Although
call centres have been around in the private sector since the early '90s, when
RSLs first considered setting them up, they found that a lot of the hardware
and software available was both very expensive and not very easily adapted to
their requirements. Over the last three years housing software suppliers and
IT/telecommunication suppliers have recognised the market potential and are
designing products that are far more geared up to RSL use, while competition
continues to drive price down.
RSLs that have established a call centre as a business opportunity to provide
services to other organisations may have needed to invest more heavily in the
technology. On the other hand RSLs that have developed a CSC primarily for services
to their own tenants have found that their existing IT and phone system required
only slight modification. Most RSLs upgrade and renew IT hardware at least every
5 years therefore the cost of buying slightly higher specification equipment
for the CSC is marginal.
There are three specific areas of technology used in call centres:
Whilst each of these is important
in isolation, the real benefits are gained through using them as a group of
technologies. It is equally important to ensure that they are fully integrated
into the business systems of the organisation.
Unstructured ICT (information and communication technology) in any organisation
will simply deliver new systems, hardware and equipment. Nothing else will have
changed. It is for this reason that the housing sector must see ICT as an integral
element in the strategic management process. It is not a 'bolt on' to which
cursory attention should be paid and resources only applied when things go wrong
but as important as the business plan, housing strategy and corporate mission.
Bjorn Howard, Drum Housing
Information Systems
The Information Systems provide the information available on the agents' screens
and can be in a variety of formats. Traditionally there would have been separate
screens (or even separate terminals) for each application and the agent would
have to switch between applications to be able to access different pieces of
information. It is now more likely that systems will have been integrated into
a single front-end application. This does not necessarily change the original
systems but a new application will take pieces of information from various systems
and incorporate it into a single screen. An alternative to this is the implementation
of an entirely new system. There are systems designed to meet almost every application
including customer service and customer relationship management (CRM). The fact
that these systems are replacing old legacy systems can result in real benefits
in terms of rationalisation of data but also in terms of redefining the business
processes that support the old systems.
A key factor in any system is the infrastructure. This could be the cabling
systems, networks, central equipment (Servers, Mainframes etc) or the desktop
equipment (PC's, terminals, printers etc.). In all cases the infrastructure
needs to be aligned to the technology that it is carrying / supporting. The
applications are driving the platform specifications higher and are a serious
factor. The application itself may be relatively low in cost but the requirements
from the supporting infrastructure may be extreme.
Telephony
The advancements in the telephony area have been quite dramatic with a number
of new products and services being developed and made available. A number of
technologies are described in more detail below.
Automatic Call Distribution - ACD
An ACD can be provided in one of two ways; either as a stand-alone system or
more commonly, as part of a main telephone system (PABX). The functionality
is similar but the PABX version will also accommodate other telephone users
on the same system.
Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) enables calls to be directed to the most appropriate
person to answer the call. In the majority of cases this will involve putting
all incoming calls into a queue and the longest waiting call being answered
by the first available agent. ACDs can also route calls based upon the skills
of the agents, the time of day, the type of call etc.
The agents on ACD's have a more robust telephone terminal which is often referred
to as a Turret. Additional specific functionality is provided on these terminals
that aid the high volume of calls that are processed. Headsets are provided
to allow agents to use both hands and there are a number of different features
such as 'Wrap Up', Log In & Log Out, Emergency, Make Busy etc.
The turrets will normally have a display that will provide the agent with information
about the call. This may detail who the caller is (information provided by Calling
Line Identity - CLI), the number that the caller has dialled (Dialled Number
Information Service - DNIS) or indeed some other programmable message. Other
displayed information may be the duration of the call in progress, the time
of day or even statistics about calls that are waiting to be answered.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
CTI connects together the computer and the telephony applications. It can be
a very simple integration completed at every agents PC / Turret or more commonly
a more complex interconnection at the central systems location. Whilst it can
improve the efficiency of the service provided, the quality of the data is important
when providing this service and has to be 'real time'.
Management Information Systems
Real Time Information
Real
time information provides a picture of the current situation at any moment in
time. In all cases the only accurate picture is provided as a steady state for
a few seconds. The type of information displayed will normally include the agent
status (active, make busy, logged off etc) together with an analysis of the
calls in progress and those waiting to be answered. The information is normally
displayed on a Supervisors terminal and is critical in terms of making immediate
changes to group configurations to ensure that all calls are answered as efficiently
as possible. The majority of agent screens will display information in a colour-coded
format for easy recognition. Parameters can be input to show the service that
is expected. If these parameters are exceeded then the colour could change to
red. Wallboards are also used to display high-level performance information
for the agents and can motivate agents and engender a competitive spirit in
trying to beat yesterday's performance.
Historical Data
Historical data identifies what has happened after the event so it is possible
to examine trends, peaks and troughs for incoming calls and identify how many
staff are needed at specific times of the day.
Typical reports show various matrices measured at regular intervals across the
day and can focus on the entire Call Centre, specific groups of agents or even
individual agents. For example:
Most organisations will need to
offer service levels for handling the calls that they receive. Historical data
can provide support in setting the service levels and it is also a measurement
of the performance against those levels. Reports are generally configured to
run automatically at the required periods.
Call Monitoring / Voice Recording
There are two technology-based methods of assessing the quality of calls. The
first is by the Supervisor listening to calls taken by an agent, either from
a second headset on the turret or from the supervisor's terminal. Silent monitoring
can be undertaken without the knowledge of the agent but also, an agent can
alert the supervisor when they have a problem with a call e.g. an abusive caller
and get assistance.
The second method is that of recording the calls with Voice Recording Systems.
