how to invest wisely during 2017 - netcall · how to invest wisely during 2017. introduction - make...

BUYER’S GUIDE TO CONTACT CENTRE TECHHow to invest wisely during 2017

Introduction -make decisions

countpage 3

Present a strong

business casepage 10

Identify opportunities

page 4

Gain a partner

not a vendorpage 16

Identify specific pain points

page 7

Shortlist the solutions

page 19

A strategic partner

you can trustpage 22

Buyer’s guide contents

B U Y E R ’ S G U I D E | N E T C A L L . C O M

Define yoursupplier brief

page 13

Today’s contact centre leaders operate in an increasingly complex space.

The role of the contact centre in achieving business growth and goals constantly changes.

It is vital, therefore, to ensure your contact centre results match the strategic aims of your organisation. In order to achieve this, you may be considering a transformation project. You need to make informed decisions, and that’s why we’ve created this guide.

We cover everything from identifying the key issues through to finding a partner. Whether you’re unsure where to start or you’re struggling to complete a detailed plan, we’ll walk you through step-by-step.

Each section will guide you through the buying process offering our hints and tips along the way.

Introduction - Making decisions count


Identify opportunities to achieve your dream contact centre

Doing more with less is a common challenge.

With much to do and so little time, it can be easy to take a reactive approach to problem-solving.

How can you get ahead and avoid playing catch-up? Keep up with the fast pace of business by focusing on opportunities, not problems. In this section we offer our tips to help you focus on the big picture.


Getting started...The hardest part of any task is getting started.

Keep your focus on opportunities and your end goal. Then consider consider any challenge from at least three viewpoints:

What impact does this have on your agents?

Team inefficiency – how does this affect your customer service?

Your systems - how do broken processes affect delivery or other teams?

Then, look at the results. What are the knock-on effects of the different viewpoints?

How do these failures or hurdles prevent you from reaching your customer experience (CX) vision?

Consider this...It can seem easier to implement quick-fixes to solve key issues.

But will they address the root of the problem or offer a short-term solution?

Take this opportunity to identify your real needs, are they to:

Reduce the complexity of tasks for teams and agents

Integrate and unlock knowledge within your systems

Increase capacity by reducing interaction time

Improve front and back office productivity?

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Top TipsStart with your goal, then work backwards. Be innovative – this is your vision for the future.

What does good look like? Think from a new perspective taking into account both your agent and customer journeys.

How you will measure success? What criteria will you use?

What critical systems do you need to keep and how will you integrate them?

Consider future-proof platforms. How will you manage future change and uncertainty?

Give yourself a realistic timeline to allow your project to reach its full potential.

Assess your timeline and understand what and how deadlines affect your decision making.

Create a project ‘dream team’ including managers, supervisors and agents.

I d e n t i f y o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o a c h i e v e y o u r d r e a m c o n t a c t c e n t r e

Our consultants suggest...Get early buy-in from your team and across the business.

Gaining early buy-in for your transformation project can be the key to its success.

Engage with your teams, they often have valuable insight. Allow their expertise to help propel you towards your goal.

“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”Jonathan Swift

“In ‘blue-sky’ thinking there should be no preconceptions. Don’t limit possibilities with current thinking or beliefs.”William Collins

6


Identify specific pain points

You have a clear view of your goals and understand your challenges.

So, the next step is to uncover the underlying causes.

In this section we talk through how to expose potential issues and find relevant solutions.


Why consider this step?To move forward with your strategy, you must first have a comprehensive view of your challenges.

It can be tempting to rush this phase in order to find quick-fix solutions for urgent problems. Seize the opportunity. Invest your time now and see greater, long-term results.

Use innovative tools to quickly identify the root of inefficiencies and issues. We suggest the ‘5 whys’ method.

Ask ‘why’ a particular challenge happens, and then ask why again to the answer. Continue at least 5 times. Digging into the hidden causes will find the primary (or root) cause.

Get the best results...Consider the following points to achieve the most from this stage in your process:

Think from the outside-in. Understand how your pain points affect your customer experience.

Understand must-have future requirements.

Prioritise. Be clear about what is not important.

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Top TipsInvest the time to document your goal.

Growth is disruptive. Lessons learned are valuable tools for positive change.

Avoid the appeal of products with ‘cutting edge features’. Look at the big picture and find a total solution for your strategic vision.

