138648 a Guide to Contact Centres

8/13/2019 138648 a Guide to Contact Centres

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ALPHAWEST

ICT GUIDES

A GUIDETO CONTACTCENTRES


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Executive Summary 1

A Quick Guide to Contact Centres 2

People 2

Process 2

Technology 3

Taking a Holistic Approach 6

Current Market Trends 7

The Australian Contact Centre Industry 7

Customer Satisfaction Levels 7

Customer Attitudes to Outsourcing 8 Consumer Communication Preferences 8

Emerging Best Practices 10

Contact Centre Technology Infrastructure 10

Voice and Web Self-Service 10

Workforce Location and Outsourcing 10

Contact Centre Processes 10

Contact Centre Metrics 11

In Summary 11

Our Solutions 12

Avaya 12

Alphawest 12

Optus 13

Business Benefits 14

TABLE OF CONTENTS


3/181ALPHAWEST GUIDE TO CONTACT CENTRES

EXECUTIVESUMMARYThis Guide has been developedto provide a broad overviewof contact centre trends,challenges and best practicesfor executives involved inmaking decisions about newtechnologies to addressbusiness needs

As youll find, todays contact centresare, or potentially can be, so muchmore than the call centres of previousdecades. The ways your customerswish to communicate with you arerapidly shifting so your customerservice processes and contact centrecapabilities need to respond to thischange. In other words contact centretechnologies provide a business withpowerful tools for external customercollaboration.

This Guide draws on a wealth of recent

local data about consumer preferencesin dealing with their suppliers, andgoes on to discuss the technological,financial and operational considerationsfor contact centres as well as

their customer service, revenue andcompetitive positioning implications.

Well discuss consumer interactionpreferences in relation to criticalbusiness issues such as a shrinkingcustomer base, brand loyalty, businessefficiency, agent productivity andprofitability touching on:

Managing performance to enhanceefficiency and productivity

Improving profitability by reducingcosts and increasing revenue

Delivering a superior experienceacross multiple communicationschannels

Protecting technology investmentin an unpredictable economy

Finally, well outline thecomplementary capabilities, businessand technology skills of Alphawest, ourparent Optus and technology partnerAvaya. Well then explain how this closepartnership works to create or enhancecontent centre environments thatdeliver rapid return on investment byhelping to meet your business goals forstaff productivity, customer satisfactionand revenue. Our aim is to provide

you with a differentiated customerservice capability to better serve yourcustomers.

THE WAYS YOURCUSTOMERS WISH TO

COMMUNICATE WITH YOU

ARE RAPIDLY SHIFTING SO YOUR CUSTOMERSERVICE PROCESSESAND CONTACT CENTRECAPABILITIES NEEDTO RESPOND TO THISCHANGE


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A QUICK GUIDE TOCONTACT CENTRESFor many organisations, contact centres aretheir primary interface with their customers orat least the first port of call.

For these customers, the experience they have when theycontact the organisation (inbound) or are contacted byit (outbound) will influence their short- or longer-termdecision on whether to remain a customer or becomesomeone elses. And the implications extend beyond that

decision; a bad experience with a contact centre may berelayed to friends, family, work colleagues or even fartherafield via talkback radio and social media.

Of course, contact centres are a balancing act... You mustdeliver a positive experience without sacrificing profitability which requires matching the needs of your customers withthe realities of your business.

So what are the basic components of a contact centre, andhow can each of these contribute to both the customerexperience and business profitability? As in manyorganisational areas, they can be roughly categorisedas people, processand technology. As well see, all areirrevocably intertwined.

PEOPLEFor inbound contact centres, a primary goal is to connect theperson best equipped to answer a query or enact a requestin as short a time as possible. For outbound contact centres,effectiveness is based on the ability to generate the optimumresults with the greatest efficiency.

Contact centres and their agents can best achieve thesegoals when they are supported by the right technology which includes integrating multiple core applications to giveagents full visibility over customer accounts and activity,automated call routing to subject experts (inbound) and anability to execute successful outbound calls.

Effective processes which maximise the connection of theideal agent for each customer engagement include agentscheduling, careful design and implementation of callrouting, and initial/ongoing agent training.

It is important to bear in mind that agents represent a

considerable proportion of the costs of a contact centre.Agent turnover which can be up to 40% per annum is acritical issue, given it costs an average of $6,000 to replacean agent.1The profitability of outsourced contact centres isprimarily based on their ability to retain experienced agents,and this is a lesson for organisations operating the functionin-house.

Thus, its vital your agents are happy, as their attitude hassignificant implications for customer satisfaction as wellas your own bottom line. Keeping them fit is important consider the environment they work in, from ergonomics,seating arrangements, air conditioning and lighting systemsto engaging local authorities to provide no-cost flu shots foryour team every autumn.

Psychological assessment of potential agents and theirsupervisors are tactics you should deploy, as are counsellingfor stress and rapid, effective response to inappropriatecustomer abuse or in-team bullying. Put thought intogenerating team spirit, carefully crafting incentives andrewards for desired results, your physical contact centreenvironment, convenience of location (public transport,parking and local cafes) and fair work practices and yourinvestment will be repaid in agent productivity and customerexperience. An effective agent team leader is worth her/ hisweight in gold.

