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The Contact Centre Operations Audit

Part #2

The Contact Center Operations Audit - Part #2/3

A Blueprint Guide toBenchmark, Enhance Service Delivery & Realize Cost Savings All At Once.


This is the second segment of a three-part series. The first part described the objectives of the Call Centre Operations Audit and it also identified the value. This second part addresses the steps required for conducting an Audit and the things to look for. The final part will focus on results by industry, benchmarking and outcomes.


The Call Centre Operations Audit

The Key to Operational Excellence - Recap


In the first segment, we introduced the concept of the Audit. We addressed the purpose, scope and it’s value. The salient points follow:


How to Execute a Contact Centre

 Operations Audit…


In the previous article we identified that the Audit process was like taking a “snap shot” of your operations. It requires that an immense amount of information is captured and then organized such that nothing is missed; the various inter-dependencies, redundancies and/or synergies are clearly highlighted. This structure is a critical driver and influencer of the depth of the analysis and subsequent recommendations.


The Steps to Completing an Operations Audit



Pre-Site Visit – The Assessment Questionnaire

This first section is by far the most important part of the Audit process. It determines what information and materials you have to work with and how it will be organized. If there were ever to be a more appropriate use for the expression “Garbage In – Garbage Out” it would apply to the Audit process.


The purpose of the Assessment Questionnaire is also to guide (provide structure) for the site visit portion of the Audit. The information required will be detailed in the form of questions. Questions should be organized by Key Functional Discipline (category). Key Functional Disciplines (KFD) can be analyzed for each channel in order to achieve a thorough understanding of the operations. Each Key Functional Discipline (KFD) should have numerous questions that address all aspects that relate either to the KBD  or the corporate strategic direction. The primary KFD’s along with their purpose follow.


A Co-operative Effort…

To be successful this process must be a co-operative process of sharing information and concepts.. Before the site visit can occur therefore, it is essential that your operations team also prepares in advance by:

1.   Identifying and assembling relevant reports or supporting materials for all sections

2.   Provide the ability for the auditor to listen to both sides of an agent conversation

3.   Identify Functional Experts And Make Them Available For Interviews  .

5.   Determine How The Assessment Will Be Positioned To Personnel.


This is not a “Make Work” Exercise…

If a report, manual or information requested is not readily available simply schedule some time to interview the appropriate individuals.

This process should been designed such that it does not distract you from your daily routine & responsibilities.


Site Visit

The On-Site visit should be fast and non-intrusive. No one should be occupied for more than 3 consecutive hours on any occurrence.


The site visit MUST be guided completely by the Questionnaire. The purpose in this stage is not to make any recommendation or conclusion but rather to obtain as many answers to the questions and to observe the day-to-day operations. The objective at this stage is simply to gather as much information as possible and quietly observe a typical day.


You need to be good at Puzzles…

In almost every case we have observed that at least 40% of the information is not “readily” available. The auditor therefore needs to be able to ignore the response….”sorry this information is not available” and tenaciously  (but respectfully) continue asking the same question in other (creative) ways to get at the same desired result. If after all of this, the information is still not available one must draw a line and make a decision as to when to end the data-collection phase of the Audit.


The auditor must then begin the Data Analysis stage by piecing the answers together using the information that was collected.


Data Analysis/Interpretation

Once the site visits are complete the remaining work can be completed off-site so there is no disruption to the daily operations. The information gathered should be analyzed in detail and then related to one another to identify issues and opportunities. The analysis phase is a critical portion of the Audit

Various templates can be developed for each KBD along with tools (ie. Erlang etc.) to help  interpret data.


Action Plan      

The Call Centre Audit will culminate with recommendations at the following two levels:


The purpose in approaching the recommendations at two levels is to identify potential synergies that might exist between other areas that may currently be separate. This could open up entirely new opportunities for contingency, efficiency, revenue or service enhancements that may not have otherwise been recognized within the parameters of an existing call centre.


Recommendations can be benchmarked against similar centres in the same vertical and other call centre operations on key operating variables such as service metrics. – see next article submission for this


Qualifiers

In order to qualify as a recommendation, it must create one of the following results:


Recommendations should then be organized in one of the following two ways:


Change Management Strategy & Project Plan                                              

Recommendations also need to be categorized further by the following priority codes:


Priority #1’s

Quick Fixes should be addressed immediately and should be placed on a project schedule and mapped to a specific measurable result upon completion. While short-term task-items will yield more immediate results and will likely be well received, you will also need to balance this with the potential for implementing task items that result in only short-lived gains.


Moreover the work to develop and implement many of these items could require re-doing if it is done in a manner that does not take into consideration the higher level priority items and longer term tactical direction. As a result, these items will need to be carefully balanced to avoid redundant work and subsequent confusion.


Longer Term Priority Items

The primary catalyst for realizing these gains will come from Isolating and mapping skill requirements to tasks and establishing common measurement processes for each. A detailed Action Plan should be developed to address this by systematically focusing on the overall infrastructure such that all work can be standardized, tracked and resourced appropriately.


The infrastructure therefore, should be the basis for service & financial gains. Once in place, virtually all of the recommendations could be implemented.


Summary

Although each category of recommendations will likely exist as independent endeavours with separate project plans, it is essential that they all roll-up to one higher level plan. This is done to reinforce the longer term goals and direction and also to ensure that the way in which work is done in the NOW stage lays a foundation for the future so that nothing has to be re-done in later stages. This is an important area to be aware of when implementing. It is far too easy to get caught up in the short-term gains with short-cuts to solutions. This approach may yield short-term results but high (unnecessary and frequently redundant costs) later on.


In order to achieve the best results and internal commitment to the recommendations, the effort regarding the implementation should come from inside wherever possible. The final report must include a high level project schedule that details the Priority #1’s along with recommendations for resources that could be utilized to help implement the action items.



Eric Young
President
Tele-Centre Assist Inc.
www.telecentreassist.com