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Seven tips for creating an exceptional contact centre


Johannesburg, 26 Jun 2007

As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the country is faced with many challenges, one of which is delivering world-class services to a wide range of tourists, business people, FIFA delegates and sports people.

In almost all instances, contact centres will form a vital point of contact with visitors to the country.

Contact centres are the first, and often only, point of contact with an organisation, and must project a desirable image that is in line with a brand's overall identity.

This places pressure on companies to better understand their customer needs and business environment, and therefore focus strongly on internal training. According to Dawn Wood, Business Executive at Atio, acknowledging the importance of customer satisfaction is central to creating a contact centre that delivers on strategic aims.

Sixty-eight percent of customer defection takes place because customers feel poorly treated, according to customer experience research company TARP.

Wood lists the following tips for creating an exceptional contact centre:

1. Create business value and reduce costs. Contact centres need to create business value and reduce their operating costs to contribute to the company's bottom line - ultimately, a contact centre should be viewed as a profit centre and not only a cost centre. There are a number of ways of achieving this, one of which is to improve efficiency by routing common enquiries to technologies like interactive voice response (IVR). This leaves agents to fully-utilise their skills and add value to important customer interactions. According to Gartner, the use of advanced contact centre technologies such as IVR can really benefit organisations, particularly in handling repetitive inquiries.

2. Give customers a choice. Make sure you understand which communication channels your customers prefer. Do they favour SMS, e-mail, fax, voice or Web self-service? After you have defined communications channels, ensure your message and quality of delivery stays consistent across all touch points.

3. Provide access to information and services anytime, anywhere. This does not necessarily mean your contact centre agents should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is possible to provide access to services 24/7 by using alternative channels, such as e-mail or Web self-service. Regardless, however, organisations should set and communicate clear policies to manage expectations with regards to response times, and to ultimately build trust by ensuring promises made to customers are always kept.

4. Know your customers. It is important to have one view of your customer records and interactions - irrespective of the communication channel used - in order for the relevant agent to assist the customer effectively, efficiently and promptly. According to Gartner, customer service should be differentiated based on the value of a customer; high-value customers should receive prioritised service. An immediate and comprehensive view of the customer profile gives contact centre staff the ability to prioritise high value customers from the outset.

5. Personalise every customer interaction. We all love to hear our own names. To make interactions even more personal, you can use caller line identity (CLI) to identify the caller before the actual interaction begins.

6. Enable employees to deliver great service. Firstly, hire agents with the right skills and attitude, and empower them by providing appropriate training and technology tools. Comprehensive recruitment procedures and training allow staff to promptly analyse customer profiles, make assessments, interact appropriately and ultimately ensure the customer is always satisfied.

7. Demand the best - and measure your performance against this goal. Ensure the service provided by agents is constantly measured and improved over time, through the implementation of continuous process improvement and performance management frameworks.

Creating an exceptional contact centre is a process that requires commitment, appropriate skills, continuous supervision and regular revision. The key to the entire process is to set goals, communicate them effectively and ensure the measurement of achievements is an ongoing, participative process. Companies that follow this approach will undoubtedly be well-positioned for the 2010 world cup, and do great business in the years that follow.

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ATIO

ATIO is a black empowered company specialising in ICT solutions and services. ATIO's two business divisions - ATIO-Interactive Communications Solutions (ICS) and ATIO-Telecom Services - target clearly defined niches within the ICT market. ICS provides integrated contact-centre, CRM and messaging solutions and services. Telecom Services provides end-to-end network performance and revenue assurance testing solutions and services to mobile and fixed-line operators. ATIO's solutions are widely used in SA, the rest of Africa as well as the European Union and the UK. For more information, please visit www.atio.co.za.

Editorial contacts

Dawn Wood
ATIO Corporation
(011) 235 7467
DawnW@atio.co.za