1

Introduction to the SABS

Standards?

Will They Benefit the Contact Centre Industry and What Did We Do Without

Them?

By Diz Milne

084 308 3741

2

Who Were Involved in Developing

the Standards?

• The dti – Representing Government

• The Industry Body - SACCOM (Now BPeSA)

• The Business Trust – Representing the Private

Sector

• 5 Work streams in the Industry- Support Sector

Facility (SSF) 1=Standards

• Consulting Firms – PWC and Letsema

• The Industry representatives – > 70 individuals

3

What Other Information Was

Considered?Research was done on:

• ISO 0991:2000

• COPC

• CCA Standards

• ISO-IEC 2000

• UNI Call Centre Charter

• Six Sigma

• Merchants Global Benchmarking Report

• Baldridge Awards

• Call Centre Operations and Establishment Guidelines (Australia and Canada)

• Benchmarking Scotland

4

That Categories Covered in the

Standard

• Leadership and Customer Satisfaction

Management Practices

• Operational Management Practices

• Human Resource Management Practices

• Technical Resource Management

Practices

5

What Are The Standards Designed

To Do?

This framework provides the highest

probability of success resulting in:

– Higher customer satisfaction

– High levels of staff efficiency

– High quality and service standards

– Increased revenue

– Reduced cost of waste

6

Sound Like Lofty Ideals..?

• Most company executives will tell you that

this is what they wantB.

• How often is it achieved?

• Do we know if it is?

7

Why Do Companies Have Call

Centres?

• To meet a customer or business objective.

– Service

– Service recovery (complaints)

– Sales

– Maintenance of customer records

– Research

– Setting of appointments

8

Bottom Line?

• Keep the customer happy – so that the

company can generate revenue

9

Is Revenue Enough?

• No!

• The company must be efficient to ensure

that the costs to serve the customer are

kept to a minimum to realise a profit

• Every cent ‘wasted’ eats into the bottom

line

– (What does this have to do with the

Standards? We needed to put the Standards

in place to do this ‘on purpose’.)

Why South Africa Needed to

Implement the Standards• South Africa needed to ‘up its game’ to be able to prove

that we could sustainably attract offshore business and

meet the required standards of efficiency, customer

satisfaction, reduced waste and revenue generation.

• South Africa needed to demonstrate that the Industry

can consistently service the domestic market

• Confidence in out-sourcing was needed – the Standards

broaden the understanding of this channel (we don’t use

our out-sources– why should the companies over-seas?)

10

Lessons shared by the industry

• We didn’t separate the softer issues in quality

from the issues that will impact other areas of

the service value chain – resulting in re-work,

financial impact and customer satisfaction

impact. (Critical and non-critical errors are treated

differently)

• We only mapped the business processes – not

the service recovery processes (so in a perfect

world – agents know what to do, when something goes

wrong – they delegate upwards)

11

Lessons shared by the industry

• Most ‘channel’/dependency processes are

not documented – so we waste time

and/or fix the wrong problems (e.g. capacity in

a back-office environment has a headcount freeze – and

call centre sales capacity is doubled. Sales increase,

complaints increase – agents are punished for low

customer satisfaction scores)

• Agents are moved from one area to another and

expected to succeed, but don’t (roles and skills are

not documented and gaps are not closed when agents’

roles change)12

Lessons shared by the Industry

• Everyone used the same words for

different calculations – so we are speaking

the same language and meaning very

different things – making it difficult to

‘export’ our services

e.g.(We say we have an 8% absenteeism – but

it isn’t annualized, so it is understated/

misrepresented when talking to international

potential clients)

13

Lessons shared by the Industry

• Data security requirements in the

Standards were implemented before the

POPI requirements were put in place – (to

manage the risk of agents walking off with data

on a USB or CD – or an entire database being

lost).

14

15

The Industry, typically, did not

measure: ‘Waste’. (Is that important?)

• Assume an in-bound cost centre

environment (typical of inbound customer

service)

• Divide the budget into the number of seats

and minutes during operating hours – to

reach a cost per minute

• This gives you the cost to serve per

minute

16

Map a Service Value Chain from a

Customer’s Perspective

The customer calls

The call centre

answers

and starts

ordering

the process

Back office

processes

the request

Warehouse

retrieves

stock

Courier

company

delivers

goods

Happy Customer

pays

17

What Was The Cost to Serve?

(Assume R10.00 / minute)

The customer calls

The call centre

answers

and starts

ordering

the process

Back office

processes

the request

Warehouse

retrieves

stock

Courier

company

delivers

goods

Happy Customer

pays

3 min

R30.00

5 min

R50.00

15 min

R150

R65.00

fee

Cost = R 295

18

OOOOOps! Wrong order!

• What happens when the agents orders the

incorrect colour or model?

• The customer will definitely complain.

19

What Was The Cost to Serve?

(Assume R10.00 / minute)

The customer calls

The call centre

answers

and starts

ordering

the process

Back office

processes

the request

Warehouse

retrieves

stock

Courier

company

delivers

goods

Happy Customer

Pays/ doesn’t pay?

3 min

R30.00

5 min

R50.00

15 min

R150

R65.00

fee

Wrong orderComplaint

Cost = extra

R345.00

20

Do you know how much your waste

is costing your company?

• One area I saw recently is spending 70%

of their time on waste (re-work)

• This is a wonderful opportunity to

demonstrate efficiency – by implementing

the Standards!

21

Risks?

• What risks have you identified in your call

centre?

22

Consider these elements - at every

opportunity to serve a customer.The agent talking to

the customer

The

customer

talking to the

agent.

Is the right process

being followed? Is there version

control? Is it trained?

Does it work?

Is there a documented

service recovery

process? Does the

agent know it?

Is the correct

decision being made?

Is the data

stored/ managed

correctly?

Is the data being

captured correctly

if at all?

If there is more

than 1 doc, is the agent

using the right 1?

Is the agent

giving the correct

information?

Is it sensitive info?

Is the agent respectful

in all elements of

voice management?

Has the agent

understood the customer

requirements?

Do the

systems

work

optimally?

Can the

customer

understand

the agent?

Is the

customers

objective

for the call

being

met?

Does

the agent

know how to

use the

system?

Can he agent

hear the

customer?

23

Impact of Mistakes That WILL

Cause Re-work?

• If each of your agents is taking 2 200 calls a month (assume an AHT of 180 sec)Bhow many opportunities are there to cause waste?

• How much does this cost your call centre?

• If you aren’t looking for these risks are you purely reactionary and constantly putting out fires?

24

Who is responsible?

• Most of us hold the agent responsible and

have stringent performance management

processes in placeB

25

Who is responsible for ensuring the

agents have the ability to succeed?

• Training provides the knowledge and skills

• HR recruits specific skill and profile of person

• IT supports the systems to be up and optimally functioning

• Management provide a supportive nurturing environment in which to succeed

• Facilities provide a safe and environmentally friendly place in which to be productive

26

ContinuedB

• WFM provides rosters that improve that probability of meeting customer requirements

• MIS provides the tools management need to gauge success and areas of required improvement

• Quality assesses and feeds back the success of the business

• Sales sells things that are achievable

• Marketing communicates new product launches on time

• Training is appropriate to the operational requirements

ContinuedB

27

Who makes sure that these

departments support the agents?

• Usually we don’tBB

• Customer service is normally seen as a ‘customer facing department’s’ responsibility

• Silo’s that don’t face the customer are usually not measured

• Can the call centre meet customer facing performance metrics if they are not supported?

28

How Do You Mitigate These Risks?

• By ensuring your agents have the tools they need to succeedB

• By ensuring that the right management principles are in place B.

• By having the appropriate processes mapped and managedB

• By measuring the right performance metricsB.

29

– Shifts – that are effective (and legal)

– Processes – that work

– Systems – that work

– Skills – that are appropriate to the operational requirements

– Management – that provides an environment in which to succeed

– Communication strategy- on time!

– Company stated focus – shared and implemented across silos

– Guidance on where and how to be successful

Do they work?

What tools do you give your

agents?

30

Every Interaction With a Customer

Represents a Number of RisksB

•Customer

Dependencies for

performance

Agent

31

Dependency Management

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

32

Capacity Management

• Are we looking at the right things to determine our capacity requirements?

• FTE model?

• Call Arrivals at 30 min intervals – Erlang C

• Shift by team

• Shift by rotation – be fairB

• Breaks when they need one?

• Breaks when we need one?

• What else do we need to factor in?

33

Capacity Management

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

Shifts

, break

s, adhere

nce

coaching

AHT arrival Pat

Head count

Work rules

Legislation

training

No seats

Absen

teeism

Targets

34

• Who is responsible for these tools?

• Who is held accountable when they don’t

work?

• Do these processes have the customer’s

best interest at their core?

• Are they tested regularly to assess the

impact of ‘change in customer

requirements’?

Processes

35

ContinuedB

• Have channel processes been

documented?

• Is time wasted sorting out non-business,

but required processes?

• Is root cause analysis done across silos?

• Is accountability for failure taken across

silos?

36

Processes Management

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

complaints

Business Processes

Channel

Processes

37

SLA Management

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

38

• Who is held accountable when they don’t work?

• Who determines severity levels? Customer or IT?

• Who determines cycle times? Are the customer focused or company determined?

• Is there a constant battle for ‘action’?

• What is the up-time figure?

Systems

(does the tail wag the dog?)

39

• Do the skills hired and trained match the

requirement of the role?

• Is there consistency between what is ‘asked for’

and what is received?

• Is there alignment between what skills are taught

and what skills the customer values?

• Are skills

– Verified, trained, taught, coached and refreshed?

• Are all customer facing roles – skilled?

Skills

40

Training

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

Induction

On going

Changes

41

• Are managers ensuring that their staff

are:- supported, guided and developed?

• Are managers disempowering their staff

through inadequate leadership skills?

• Are managers focusing on the right

issues?

• Are managers ensuring that their staff

have the tools they need to succeed?

Management

42

ContinuedB

• Are managers implementing the strategic vision?

• Are managers managing and measuring their dependencies on other departments?

• Is root cause analysis being conducted across silos?

• Are areas of risk being assessed?

• Are you improving on purpose?

• Is improvement repeatable, scalable and sustainable?

43

Quality Management

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

Root C

ause Analysis

Root C

ause Analysis

Assess Interactions

ComplaintsBus

Risk

Customer

Exp

44

• Who is responsible for accurate information?

• Who is responsible for communicating changes in information, systems and processes?

• Is the communication on time?

• Is the method of communication – e-mail?

• The company sated focus included in the communication?

Communication Strategy

45

Communication /Version Control

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

Communication

Test success

V/C

V/C

V/C

V/C

V/C

Change

V/C

V/C

46

The customer focus, efficiency and

quality accountability message

filters from the top.

• Is the ‘message’ permeating:

– The training approach

– The performance management

– The quality approach

– The performance metrics used

– The recruitment strategy

47

Stated Focus Penetration

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

48

How do We Know That We Are

The Best?

49

Performance metrics measured

HR

Training

IT

Facilities

WFM

MIS

Quality

External

Staffing

External

SystemsAgent

TL

Manager

Customer

Leadership

Customer facing Metrics

Channel Performance metrics

Risk

50

Do We Manage the ‘Dependencies

for Performance’ First?

• By taking the focus off the result – focus

on the inputs

• Ensure the agents have the tools they

need to succeed by managing the

departments that provide those tools

• When the tools are complete and work –

then manage the agent’s ‘choices’

51

This is exactly what the Standards

are designed to do B

• The Industry standards provide the

management framework - of what needs

to be in place - to improve the companies

probability of success

• They lay out the requirements for the

approaches, processes and performance

metrics that a company must implement to

mitigate the risks inherent in call centres

52

What does success look like?

Incre

ased re

ve

nue

Decre

ased W

aste

and

Cost

Pro

fits

Incre

ased C

usto

mer

satis

factio

n

53

How do we get started?

• Check what is ‘said’ officially – against the standards

• Audit the ‘De Facto’ reality against what is said and the standards - where it counts

• Identify the gaps

• Identify the impact on: ‘the customer, the contact centre, the staff and the cost’

• Close the gaps - starting with those that produce the highest yield - in all targeted issues

54

The Benefits?

• Increase Customer satisfaction

– Through improved quality and service

• Reduce the cost of waste

– Through process management

– Through quality management

• Increase efficiency

– Through dependency management

• Improve effectiveness

– Through failure source elimination

55

Conclusion

• All sustainable performance in a contact

centre is underpinned by sound

operational management principles

• Evidence of the implementation of these

principles ensures the highest probability

of success

Diz Milne

084 308 3741