Again, process and technology both play a part. For example,Workforce Management systems enable flexible rosteringto meet personal preferences. And the ability to access yoursystems remotely and provide appropriate equipment (alongwith integrated monitoring) ensure those who choose orneed to can work productively from home or in other remotelocations. In particular these latter elements can helpprovide business continuity or after-hours coverage for yourcustomer support.

PROCESSFor many organisations, contact centre process isfundamental to overall business operations. Contact centreprocesses must align with and seamlessly integrateinto business processes within the greater organisation.Examples are new customer onboarding, service/productbilling, change requests, upgrades, cancellations andconsumer feedback.

COST OFAN IVR

INTERACTION

$

1.61

AVAYA/CALLCENTRES.NET, 2011

$4COST OF PHONE CALLS,THE MOST EXPENSIVEINTERACTION TYPES.



Within the contact centre itself, process must support

business imperatives for increased efficiencies, costreduction, risk mitigation, competitive advantage andrevenue growth. Continuous process enhancement isrequired to support all of the above, plus changing trendsin customer communications needs.

Metrics are integral to process, as they enable contact centreand line-of-business managers to measure operationalefficiency, with a view to continuously improving thecustomer experience and managing costs.

Like everything else in the contact centre industry, metricsare changing. Traditionally, the time taken to respond to aninbound phone call has been a critical metric. As well see inthe next section of this guide, increasingly important metrics

are the time an organisation takes to respond to an email,request to chat, tweet or Facebook comment on their ownFacebook page or their customers.

TECHNOLOGYTodays contact centres are heavily dependent on acombination of hardware, software and communicationstechnologies. Here are some short explanations oftechnologies increasingly deployed by Australiancontact centres.

INBOUND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

The relative locations of your contact centre(s) and your

customers would normally result in high or indeterminatetelephone call charges for the customer when he or shecalls. Also the advertising and promotion of multiple landlinenumbers can be a problem. Telecommunications serviceproviders such as Optus offer a range of options where avirtual inbound number can be used from anywhere inthe country to access the contact centre, 1800 (or freecall)numbers dont incur any charge from landlines, whereas13 and 1300 numbers result in only a local call fee tocustomers, regardless of the location of your contact centre.How your provider routes these calls will determine any costto your organisation of inbound calls.

INTELLIGENT CONTACT ROUTING

Leveraging intelligent technology within the Optus network,contacts can be routed to your contact centres based on yourbusiness rules. To name a few, you can route calls based on

Boundaries, (ie. geographic state area code political

local government franchise boundaries or yourbusiness zones)

Language

Customer value status (ie, Silver, Gold or Platinum)

Account status (ie. debtor/creditor status)

Follow the sun time of day, day of week,geographic routing

And numerous other criteria

Working with Optus, we are able to provide high availability,a high level of disaster recovery and superior reporting,direct from the Optus core network. Rather than routingcalls to site, depending on the solution architecture, we

are able to determine agent availability to minimise queuelengths and customer wait times resulting in improvedcustomer satisfaction.

OUTBOUND CALLING

Again, the locations of your contact centre(s) and yourexisting or potential customers will inform your choice ofcommunications services. If you have a centralised outboundcontact centre, there are many IP-based options which willreduce your costs in servicing a national or even regional base.

INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR)

IVR is the technology which enables your callers to be routedto the most suitable agent to service their specific enquiry.

It also enables the collection of key data such as account,reference and personal identification numbers (PINs) sothat when the call is put through, the agent is prepared toanswer the query/conduct the transaction in the fastestpossible time because the callers account details aredisplayed on their screen. Alternately, entire transactionscan be accomplished through IVR, without an agent beinginvolved.

SPEECH RECOGNITION

A technology which has made significant advances in recentyears, Speech Recognition enables callers to simply speakto your contact centre system rather than (or in combinationwith) making keypad selections. Again, entire transactions

can be accomplished, without an agent being involved although it is generally used to ensure the calleris connected to the best agent to respond to their call.

THE EXPERIENCE THEY HAVEWILL INFLUENCE THEIRDECISION ON WHETHER TO

REMAIN A CUSTOMER ORBECOME SOMEONE ELSES


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BIOMETRICS

Secure identification in dealing with your customers isessential. Three-factor security comprises:

1. What you know account number, PIN, mothersmaiden name, etc

2. What you have smart card, keychain security devicesgenerating one-time keys according to an algorithm, etc

3. Who you are this is where biometrics comes in... suchas fingerprint, retinal scan, voice pattern recognition

Obviously, two-factor security is stronger than single-factor. Biometric technology enables contact centresconducting highly secure transactions to apply a secondfactor in identifying a caller when what you have is not an

option given the distance. Increasingly, mobile and Internettechnologies are enabling biometric identification, withoutthe issue of auxiliary devices such as fingerprint readers and voice pattern recognition is increasing in effectiveness.

