Voice, Chat and Email Wait Times                                  June 2016 

What is an acceptable wait time?  The answer to this question is a whole list of questions. Which industry? What department within the business? What product or service? Paying customer or customer looking for free support? What time of day? What day of week? What time of the year?  A simple question generates potentially troubling replies from the targeted audience.  Next we want to know the wait times for the different contact methods.  Should chat and email wait times be same as voice? Should they be different from voice but the same as each other? Or should all three be different? The answer to the wait time questions really is from the business itself.  Because there will be different targets and goals within the business the wait times will vary.  Let’s take for example a call center that sells consumer products.  A buyer is calling, sends a chat or an email for a product they wish to purchase.  The business would like that contact to be replied to as quickly as possible or the potential customer will go somewhere else.  Wait times for any customer contact method should be very short.  According to Spectrum customers ten to thirty second wait times for voice, chat and email would be ok for most businesses.  If this customer wants to return something they have purchased does the business have the same urgency?  Of course not, the wait times can be considerably longer and it would not change the customer business decision.  However, an argument can be made that if the business reacts quickly regardless of the transaction that business will earn a very highly positive reputation that can build their business.  Spectrum works with many contact centers around the world that have voice, email, chat and social media as ways of contacting an agent.  We have seen wait time thresholds set at many different levels for each of these contact channels.  There is not an entire industry by industry set level.  However, there are some good parameters that businesses use. 

Voice:  On average the old 80 / 20 and 70 / 30 rule still seems to apply for most businesses.  Please note this is not true for incoming new business where the 90 / 10 rule is demanded by the managers.  I recall a meeting that I had with the head of a large contact center at a mutual fund company.  We were talking about the wait times for incoming new customer calls.  The IT manager has suggested and hoped that a 10 second wait time was ok for incoming calls.  The contact center managers reply “To our business ten seconds is historical not real time. The lost revenue from potential customers in one day would be enough to pay for this phone system.” Now I know this was somewhat of an exaggeration but the point was well made.

 

Contact centers have changed over the years and voice is no longer the sole contact method by customers.  However, it is still a primary contact method that most people use today and quick response rates are not only preferred they are required. 

Chat:  As stated above the wait times can, will and should vary by industry.  Yet there is a trend that occurs depending on the age of the customer; the younger the customer the shorter the expected wait time.  Of course that is not always the rule but it does tend to happen.  An overall call center wait time for chat has been set at two minutes.  This is not the time that the chat reply begins it is the time the chat is sent to the customer.  

A problem that has been building and continuing to happen with both chat and email to customers is the reply delay set up by the business. The delay is the auto reply and then followed by simple single level questions that could have been combined together to save time. 

                As an example: The potential customer is on line at a specific product or service page and the chat box has appeared.  The customer asks a very specific question and the auto reply is: “How can I help you?” or “Which product are you interested in?”

                The customer is pleased they are working with an “agent” but frustrated by the delays.  Had the auto reply been more specific about the product they were interested in it would have saved time.  These very similar type of auto replies extend the time needed before a real agent can join the chat.  And the results can hurt the overall customer satisfaction.  Of course conflict can also occur. But from the call center point of view it allows the agent to continue to work with other customers until they are able to end the chat.

Spectrum has customers who use chat but do not use auto replies and they push the agents to respond within 30 seconds.  But these are revenue generating chat contacts and quick response time is heavily desired.

Email:  The reply time to emails is difficult to truly track.  However, as a general overview Spectrum customers look for a 5 minute response rate.  There are so many reasons why the five minutes may not happen that it is difficult to judge an agent for not meeting the threshold. 

A financial customer had mentioned to me that they reply to all emails as quickly as possible.  If the email the agent has received is complex and difficult to clearly reply to the agents are guided down a quick to reply path.  The response idea is to let the customer know they received the email, they are working on it and briefly explain what they are doing to answer the customer questions.  

