Navigating Customer Contact Space in the 21st Century Bill Durr Director, Global Field Marketing

My Credentials

That’s Me!

We’ve Consulted Great Thinkers

Call Center Environment

Customer Contact Environment

Contact Center Cost Model Labor 65% Communications 25% Technology 10%

Leverage Potential Labor 65% Communications 25% Technology 10% Customer Retention Customer Loyalty Revenue Growth Profit Enhancement

The First Call Distributor

Technology Roadmap Basic Call Processing Real-Time & Historical Reporting Conditional Call Routing Lexicon Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC) IVR (Interactive Voice Response) CTI Data Link (Computer Telephony Integration) Workforce Management Tools (WFM) Intelligent Call Processing (aka CRM) IP Transactions

Definitions & Comments Basic Call Processing  Define a Target Group  Define Delay Announcement(s)  Define Overflow Target Group Real-Time & Historical Reporting  Historical Reporting 4 Enables Planning the Work  Real-Time Reporting 4 Enables Reacting to Deviations from Work Plan

Definitions & Comments Conditional Call Processing Lexicon  Sophisticated Rules-Based Call Routing  Key Elements to Consider 4 If…..Then Statement 4 Number & Kind of Variables  For Example: 4 If Sales Service Level <80%, Then Offer Call to Customer Service  Powerful Variables 4 Service Level 4 Calls Waiting 4 Average Speed of Answer 4 Number of Agents Available

Definitions & Comments ODBC Reporting  Add Business Data to Contact Center Reports  Enterprise Access to Contact Center Data CTI Data Link  Screen Pops 4 Saves Agent Time 4 Personalizes Interaction 4 Promotes Loyalty

CTI in the Call Center - Hype Screen pops and beyond Relationship management Call processing aligned with business issues Enhances revenues, reduces costs

CTI in the Call Center - Reality Very low level of implementation Many projects fail or underwhelm Expensive Drag on

CTI in the Contact Center

Definitions & Comments IVR  Robot Agents  Increasingly Accepted  Handles Simple Transactions  Natural Language, Speaker Independent 4 Very Powerful 4 Very Customer Pleasing

IVR in the Contact Center It’s Hard to Imagine a Contact Center Without IVR

Definitions & Comments Workforce Management Software  Accepts History from Contact Center Data  Provides Forecasts 4 Call Volume 4 Transaction Time  Define Agent Shifts & Preferences  Generates Agent Schedules  Real-Time and/or Historical Adherence

Workforce Management in the Contact Center Particularly for Contact Centers  With Extended Hours  Over 50 Agents

Intelligent Call Processing AKA Customer Relationship Management  Identify Who is Calling  Evaluate Worth to the Company  Route Accordingly Treating Different Customers Differently  Pareto Customers 4 20% of Customers Yield 80% of Revenues  Some Customers Not Worth Having

Intelligent Call Processing (CRM) in the Contact Center Extensive DataBase Required Look Out for Integration Costs  1.5 to 5 Times Cost of “Tools” & “Products”

Definitions & Comments  Differentiate Specific vs. Non-Specific 4 e.g.  Contact Centers Will Be Expected to Handle Non-Specific

in the Call Center - Hype 50% of US Have Access by % of all customer contacts by in % of all messages delivered in 5 minutes or less  Response Time Implications

in the Call Center - Why? Can’t or won’t wait for human assistance Web page content prompted inquiry/transaction Need convenience of 24x7 messaging access Don’t need to “discuss” anything Want to send information & data attachments first Want well-documented audit trail of interchange Want to eliminate time, errors & effort in transcribing information during live conversation Don’t have 2nd line for live call-back while still connected to web

in the Call Center - Reality Ultimately, A Great Addition to the Contact Center  Carefully consider before integrating with voice calling 4 Unpredictable volumes 4 Unpredictable response expectations 4 Different skill-set 4 Potential high impact on operations  Rising Volumes Will Dictate Automated Response

Web-Mail Automation Mail Server Auto-Response CSR Firewall Web Messages Databases Messages Automated Agent Message Tracking and Workflow ACD Complex Messages Suggested Responses Call Center Manager

Definitions & Comments IP Transactions  Voice Over IP  Text Chat  Application Sharing  Whiteboarding  Video Over IP

From Call Centers to Contact Centers PSTN ACD Voice Server Station Wiring

From Call Centers to Contact Centers Fiber Network IP Gateway PSTN ACD Voice Server Gateway Station Wiring IP PSTN

From Call Centers to Contact Centers Fiber Network IP Gateway PSTN ACD Voice Server Gateway Station Wiring IP PSTN

Voice Over the Internet - Hype Essentially free calling High-touch web-integration  Assisted browsing  Page push/pull Getting better all the time

Source: Gartner Group June 9, 1998 Voice Over the Internet - Reality Reliability issues  “High availability LAN” = oxymoron Quality issues  Packet delay matters 4 Average delay in PSTN = 20 msec 4 People notice delay = 50 msec 4 Disruption begins = 100 msec 4 Practical unintelligible = 250 msec  Typical multihop IP delay 4 As low as 150 msec 4 Frequently as high as 500 msec

Voice Over the Internet Acceptable for Private, Controllable Network Use Not Ready for Prime Time Will Eventually Blow Away Text Chat

Video Over the Internet - Hype Multimedia PC’s rapidly proliferating Humans are visual creatures Video transactions are rich & pleasing Simple matter of bandwidth Bandwidth is trending to zero cost

Video Over the Internet - Reality Great for internal users Video enabled consumers  Small population

Video Over the Internet Acceptable for Private, Controllable Network Use Not Ready for Prime Time Will Eventually Blow Away Everything Else

MultiMedia Contact Center Media Integration Manager Reports Server ACD Voice Server PBX Agent Workstation LAN/WAN WFM IVR Fax Server CTI Server Server Web Server Public Switched Telephone Network Public Switched Telephone Network Internet Packet Network Internet Packet Network

We Know Where We Want to Be

Technology Uptake in the Call Center Forget vertical market differences Type A firms  Already have call centers  Believe call centers are strategic assets  Moving To implement multi-media Type B firms  Already have call centers  View as important But not strategic  Implement multi-media when customers demand it Type C firms  Emerging call centers  Viewed as not important to mission  Won’t implement multi-media 15% 65% 20%

The Goal: Recapture One to One, Personal Interaction