Five Secrets to Contact Center E-learning and Coaching Success

A Guide to Best Practices

An Ovum White Paper
sponsored by
Publication Date: August 2010

INTRODUCTION
Training tools are valuable to contact centers in improving agent performance and customer satisfaction. Enterprises need to equip agents with the relevant skills to respond to customers efficiently. E-learning and coaching tools, sold as part of contact center workforce optimization technologies (WOTs) suites, help contact centers mitigate agent churn, reduce staffing shortages and improve performance. Contact center decision-makers should consider the best way to integrate agent training tools with their existing WOTs. They should work with their WOTs providers to discover which solutions are available and consider including web-based e-learning solutions, in addition to classroom-based courses. This white paper is a guide to best practices for deploying e-learning and coaching solutions in the contact center. It helps readers to: Understand the reasons why contact centers need to develop a specialized training strategy; Consider the key benefits of e-learning and coaching in improving agent performance; Present case studies to detail the ways in which training is used in innovative contact centers; Gain insight into factors to consider when implementing training solutions in the contact center and get the most value from solutions and agents.

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TRAINING HELPS TO IMPROVE AGENT PERFORMANCE Why deploy e-learning and coaching in the contact center?
Contact centers support a very different working environment than back-office departments within the enterprise. Agents are employed to answer customer queries and often work on strict schedules to provide customer service 24 hours a day. Enterprises need to optimize contact centers to match the volume of incoming calls; they need enough agents to handle peak call volumes, but do not want to have agents sitting idle when call volumes drop. Contact centers must organize agent training around these schedules and minimize the impact on operations. Agent training provides a number of benefits to contact centers, but the key objective is to improve agent performance and thereby customer satisfaction. Contact centers implement training programs to assist agents in developing customer service skills and provide up to date information on new products and services. By providing personalized educational content, contact centers can target skills gaps for each individual agent. E-learning enables contact centers to deliver these targeted training courses straight to the agents desktop, creating a level of efficiency and effectiveness that cannot be achieved in a group-based classroom setting. Agents can monitor their test performance and overall training progress on dashboards to get a better sense of how they are doing. This type of increased visibility and responsibility also helps improve agents job satisfaction. In addition, e-learning reduces pressure on supervisors since results from online training courses are fed directly into reporting systems and the training can be scheduled automatically to fit with an agents workload. By training agents effectively, enterprises can improve both agent and customer satisfaction. If agents have more visibility into their progress and the skills to carry out their job effectively, enterprises can improve job satisfaction and help reduce agent churn. Likewise, if agents have the right skills and knowledge, they will be able to answer customer queries more effectively and the customer experience improves. These improvements can have far-reaching effects: improved customer service experiences can help drive up overall customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Case Study 1-800-FLOWERS.COM

1-800-FLOWERS.COM has nearly 1,000 agents working from home. It faced a challenge in combining order and call data and was unable to share information in real-time or intervene when an agent needed assistance. During the Valentines Day week, Mothers Day week, and the winter holidays, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM receives significantly more calls than usual. The company must rapidly hire and train new agents to meet this demand while organizing ongoing training for existing agents. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM deployed a combination of WOTs from VPI, including performance tracking and reporting in addition to e-learning and coaching. The solution enabled it to provide customizable dashboards on agents desktops, allowing agents to monitor their own training progress. Figure 1 is an example of a VPI e-learning course report card used by 1-800-Flowers.com to track training progress across multiple agent groups. Using the VPI technology, the company sets rules to trigger training courses for individual agents or groups when predetermined thresholds are reached. Managers use the coaching tool to embed quizzes and surveys into training content which provides them with immediate feedback once courses are completed and allows them to evaluate agent performance. Managers can then respond faster to issues or when targets are not met.