QUEUE MANAGEMENT AND CALLER PRIORITISATION

Different queries and different customers call for differenttreatment. Systems that prioritise calls in conjunction withIVR ensure that all calls are dealt with appropriately. CallerPrioritisation fast-tracks, for example, emergencies, inboundsales calls or second (follow-up) calls over run-of-the-millaccount enquiries. Queue Management ensures that eventhese standard enquiries are managed in a way to prevent

hang-up or breach response guidelines and customerService Level Agreements (SLAs).

CONTACT ROUTING

Given that connecting the customer with the best-possibleagent in the fastest possible time is the fundamentalaim of an inbound contact centre, Contact Routing is thearchitecture of a contact centre system and underlyingRouting and Transfer Rules are the struts or beams inits fabric. As well as best practice processes, call routingsystems also need to take agent skills and training intoconsideration.

Constructing this platform is an important and expert

task and your success (or failure) will make a significantdifference in terms of operational efficiency and customersatisfaction, acquisition and retention rates. As well see inthe next section on emerging trends, customers increasingly

want non-voice contact options, and these too need to be

effectively routed.

The process of contact routing, as well as queuing andprioritisation, are normally delivered by an applicationin contact centre systems called Automatic CallDistribution (ACD).

CLI AND FNN

CLI, or Calling Line Identification is typically the telephonenumber which the caller is using to call another party. Thisnumber will usually be visible to the person to whom the callis made, unless the number has been withheld or the call isbeing made from a shared phone (office phone, for example).The FNN, or Full National Number, can be the CLI, usually

when calling from a mobile, or from a personal landline.

DATA DIP

Based on information provided by an inbound customer (viaIVR or Speech Recognition) or via Caller Line Identification(CLI), a search can be conducted of your databases toretrieve their information. For example, the unique accountnumber they enter before their call is placed to an agentor the number they are calling from. Pertinent informationcan then be presented to the agent as they answer the call,providing product, service and/or location details to hand andenabling them to personalise their greeting on connection tothe customer.

COMPUTER-TELEPHONY INTEGRATION (CTI)

CTI or screen pop is the ability for agent screens to bepopulated with information from core business systems(such as CRM or ERP) once the customer and the issue/transaction is identified.

The aim is seamless integration with all relevant coresystems both for customer experience (how often do wehear, Sorry, please hold while I log out of this applicationand into another?) and for agent productivity in dealing withcontacts, inbound or outbound.

Integration is critical for organisations providing support(technical and/or billing) and especially for those with

additional revenue opportunities; agents should be able tosee what a customer has and be prompted to enquire intopotential interest in products/services for upselling/cross-selling within the call.

AUSTRALIAN CONSUMERSLIKELY TO TELL THEIR SOCIALMEDIA NETWORK ABOUT A POOREXPERIENCE THAT CAUSED THEMTO MOVE THEIR BUSINESS

91%AVAYA/CALLCENTRES.NET, 2011

AUSTRALIAN CONSUMERSSAYING A POOR CONTACT

CENTRE EXPERIENCE WILLCAUSE THEIR DEFECTION

TO A COMPETITOR22%



CALL RECORDING

Recording contact centre interactions has becomeincreasingly important both for managing, assessing andtraining agents to improve operational efficiency, and forretaining records of customer transactions for complianceand/or contractual purposes.

Just as contact now means much more than call,recording of interactions must extend beyond voice callrecording to maintaining an auditable and searchable historyof all contacts whether chat, email, web enquiry or self-service transactions.

WORKFORCE OPTIMISATION (WFO) AND WORKFORCE

MANAGEMENT (WFM)

WFO often includes WFM, Call Recording, QualityManagement, Customer Analytics and associated reporting.Because agents are key to contact centre operations andprofitability, increasingly sophisticated software applicationsare important for scheduling and managing these agents as well as reporting to support capacity planning andmeasurement.

REPORTING

Reporting is essential to evaluating your contact centre andor improving the customer experience, managing your costs,improving staff productivity and responding to businesschanges and trends. Report views should include snapshots,

time-series, trending and historical in order to give youclear visibility of your contact centre operations and supportcontinuous improvement.

FORECASTING

In addition to as-is and as-was reporting, forecasting isan essential component of your contact centre systems.Forecasting provide what-if analysis for planned initiatives(such as a new service launch, advertising campaign orproduct recall) so you can predict and build your capabilitiesand resources for a surge in contacts. Accurate ongoingforecasting contributes to operational efficiency and informsyour Workforce Management, Workforce Optimisation andagent training processes.

DISASTER RECOVERY (DR)

Maintaining operations in the face of disaster coverseverything from coping with a flu outbreak among your

agents to business continuity should your contact centre be

affected by a natural disaster, a power or communicationsoutage.

From a technology standpoint, you need to engage yourtechnology and communications providers to help youbuild an effective DR plan, with adequate redundancy ofyour systems, power supply and communications links.Comprehensive, regular, backups of your contact centre dataare essential, including off-site or cloud storage solutions especially when call recording is integral for compliance orcontractual purposes.

Again, its a balance: continuous backup and data duplicationalong with a live recovery contact centre infrastructure will

minimise your downtime, but you must also balance thecosts of these measures with the level of potential risks toyour business.