A services provider customer has an auto reply that always suggests to the customer that they log in to the website and check their account online for faster support.  Then after waiting 30 minutes they respond again asking if they can be of service.  If the customer does not reply the email is closed and considered handled.  

Social Media: There is no response time for social media unless there is an agent who is responsible for the replies.  A positive message about your business does not require an immediate response.  A negative message may require an immediate response but it depends on the negative message.  If the message is clear, concise and very specific about the problem then an immediate response can and will improve customer satisfaction.  If the message is a generally negative message with foul language then a reply is not needed because any reply can build the negative view of the business. 

There are times when customers resort to social media to get their problems resolved.  This is being seen more often in the utilities sector, some government and consumer retail.  Customers that see a problem let the world know about it through social media.  Call centers are following this and posting this information for the managers and agents to see and be able to react appropriately with the customers they are communicating directly to. 

A word of caution about posting social media messages, many messages that are captured and displayed for the agents to see contain foul language and can be very upsetting to some agents.  Language filters do not always work.  So prior to agreeing with the idea of posting all social media messages investigate the outcome of a very negative social media message. 

One challenge that happens in most call centers that offer the multichannel customer contact is the conflict.  Customers call, go to the website and start a chat session and may send an email as well.  A customer looking for fast answers can and do cause overall delays while agents multitask to reply to the customer. 

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss reporting for wait times.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

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Dan Boehm
VP Sales and Marketing
Spectrum
dboehm@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839

Searching for a Dashboard

   Searching for a Dashboard                                                        March 2016

Almost every contact center software application now has a dashboard option available to you.  So the question is why you need another dashboard. Why are managers and senior management looking for dashboards when they already have them at their fingertips?  Here are the top five reasons why:

1.      Consolidation of data from multiple applications; (platforms, internal data, other CC apps)

2.      Drill down capabilities to see the details; (from summary to group to agent detail)

3.      Dynamic Dashboard to meet your needs; (Out of the box, one size fits all)

4.      Visual appearance of critical metrics; (Grids vs graphics, data in the right place, delete certain data)

5.      Easy to implement, use, and make changes.

Consolidation of Data

Consolidating data from multiple sources is the most important feature of any dashboard.  The benefit to you is your time and outcome from seeing collaborated data cause and effect to your call center.

Dashboards that come with your contact center platform do not allow for consolidation of the data. The data in the dashboard is restricted to the ACD that you have in place today.  The ability to combine data from other sources is not allowed.  There is a realistic reason for this restriction; combining data from outside sources will overload the server processor for the ACD causing it to shut down. 

Today’s contact center has agents taking calls, answering emails and having chat sessions with customers.  The agent performance is no longer limited to calls.  As a manager you need to see performance across multiple platforms.  However, you do not have the time to look at three dashboards to see the status and performance of the agents. Also looking at one report does not give you the combined performance metrics you need.  

There is other data that may need to be combined in your dashboard.  Information from WFM, IVR, CRM, Call Accounting or your outbound dialer data may need to be added to you dashboard.  Your selection of the critical KPI’s should all be on the dashboard so at a glimpse you are aware of the call center status and performance. 

Senior management requires a dashboard as well but with a different level of data.  These dashboards combine internal financial data to the overall contact center metrics.  The drill down to business level specifics is also needed but not available from a single source dashboard. 

Drill Down

The manager dashboard needs to have multiple layers of content.  The primary page is summary information.  It might start with group level information from multiple data sources and then have tabs that can be clicked on that goes into more detail such as specific group with agent information.  Every call center is different and manager goals are unique.  So the dashboard content should meet the manager needs and requirements. 

For example, start the summary main page with overall contact center numbers.  It might have voice, email, chat and ticketing system data.  The second tab could have specific group data for voice showing all of the agent performance.  The third tab could be a combination of email and chat data per agent for each group.  The dashboard can be set to meet your needs and show you contact performance by the agents.  If your dashboard cannot combine this data you will be required to open three dashboards just to see the overall performance by group for voice, email and chat.  This is a tremendous time consumer.  

