Genesys Contact Centre Optimisation - ITWeb...First call resolution Balanced workload Agent morale Costs Despite this many contact centres still use the same basic approach: a call

Find out how to unlock the real power of

Genesys intelligent call routing & WFM.

No hype, no industry jargon - just some practical

ways to decrease costs, improve performance &

optimise your Genesys contact centre.

Genesys Contact Centre

Optimisation

If your contact centre needs to perform better we will help you

complete the optimisation journey, whatever route you follow...

Reduce training time

& costs

Improve contact centre sales & service performance

Maximise the ROI from your contact centre

systems

Reduce the time before new

agents become fully productive

Reduce management time & costs Build

training portal

Automatically create training plans in WFM

Use skills DNA profiling

for skills based routing

Identify exact training needs

Integrate new skills database into ACD

Implement regular

online skills assessment

Use correlation analysis to identify

skills affecting performance

Screen job candidates

online

Launch training

academy

Replace paper notes with interactive web guides

Link to LMS

Use voice recognition for

call steering

Modify training to

improve ROI

A White Paper from Silver Lining Solutions

Every Genesys optimisation journey has a starting point

Right now around the world probably every

contact centre is under pressure to reduce costs

and increase performance. In a time when

competition for customers and staff has become

even more intense, every call counts, every

customer matters and every agent is a valuable

asset.

Consequently contact centres need to get more

out of their technology and people – and follow

the optimisation journey. CXO’s are asking

searching questions like;

Where’s the ROI for the technology we’ve

invested in?

With all this technology and all these

agents why aren’t our service and sales

levels improving?

They want real results, real fast. But where do you start? What do you do?

In this white paper we briefly outline some of the

ways you can approach the challenges you face

today with the knowledge that the first step on

the optimisation journey is the hardest – and the

most important.

At the heart of every optimisation strategy there

are two critical components:

Genesys intelligent call routing – the

invisible magic solution that routes the

right call to the right agent at the right

time.

The agent – the most valuable asset of

any contact centre.

Why are these two components so important?

Because there is no advantage in having a state-

of-the-art Genesys solution that routes calls to

agents who do not have right skills or knowledge

to manage them properly; and likewise there is

no advantage in investing significant amounts of

money in training to make sure agents have the

right skills, only for calls to be randomly

distributed to them with no real intelligence

behind the Genesys routing decisions.

You probably already have teams of people in

your contact centre trying to identify ways to

decrease costs and improve performance – but

are they working together in a single, joined up,

cohesive strategy? Optimisation relies on

building a strategy that supports both Genesys

intelligent call routing and the agent. Many

optimisation plans fail to deliver because the

contact centre focuses too much on one whilst

ignoring the other.

A real life example of how it can go wrong...

Here’s an example of what can happen when

different areas of the contact centre work

independently of each other in a disjointed

approach:

The training team in a contact centre has recently

invested large sums of time and money

identifying agent skill gaps so it can develop a

new agent training plan. In doing this the team

has had to indentify individual agent skill levels

across a large number of skill types (so it can

identify individual skill gaps).

This valuable skills data could also be used by

Genesys to deliver a better, more optimised call

routing plan – only it never gets anywhere near

Genesys because the Genesys skills data is

owned by another entirely separate team of

people who are not aware of this project.

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Put the intelligence back into intelligent call routing & unlock the real power of Genesys

The ultimate aim of every Genesys contact centre

is to make sure each customer call is managed by

the right agent with the right skills at the right

time – and they get it right first time. However,

the amount of intelligence any ACD has is

dependent on the quality and quantity of skills

data stored within it – yet many contact centres

still use skills data in Genesys as a basic ‘yes/no’

proficiency switch for routing calls. The agent

either has the skill or they haven’t.

This is like buying a Ferrari and never driving it above 30 miles per hour...

