Quality management (QM) and logging used to be optional in contact centres, but no longer. Today, they are essential for both the success and protection of an enterprise. QM applications have grown during the past few years and now provide customer insights and competitive information besides measuring agent quality. And, in our litigious society, logging calls may be the only way to protect your contact centre from frivolous lawsuits. If you dont have these applications, or havent upgraded them in the past five years, its time to invest. The QM and liability recording markets are now set for double-digit market gains because of the tremendous value they bring to enterprises. These applications when properly selected and implemented help contact centres achieve the most important challenge they face today: increasing revenue while keeping costs in line.
They achieve this essential goal by measuring agent adherence to policy and procedures, improving agent training through eLearning, conducting customer surveys, using speech analytics to identify customer needs and wants, and by using performance management solutions geared to assess all aspects of agent and departmental performance.
Even better, these technologies offer a quantifiable return on investment (ROI), often in as little as six months.
But the benefits dont stop there.
QM applications also improve contact centre quality, which keeps customers happy and loyal, improves agent satisfaction and decreases both customer and agent attrition.
If the promise of QM and liability recording technologies seems exciting, then consider this: several trends are converging that will drive the market to new highs. In fact, new DMG Consulting LLC research projects sales of QM and liability recording solutions will grow by 8 per cent to 12 per cent and 10 per cent to 15 per cent respectively in 2004, with even greater growth in 2005.
Sales of related newer applications, such as eLearning, analytics, speech analytics and performance management, are expected to grow at an even faster rate.
Whats Fueling the Growth?
The most important factors driving the QM/liability recording markets include:
· Legislation HIPPA legislation, impacting health care and insurance companies, and the Do Not Call provisions of the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule Registry that went into full effect in October 2003, are forcing companies to alter the way they do business. Many are deciding that its more cost effective to log 100 per cent of their calls than to face potential litigation.
· Migration from cost centres to profit centres inbound contact centres that provide mainly service but also do any selling (even up-sell and cross-sell) need to record certain calls, forcing them to invest in logging solutions.
· Formalisation and centralisation of QM functions most contact centres do some form of QM and the importance of QM increases as a centre grows. At some point, companies realize that it is more productive and cost effective to systematize, standardize and centralize the quality management function. Once this conclusion is reached, organisations often decide to replace their homegrown processes with a packaged application.
· Replacing old and outdated logging equipment there is a great deal of old logging equipment that is no longer 100 per cent dependable, a basic requirement for a recording system. In some situations, its an analog solution that struggles to record digital calls, resulting in poor quality. In other cases, calls that appear to have been recorded cant be retrieved and replayed. While there are many reasons why there is there is a lot of antiquated logging equipment in place today, organisations that have put off replacements are likely to buy new logging equipment during the next couple of years.
· Correlating customer satisfaction from surveys with quality management ratings QM monitors and measures how well agents adhere to departmental guidelines and procedures. Customer satisfaction surveys measure consumers feelings about an organisation, its products and the people who deliver its services. Enterprises need to review both survey results and internal quality assurance ratings to determine if corporate standards and processes are, in fact, ensuring that agents service customers properly and if customers, in turn, are satisfied with this service.
· eLearning, performance management and analytics new technologies have been introduced to the market during the past couple of years, but tight budgets and the newness of the applications have prevented most organisations from investing in them. These solutions can improve the performance, productivity and quality of contact centres and increase revenue. If the economy continues to improve, contact centres are going to be looking for new ways to deliver on their mantra of doing more with less, while continuing to open up and share customer data with peers in sales, marketing and other operating areas. These products will help them meet these ambitious goals.
Making the Right Choice
Enterprises that want to maintain or gain a competitive edge must take a serious look at purchasing or upgrading their QM and recording technologies The key is making the right technology selection in a market thats anything but static. To do that, and save time and money in the process, youll need to:
· Learn the most up-to-date information about the QM/liability recording vendors, products and market.
· Get the product and pricing information you need to successfully negotiate the vendor selection process.
· Understand the major factors driving and shaping the future of the contact centre and QM/liability recording markets.
This is the first article in a series on the maturing Quality Management/Liability Recording market. The series will include articles on leading companies, including: Envision, etalk, NICE, Verint, Witness, and an emerging company, Magnetic North.
Donna Fluss
2004-03-12
Donna Fluss is the Principal of DMG Consulting LLC, delivering customer-focused business strategy, operations and technology for Global 2000 and emerging companies. Ms. Fluss is a recognized leader and visionary in customer relationship management and a highly sought-after writer and speaker. She is the author of the industry-leading 2004 Quality Management/Liability Recording Product and Market Report and the 2004 Guide to Successful Contact Centre Offshore Outsourcing. Contact Ms. Fluss at [email protected].
Performance Management
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