The following diagram illustrates the underlying technologywhich can be deployed to accurately route each incomingcall to the most appropriate contact centre agent.

In the next section of this Guide, well be looking at newtechnologies and ways of working which are expected to bewidely adopted in the coming months and years.


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TAKING A HOLISTIC APPROACHAs weve seen, effective contact centre operations dependon a combination of people, process and technology andall three are interdependent. So, in assessing your existingcontact centre operations, or planning the establishment ofa new contact centre, it is vital that all three are taken intoconsideration.

To summarise, this calls for a holistic, multi-disciplinaryapproach that assuming continual enhancement of thecustomer experience is a given addresses:

Matching agent skills to customer needs andconnecting them fast

Providing a satisfying, stimulating and flexible

environment for agents to reduce their turnoverand your costs

Integrating processes within the wider organisationfor greater efficiencies

Delivery of effective and relevant metrics to supportoperational decision-making as well as strategicdirections

Implementing technologies which support and enhanceall of the above

Next well look at whats happening in Australian andregional contact centres with a focus on changingcustomer preferences for supplier engagement. This willadd the need for your holistic approach to embrace scaling

and responding to rapidly-changing customer needs andpreferences in order to maximise.

1 2012 Contact Centre Consumer Preference eBook, Avaya, 2011

EFFECTIVE CONTACTCENTRE OPERATIONSDEPEND ON A

COMBINATION OFPEOPLE, PROCESSAND TECHNOLOGY AND ALL THREE AREINTERDEPENDENT


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CURRENT MARKETTRENDSYou know your business and your owncustomers best. However, in determininghow your contact centre operations canimprove to increase revenues, reducechurn and costs, improve business processesand efficiencies, adapt to change andmaintain competitive advantage it is

useful to study current market trends.This section draws heavily on recent research into contactcentre operations, especially consumer sentiments in regardsto interactions with their suppliers. While the data is generic,we trust it will be helpful in assessing your own contact centreoperations and informing your strategies and planning.

THE AUSTRALIAN CONTACT CENTREINDUSTRYAccording to research by callcentres.net2, at the end of 2010Australia had an estimated 200,000 contact centre seats withan annual growth rate of 3-5% per annum. Of these, around

37,000 seats were in Government (18%) and approximately30,500 in the telecommunications industry (15%). Theseseats were spread across just under 4,000 call centres two-thirds of them in NSW or Victoria.

Key findings from the callcentres.net research, which builton similar research conducted during the previous year,were that:

Contact centres are increasingly seen as a strategicbusiness unit with the main challenges of surveyedorganisations being the retention of distressed andemotional clients and the reduction of operatingcosts; with an estimated 80% of Australian customerinteractions being handled by contact centres, boards aretaking this into consideration

Perhaps consequently, many research respondentsreported marketing slashed by 75% and HR by 30%,while contact centre budgets only experienced a5% reduction

Despite technology budgets dropping around 20%

over the previous year, there was increased interest intechnologies relating to the customer experience withgreater levels of planned investment in CRM, WFM, CTI,IVR and Knowledge Management

While Australia lags in interest (and investment) in newerself-service channels such as speech and web chat,there is much local discussion about Social Media asa coming contact centre channel

In contrast with previous surveys, staff attrition haddropped to the eighth most important challenge withcost constraint the challenge most cited by respondentsfollowed by ensuring sufficient headcount to meetbusiness objectives and managing change

At the same time, contact centre managers reporteda new trend in trapped and disengaged agents, withan estimated six in ten workers disengaged; in 2008some 49% of agents would seek another job (half ofthese outside the contact centre industry), but with lessconfidence in moving in difficult economic times, theynow remain trapped and pose other HR issues as wellas an issue in terms of customer engagement outcomes

However, in its study of Asia-Pacific content centres, agentattrition is still cited by Frost and Sullivan3as a majorchallenge and given diminishing Australian unemploymentlevels over the past year, we can expect this to continue toexert a major impact on local contact centre operations.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LEVELSIn early 2011, industry analyst Forrester surveyed consumerswho had contacted a customer centre across a wide range ofindustry sectors financial services, telco, retail, hospitality/entertainment and healthcare within the three previousmonths. They were asked to rate the statement:Do customer service centres always provide excellentcustomer service?

Alarmingly, only 16% of Australian respondents agreed,while 62% disagreed with the remainder neutral. Forresterconcludes that this indicates room for enterprises acrossall industry sectors to better balance investments in people,process and technology in order to provide excellent

customer service.4

This challenge is highlighted by callcentres.net 2011consumer research sponsored by Ayaya5, which found:

34%

CONSUMERS NOTGETTING FIRST

CONTACT QUERYRESOLUTION


CONSUMERS WHOLLCONSIDER DEFECTINGAFTER ONLY 2-3CONTACT ATTEMPTS

33%



A third of consumers are not getting what they need

the first time, resulting in two or more interactions orirresolution which decreases customer satisfactionas well as costing businesses more

If customers are dissatisfied with an interaction theywill defect, with 94% of Australian respondent sayingthey are likely to tell their friends, family or colleaguesof a customer service centre experience that causedthem to move their business

Customers are increasingly inclined to spend more moneywith companies offering excellent service, with 70%saying they are willing to spend more money with sucha company (up from 58% in 2010) and 15% saying theywould spend 20% more (compared to just 5% in 2010)

CUSTOMER ATTITUDES TO OUTSOURCINGFor organisations with a significant requirement forcontact centre operations, the decision to outsource isfraught with implications. While contact centre operationsmay not appear to be core business, and a commodity youcan outsource or even transfer to a cheaper workforceoutside Australia, you have to weigh these considerationsagainst quality of service delivered and impact oncustomer relations.