As a manager you decide what data is critical to you and integrate that data into your dashboard.  If you are unable to combine and collaborate data you should begin looking for a new dashboard.

Dynamic Dashboard

A dynamic dashboard is one that will allow you to decide what your dashboard content will be and not restricted to the application or platform that you utilize today.  A dynamic dashboard allows you to:

·        Collect different data from multiple sources;

·        Allows you to move the data around in the dashboard. Rows and columns of data do not remain fixed;

·        Data formulas are not restricted.  The formulas can change as needed.

·        Data in the dashboard is based on your login.  A different manager login will have different content. 

An out-of-the-box, one size fits all type dashboard does not allow you to combine data, make fundamental changes to the dashboard layout, is static in design and content collaboration. 

Visual Appearance

What is more important to you how good it looks or having all of the content on the dashboard that you need?  Your dashboard needs to meet your needs and should be able to do what you require.  Maybe your dashboard has very little data and the critical content is in graphs and charts.  Or maybe your dashboard has a lot of data and space would be wasted having charts take up real estate.  The decision really needs to be yours and not the out-of-the-box application.  

    A text filled dashboard with agent specific data. 

A general overview dashboard for senior management, combines data from multiple sources but does not go down into details that the contact center manager might need.  Secondary tabs would allow management to see financial details. 

Easy Implementation

The dashboard needs to be something that is easy to implement and utilize.  However, caution is needed here because something that is too easy may not give you the features and benefits that you are looking for in a dashboard. 

When looking at dashboards be sure to see how:

·        They are installed;

·        Data is selected for the report;

·        Changes can be made to the dashboard layout, if using graphs and charts;

·        Messages are created and who they can be sent to;

·        Remote access can be provided.

When searching for dashboards do not be afraid to go outside of your ACD provider.  Finding a product that allows for data collaboration and drill down capabilities will help save time and improve manager and senior management performance.  Never be satisfied with a dashboard that has restrictions that do not allow you to see the data you need to see on a single report. 

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss best practices for call center dashboards.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

Micro Data in the Contact Center

Micro Data in the Contact Center                                       February 2016

Not to be confused with microdata for content on websites, Micro Data in the Contact Center refers to the agent and their states and performance.  However, some larger contact centers also refer to group level states and performance as Micro Data.  The purpose behind micro data within the contact center reporting is to be fully aware of the agent and group level status and performance.

Micro data for the contact center has multiple functions and those will vary depending on the person viewing the data or the group and audience that can read the content.  Micro Data reports typically are for the:

·       Manager

·       Agents

·       Groups

·       Mobile

Manager Micro Dashboard

Managers view the macro level data to see the overall group level status and performance.  For a general view the macro level data is sufficient.  However, managers also need to be aware of the group and agent level states and performance.  If, as a manager, you are not fully aware of the agent state you are not doing your job.  Let me be clearer about this topic.  Managers must be able to immediately determine what state the agent is currently in and how they have performed for the day.  This data should not be focused solely on voice because today’s agents also handle chat and emails. 

The dashboard should also show group level states and duration.  Some people might view this as macro data however in a very large contact center the group level dashboard can be considered micro data. 

Agent Micro Desktop

Throughout the day there are many changes that occur that can and do affect the aggregated performance within the contact center.  Different industries can be affected by time of year, weather, sports, government regulations and many other issues.  The agents need to be aware of the other agent status that their own performance is not negatively affected. 

A desktop report that shows the agent within their group the states of the others will have a tremendous positive impact on the group and agent level performance. The interesting point of this topic is how often Spectrum still meets with call centers that are not offering this option to the agents. 

For the micro data report for the agent the size of the dashboard can be a problem so smaller reports showing the same data but with scroll bars solves this real estate challenge. 

Group Micro Reporting

Group reporting is a wallboard or LCD screen that displays the content for everyone in the group to see.  There are many reasons for wallboards being used in the contact center.  Agents are not always “heads down” throughout the day.  They can be mobile as part of their job function and they take breaks, go to lunch, etc.  So having a group level report on the wallboard helps keep the agents alert to the overall status and other agent states.