And it’s not just about getting the most out of

Genesys. Intelligent call routing done properly

has a significant impact on contact centre

performance. It has been proved to directly

affect:

Productivity

Call handling and hold times

First call resolution

Balanced workload

Agent morale

Costs

Despite this many contact centres still use the

same basic approach: a call arrives, Genesys

identifies the call/customer type, prioritises the

call and often routes it to the first available agent

(any agent) with the required skill marked against

them just to meet the SLA. Call placed quickly,

SLA met, so customer must be happy – right?

At the same time the team of people managing

Genesys is engaged in another project to roll out

an improved Virtual Contact Centre solution

across multiple sites. Key to this project will be

the agents’ ability to multi-skill across different

call and customer types. The team therefore

needs to know which agents in each location

could handle what type of call; but the team is

severely hampered by a lack of any detailed,

accurate agent skills data - because only basic

skill data has ever been stored in Genesys.

Finally, a third team of people has been looking

at agent sales/service performance and customer

value/behaviours, with a view to rolling out an

agent scorecard. These scorecards will pull in

data from multiple sources (Genesys, CRM,

quality monitoring etc.) and analyse the

combined results to estimate each agent’s value

to the contact centre (i.e. how much they

contribute). This will be used for a new pay deal.

However, the information about each agent’s

value is important in other ways, because it could

also be used to identify what skills affect agent

performance – and therefore; (a) what skills the

training team should focus on during the

forthcoming training, and (b) what skills the

Genesys team should build new VCC call routing

plans around. However, the team is only focused

on launching the new scorecards so this valuable

information never reaches the training team or

the Genesys team.

Three separate teams within the contact centre

all generating valuable data that could benefit

each other, but no single joined up approach that

could bring all their good work together...

So what’s the answer?

Focus on the two critical components at the

same time, namely: #1 Optimise Genesys

intelligent call routing and #2 Optimise your

agents.

#1 Optimise Genesys

2

Improve skills relevancy

Increasingly Genesys contact centres are

discovering that customers are prepared to wait

to talk to an agent who has the right skills,

knowledge and experience to help them – rather

than be connected to any available agent.

Fully optimising Genesys and ‘getting more bang

for your buck’ means implementing true

intelligent call routing across your contact

centre. However, Genesys alone can’t deliver

this because it is dependent on agent skill and

proficiency levels stored in its database being:

1. Relevant – are the skills really critical for

maintaining satisfactory sales and service

levels? If not, why are they in Genesys?

2. Accurate – are the skills purely based on

subjective feedback (e.g. a Team Leader’s

opinion of an agent’s proficiency levels)?

If so objective proficiency level testing

should be added to improve accuracy.

3. Granular – is there enough detail about

individual agent skill types and levels?

Many contact centres still only have a

handful of skill types and levels in Genesys

years after the initial implementation.

Consequently these customers are getting

only a fraction of the total potential ROI

benefits Genesys can provide.

4. Up-to-date – manually keeping agent

skills updated usually involves juggling

multiple spreadsheets with agent skill

information. Typically managers have to

update each agent skills profile

individually within Genesys; which is time

consuming, resource intensive and prone

to human error. Consequently many

contact centres end up with only a small

number of skills being proactively

managed in Genesys.

Use in depth correlation analysis to identify which skills affect agent performance more than others:

Skills with highest %

impact

Performance target to improve

Typically correlation data is taken and analysed from;

Genesys - hold times, AHT, FCR etc. CRM - sales results, customer sat scores

etc. Quality monitoring - call observation

scores etc. Skills assessment – agent test and

observational feedback scores etc.

The results should be used to create a skills DNA profile of what a ‘great’ agent looks like for each job role – i.e. the skill types and skill levels they should maintain to perform at an optimal level. These skills DNA profiles can be used to build new, highly effective intelligent call routing plans; where calls are routed to agents based on the skills DNA profile best suited for different call/customer types.

Low level skills analysis should also be carried out – the more detail, the more

accurate the results

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3

Our 4 stage Genesys optimisation plan

Improve skills accuracy Improve skills granularity

The objective assessment and subjective feedback should be combined with other performance data from quality monitoring systems, Genesys etc. to create a central skills database which is separate from the ACD. This separate database contains extremely accurate and granular skills data for each agent and is typically managed by the training team within the Genesys contact centre.