However, consider this At $49,663, (source:MyCareer.com.au survey), the average contact centre salary in Australia ismore than double that of a UK contact centre consultant (UK

equiv $20,911, based on an 14k pounds sterling, exchangerate 67 pence to the dollar, source of salary is Unison-scotland.org.uk a Scottish trade union) . This may act asthe burning platform for change and the adoption of morecustomer oriented service.

To repeat: its a balancing act... You must deliver a positiveexperience without sacrificing profitability which requiresmatching the needs of your customers with the realities ofyour business.

Research by Forrester provides food for thought. Consumerssurveyed showed an overwhelming preference for interactingwith a customer service representative that they know isworking at home (51%), compared to outsourced agents in

another organisation (25%) or another country (23%). Overhalf (56%) would prefer not to deal with agents operatingfrom another organisation or overseas.6

CONSUMER COMMUNICATION PREFERENCESIn reporting on consumer preferences in relation to contactcentres within the Asia-Pacific region, Forrester yieldedthree additional key findings from analysis of survey results.7

1. Consumers like diversity of contact channels. Theywant access to a wider range of ways to interact withthe companies they do business with across both self-service and agent-assisted channels.

2. Managers of enterprise customer support centres arestruggling with social media interactions. Currently thevolume is small as compared to voice interactions butthis misses the point: its not about current volume, itsabout the future impact of web channels (email, webchat, self-service web).

3. Talking to an agent continues to be the most preferredchannel by consumers. While 48% of consumers usedthe phone most often in the past three months, 79%responded that its their preferred channel.

More detailed examination of channel preferences bycallcentres.net8found that consumers have interaction (mediachannel) preferences, depending on what theyre tryingto accomplish. For example, consumers would rather notspeak to a person to update information but for a complaint(inbound) or service cancellation response (outbound), liveagent contact may be critical in averting defection.

Further, based on fully loaded costs of handling aninteraction (including salary benefits and facilities) thecallcentres.net research finds that:

At over $4, live phone interactions cost 2.5 times morethan IVR

Self-service both voice and online is the leastexpensive way of responding to customers

Email, at less than $3.50 per interaction, is cheaper thanvoice calls9

YOU MUST DELIVER APOSITIVE EXPERIENCEWITHOUT SACRIFICING

PROFITABILITY WHICHREQUIRES MATCHINGTHE NEEDS OF YOURCUSTOMERS WITH THEREALITIES OF YOURBUSINESS


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2 callcentres.net, research reported in February 20113 Assessment of Asia Pacific Contact Centre Market CY2010, Frost & Sullivan. March 20114 APAC 2011 Consumer Preference Report Contact Centres, Forrester, 2011

5 2011 Contact Centre Consumer Index Study, APAC, October 20116 Forrester Consulting, February 20117 APAC 2011 Consumer Preference Report Contact Centres, Forrester, 20118 2011 Contact Centre Consumer Index Study, APAC, October 20119 Note the researchers proviso that costs vary from company to company.

The same research reports that, despite agent-assisted calls

being more expensive than other contact interactions, it isstill the channel most offered by Asia Pacific contact centres.

Aligning contact centre strategy to consumer preferencescan reduce costs and provide for greater customersatisfaction. All of the above research indicates thatorganisations should be looking to embrace new channelsfor engaging with their customers within their contact centreoperations and consequently adapting their technology,processes and people.

ORGANISATIONS SHOULD BE LOOKINGTO EMBRACE NEW CHANNELS FORENGAGING WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS

WITHIN THEIR CONTACT CENTREOPERATIONS AND CONSEQUENTLYADAPTING THEIR TECHNOLOGY,PROCESSES AND PEOPLE


12/1810

EMERGING BESTPRACTICESAs the research cited in the previous section stronglyindicates, contact centres need to adapt to market forces in particular, changes in customer demands. These needto be reflected in technology, process and people.

CONTACT CENTRE TECHNOLOGYINFRASTRUCTUREAs previously discussed, the technology infrastructure of

contact centres is composed of hardware, software andcommunications. Industry analyst Gartner has developed arating tool10which outlines two major use cases for contactcentre technology infrastructures best-of-breed versussuites. Its key findings indicate that:

Consolidation and restructuring of major vendorscontinue while sales have proved resilient during theglobal recession.

Enterprises continue to shift from custom best-of-breedor integrated point contact centre products to complete,broad suite solutions from major vendors.