Mobile Reporting

Key contact center people are mobile yet still need to be aware of the micro level of the contact center.  This report can be from a group level real time report down to an agent level historical report.  The purpose of this type of reporting is to provide the remote manager complete details when they are working on annual performance reviews for all agents. They could also be away from the office and just need to be aware of the overall status of the groups. 

The key benefit of micro level reporting is the aggregation of data from multiple data sources and selecting only the critical metrics for the reporting.  But do not stop there drill down on the macro data and get to the details for the group and agent level.  Almost all applications today have reporting but the value of micro reporting is the ability to combine data from across these applications.  KPI’s from this data can be manipulated to meet your critical goals 

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss best practices.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

Macro Call Center Reporting

Macro Call Center Reporting                                        January 2016

Macro data is a phrase that is used to describe to types of data: aggregated data and system level data.  In the call center this usually means voice, email, chat data and internal critical data.  In the call center we often use macro reporting for the entire center, group or teams of agents, depending on the size of the call center.  Macro Data

Macro reporting is aggregated data for the entire group.  The data some may concern to be low level or not as important as detailed or micro data.  However, macro reporting in the call center has key benefits.

·       Group level performance with real time critical KPI’s for all to see on a wallboard;

·       Multiple report levels that allow drill down from high level macro to group level macro.

The contact center can use macro level reporting on group level wallboards, agent desktops, supervisor dashboards, and even up to the manager dashboard.  The manager dashboard would need to be able to drill down to the micro level but could start out with the macro level.

Macro Level Wallboard Reports:

In this example the wallboard reporting migrates from group level data to agent states data. The purpose of these two reports is to show the call center the overall performance status and then display current agent states.  This reporting solves or reduces problems in the call center by keeping the teams of agents aware. 

Macro Level Agent Desktop Reporting:

Your call center may have high cubicle walls or agents spread across multiple floors for the same group making wallboards unproductive for you.  Agent desktop reporting provides the agent real time status information for the groups. 

·        Desktop wallboards can be minimized down and then pop up when critical thresholds are exceeded. 

·        Critical data is easy to see and respond to. 

Macro Level Supervisor Dashboard

Supervisors have many duties and responsibilities.  They not only manage agents but they also take calls, handle emails and reply to chats.  Yet when they report to the manager they need to be aware of the top performers in the group.  Having the top agent information is not always an easy task.  One of the benefits of Macro level reporting is the customization of the aggregated data. 

Benefits:

·        Combined group level data. Some platforms do not combine skills together into a single group.

·        Enhanced report.  Some platforms do not allow you to modify the report so critical data is not easy to see.

Macro Level Web Based Report

Simply stated, mobility.  Managers and supervisors at times need to be mobile.  While being mobile overall contact center status and performance are important to have available.  When managers are not in the office that is when things can go wrong.  If the manager can stay alert to the call center performance she can notify the supervisors of changes that need to happen. 

Benefits:

·        Mobile.  Smartphone, tablet and  remote login

·        Drill down to micro data and historical data.

The key benefit of macro level reporting is the aggregation of data from multiple data sources and selecting only the critical metrics for the reporting.  Almost all applications today have reporting but the value of macro reporting is the ability to combine data from across these applications.  KPI’s from this data can be manipulated to meet your critical goals 

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss best practices.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

6 Tips to Succssful Call Center Reporting

Successful reporting in your contact center is something that helps you improve productivity, increase revenue, manage agent performance and adherence and reduce or eliminate the daily challenges.  However, for most managers, part of the challenge is having the combined consolidated information that keeps you alert and aware of the contact center status.

Spectrum has been providing Call Center Reporting for over 20 years and has learned from customers the top recommendations to successful reporting.  As most already know there is a lot of data to sort through and there are a lot of call center applications to review.  So trying to get to the center of the problems is not always easy to do.

