value of an automated call center system for mid-sized companies, The

Many smaller telemarketing operations cannot afford to hire technical staff to implement and manage sophisticated voice processing technologies such as interactive voice response (IVR) and automatic call distribution (ACD). Therefore, these companies often are not familiar with technologies that can automate their business and help it operate more efficiently.

These nontechnical, smaller organizations can gain a competitive advantage by learning more about sophisticated voice processing technologies that can automate basic business operations. These technologies allow call centers to operate with the same level of efficiency and deliver the same high level of customer service as large companies that have been using them for years.

By offering sophisticated voice processing technologies on a single, integrated platform, manufacturers have brought the price down to an affordable level for smaller organizations with heavy call traffic. But where does a company that is not indoctrinated in voice processing technology begin to automate its business and evaluate the call processing technologies to help them do that?

Business And Economics

Smaller organizations with heavy call flows must examine the business' call activity and the economics of operating it.

The Environment

An organization's automation needs are best identified by understanding the callers and identifying call center activity and trends. A helpful tool is a profile of the typical caller. For example, a computer manufacturer could receive calls from people placing orders, wanting technical support, lodging complaint or reporting a system failure.

An important part of that profile is identifying a caller expectations. Most callers want a fast and friendly response with a knowledgeable and personable representative on the other end. But customers often are satisfied with an automated system that promptly provides the desired information, even if they never speak to a representative. The key to maintaining a caller-friendly environment is to give the customer the human option and to implement technologies that equal the friendliness of a human.

Organization managers also need to know the peak times specific types of calls are received. Knowing this valuable information can help the manager identify whether customers need 24-hour access to certain information. An organization can enhance its customer service with knowledge of this and other information about customer needs and opinions, such as which agents are handling certain types of calls, the duration of the calls and the quantity of calls. And clearly, managers need to know which are revenue-generating calls, how many come in and how many are lost.

Having access to reports of call center activity, which accompanies some technologies, is crucial to 1) evaluating the daily activities of an organization's call center, 2) learning how to best serve its callers and 3) structuring a plan to meet caller demands.

The Economics

Particularly in smaller environments, it is important to identify the cost of each call and amount of revenue being lost or generated from each call. There are three basic costs to consider--people costs, facilities costs and network costs.

When calculating the total cost of operation, the annual salary of the call center manager and the representatives, overhead and network costs need to be considered. About one-third of call center costs are tied up in the people who operate the call center.

To determine a technology implementation strategy, managers need to analyze the environment in terms of calls per day and the specific days of operation. Facilities and network costs vary. Network costs, however, can be calculated at an average cost of 15 cents per minute. Calculating people, facilities and network costs will determine the time it may take to recuperate the investment costs of the technologies an organization chooses to implement.

Organizations can justify their investment in new call processing systems by knowing the specifics regarding call center activity and understanding the economics of their organization.

Identifying The Technologies

Once inefficiencies have been identified, in addition to the instances in which the cost of call handling is high, the next step is to evaluate the technologies that will address these problem areas. But which technologies will raise the level of productivity and which ones are most suitable for callers' needs?

To best understand how technology can enhance customer service, managers must first categorize calls by two parameters: 1) the complexity of the callers' problems and 2) the complexity of the answer that must be given. Overall, technology should be applied in as many ways as possible, reserving representatives to answer the most complex calls that cannot be sufficiently handled through automation.

The complexity of the call is determined by the nature of the call, or an analysis of the question and answer. For example:

Question type 1: If it is a simple inquiry, the problem complexity is minimal.

Answer type 1: The answers to simple inquiries can be handled by a simple recorded message.

Question type 2: Problems of moderate complexity can be defined as those in which the caller understands the problem, but needs to interact with the system to get answers.

Answer type 2: An answer to a moderately complex question often may require pages of information or graphics to which the customer may refer.

Question type 3: High-complexity problems are characterized by callers who do not understand the problem or know the questions to ask and require personal assistance by a representative.

Answer type 3: The complexity of the answer, therefore, requires a certain level of expertise or explanation and personal interaction.

Alone Or Integrated?

Call processing technologies can be implemented as stand-alone units or as an integrated platform. The concept of an integrated call center platform offers organizations a cost-effective alternative to high-end technologies, while maintaining a personal, friendly touch in serving customers. A single call center platform enables organizations to implement technologies such as automatic call distribution (ACD), fax-on-demand and computer-telephony integration (CTI) when they may not be able to afford all of these stand-alone technologies. [See the Figure on page 68] (Figure omitted) Stand-alone technologies must be linked, often coming from different manufacturers, and can be slow and inefficient. The friendly touch is lost somewhere within this "creeping" network. The overall investment in equipment increases because not all technologies are compatible. Further, the investment may require additional hardware over the single platform of an integrated system. Finally, management becomes complex when there is more than one vendor to contact to determine the cause of failure.

An ideal integrated call center platform integrates voice processing features, a single management interface and sophisticated call handling. Fewer representatives are needed to personally handle incoming calls. The platform and its technologies can respond to customer inquiries and maintain an efficient and personable call center.

Key Technologies

An informed representative enhances customer satisfaction and expedites the call. Therefore, organizations need to implement technologies that capture information about callers to aid in call routing.