A mapping tool can then automatically map the skills in the central skills database across to the skills in the Genesys database - significantly reducing the time, resources and costs required to do this manually.

Ahead of VCC roll out – estimate agent training costs and reaslitic ability to handl multiple skills

Detailed individual agent skill levels mapped across

to Genesys to power intelligent call routing

Accurate agent skill data is vital. Without knowledge of who really knows what across the contact centre it is not possible to correctly identify agent proficiency levels and implement successful Genesys intelligent call routing.

Agent skills should be tested using a combination of objective online assessment and subjective observational feedback. Online assessments (tests) can be pushed to agents during downtime, or automatically scheduled in WFM. Assessments often incorporate multimedia, multiple choice and images to assess each individual agent’s skills and knowledge levels – which make up their own unique skills DNA. Observational feedback should be captured from team leaders, quality monitors etc. - and also customers using for example IVR.

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4

Keep skills up-to-date

This is a key problem many Genesys contact centres fail to address. A high volume of agents and skills, coupled with the new starters and leavers coming/going every month, often results in only a handful of skills being managed within Genesys on a regular basis. This problem also means it is not uncommon for the skills structure in Genesys to remain almost unchanged years after the solution was installed – despite the fact that customers, products and probably the business as a whole will have moved on and evolved.

Don’t leave Genesys in a time vacuum – like your contact centre it must keep pace with the changing needs of your customers, products and services...

Integrated solutions like Skills Manager now allow contact centres to automatically update multiple agent skills across hundreds, even thousands of agents. This can be done by automatically importing spreadsheets using for example Skills Manager’s wizard interface, or linking skills updates to assessments; so as agent skills are verified through tests or feedback the results are automatically exported from the central skills database into Genesys via the Skills Manager GIS integration:

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Skills Manager allows the contact centre to import Excel or similar type of application containing skills data directly into the ACD database (in this case Genesys CME) using an

intuitive wizard interface

Skill types and proficiency levels are automatically saved

against each individual agent in the ACD

database – no limit to the number of agents and skills that can be

simultaneously updated. Audit trail, data integrity

checks, roll back and other safety features are

included.

Genesys CME integration

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What can you do with all this accurate, relevant, granular and up-to-date skills data..?

The answer is a great deal. This skills data can be

used by contact centres to maximise the ROI

benefits Genesys intelligent call routing provides

through:

Implementing optimised routing

strategies that improve Service Levels.

Ensuring the right call is routed to the

right agent at the right time – right first

time.

Matching call/customer type to the agent

with the closest skills DNA profile match –

which agent is likely to serve this

customer the best, or has the highest

chance of closing this type of sale?

Improving customer service through

better prioritisation of calls based on

customer behaviours – what type of

caller is more likely to be prepared to

wait for an agent who has a higher level

of skill and knowledge?

Give them the skills & knowledge they need to perform better...

Your contact centre is the window through which

customers view and judge your company, and any

contact centre is only as good the agents who

work in it. You can invest in the best technology in

the world, but the customer will come away with a

bad experience if the agent who manages their call

does not have the skills and knowledge required.

This makes your people the most valuable asset

you have – and one that absorbs the highest

percentage of your annual budget.

Optimising agents requires you to focus on:

1. Identifying and improving the skills that

matter most to help increase agent

performance – the higher the right skill

levels, the better the overall performance.

2. Streamlining recruitment and training

processes to improve efficiency and reduce

training time and costs – the less time your

agents are being trained in skills they don’t

need, the more satisfied they’re going to

be, the lower the cost and the more time

they’re available on the phones earning

revenue.

3. Next call avoidance – giving agents the

right skills to identify all a customer’s

requirements on first contact, by asking the

right questions at the right time.

Next are some simple, quick win ideas to

help you optimise these key areas

#2 Optimise your agents

In the UK the mobile telecoms company O2 uses the Skills Manager import wizard to import and update agent skills data overnight into Genesys CME, powering Genesys intelligent call routing across its 5,000+ agent Virtual Contact Centre.