Six Tips:

1. Define your problems as clearly and concise as possible.  Stating something general or too board reduces the value of the reporting.  What managers should do is define the problem and the results of that problem.  
2. Define where you have the most to gain. By reducing the problem or solving it define what the results will be to the contact center and the business.
3. Have reporting that is visible and will alert the right people at the right time.
4. Manage the change in the Contact Center problems.  Challenges change so modify your reporting to follow the change. Good or Bad.
5. Combine and consolidate the data.  
6. What are your goals for the Call Center and be very specific and detailed not general. Select the most beneficial goal to the business or call center.  Think about this from Senior Management point of view.

Define your problems as clearly and concise and include as many details as possible.  Stating something such as Agents are not meeting their adherence schedules is too board of a statement.  State the group, the communications channel, the days of the week and times of the day.  Check the agents call transfers, aux code times, abandon rates, etc.  There are many problems in the typical call center day, by detailing the problem, resolutions can be found.

Are the challenges hard to find because they are always moving?  As an example, a mutual fund company had an issue with abandonment rates in one of their groups - existing customer Fund Transfers.  The abandon rates seem to increase Tuesdays through Thursday s and were normal on Mondays and Fridays.  The manager looked at the overall group and could not find an issue, she checked per agent and no single person had a higher than normal rating in the middle of the week.  The numbers just seem to increase and migrate around the Fund Transfers agent.

(There is much more to this story than what I am stating here.)  By reviewing the historical numbers and watching the daily interval numbers on her report the manager was able to learn that the agents in the group rotate the abandoned calls on a daily basis so each day a different agent had an easier day.  Problems in the call center can be hidden and the best way to find the problem is to dig deeper and get the details.  Again the point of this tip is to be clear, concise and find the real details of the problems.

Define where you have the most to gain. Or another way to look at this is to define where you have the least to lose.  Solving all of the daily problems is not going to happen in today’s contact center business.  So rather than trying to solve everything select the problems you would like to minimize and focus only on those problems.  Sometimes the problem has been caused by product or services changes within the business and they are directly affecting the contact center.

In a retail contact center there was a problem with a product family.  The product was unable to meet the expectations set in the on-line and live ads.  The product was just not as good as it was claimed to be.  The number of calls and emails coming in to cancel the orders and get returns was escalating.  Agents were being asked to try and help the customer use the product properly and follow the instructions to the letter.  AHT time was very high; service level was quickly dropping, call volumes increasing causing the manager to have to move agents around to the busy groups.  Sales and customer satisfaction ratings were dropping for other products and services. Agents were not taking the calls, transferring them or abandoning the calls after they answered them.

Senior management made the call to the manufacturer. The manufacturer tried to claim the problem was with the user and they were not willing to buy back the product. The retailer did not want to lose the customers who may come back to buy other products.  So senior management made the decision to stop trying to work with the customer and accept the order cancellations and requests for refunds.  This was a bold decision but when looking at the sales reports, the call volume had begun to drop, customer satisfaction ratings dropped, and the potential for future revenue did not look good.

This seems like an easy problem to solve but when talking about a retailer that has close to a million products and services these problems can appear small.  However, the reporting dashboard one of the managers had in place showed the results of not making the right decision.  A successful manager will always be thinking about what senior management and the details they will ask for when confronted with a major change.

Have reporting that is visible and will alert the right people at the appropriate time. Reports can be seen on dashboards, desktops, wallboards and in several other methods.  The purpose behind the multiple methods of report visualization is to ensure the correct audience sees the critical data at the right time.  Too often we just assume that a desktop reporting solution will alert the manager to the call center problems.

Problems in the contact center do not always follow the manager as she does her walk around management.  She may need remote reporting on her smartphone or tablet.  Or she may be reading the monitors that are hanging throughout the call center.  Part of the solution for reporting is to have a report(s) that are visible to you no matter where you are.