List and rank business-critical systems and data.

When you engage with vendors, make it clear to them what you need and why. Otherwise, they may have to interpret what they think you need.

I d e n t i f y s p e c i f i c p a i n p o i n t s

Our consultants suggest...Consider both your customer and agent journeys when refining the ‘must-have’ features.

They are unique but reliant on one another.

Remain focused on your overarching outcome. The solution should deliver you through to realising your goals and beyond.

“Create positivity in your teams. Engage with a core team and use their energy to show others how the changes will benefit their roles and the organisation.”Mark Gosling, Commercial Director

“A brand is defined by the customer‘s experience. The experience is delivered by the employees.”Shep Hyken

9


Present a strong business case

A powerful business case will assure your senior team of the investment benefits.

In this section we cover how to link your contact centre needs with the business strategy.


Why consider this step?Make a compelling case.

You need to make a compelling case for investing time, money and resources into your project. Be sure to:

Show how it will support your organisation’s mission and vision

Define what success looks like and how you will measure it

Outline potential return on investment and list any external or internal risks

Detail finances and timing, explore deployment, Capex and Opex payment options

Finalise approval before you commit any further time to the project

Consider these steps to a business caseTake a step back.

Recognise how your project fits within the wider goals of your organisation:

Define how the solution will solve each contact centre challenge

Provide details for the short, medium and long term of:

• each soft and cashable benefit

• all budgets including ongoing licencing and support

A detailed and engaging plan will increase decision makers’ confidence in the potential of the project. Give them the opportunity to see the full scope of your project.

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Top tipsCheck stakeholder expectations before any presentation

Link your project to organisational strategic goals

Confirm the impact that change will have on your agents and how you will manage the effects

Highlight any project risks and show which mitigating actions you will take

Show what success looks like, state when it will arrive and how you will measure it

Agree your budget for upfront and ongoing costs

List the cost and risks of doing nothing.

Our consultants suggest...Proving your case.

Establish each problem in turn and your proposal for solving it. Help stakeholders understand the implications of not investing.

Show them your evidence. What will you gain and how long will it take you to achieve it.

Ask suppliers for their typical ROI. Consider it is not the largest return on investment (ROI) number; it is the most believable ROI.

“Companies that prioritise the customer experience generate 60% higher profits than their competitiors”Gartner

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Define your supplier brief

You’ve identified your key challenges and presented your business case.

The end goal is firmly in sight. So, what will it take to bring your vision to life? Finding the right solution takes more than a checklist.

Do your colleagues understand your goals? What you say may be interpreted differently by your team. The right partner will support you to create the most effective brief.


Why consider this step?When you begin a buying process, set yourself up for success.

Define a clear brief with strategic and practical objectives. Be explicit about what you want and need.

Also, allow yourself time to fully explore your contact centre’s performance and integrations.

Establish essential features and honestly review your day-to-day headaches.

Getting started...Be thorough. In order to gain a full 360° view of challenges, you must engage with the rest of the business.

Expand your thinking and brainstorm with colleagues. Seek guidance from:

Management - deployment, security, data protection and disaster recovery

Finance or legal - budget, payment, contracts and timelines

Supervisors - reporting and instant alerts and business information

Top agents - operations, customer journey, user interface and daily administration

IT – integrations, back-office systems legacy equipment or platforms.

D e f i n e y o u r s u p p l i e r b r i e f 1 4


Top tipsDetermine your expectations from a technology partner

Rank them in order of importance

Plan time for customer reference calls and visits.

Our consultants suggest...Review your customer and agent journeys. They are unique and both need to be successful.

Understand your legacy equipment contracts, constraints and dependencies.

“Even a simple 5% increase in customer retention can increase business profits between 25% and 125%”Gartner

“86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience”CEI study

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Gain a partner not a vendor

As with any investment, it’s vital to choose a technology partner that shares your values.

In this section we share a framework for assessing the options.


Why consider this step?Any new technology systems you install will impact both your customer and agent journeys.

They can also result in a long-term relationship with your new vendor. So the decision to buy must be the right one. You need a technology partner that understands how your business ticks.

Ensure that they have:

Financial stability and UK experience so they put your needs first

Business models to suit the flexibility and scalability you need

A passion for innovation, they tailor your solution to fit your needs

Direct accountability, with support and service delivered in the UK.

