Contact Centers in the Age of Web 2.0 and all Things Social Media June 10, 2010.

Contact Centers in the Age of Web 2.0 and all Things

Social Media

June 10, 2010

Stern Consulting, 20102

Agenda

• Web 2.0 Defined• Web 2.0 Metrics• Implementation Process• Policy Considerations• Case Studies• Next Steps

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Web 2.0 (Social Media) - Definitions

• A set of rich, interactive tools that leverage our need to communicate, collaborate, and interact with others by combining hi-touch and hi-tech components

• An innovative medium to correspond with citizens, colleagues, and other government agencies

• An on-line, engaged community that shares opinions, moderates forums, and provides ratings and feedback

• According to the Media Success Summit 20091, the top 4 social media tools are:

1. Twitter

2. Blogs

3. Linked In

4. Facebook

For local governments, Web 2.0 is about: Citizen Engagement Communication, and Transparency.

For local governments, Web 2.0 is about: Citizen Engagement Communication, and Transparency.

Source:1. Michael Stelzner, 2009

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Web 2.0 Metrics

• Most frequently used Web 2.0 tools in local government1

– RSS Feeds – 75%– Twitter – 72%– Facebook - 72%– You Tube – 57%– Blogs – 43%

• Largest growth areas are wikis and blogs1

• In 2009, more people communicated via social networks than email2

• Future state – 94% of teens (12-17) are on-line and 60% of teens have a social networking profile3

Sources:1. Public Technology Institute, 20092. Nielsen Study, 20093. Pew Internet Usage Project –

Reputation Management and Social Media,2009

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Web 2.0 Drivers

• Transactional costs savings1

• The website acts as the hub to bring traffic and create a sense of community– Web 2.0 tools act as spokes which are tightly integrated with

the hub– If the hub is weak, the spokes may become irrelevant

Sources:1. Gartner Group and Yankee Group, 2009

Channel Cost Per Transaction

Walk-in $9.00

Web Chat $7.00-$7.50

Live Phone Agent $4.50-$5.30

Email $2.50-$3.00

Phone Self Service (IVR)

$0.45-$1.85

Web Self Service (WSS) $0.24-$0.65

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Implementation Approach

1. Understand how the initiative supports the municipality’s goals/objectives

2. Define the target audience

• Balance social equity concerns

3. Build the project team

4. Define and set metrics

5. Select tools

6. Leverage internal resources

7. Assess vendors/partners

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Implementation Approach (cont’d)

8. Initiate development

9. Engage target audience – beta testing

10.Refine tool/service

11. Initiative outreach campaign

12.Launch

13.Assess results

14.Continuous improvement

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Policy Issues

• Develop an integrated Web 2.0 policy that is synchronized with incumbent policies (Website, privacy, etc.)

• Key components should include:– Abuse– Privacy/disclosure– Penalties/Consequences for violation– Point of contact– Monitoring– Network security– E-discovery/FOIA– Protection of IP

Resources:1. Reed Smith White Paper, “Network

Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon, 2010.

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Web 2.0 Case Studies

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San Francisco

Background• Launched Twitter in June 2009• Large-scale press conference to announce launch• Not directly integrated with CRM• No CSRs are dedicated to monitoring Twitter activity• Maximum service requests are 100/month• Has 6,000 followers

Lessons Learned• Consistent public communications• Direct integration with CRM (open source or mash-up)• Dedicated CSR support• Defined success metrics

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Albuquerque

Background• Launched Twitter in Summer 2009 using a Mayoral

press conference• Limited public education and outreach• Not directly integrated with CRM• Maximum service requests peaked 60/month

(currently less than 5/month)Lessons Learned• Enterprise-wide approach• Consistent public outreach• Consistent internal education• Direct integration with CRM • Defined success metrics

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Boston

Background• Worked with external firm to develop an iPhone application which would

be integrated with CRM• Launched iPhone application in January 2010 using a Mayoral press

conference• Limited public education and outreach; relied on Bus Shelter advertising• More than 6,000 application downloads• Processed 3,000 service requests (SR) to date (annual estimated SR is

200,000)Lessons Learned• Mandatory executive level support• Fast and agile development process; leverage citizen feedback in beta

sessions• Partner with local innovation groups/think tanks• Consistent public outreach• Direct integration with CRM between iPhone and CRM developers• Start with simple service requests (e.g., graffiti, potholes, street lights)• Need defined success metrics• Word of mouth advertising can be successfully leveraged

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Other Examples

• Washington DC– Applications for Democracy

http://www.appsfordemocracy.org/– Winning 2009 application (app) that enables iPhone

access to 311, coupled with a supporting Facebook app. A demo is at: http://www.victorshilo.com/dc311/2/

• Los Angeles– Garcetti 311

• San Francisco– Freedom Speaks (iPhone)– See Click Fix (iPhone, Android, Blackberry)

• New York– Big apps http://www.nycbigapps.com/

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Next Steps

• Inventory enterprise-wide web 2.0 applications• Identify internal executive champions and project

managers• Quantify current usage and potential future

penetration• Identify integration points

– CRM– Work Order Management– Cashiering

• Review data and reporting requirements• Define success metrics

Be deliberate. Smart up-front planning saves time, money, and resources in the future.