Enterprise users of contact centre infrastructures mustevaluate prospective vendor and channel partner abilities

to deliver in their operating location.In selecting contact centre technologies, Gartnerrecommends that enterprises:

Develop a customised, three-year road map to avoidtactical solutions that may cause stranded investmentsin the longer term.

Confirm planned contact centre infrastructure supportsemerging multichannel demands by customers for self-service and social networking.

Ensure support for a wide range of workforceoptimisation (WFO) and CRM tools along with integrationof emerging unified communications and collaboration

(UCC) and communications-enabled business process(CEBP) solutions.

Identify which of the two major use cases (integratedbest-of-breed or all-in-one/compact suites) will best suit

their enterprises contact centre infrastructure needs

and the multichannel customer service media that mustbe supported.

All of these strategies can be supported by consultingservices delivered by Alphawests Contact Centre Practiceworking together with Optus Business and the broaderSingTel group for offshore requirements.

VOICE AND WEB SELF-SERVICEFrost and Sullivan reports increased activity in self-serviceapplications and a strong push towards using integratedvoice response (IVR) as a tool for call resolution instead ofcall routing. They say the move towards self-service is not

limited to just IVR, but encompasses web self-service andmobile self-service to cater to customer preferences.11

WORKFORCE LOCATION AND OUTSOURCINGIncreasing numbers of contact centres are enabling theiragents to work from home, instead of within a controlledenvironment. This gives them access to a wider range ofpotential employees working mothers, semi-retired agentswith years of experience, the disabled, regional or interstateagents and potentially reduces costs by increasingemployee satisfaction and decreasing the need for acentralised infrastructure.

From the consumer viewpoint, as cited above, over half

(51%) have a preference for interacting with an agent theyknow is at home, even if they are outsourced.

All of these factors make it important that your contactcentre technology infrastructure enables remote access,provides the right tools and connectivity, and allow you toeffectively manage, measure and schedule your agentsbeyond your physical premises.

When it comes to outsourcing, over half of Asia-Pacificconsumers surveyed (56%) would prefer not to deal withagents operating from another organisation or overseas.12These statistics indicate that Australian organisations needto seriously consider the customer satisfaction implicationsof outsourcing or off-shoring contact centre operations.

Consider outsourcing/ work from home for dealingwith avalanches or high call events.

Consider also for business continuity and disasterrecovery.

CONSUMERSWHO WANT TOUSE WEB SELF-SERVICE TO UPDATEINFORMATION

48%CONSUMERS WHO THINK

THEYLL USE EMAILREGULARLY TO CONTACT

BUSINESSES IN THENEXT 1-2 YEARS60%



It may also be worthy to consider that if you establish

a contact centre, you could offer services to otherorganisations.

CONTACT CENTRE PROCESSESIt is evident that many consumers would now prefer toeither help themselves via the Internet or communicatewith you in other ways than a voice call, often methods theyprefer in their everyday social interactions. As weve seen,this is to your benefit in terms of contact centre costs andcustomer satisfaction and retention so savvy organisationsare making it easier for their customers to interact withthem and changing their contact centre technologiesand processes to embrace and capitalise on new ways of

communicating and transacting.Ensure your email, chat, click-to-call, Skype, social mediaand fax contact details are as clear on your contact uswebpage as your phone number so that your customercan select their preferred channel for interaction if yourweb self-service of support FAQs fail to meet theirimmediate needs.

Alphawest encourages customers to develop new processes(and metrics to measure/enhance them) to deal with non-voice call interactions.

CONTACT CENTRE METRICS

With the rapid change in customer preferences forcommunications channels, traditional contact centremetrics need to be expanded and adapted. There are nouniversally-accepted metrics for interactions other thanvoice calls as yet but, at Alphawest, we are developing bestpractices and advising our clients along the following lines.

Average Handle Time (AHT) which includes after callwork

Service Level percent of calls answered withinspecific delay period (eg 80% of calls in 30 seconds)

Call Abandons (ABA)

First Call Resolution

Balanced Score Card

Shrinkage and effective FTEs

EMAILS

Respond to emails in the same way you respond to voicecalls provide a rapid response and enable similar contactrouting (through intelligent web forms) to the best agentto respond. Metrics applied to the management of emailsshould mirror those applied to call management. Typically,this would mean an initial acknowledgement email includingdetails of the person handling their email. That personshould then treat the email as their next work item.

CLICK-TO-CALL, WEBCHAT AND SKYPE

Treat interactions via these channels as you would voicecalls, responding in real-time and applying call routingand queue management. Again, they should be managedaccording to the same metrics as an inbound call, with

response times typically targeted as 80% of contactsmade within 20 seconds.

FAXES

Guarantee a maximum four-hour response time toincoming faxes.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Continuously monitor social media and employ specialistagents to respond rapidly to posts and tweets based on acarefully-determined policy for either offering solutions ormitigating risk when customers express displeasure withyour products/services.

Rapid response to a positive post or tweet can amplify itsbenefits and you dont need to wait for your PR people torespond if your specialist agents are also trained/have anappropriate policy on hand to maximise these benefits inreal-time.

IN SUMMARY...You can no longer rely on traditional call centre metrics tomeasure customer satisfaction. You need to take a holisticapproach, changing your metrics and reporting to reflect theentire picture across your contact centre operations as youtransform the way you interact with your customers.

10 Critical Capabilities for Contact Centre Infrastructure, Gartner, October 2011.For further details, visit http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-

17N1MPC&ct=111011&st=sb11 Assessment of Asia Pacific Contact Centre Market CY2010, Frost & Sullivan. March 201112 APAC 2011 Consumer Preference Report Contact Centres, Forrester Consulting,

February 2011

SAVVY ORGANISATIONS AREMAKING IT EASIER FOR THEIRCUSTOMERS TO INTERACT WITH

THEM AND CHANGING THEIRCONTACT CENTRE TECHNOLOGIESAND PROCESSES TO EMBRACEAND CAPITALISE ON NEWWAYS OF COMMUNICATINGAND TRANSACTING


14/1812

OUR SOLUTIONSAlphawest has a strong partnership with theworlds leading contact centre technologyvendor Avaya, complemented by our parentSingTel Optus, one of Australias leadingtelecommunications service providers.

This enables us to work together to offer a unique andcomprehensive value proposition to organisations lookingto establish new contact centres or enhance theirexisting operations.

AVAYAOur contact centre technology partner Avaya has 19,000employees in 54 countries supporting over a millioncustomers. Having merged with Nortel in late 2009, Avayaholds the leading position in the world and especially in ourregion:

Leader in global contact centre technology with a2010 39% market share, 22 points ahead of its nearestcompetitor (46% in Asia Pacific)

Global leader in IVR, with 15% of the market (20% in theAsia Pacific)

Gartners Magic Quadrant for contact centre infrastructuredetermines Avaya as the clear leader in both itscompleteness of vision and its ability to execute.

Avaya provides a comprehensive range of technologysolutions both hardware and software for contact centresof every size. As Gartners Magic Quadrant indicates, it isinnovative in responding to new customer demands formulti-channel capabilities to cover not only voice but email,webchat, instant messaging and integrated outboundcampaigns. Its solutions also offer robust reporting withpre-defined reports, and the ability to customise reports tomeasure specific business objectives.

Avaya contact centre solutions recognise the need for andaccommodate close integration with core business systems,with out-of-the-box screen pop capabilities that can berapidly configured to give contact centre agents a full pictureacross CRM, billing and ordering systems. Contact centreprocesses and metrics, as well as workforce management,

optimisation and scheduling, are integral both in terms of

monitoring and reporting.

Importantly for the adapting contact centre, Avaya is aleading proponent and facilitator of multi-channel contactcentre operations, which future proofs technologyinvestment and enables operators to embrace, integrate,manage and measure new and emerging channels ofcommunication with their customers.

ALPHAWESTAt Alphawest, we always take a collaborative businessapproach to the technology solutions we develop. We startby consulting with you to identify the underlying businessproblem or transformation that needs to be resolved oraddressed. In doing so, we separate out symptoms from theunderlying problem.

Our services start with expert consultancy to help identifythe business problem you are trying to resolve. From there,

we work with you to build a strategy, develop technologyrequirements and undertake tactical vendor selection andbusiness case development. Given our strong connectionswith our technology partner Avaya and parent company


AMERICAN EXPRESS SURVEY, 2011

CHALLENGERS

SIEMANSENTERPRISE

COMMUNICATIONS

NEC

LEADERS

NICHE PLAYERS VISIONARIES

HUAWEI

MITEL

AASTRATECHNOLOGIES

ALTITUDE SOFTWARE

SYNTELLECT

VOCALCOM

ZTE

SAP

AVAYA

CISCO

ALCATEL-LUCENT(GENESYS)

INTERACTIVEINTELLIGENCE

ASPECT

ABILITYTO

EXECUTE

COMPLETENESS OF VISION

The Magic Quadrant for Contact Centre Infrastructas of June 2011

AUSTRALIAN CONSUMERSWHOD RECOMMEND TOFAMILY AND FRIENDS BASEDON THEIR INTERACTIONWITH A CONTACT CENTRE

69%CONSUMERS WILLINGTO SPEND MORE WITH

A COMPANY THATPROVIDES GOOD

CUSTOMER SERVICE 70%



Optus Business, and furthermore SingTel, we are able to

extend the discussion beyond applications and infrastructureinto the telecommunications layer across multiple regions.Execution phases are carefully mapped out and managed drawing on the combined expertise and processes of allthree partners.

Alphawests specialist contact centre team capabilitiesencompass all the applications necessary to make contactcentres efficient and their customer service experienceseamless including IVR, self-service, advanced speech,intelligent routing, advanced reporting and workforceoptimisation. At all times, we focus on improving the way youinteract and engage with your customer and our technicaland project management expertise mean we can worktowards upgrading and implementing changes to even thelargest contact centres with minimal business impact.