Reports that are visible to the agents, supervisors and managers seem like a simple process to complete.  However, we must also be aware the data that needs to be on the report and who can see this data.  What affect will the data have on the wrong audience or even the targeted agent?  These seem like easy questions to answer yet soon after new reports are provided to the agents there is disagreement, productivity degradation, status conflicts and many other problems.

Another situation that needs consideration is the type of reporting that you select may not work for everyone.  Some contact centers just want to add a wallboard to increase visibility of critical KPI’s.  But agents may be heads down, cannot see the boards, work remote, the wrong people walking through the call center can see agent performance information, and other potential conflicts for the call center and agents.

Change always occurs in business and the contact center.  Problems may follow the direction of the product and services being offered.  The time of year may diminish your problems only to have them come back again next year at the same time. Because challenges change your reporting may need to change as well.  Your reporting options need to have the flexibility to change and meet your needs.  The change may be nothing more than additional work load for the agents.  But your reporting still needs to change to understand the impact of the additional work load.

By keeping the same old reporting in place with no change to meet the challenges agents will become used to the inefficient reporting.  Agents will use the old reports as the justification of not being aware of the problems.  Changing the reports as the business changes is a way to keep everyone alert to the business cycles.

Consolidate the data from multiple applications into a single report to improve the quick turnaround speed of problem awareness.  The average contact center today has over five applications that are running and providing data to the manager.  Now consider the critical data from each application; as a manager you will have to click and scroll through each application to find out the status of that particular part of the contact center business. Going through multiple applications and sorting through the details takes time and is only one piece of information.  Beneficial reporting consolidates and combines the data into single reports.  This collaboration provides the report view busy managers require.

Define the problem and determine where the data is located.  Once located it can be consolidated and summarized on a single report.  You are now able to see the status and performance of the agents and contact center by a glance at the collaborative report.  To get to the details of the problem the application reports can be opened when needed and you are able to drill down to the further information that you need.

As an example of the consolidation the report shown below is consolidating voice email and chat into one dashboard.  The individual applications each have their own reporting which can provide you with the details when you need them. But in the middle of the day when you have a lot happening you no longer need to drill down to each separate application just to see that nothing serious is going on.  

There are many options to report consolidation.  However, the challenges you are facing today should be used to determine what data is combined to a single report.

The goals for the contact center can also be used to determine what is to be included on your reports.  The report can include the actual and compare it against the goal.  The idea is to get agents to hit their numbers and what better way than to do the comparison.  By knowing your current status the agents will want to work harder to hit their numbers.

This report can also be used to see how well training has worked for the call center, or changes that have been made to the agent’s states or group(s) they are logged into.  There are many ways that showing the goal vs actual can help the contact center.  

A suggestion to solve problems is to target the goals of problem areas. Define the KPI’s within the challenge and include these on the report.  Show the comparison between goal and actual.  Are the variances changing as agents are made aware of the status / performance? Do the variances change during the day / week / month? Does the business cycle change the variance? There are many questions and showing the goal / actual variance with trends on the report will answer some of the questions.

These are some of the best tips that successful call centers are using for their reporting.  Please understand that your business and goals is not the same as other industries or businesses. So what others suggest may not work best for you and your agents.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss Contact Center Reporting Tips.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

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Dan Boehm
VP Sales and Marketing
Spectrum
dboehm@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839

LCD screens or Agent Desktops

June is always a busy Call Center Trade Show / Conference month.  Whether it is a user group event or an across the industry conference June is the month for call center networking.  This year something that Spectrum noticed was the number of questions that were asked about which is better for the contact center: Should I have LCD Screens showing the group level content or agent specific details on the agents desktop?
               


The questions that were asked:

• Which of these options will improve our agent performance?
• We have low cubicle walls so we can see the screens so will that be better than desktops?
• We have customers, vendors and partners coming through our call center so we have to be careful about what we can display, but our supervisors are always walking around helping the agents and need to be aware of something critical happening.  Should we use both or neither one?
• Senior management is cutting budgets so which option is cheaper?
• Work at home agents can’t see the LCD screens so how do we keep them in the loop?

These are very similar questions that we are asked during a conference call or webinar.  This write up is meant to explain what Spectrum has been told by customers about the direction that they have gone and the results they have had with their reporting decisions. 

Agent Desktops
Many agents are working the applications needed to do their jobs. They are not looking at the phone, they have high cubicle walls and the business applications they use keep them busy and constantly looking at their computer monitors. 
        

Having a desktop wallboard helps these agents be aware of key things throughout the day. They are made aware of incoming calls, the longest wait time, what the service level has been for the day, what is the current status of other agents, if they are in the customer service group they are aware of tickets that are logged and waiting.  There are many things that can be included in the agent desktop reporting.  The reporting depends on the call center business and trying to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction.

These advantages to the desktop reporting are well known and are used for making the decision to use desktop reporting over LCD screens.  One of the disadvantageous is real estate and the need to see other information.  Being able to click on tabs that show other information or having the desktop wallboard cycle through data is extremely helpful. 

Agents all need to know the status of other agents in their group. If they are not aware of the status of others there can be a scheduling conflict or adherence issues.  Because real estate is vitally important to the agent there is no enough room to show critical KPI’s along with current status of other agents.  An LCD screen can rotate through multiple screens and display the status of other agents and help keep schedule adherence at the targeted goals. 

There are other issues to consider when looking at agent desktops: Real estate, agent specific critical KPI’s and messaging the agents.  Review the Desktop Best Practices for Agent Desktops to learn more about the benefits of using agent desktop reporting. 

Based strictly on customer reactions those customers that have opted to go for the agent desktops instead of LCD screens they are very pleased with their decision. These customers claim that agents are more productive, schedule adherence goals are met more often than not, customer satisfactions are improved and agents rarely complain about the desktop wallboards interfering with their jobs or desktop real estate.  However, these customers did not purchase the LCD screens or software applications so are biased about their decisions.

LCD Screens
Contact centers can be physically very large and accommodate hundreds of agents.  Multiple groups working in the same area seemingly doing the same tasks, but in reality managing many different daily functions.  Agents need support from supervisors and managers who will go to the agents to provide assistance.  And in some call centers there is walk through from vendors, customers, partners and senior management.  So LCD screens are used to help the call center with appropriate real time data that everyone can use.

The LCD screens display not only real time data but also content for the audience in the call center.  Current critical KPI’s as well as agent log-in status is displayed helping agents meet schedule adherence goals.  This content is followed by product and services information, company notices, up-coming events business and local, photos, daily images,  welcome messages and just about anything else that is appropriate for the walk through audience.  

If the call center is open with low cubicle walls and agents want data shared then the LCD screens meet the needs for the contact center. TCO can be less than the agent desktops because of the number of agents that can see the data on the screens.  If the content is not confidential and it improves the satisfaction of those in the call center or walking through then having the LCD screens in place is a wise decision.

Customers have told us how much the LCD screens help the call center improve productivity, increase customer satisfaction and get tremendous positive feedback from visitors. 

So is there a clear winner between the LCD screens and Agent Desktops for the call center?  No there is not. In fact, Spectrum has many customers that have opted to go for LCD screens only to come back later and ask for agent desktop wallboards as well.  And the opposite has occurred too when the call center starts out with agent desktops and adds LCD screens. 

The top five things to look at when trying to decide either LCD screens or Agent Desktops:

• What challenges and problems are you trying to resolve or minimize;
• Budget now and in the future for replacement and repairs;
• Who is the audience;
• Physical layout of the call center including work-at-home agents;
• What will be the agents overall reaction to the desktops and / or LCD screens and the content being provided?

One suggestion that Spectrum provides to all potential customers who want to know the results and outcome of adding desktops and LCD screens to their contact center is to network with other call center managers. Share information and questions and you will be very surprised by what you can learn.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss best practices.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

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Dan Boehm
VP Sales and Marketing
Spectrum
dboehm@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839