Be deliberate. Smart up-front planning saves time, money, and resources in the future.

Open 311

Government Contact Centers

• Contact centers have evolved from paper driven and face to face interactions with citizens

• 311 has led to consolidation of multiple-departmental call centers and use of CRM in many cases

• New wave of tech-savvy customers using new media

Lagan Enterprise CRM

Open311 and Social Media

• Background on citizen mobile and social media• Lagan and Open 311 - Collaborative Open Source

project with the city and county governments enabling citizens to connect with government via social media platforms

Citizen Connect Mobile applications

• An incident reporting system that enables citizens to report incidents such as potholes

• Integrated with GPS and camera on mobile device

• Citizens can also see previously submitted requests and status updates from the City from Lagan CRM

18

Social Networking

• Now citizens can send direct messages 24 hours a day to the sf311 Twitter account

Social Networking

• Twitter to request services or information from the San Francisco 311 Customer Service Center.

Social Networking

• Citizen tweets go directly into Lagan CRM and are presented to contact center agents as inbound messages

Social Media Impact at the Contact Center

• Key is to avoid needing contact center agents to monitor and read inbound messages

• Concern over citizen expectations that the larger the number of citizens complaining about a problem, the faster the city/county will respond

• Need to see growth in the ability to use social media to deal with the 70% of interactions (on average) that are information inquiries only

• Access to the city/county knowledgebase using social media will be key in the future to help reduce the number of agents required to meet demand via all channels of communication with citizens

From Social Media to Open311

• Several cities have begun to run open government initiatives, open data programs, and app contests to improve civic technology and civic engagement.

• Recently cities like Washington D.C. and San Francisco have begun to open up Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to provide richer access to their data and allows citizens’ applications to interact with the same data that a city uses internally

• This concept of a read/write API is what has fueled the growth of many new technologies, providing whole software ecosystems around platforms like Twitter and the iPhone

• Open311 applications and mash-ups to fully interact with a city’s 311 system are now possible

What is Open 311?

• A open and transparent participatory model for how 311 services are provided– Traditional 311 services are modeled around the contact

center with a 1-1 city to citizen interaction communication channel

– Open311 allows more than the traditional 1-to-1 call model interaction involving just two people, but can allow more collaborative interactions with multiple contacts

– Make these types of transactions more open and transparent to encourage citizens to get engaged with their local government via a public forum

• Open Technology and Open Standards to pull it all together

Why is Open 311 Important?

• A common foundation for civic engagement and participation on a local level

• City’s are the user interface to our local government, using Open 311 can provide more open and ubiquitous ways to interact with government

• A method for multiple cities and agencies to collaborate with something as open and collaborative as the web

• Huge significance in how citizens can interact with each other and their local governments

• Huge significance in how governments can interact with each other and share innovations in technology and business processes – potential for a regional 311 approach

Who is Supporting Open 311?

• San Francisco and Washington DC have been the leading cities in this effort

• Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, Portland, Boston and Edmonton are initially involved and pledged to support the Open311 API

• Non-profit agencies like OpenPlans have promoted the Open 311 initiative via websites like Open311.org

• Firms like Lagan are supporting the Open 311 API as standard feature in CRM products

• Organizations like SeeClickFix and CitySourced are really pushing community focused applications that also support using Open311

Lagan and Open311 Initiative

• Lagan is supporting the use of open source technology, based on the City of San Francisco’s pioneering work in making 311 services accessible to all citizens at all times on all platforms.

Lagan and Open311 Initiative

• Open 311 is being supported by the Open Government Initiative of the Obama administration and has significant real estate on www.whitehouse.gov.

Lagan and Open311 Initiative

Lagan and Open311 Initiative

• From now on, the data for any SeeClickFix issue reported in San Francisco will immediately be entered into the city’s Lagan CRM.

• That connection went live on Thursday afternoon, May 6, 2010 when SeeClickFix co-founder Kam Lasater reported graffiti outside his mother’s house in San Francisco.

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Question & Answer

Thank you!

Spencer SternOffice: 312-578-2286Cell: 773-965-1650Email: [email protected]

Steve CarterOffice: 240-994-4176Email: [email protected]