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Figure 1:

Example of a VPI e-learning course report card used by 1-800-Flowers.com

Source: VPI

Some of the key benefits realized by 1-800-FLOWERS.COM include: Improved work utilization agents are able to handle an average of five additional transactions per agent per day. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM was also able to reduce the number of full time employees (FTEs); Increase in conversion and upsell better agent knowledge can help to provide customers with relevant upsell offers and conversion. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM saw upsell increase by 1-3% following the deployment; Cost savings on paper and printing using online training managers send information directly to agents desktops, including tests to ensure that information is read and understood. Results are fed back to managers in real-time and less hardcopy information is needed; Simplified management of training integration of e-learning with reporting makes it easy to measure the impact of training and compare test results to performance metrics such as average call handle time (AHT) or hold time. Managers can easily identify both top and poor performers. They can spend more time on one-to-one agent interactions rather than updating and checking progress of training. Agent responsibility increases agents are able to monitor and manage, where appropriate, their own training schedules, gaining more visibility into their progress. This helps to drive peer-to-peer competition and reduces pressure on managers to monitor agents.

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eLearning enables contact centers to easily manage training for at-home agents
As the 1-800-FLOWERS story makes clear, home agents benefit from training delivered directly to their desktops. Contact centers are increasingly turning to home agents and distributed contact centers in order to recruit skilled and reliable agents without increasing costs. They can use e-learning solutions to provide information to agents, without deploying specialist staff or incurring large travel costs. This enables contact centers to create a standard training program for both in-house and at-home agents. Supervisors can manage all training sessions via the Web and agents can access these regardless of their location. Integrating WFM helps to schedule online training during periods of low call volumes and plan for agents in different time zones. Agents benefit from improved knowledge; they receive product update information in real-time and are better equip to answer queries from customers. In addition to higher customer satisfaction, this can spur agent satisfaction and lower turnover.

Q&A with VPI customer Czech Energy Company

Czech Energy (CEZ) answered some questions about their e-Learning and coaching deployment. CEZ deployed VPIs online coaching system in order to manage training for 500 agents. Q. What was the main reason to deploy e-learning and coaching? A. To improve planning and schedule coaching during the times of low call volumes using WFM. Q. What have been the benefits of e-learning versus traditional training? A. Optimized utilization of agent time courses and tests are only accessible to agents when the time is right (with respect to call volumes and other priorities). Another benefit is centralized reporting for coaching and testing results for individuals, teams and sites. Q. Where has CEZ experienced the most dramatic improvements as a result of implementing VPI's solution? A. The efficiency of monitoring and improving agent skills, which relates to the ease, speed, and accessibility of VPI reporting. Management can now gain fast insights into skill gaps and address these deficiencies promptly. The VPI solution also enables unified management and planning across teams and sites.

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FIVE SECRETS TO SUCCESS

Ovum has outlined five secrets to success that enterprises should follow when implementing e-learning and coaching solutions.

1. Training must be timely

In order to get the greatest benefit from e-learning and coaching, contact centers should send out courses and information as soon as it is available. Agents need to undertake training courses as soon as skills gaps become apparent or prior to new products releases. Enterprises should regularly monitor agents performance in order to provide training at a time when it will be most effective and address issues sooner rather than later. Waiting until the end of the month or quarter may be too late as products and the type of customer queries are likely to change. Enterprises should distribute training once a problem or pressing topic is fresh in an agents mind. This will help managers to improve agents responsiveness to customer queries and drive up customer satisfaction ratings since customers want knowledgeable agents that can assist them quickly. E-learning helps enterprises push information to agents quickly. Managers can send notes and information updates directly to the agent and follow up with quizzes or surveys to ensure information has been understood. E-learning is particularly suitable for sending simple information, updates about new products or changes in services. For example, news about a power outage in a particular area could be sent straight to an agents screen with information on how to respond to customers calling about this issue. This enables managers to alert agents as soon as possible about the outage and agents can then explain the problem to customers.

2. Use data and applications that already exist within the contact center
Enterprises should use the information they already collect on agents skills and knowledge to determine the best time to schedule course and tailor the information. There are a number of applications that can be integrated with e-learning and coaching including PM, WFM, Quality Management (QM) and analytics. Figure 2 depicts the way in which different applications push and pull data into eLearning and coaching systems. Information from these WOTs, particularly WFM and PM, enables enterprises to schedule relevant training courses for teams or individuals. WFM allows enterprises to predict times of peak and low call volumes so that training is scheduled to avoid periods of high call volumes. Agents may have time allocated to them to spend away from the telephone; this time can be used for classroom based learning. Enterprises can also link e-learning to the ACD, which records the number of incoming calls in real-time. With data from both the ACD and WFM, enterprises can push e-learning to the agents desktop at times of low call volume and sessions can be halted if call volumes unexpectedly rise and an agent is needed to answer calls. By optimizing agents time to include training at low call volumes they will get the best results from agents and the best overall efficiency in the contact center. PM and QM are also useful tools to indicate how well agents are performing against KPIs. Dips in performance or low scores on customer surveys reveal knowledge gaps and indicate an agents strengths and weaknesses. Contact centers can use the applications to trigger training automatically following low scores. Alternatively managers are alerted following low performance scores and can use reporting and analytics to discover the root cause of the problem. They can then manually assign the relevant training. Customer satisfaction surveys also provide information on agent strengths and weaknesses that can be used to determine which training courses are most relevant.

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Contact centers also have a wealth of material to use for training stored in their call recording systems. This information is not only useful for monitoring the quality of calls, it can be used as training examples. Managers can find best-practice calls and screen interactions and use those real-world interactions as part of the training curriculum to help agents to understand ideal work scenarios. Figure 2: Workforce optimization applications that integrate with e-learning and coaching

Source: Datamonitor

DATAMONITOR

3. Create personalized training for agents

Agents, like anyone, respond better to information directly relevant to them. As consumers, they are familiar with online sites such as Amazon.com making recommendations based on their previous interactions or purchases. This model should be used in the contact center with previous call data. Not only will tailored information help agents with job satisfaction, it should also ensure their knowledge and performance improve. Each individual will have different expertise, different skill sets and, therefore, differing training needs. They best way for agents to learn should also be considered: some agents learn best by following others and may benefit most from classroom training, while some will prefer to learn by receiving information online. Enterprises should develop personalized training courses for each agent using existing information from PM systems. They can set up business rules to automatically trigger training courses depending on scores in certain areas. Agents can be segmented by skills, experience or product knowledge in order to match training courses to their needs. Certain training activities may be only applicable to select groups of agents, whereas information on new products and services should be sent to all agents.

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In addition, enterprises should give agents visibility into their performance and allow them to view results from online training courses. Agents will be more motivated to take the courses and managers can monitor progress and provide input where needed. As with customer satisfaction, managers should give agents the ability to rate training and make suggestions for new courses. Gaining feedback will help contact centers to develop more targeted training as well as increasing agent satisfaction. Desktop tickers empower agents with a real-time view into their performance and a prioritized list of e-learning and coaching courses assigned to them. The customized ticker in Figure 3 displays both real-time KPIs and training assignments. Figure 3: Desktop ticker showing real-time KPIs and training assignments

Source: VPI

4. Create a balance of online and face-to-face training

There are two core types of training for agents: online courses with questionnaires for assessment and face-to-face training, which can be carried out in a group or a one-on-one session. Both types of training are useful but each has a different use. E-learning gives enterprises more flexibility in scheduling since agents need not leave their desk and courses can be fitted around periods of peak calls. E-learning provides short chunks of information to agents, training that they can complete on their own. On the other hand, certain types of training work best in a classroom or face-to-face environment. This type of training, however, requires more thorough planning, booking a location and typically requiring a group of agents to participate at the same time. Face-to-face training is necessary to convey complex information. Since agents mostly work alone, classroom training is important to allow agents to interact and learn from each other. Enterprises must develop a suitable balance of online and face-to-face training to get the best results. They need to consider a number of factors, such as the type of information being shared, agents schedules, available resources and urgency of the training. Enterprises should encourage agents to collaborate and learn from each others mistakes, whether in a classroom environment or by providing agents with forums to share and provide tips for each other. This type of peer-to-peer training empowers agents, providing them with more responsibility and can also help with agent satisfaction and churn rates. One other factor for enterprises to consider is the amount of automation included in training agents. They should balance automated selection and distribution of training courses with ad-hoc assignments by supervisors, based on performance scores. Supervisors may prefer to have more granular control over training decisions to ensure that training takes place at the right time for the right agent, particularly for more complex issues. At the same time, e-learning courses related to various types of performance can simply be triggered by low scores, removing a headache for supervisors and offering agents more flexibility to complete training when their schedule allows.

5. Align training with business goals

Implementing e-learning and coaching in the contact center helps enterprises to improve agent knowledge and, therefore, performance and customer satisfaction. However, training, as with any contact center investment, should be part of a

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broader enterprise strategy to improve processes and attain business objectives. Before implementing e-learning and coaching, contact centers should set out clear goals and metrics to ensure they are met. Some key goals that e-learning and coaching solutions can help contact centers achieve include: Increased customer satisfaction; Reduced agent churn; Increased efficiency; Higher rates of first contact resolution (FCR); Increased rates of upsell and cross-sell; Reduced contact center costs.

Many of these objectives are directly related; for example, low agent job satisfaction links to high churn rates which can cause high staffing and training costs. Allowing agents to have more visibility over their training through online tools and progress reports helps enterprises drive increased agent satisfaction. By providing agents with relevant training that enables them to efficiently answer customer queries, customer satisfaction will also rise. By focusing on such core objectives and improvements, enterprises can develop more targeted training and track progress more effectively.

CONCLUSION
Enterprises should utilize e-learning and coaching tools in the contact center to improve both agent performance and customer satisfaction. Training should be tailored to each individual agents strengths and weaknesses, taking into consideration the way that they learn best, whether via online courses or classroom-based training. A combination of different types of training is most effective in helping to portray different types of information, such as product updates or how to present upsell options to customers. Enterprises should also consider how to integrate performance and contact center metrics with their training and work closely with WOTs vendors. They need to integrate data from WFM and ACD systems o determine the best time to provide training without compromising contact center performance. Enterprises should consider providing agents with increased visibility into their own progress, allowing them to select and rate courses and monitor their own performance. Peer-to-peer training should be encouraged so that agents can learn from one another. Enterprises will find training an important tool in developing a successful contact center and should implement it to address core business objectives.

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Appendix

APPENDIX Definitions
E-learning this is the term used to describe training courses pushed to the agents desktop, usually delivered via a browser. The term e-coaching can also be used to mean the same type of application. E-learning courses are usually delivered as short sessions, no longer than 1015 minutes. They may include information about new products and services, quizzes and sections of recorded calls from previous transactions. Agents do not need to leave their desk to receive this type of training, and e-learning can be scheduled when agents have a short break or call volumes are low. Coaching coaching applications contain scheduling, delivery, and tracking tools for agent coaching. They are typically included as part of a WOTs suite, and training options are directly linked with key performance indicators (KPIs) such as customer satisfaction level, average call duration, or first call resolution (FCR). They allow managers to either define KPI-driven rules for automated assignment of training to agents, schedule messages to individual agents or groups based on their performance, or schedule classroom training. Coaching systems also monitor agents progress against performance indicators through reporting. Rather than assigning coaching individually, supervisors can group agents with the same skills gaps and push out training courses either ad-hoc or automatically through rules. The system creates a record of training for each agent so that follow-up sessions can be scheduled.

Authors
Aphrodite Brinsmead Analyst, Customer Interaction at Ovum aphrodite.brinsmead@ovum.com

Daniel Hong Lead Analyst, Customer Interaction at Ovum daniel.hong@ovum.com

Disclaimer
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Ovum (a Datamonitor company).

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Appendix

The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, conclusions and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect.

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