An integrated call center platform ensures that all calls flow through a single system. Information about the caller can originate from the telephone network using two different technologies: automatic number identification (ANI) and dialed number identification services (DNIS). The representative at a call center also receives information from the caller through menu selection and digit collection. And from a terminal or PC on the representative's desk, the representative gains customer information using a computer-telephony integration (CTI) link and access to a database of information.

ANI gives the agent the phone number of the caller, which in turn can identify the caller.

DNIS identifies the type of call based on the telephone number the caller used. For example, a caller dials a specific 800 number to find information about a particular software package. The integrated platform understands the nature of the call based on the number the caller dialed.

The integrated call center platform accommodates moderately complex answers and demonstrates its caller-friendly characteristics through technologies such as interactive voice response and fax-on-demand. IVR allows the caller to interact with the platform by selecting options from a voice menu.

After the caller and the purpose of the call are identified, the call is routed to the appropriate locations using automatic call distribution. All calls are directed using ACD capabilities either to an agent or to other technologies, such as fax.

For example, a customer may want to receive the daily interest rates on mortgages from his bank. Using IVR, the customer selects from the menu the number that will transfer him to a recording giving the day's interest rates. If he wants more detailed information about getting a loan, for example, he then keys in his fax number. The integrated platform will automatically fax the requested information to him.

Finally, the integrated call center platform not only allows agents to identify callers and categorize them, it also enables representatives to access information about the customer before he or she answers the call. For example, if a caller with an outstanding balance attempts to purchase additional products, an agent is alerted that there is a credit hold on that particular account. The technology that provides that critical information is computer-telephony integration. By integrating the computer and telephone through the integrated platform, agents are privy to specific and often crucial information about a caller. If the number of callers is relatively small (a couple of thousand), this information look-up can be internal to the call center platform. Hence, the term easy CTI, which allows organizations to identify callers, take unique action specific to each caller and provide information to the agent taking the call without involving a host computer, which is an additional and unnecessary expense.

Organizations unfamiliar with sophisticated voice processing technologies now have a simplified means of automating their business and enhancing customer satisfaction. By evaluating the business environment, defining the caller and the call center activity, managers can identify the technologies most appropriate for specific applications. Integrated call center platforms meet the unique needs, including price/performance requirements, of smaller call centers in ways stand-alone technologies cannot.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

An important and helpful feature of this column is the "Square One Glossary of Terms"--a select group of terms commonly used in the telemarketing and business telecommunications industry. Each month, we will present new terms and acronyms, as well as repeat the common terms found here, in order to provide you with a full "telemarketing vocabulary."

Central Office (CO)

Telephone company facility where subscriber's lines are joined to switching equipment for connecting other subscribers to each other, locally and long-distance.

Full Duplex

Communications system or equipment capable of simultaneous transmission in two directions.

Hybrid System

A phone system that combines the attributes of both key and PBX systems. A hybrid operates like a key system, providing direct access to outside lines, and like a PBX, with incoming and outgoing calls routed through a central switch.

Key System

Phone system characterized by buttons or "keys" which correspond to outside lines coming into the system and can be pressed to access outside lines. Since outside lines are common to all stations, calls can be answered from any phone eliminating the need for calls to be answered by an operator at a central console or switchboard.

Local Access And Transport Area (LATA)

Geographic regions served by the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs). Intra-LATA (local) telephone rates are regulated while Inter-LATA (long-distance) rates are now deregulated.

Local Area Network (LAN)

A privately owned network (see Network) which integrates voice, data and video technologies and support this communication within a few miles.

Multiplexer

Allows one telephone line to be shared by several terminals. (Also spelled "multiplexor.")

Network

A series of communications channels or telephone lines that connect, as in a basic data communications system, a central computer, modems and a remote terminal.

Off-Net

Meaning off the network. Commonly used in conjunction with Other Common Carriers, referring to geographic areas not accommodated by a long-distance service company.

Programmable Toll Restrictions

Allows you to restrict various phones from dialing certain or all long-distance areas.

Response Rate

Percentage of return. In the case of an advertised 800 number, the percentage rate of call-in responses to that advertisement.

RS-232-C

The most common interface used between computers and modems.

Sectional Center Facility (SCF)

Geographic area designated by the first three digits of the Zip Code.

Shared Tenant Services

The sharing of equipment, facilities and other resources such as telephone and data transmission, air-conditioning, heating, elevators, etc., by separate establishments residing within a common building or office complex.

Trunk

A communications channel linking a central office with a PBX or other terminal equipment. A trunk is a local line originating from the telephone company central office to a business telephone system, terminating in a PBX.

Trunk Capacity

The number of outgoing circuits connecting a site to the telephone company.

Trunk Queue

Capability that puts a call into a queue when lines are not available for an outside call. The caller's phone automatically rings as soon as a line becomes available to place a call.

Voice Input

The process of commanding a computer to function with speech, as opposed to using a keyboard.

Carol Wingard is director of marketing for the OmniWorksTM division of Dallas-based SRX. She has more than 18 years' marketing, sales and general management experience in the telecommunications and computer industries. SRX provides advanced call center systems as well as private branch exchange (PBX) systems with automatic call distribution (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR) and computer-telephony integration (CTI) capabilities.

Copyright Technology Marketing Corporation Mar 1995
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved