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By making a minor adjustment to scheduling or calling an extra person onto the phones the Abandoned Calls has dropped from 26 to 4 at the cost of moving 1 ½ man hours from the back of the day to the front and 2 extra fill in periods equaling 2 man hours.
The 2 graphs were produced using the data table below.
As I've said a simple change a massive result.
How is existing technology being used?
One of the biggest developments in technology in the last 30 years was the widespread introduction of the Telephone switch. From the first 'call centres' in the early 70's mainly amongst the American Airline Industry (which is why we still have agents on the phone today), the idea of a central contact point has expanded until it has become the normal method for a large company to service it's customer base. It's worth noting that some large companies are going back to the local contact point method (eg: Banks) and are using it as a selling point.
From the first simple routing to the new Hi Tech IP switches technology in the contact centre has expanded and advanced at an almost exponential rate in the last 10 years. VOIP, CTI, Natural Voice Recognition and Universal Queues have all become buzzwords of the industry. But. I hear you cry what this to do with me.
Absolutely nothing! Is the easiest answer. For a SME an audit of existing technology should open some avenues that have previously been ignored.
Questions to ask yourselves are:
- Do we just answer the phone or do we manipulate the incoming call at all?
- Do we get any reports from the switch or is it just shoving calls through?
- Do we have a team design or is it just a melee on the phones?
- Do we manage our phone activity? Are there set times for people to be on the phone?
At this point the Brown paper is nearly finished. All that remains is to go back to the phone team and get each of them in turn to tell you where they think the problem is, and suggest one solution.
Part 2 of this article will be published in the April issue of Customer Reach.
Dave Appleby has now been working in and around call centres for eight years following on from a previous life as a chef.
Having started out as an agent on the phone, he has worked on a wide variety of major projects, from Home Shopping to Theme Park and Hotel Bookings, Internet Product support to Health Insurance.
With a major interest in call flow routing, staff scheduling management & rostering (with a fascination for Erlang calculations), Dave also dabbles in forecasting for Sales & Marketing campaigns.
In addition, he acts as a moderator and referee for www.Callcentrevoice.com, a dedicated resource for Call Centre professionals worldwide.
Dave is a keen diver and, having almost reached full instructor level, can often be seen scaring the fish residing on shipwrecks the world over. He is also currently trying to get his skiing to a point where he is only a danger to himself rather than the public (and mountain goats) at large.
Editors Note:
This is the first article that we have published in Customer Reach not written by a member of the firm. I felt that Dave's expert knowledge, point of view and writing style would resonate with our reader's. Please let me know your thoughts and impressions.
Thank you Dave, we appreciate your contribution!...Colin Taylor.
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