Some systems will now also record not only the conversation but also all of
the activity relating to that call on the PC. Systems can be configured to record
specific calls based upon a number of parameters such as specific agents, times
of the day, particular numbers etc.
The two main applications of Voice Recording are as a training aid and to record
a transaction made over the telephone. It is important to note the legislation
involved in recording telephone calls.
The cost of setting up a CSC will depend on the quality of the existing IT and
telecommunications and on the proposed scale of the operation.
As prices fall and systems become more reliable, products such as document imaging,
work-flow and caller identification are becoming more readily used by RSLs.
Many RSLs will invest in these systems in order to improve organisational efficiency,
irrespective of whether they have set up a CSC.
Although the systems difficulties are not as great as three years ago, RSLs
still face delays in opening their CSC because telecom. and IT. systems don't
do what they are supposed to do. There have been several frequently encountered
types of problem that RSLs considering establishing a CSC need to consider:
Suppliers almost always seem to over-promise. Particular problems have been
encountered over the reliability and post-sales service of some of the telecom.
systems suppliers. Several RSLs commented that the account manager played a
critical role and that the quality of the service boiled down to how good their
account manager was.
'We were very badly let down by our telecom supplier and very nearly ended
up in litigation against them. The main problem was not being able to get hold
of a responsible person. Engineers kept coming in and undoing the work of the
previous person so we couldn't stabilise anything. As it was I know that our
account manager was fired as a result of the debacle.'
Customer Service Manager, Thames Valley Housing
'It came down to the quality of the account manager. Ours was excellent. He
phoned daily right through the implementation phase and was incredibly supportive.'
Call Centre Manager, Orbit
Problems with our existing telecom supplier caused us significant delays, they
were just not responsive to our needs. Eventually we brought in an alternative
supplier just for our Service centre.
Project Manager, East Thames Housing Group
The pace of change in the IT industry forces suppliers to release new versions
of software before they have been fully tested. Users of the latest version
of some housing management system software have discovered that in fact they
have been unwittingly piloting the product for the supplier. In a call centre
environment, the reliability and functionality of the systems are critical to
provide a one-stop service
The compatibility of some front-end systems has been a problem in several CSCs.
This has been due sometimes to a Windows-based product trying to interface with
an older UNIX based system. Often it has been because the RSL's system has been
over-customised in the past and is now incompatible with new releases of the
system. As 'front end' suppliers recognise the business opportunities of RSL
CSCs, more are working in partnership with other software houses to ensure that
their systems are compatible and also to jointly develop new products.
Some products that have been designed for a traditional housing management service
and work very well in that context, can become practically unworkable in a CSC
environment. The schedule of rates (SOR) is a case in point.
'When we opened our repairs line in 1996, we recognised that the SOR was
too cumbersome for the call centre. We identified the 250 most frequently ordered
jobs and coded them so that it would be much faster for the CSOs to identify
the work and place the order. The detailed SOR lies behind this screen but CSOs
rarely have need of using it.'
Call Centre Manager, Orbit
'Our original SOR contained around 2000 items enabling us to specify to a very
fine degree the work and parts that a job required, for instance there were
about 20 different items for ordering a change of tap. The SOR was developed
with maintenance inspectors and surveyors in mind and enabled them to exercise
a high degree of control over contractors and spend. However, in a call centre
environment, the SOR as it stood was too detailed: the tenant cannot specify
all the widgets needed to mend the loo and the CSO similarly does not have the
time to work through all the possible items to place the order. The result was
that 65% of orders were being raised for scheduled items against a target of
90%. We have now developed with Omfax an SOR of 58I items, enabling us to reduce
the scope for variation orders. We have also developed a closer partnering arrangement
with our term contractors and have specified that they must have ISDN lines
and modems in order to streamline repairs ordering and invoicing.'
Customer Service Manager, Thames Valley Housing
Practically every commercial call centre operator works in a tightly controlled
environment, using menus of scripted and diagnostic screens. In the RSL CSC,
the complexity and variety of calls often makes these aids/controls unwieldy
and redundant. Many RSL CSCs do have on-line policy and procedure manuals, diagnostic
repair screens and occasionally, scripted screens. Feedback is that they were
very valuable in the early days of the CSC and as training aids. However, as
operators quickly acquire skills and knowledge they found that these aids slowed
down the transaction so it is important, as with any system design, that there
are fast options for trained operatives. When linked into the SOR and used with
a tenants' diagnostic repair handbook, this system has increased the accuracy
of repairs ordering and reduced the number of non-scheduled items. It also provides
greater managerial control over operator's decisions by specifying which repairs
can be ordered for which groups of tenants and preventing unauthorised orders
being placed.
For largely historical reasons, responsibility for IT in most RSLs rests in
the finance directorate. In some instances this has created tensions and difficulties
for the CSC operation because of its location in a different directorate or
business unit. When a fast responsive service is essential throughout the day,
any system failure or software problem needs immediate action and in some cases
the CSC manager has found themselves in the position of having to compete for
an often over-stretched corporate resource which is outside their control. For
this reason, RSL CSCs are increasingly retaining their own dedicated IT support
team which can carry out the several functions of trouble shooting, system support
and system development.
'We have our own dedicated IT team who have developed most of the software
in-house. The software amazes everyone who visits our CSC. The secret of its
success is that it has been done mainly by housing managers. The approach they
took in developing it is to ask 'What's the very least I need to know in order
to give a satisfactory answer to a question?'
Call Centre Manager, Orbit
Many RSLs have devolved responsibility for the CSC capital budget to the CSC
manager and this has again enabled a much faster response when modifications
are required.
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