Consider this...Choose a partner with a proven track record of solution and payback delivery.

You need to ensure that they will:

Differentiate your customer experience from key competitors

Integrate your processes and data to allow you to deliver an efficient end-to-end service

Innovate and improve your team productivity

Provide improvement milestones into the future including upgrades, security, standards and data protection.

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Top tipsList and rank your most important expectations of your partnership, not just the solution concerns

See your transformation stages and match the partner roadmap to your needs.

Our consultants suggest...Clarify what support the vendor will provide for the project as well as the ongoing solution.

This includes response time, service levels, upgrades, patching and ongoing training

Will they support you to champion the project with staff?

“Netcall is a long-term technology partner with our customers. Not a vendor that simply sells software and services”Richard Farrell, CTO Netcall

“80% of CEOs believe that they offer a superior customer service. However, only 8% of their customers agree”Aberdeen

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Shortlist the solutions

The project is in hand. And you’ve put forward a winning business case. You’re on the home stretch!

But there is one final stage that remains critical; shortlisting solutions. It could make or break the project’s success. Here we provide our tips for shortlisting suppliers and solutions.


Getting started...When going out to suppliers, start by detailing your challenges and pain points. Be clear on your timelines, scoring, values and contract conditions.

A tender or request for proposal (RFP) is impartial and efficient. But, getting it right demands time from your sponsoring team.

You will need to translate stakeholder priorities into action points. Then create a framework to rank and score cost and quality.

The best fit solution is the result.

Consider this...Creating an RFP takes clear thought and good planning. Usually they consist of 20 or more sections.

Templates are available online, or you can outsource to a specialist. Whichever route you choose you will need clear information to answer these questions.

Why do you need a new solution?

Who needs the solution?

What is the scope of work, outcome, performance and deliverables?

How will you assess the entries and rank the answers?

When will you implement the solution?

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Top tipsAvoid bias to your current system and references to past technologies

Focus on the outcome you need now and in the future?’ as an agent/supervisor/manager I want to….

Ask for legal support to understand your contract terms.

Our consultants suggest...Technology moves quickly. Define your ideal ‘must have’ features but don’t be prescriptive about them.

Focus on the outcome and be flexible about the method used to achieve it.

Be future focused. Features change as technology advances, so listing anticipated needs for the next five years could restrict your options. Instead request answers for your anticipated plans and goals.

Check for platform agnostic integration and UK based R&D.

“If you don’t ask the right questions, you don’t get the right answers. Asking questions is the ABC of diagnosis.”Edward Hodnett

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A strategic partner you can trust

We created this guide to share knowledge, tips and advice from our team.

Our consultants, solutions architects and service teams embark on change projects in contact centres every day.


We understand how daunting change can be. It’s tempting to avoid it altogether.

Our advice? The cost of doing nothing, is never nothing. Standing still could be a bigger risk.

Instead, why not draw on the experience of a partner you can trust?

Your project’s success hangs on more than technology. We listen to our customers. We’ll work with you to match your contact centre to your strategy. And we’re driven to help you achieve your goals.

Our solutions integrate with legacy systems to improve results. And we’ll work with you to minimise the disruption of change.

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About Netcall

For more information visit netcall.comContact us 0330 333 6100 | E: [email protected]

Transform your customer engagement. Work smarter, gain competitive advantage, lower operating costs and hit your targets.

Our goal is to help clients engage effectively with their customers. We create, maintain and support software applications to support this goal. All our applications sit on our customer engagement (CX) platform Liberty. Interactions are seamlessly managed from start to finish.

• Integrate your channels into one universal queue and drive first contact resolution rates up to 90%

• Accurately forecast your staff resources and reduce call waiting by up to 75%

• Streamline customer engagement, increase satisfaction and loyalty. After a positive experience, more than 85% of customer buy or invest more.

Data and content in one place

Available as hosted, on premise or a hybrid blend of both, we tailor our solutions to client requirements. Our UK development teams design philosophies include an emphasis on standards, quality and security.

Over 700 organisations enjoy Netcall solutions. Deliver superior customer service any time, any place, anywhere. Seamless customer engagement begins and lasts with Netcall.

how to invest wisely during 2017 - netcall · how to invest wisely during 2017. introduction - make...

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