should insist upon authentication to those subset of customers who are calling to know their account balance, last bill amount, and other account-related info.

This article is simple and precise yet throws light on the realistic scenario of how call centers work. This article has touched the crucial pain points which should be weeded out. I agree with Tiffany Fiacco on the standards of training. A call center executive should be trained enough to make decisions on his own for responding to slightly different requests. This will save time.

This article reflects the reality of most companies and their call centers. I’ve worked with call centers for the past 7 years and I’m amazed the majority of time how the different groups such as marketing and the sales accountants do not communicate information to the call centers. In addition, I find management blaming the call center agents for high handle time and not understanding the products being sold. However, I notice that the call center agents are not properly trained, and the majority of time are working with a poorly laid out application (GUI layout is not efficient and effective), lack of communications of new products and services, etc. I sometimes wonder if upper management think call centers are not worth their time and is a money pit. I think call centers are the face of the company when people need help and have questions. When a company understands this aspect, I think then a company will truly understand its customers and now how to deliver quality service and obtain customer loyalty.

Seeing that they represent a Moment of Truth as a contact point, call centres deserve more attention to make the intended impact, and play a positive role in managing customer expectations. This article assumes the call centre strategy is correct, but often this is a problem in itself. It arises from failure to manage customer experience in its entirety from end-to-end with an integrated approach.

The second issue certainly is related to managing the call centre operation. Inbound call centres are often desgined (inside-out) to deal with calls rather than genuinely achieve successful customer outcomes (outside-in), which is their orginal intention—why else would anyone want to phone a call centre if the matter raised is not resolved, hopefully right first time without referral? For a call centre with a low level of operational maturity, the first emphasis may be on productivity of the call centre, which serves only to reinforce the inwards focus. Call categorisation is a critical success factor for effective operation but seldom well-selected as it may not be done from a customers’ (users) perspective taking all stakeholders into account, especially the needs of customers and those that impact overall performance of the service or product.

As also pointed out in this article poor, or the absence of, rigorous root cause analysis contributes greatly to under utilisation of this potential asset. Besides catering for routine matters, several of which may be successfully automated (rater than simply routed, very few call centres are able to deal effectively with difficult or complex matters that need to be quickly identified and refered upwards. Since these calls are typically associated with high value clients expecting a high-touch service, they may be partcularly dissatisfied with the standard offered—a double whammy! With the proliferation of call centres, let’s ensure they play their role with the efficacy desired, and it will remain imperative to understand and have insight into all calls on an ongoing basis.

This article is too basic and fundamental to be of current value; matrix management, eliminating silos, organizational ownership is all ten years old within corporate America. I am looking for methodology changing conversation.

Interesting insight, some corporations treat back office operation as a cost center. When that happens, customer satisfaction can be affected. Automation might be an option but is not a panacea. As a number of marketing strategists suggest; customer acquisition cost is predominantly higher than customer retention cost. A strategy that corporations can adopt is to ensure close integration and seamless flow of information within the enterprise. Integrated communication channels should help corporations in reducing cost without compromising service. Providing incentives to customers who adapt to self-service in different ways can also help in reducing the support cost.

Having worked for a Belgian telecom client I can very much relate to the issue covered by the article. It’s true that most of the organizations today are running to automate almost everything and meanwhile neglecting the important data they generate through call centers. Ideally the oganizations should classify the calls in the domains like for a telecom company billing, order management, etcetera. Then they should try to do the root cause analysis and they will find that 80% of the calls come because of 20% main problems (Pareto rule). Targeting these 20% of problems will help them avoid many calls and gain on revenues front. Call avoidance cannot be looked down as it can help companies to save a significant amount of money. Especially in an economic downturn when every organization wants to save every penny, call avoidance can turn out to be gold mine. Generally in growing telecom companies, the focus is more on launching new products/promotions but then they ought to also focus on call center which is important source of information.