Our Contact Centre Practice has a considerable track recordin designing contact centre solutions for leading Australianorganisations. Our team act as trusted advisors solvingreal business problems with innovative customer servicesolutions. We have proven our ability to deliver end-to-endsupport for contact centre and customer collaboration forsome of Australias largest enterprises and governmentdepartments. Our business focus and this experience enableus to help our clients identify new opportunities, as well assolving underlying causes of business challenges.

OPTUSIn partnership with our parent Optus, Alphawest offers acomprehensive suite of communications services to supportcontact centre operations. Together, we have a wealth ofexperience in working with small-to-medium and largeorganisations in addressing a wide range of contact centrechallenges.

In assessing your current environment and determiningareas for improvement, we bring a rich range of skills,certifications and experience across IT and communicationstechnologies as well as business knowledge. Examples ofthe way we combine this expertise are:

Determining the best means of routing calls from the

Optus network to your agents and a choice of network-integrated, hosted and enterprise solutions

Total Access Services (inbound numbers), 13, 1300and 1800 Inbound services, core Network Intelligent

call routing, network-based IVR, voice recognition and

web-based solutions for more efficient and effective callrouting and automated self service

Integrated CRM and CTI solutions to enhance agentproductivity and the overall customer experience

Workforce Optimisation (Workforce management,call recording and quality management) solutions tomaximise the utilisation of your human resources, whileproviding improved service management and assist withmeeting legal and regulatory requirements

Real-time monitoring and management reporting, a keyto effective contact centre operations

Assessing and reporting on your current contact centretechnologies to recommend areas for improvement

Together with the entire SingTel Group, we can offermanaged services for all your contact centre technologiesand communications services either from your premisesor within our state-of-the-art Australian and regionaldata centres.

OUR BUSINESS FOCUSAND EXPERIENCEENABLE US TO HELP OUR

CLIENTS IDENTIFY NEWOPPORTUNITIES, AS WELLAS SOLVING UNDERLYINGCAUSES OF BUSINESSCHALLENGES


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BUSINESS BENEFITSAs weve seen, getting it right is critical forevery organisation offering a customer servicecontact centre.

This is becoming increasingly the case as consumers growmore fickle with 46% of consumers saying loyalty tocompanies is a thing of the past .

Along with rapid change in user contact channelpreferences, the contact centre must adapt to a holisticview of the customer service function across new channels responding to each with new processes, metrics andintegrated technologies.

The benefits of successfully responding to these trendsinclude:

Reducing the cost of contact centre operations byswitching to less expensive ways of interacting withcustomers

Avoiding the risks of infrastructure redundancy andwasted investment by selecting a scalable, highlyintegrated technology platform which will adapt tochanging market conditions

Improving agent productivity through greater workforceflexibility and exploitation of new response tools

Increasing customer revenues and retention bydelivering the interaction they want in the timeframe theydemand

Enhancing customer satisfaction at a time whenconsumers are increasingly networked and vocal aboutgood experiences and even more vocal about bad ones

Competitive advantage through delivering a trulyexcellent and holistic customer experience

Alphawests Contact Centre Practice, our technologypartner Ayaya and our parent Optus offer a compellingvalue proposition in helping your organisation get it rightby helping you change the game and supporting you incontinuing to do so in the turbulent times ahead.

13 2012 Contact Centre Consumer Preference eBook, Avaya


CUSTOMERS MORELIKELY TO BUY IF THEYARE ENGAGED VIA THESOCIAL WEB

50%CUSTOMERS WHOTHINK THEY KNOW MORE

ABOUT THE ISSUE THANTHE AGENT70%



ABOUT ALPHAWESTAlphawest, a wholly owned subsidiary of Optus, is a leading ICT andcontact centre system integrator providing integrated Information andCommunication Technology (ICT) solutions.

Helping to build enterprises of the future, Alphawest solutions and servicesencompass expertise in Networking, Unified Communications, Security,

Enterprise Collaboration, Data Centre Technologies and Managed Servicesworking together to enhance workforce productivity by better connectingpeople, processes and technology.

Since 1986, Alphawest has continued to grow and invest in a dedicatedteam of Contact Centre Practice specialists with expertise in thedesign, deployment and management of contact centre solutions,both simple and complex.

Our consultancy capacity can assess your currentenvironment, determine areas for improvement,scope an enhanced solution and even providemanaged services, to ensure your needs, and theneeds of your customers, are met.

Together, Optus and Alphawest have a wealthof experience working with small, medium andlarge organisations to address their contactcentre challenges.

www.alphawest.com.au

ABOUT OPTUSOptus Business is a leading provider of telecommunications

and information and communications technology (ICT)solutions to businesses across the spectrum. OptusBusiness solutions are suitable for organisations with200 or more employees and include mobile, IP convergedsolutions, voice and managed services.

www.optusbusiness.com.au

ABOUT AVAYAAvaya is a global provider of business collaborationand communications solutions, providing unifiedcommunications, contact centres, data solutionsand related services to companies of all sizes around

the world.

www.avaya.com


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Working Together

Call us today to talk aboutwhere you want to takeyour business.

1300 788 410www.alphawest.com.au

138648 a Guide to Contact Centres

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