Planning is Key to Call Center Success

Building a call center requires a tightly focused strategy. In the end, it’s one part technology, one part cultural change—always with the focus on improving customer service. By resolving each transaction as efficiently as possible, and providing convenience for workers, it’s possible for everyone to come out ahead. Here’s how to build the framework for an effective call center.

Does a call center make sense for your organization?
A call center isn’t appropriate for every HR department at every company. Organizations with more than 10,000 employees benefit the most, although a call center—or at least the same communication model—can prove beneficial for medium and small companies.

Determine what functions are best supported by a call center—and what’s needed for a particular organization. In most cases, flexible benefits enrollment, payroll, and pension and 401(k) administration top the list. “It’s usually best to roll out various capabilities over a period of time,” says David Link, a practice director for The Hunter Group, a Baltimore-based information management consulting firm.

Examine your current computing and telephony environment to understand your equipment needs.
Call centers almost always require connections between various computer systems—sometimes across platforms and operating systems. At many large companies, mainframes, Unix and NT servers must interact in order to make CTI, ACD and IVR a reality.

Seamless database integration also is a necessity. The hardware and software a company uses affects what call center tools, products and functionality it can use to solve specific business challenges. For example, when Benton Harbor, Michigan-based Whirlpool Corp.’s HR team began assembling an HR call center and implementing benefits administration in February 1997, it originally leaned toward purchasing a Lucent interactive voice response system to run off an existing Lucent automatic call distribution system.

Although the package offered a price advantage over other products on the market, Whirlpool’s HR people opted to use a TALX IVR. “We paid more money for the system, but we had the specific tools and a complementary PeopleSoft system already in place,” explains Shirley Pantelleria, director of the employee services center.

Don’t overbuild.
“Sometimes people look at a call center solution as a complex equation, when all that’s needed is a simple hotline,” says Jim Spoor, president and CEO of SPECTRUM Human Resources Corp., an HRMS vendor based in Denver.

Indeed, large corporations with geographically dispersed workers benefit the most from a call center. Many find they can cut administrative costs by 20 to 40 percent while boosting customer satisfaction. But it’s often not necessary to build a state-of-the-art facility—particularly for medium and small firms. “The key,” says Spoor, “is connecting the technology with the organizational needs.”

Design the call center to complement employee self-service.
Today’s technology makes it easy for an individual to update information and process transactions by calling into an IVR or logging on to an intranet. “A customer service or call center representative isn’t needed to handle the vast majority of transactions,” explains Tod Loofbourrow, president and CEO of Foundation Technologies, a Waltham, Massachusetts, producer of software for call centers. In fact, guiding employees toward self-service rather than human interaction can slash administrative overhead and labor costs.

But self-service can’t replace human interaction for specific problems and concerns—at least not in its current iteration. When things get fouled up or seem too confusing, workers want to push a button and get an answer from a living, breathing person. Moreover, many workers simply won’t use IVR or Web-based self-service tools.

“Self-service and HR call centers should be closely tied together,” explains Ken Millen, director of HR Services at Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears, Roebuck & Co. Adds SPECTRUM’s Spoor: “It’s important to use a call center to add value. Today, a live person isn’t needed to tell someone how many vacation days they have available or what their balance is in their 401(k). However, a person is needed to explain and evaluate complex eligibility requirements.”

Focus on solutions rather than technology.
You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: Technology is simply an enabler. Vendors constantly tout features and capabilities, but when the dust settles, it’s how a company plans to use a call center that should determine what it purchases. “It’s important to understand how various products interact,” says Link. “To achieve maximum results, you have to focus on the business issue and what combination of products and features offer the most effective solution.”

Offer an IVR front end, but also consider Web-based capabilities.
Interactive voice response is an essential part of call center technology. Individuals can use the phone to conduct self-service transactions, but then connect to an appropriate call center representative by pushing a button. However, while the telephone is ubiquitous and easy to use, it’s relatively slow at navigating through long, branching menus.

The solution? A Web-based self-service system that’s linked to a call center. Although relatively few firms are now using this technology, it promises to become widespread within a couple of years. And the reason is simple: An individual can browse a Web site, look up information, update records and place transactions.

If the person runs into a problem or has a question that can’t be answered at the Web site, he or she can click a button and connect to a call center rep within seconds. The agent, using a screen pop, can view the same Web page in one window, check a knowledge-base in another, and communicate with the person via videoconferencing or IP telephony.

Market the call center and educate employees how to use it effectively.
To succeed with the two-pronged strategy of using employee self-service and call centers, it’s essential that workers know what’s in it for them and how to use the tools to maximum advantage. By touting new capabilities, features and time-saving options, large-scale acceptance of IVR and Web self-service is far more likely.

But getting employees to understand that the call center is designed to solve problems—and isn’t the most efficient way to check a 401(k) balance—requires ongoing communication. Newsletters, an intranet, or even a recording on an IVR can help guide employees through the process.

At Whirlpool, for example, HR originally sent out a newsletter every two weeks to keep employees up-to-date about new features and changes to the system. The department now sends out a quarterly newsletter. “It’s a change management issue as much as a technology issue,” says Pantelleria.

And while migrating away from face-to-face interaction isn’t easy, it can ultimately carve out huge gains for the organization. Among other things, it’s possible to reduce staffing requirements in the call center or human resources department, eliminate paperwork and transactions, and free HR staff or call center reps to engage in higher-value work.

Use specialized tools to operate the call center at maximum efficiency.
It’s possible to track call volumes, abandonment rate, calls in queue, agent status and other factors. Using such data, it’s then possible to analyze calling patterns and deploy resources as needed. Some programs, such as NovaMAX Manpower Scheduler from Nova CTI, can forecast demand and build work schedules automatically using specialized algorithms. It can schedule according to needed skills, seniority, season and other categories.

View the call center and self-service as constantly evolving tools.
It’s no bulletin that the technology that supports call centers is changing rapidly. “A call center is a constantly evolving project. You are continuously improving, coming up with new measures, surveying, and then going back to workers to communicate what is available and what has changed,” remarks Pantelleria. “You must constantly find ways to improve. That’s the nature of business today.”