The time and resources required to manually collate and update the skills data by not having to go into each individual agent profile in CME.

ROI SAVING

Real life example

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Rapid training needs analysis

Interactive knowledge guides

Top performer profiling

Use correlation analysis to analyse multiple performance data sources and identify the ideal skills DNA profile of your top performers – what does good look like?

Find out what skills and knowledge are helping some people perform better than others.

Analyse the results to build more focused and effective training plans.

Rapidly conduct objective group TNA across multiple agents, skill sets, teams, business units etc.

Use the results to deliver more focused and effective training plans – right person, right training, right time.

Automatically build tailored training plans for each agent in Genesys or other WFM taking into account service level impact etc.

Provide agents with quick reference, interactive guides which they can use during calls or as and when required.

Create knowledge refreshers – these can also be linked to job roles and individual training plans.

Provides a full audit trail of who viewed what, when – this can be used to determine training ROI, individual training needs and where future training should be focused.

Show agents the skill gaps they have for their current role and the new roles they are interested in – ‘this is where you are now and this is where you need to be to do this role’.

Link to LMS eLearning content to promote self-learning – ‘how close are your skills to those of our top performers?’

Career development portal

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WFM integration

Streamline recruitment

Use online testing to stream new starters to reduce the drop-out rate and the time before new starters become fully productive.

Implement fast track schemes for higher skilled new starters and search for the skills identified as having the biggest impact on performance.

Launch new innovative recruitment campaigns. – ‘take this quick test to find out how much you could earn working for our contact centre’.

Training portal

Manage all training resources and training scheduling through a web based portal – allows progress to be tracked against a central training roadmap.

Automatically schedule agent training in Genesys or other WFM and centrally manage all training resources – including trainers and training rooms.

Run ‘What If’ scenarios to assess the potential impact of training on agent performance & contact centre service levels before scheduling training in WFM.

In the UK a leading mobile telecoms company uses the Skills Manager online assessment tools to pinpoint individual agent training needs before training is delivered and test candidates before interview during the recruitment process.

This mobile telecoms company has saved over £500,000 through a reduction in training time and recruitment costs.

ROI SAVING

Real life example

Make sure you plan the route before you begin the journey...

The optimisation journey starts and ends with your agents. It is critical to understand their skills and ability

to multi-skill ahead of building training plans, optimising Genesys and implementing intelligent call routing

across your contact centre. A growing number of companies are using tools like Skills Manager to identify

the potential impact on agents and their Genesys platform before rolling out a new intelligent call routing

strategy in terms of:

Training and multi-skilling – what new skills will agents need and how long will it take to train them?

Time and money – how long and how much to prepare our agents for Genesys VCC implementation?

Location dependency – can true Genesys VCC really be achieved across all sites for all contact types?

ACD design – what level of complexity could be built into the new Genesys VCC routing design?

Finally, start the Genesys optimisation journey now – because your competitors are probably already on their way.

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About Skills Manager for Genesys

Used by leading companies like Jupiter Asset Management, Orange and O2, Skills Manager from Silver Lining

Solutions is the skills management solution for Genesys contact centres. The solution allows companies to

use a combination of online tests, self assessment and observational feedback to assess the level of agent

skills across their contact centre.

Agent skill levels are stored in a central skills database - this is used to:

Identify individual and organisational wide skill gaps.

Automatically build personalised agent training plans in Learning Management and Workforce

Management systems (including Genesys WFM).

Prove each agent has the skills required for their role within the contact centre.

Skills Manager can also be integrated into ACD platforms - such as Genesys CIM - providing Dynamic Skills

Based Routing across the contact centre. Dynamic Skills Based Routing allows agent skills data (such as skill

levels and skill types) to be automatically updated as agent skills are verified by Skills Manager.

This significantly reduces the cost, time and resources needed to manually update agent skills information -

and when combined with IVR and speech recognition allows companies to implement true intelligent call

routing across their Genesys contact centre.

Contact:

Tel: +44 (0)845 130 4222 Web: www.silverlining.uk.net Email: [email protected] 9