Call Centers in India- Challenges for HR Professionals!!!

Call Centers in India- Challenges for HR

Professionals!!!

Introduction

The term incoming call center is being doggedly challenged by many just as it is
becoming a household term. What is it? A center that handles telephone calls?
Hardly. Telephone calls are just one type of transaction. Further, the word center
doesn't accurately depict the many multi-site environments, nor the growing number
of organizations that have telecommuting programs.

Various individuals and organizations have tried to define call center but like
definitions of leadership "or" customer service many miss the mark or are created to
serve a specific purpose. So, let's go at this from a different angle. Characteristics of
a call center generally include:

• Calls go to a group of people, not a specific person. In other words, agents

are cross-trained to handle a variety of transactions.
• Generally, a special telecommunications system called an automatic call
distributor (ACD) is used to distribute calls among agents, and put calls in
queue when all agents are occupied. They also play messages: "All of our
customer service representatives are currently assisting other callers.
However, your call is very important to us..." Most call centers also make use
of advanced network services (e.g., 800 and 888 services) and voice
processing capabilities ("press one for this, two for that," or "please enter
your account number...").
• Agents have quick access to current information, via specialized database
programs. This means that any agent has access to the current status of your
account, products, services and other information.

Call centers represent a unique management challenge. Forecasting calls, calculating

staffing requirements, organizing sensible schedules, managing the environment in
real-time, and, in general, getting the right people in the right places at the right
times.

Call Centers in India

One the paradoxes of the call-center industry in India is that it requires English-
speaking university graduates to answer questions from US customers but offers
little in the way of advancement and intellectual stimulation. High turn-over rates
are inevitable if the economy keeps expanding and thus offers more compelling
employment options for well-educated Indians. Moreover, the rapid expansion of the
call sector may soon create a shortage of these qualified English-speaking college
graduates in India, pushing wages up and reducing India's competitiveness as one of
the premier destinations for company call-centers. This may not bode well for India's
economy, because outsourcing has become a significant engine of Indian rapid
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Call Centers in India- Challenges for HR Professionals!!!

economic growth. In the immediate future, however, it appears unlikely that the
India will lose its dominance over the call-center industry. – YaleGlobal

Having a call center in India is the norm for several global companies today. In order
to meet the growing international demand for cost-effective, customer-oriented call
centers, many organizations worldwide are outsourcing these services by setting up
call centers in India. But what makes call centers in India such an attractive option?
The country has intrinsic strengths which make it a major success as an outsource
destination for call center work:

A. A booming IT industry, with IT strengths recognized all over the world

B. The largest English-speaking population after the USA
C. A vast workforce of educated, English-speaking, tech-savvy personnel: A
boon in a high-growth industry faced with a shortage of skilled workers
D. Cost-effective manpower: In a call center operation, manpower typically
accounts for 55 to 60 percent of the total cost. In India, manpower is
available at a fraction of the cost overseas. However, some people get
deterred by the fact that cost savings are not seen immediately. Initial
investment in infrastructure and training can be expensive and make one
believe that the promise of cost reduction is false. However, there will be
savings and the fact that several global giants continue to set up call centers
in India is proof of this.
E. The Government of India has recognized the potential of IT-enabled services
and has taken positive steps by providing numerous incentives.
F. The presence of most international technology vendors and solutions would
enable creation of most advanced set-ups in this technology- intensive
segment.

One company in India proposes to harness the high-quality technical support

available here by hiring 300 Ph.D.'s to provide very high-end consulting through
videoconferencing/telephone. Given these advantages, India could build a $17 billion
industry by 2008 according to the NASSCOM McKinsey Report.

How large is the call center industry in India?

India's call center industry accounts for a quarter of all software and services exports
from the country, according to industry association Nasscom, and Indian call centers
employ 160,000 professionals. Daimler-Chrysler, British Telecom, Barclays Bank,
HSBC, Honeywell, Aventis, and several others have come to India while the old
timers of GE, British Airways, Citigroup, Amex, and others have been around for a
decade.

Various types of Call Centers

The 24/7 call centers totally concentrate on using the tactical skills and effective
processes during the inbound/outbound call process. Their success depends on

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Call Centers in India- Challenges for HR Professionals!!!

expertise, technological solutions, quality assurance programs and commitment to

customer service excellence. The different types of call centers are:

Inbound Call Center

An inbound center is one that handles calls coming in from outside, most often
through toll free numbers. These calls are primarily service and support calls, and
inbound sales.

The Working
The services of inbound call centers are designed to handle catalog orders, help desk
queries, dealer locations and more. They offer customized services that are
designed to meet the requirements of all kinds of businesses. The inbound call center
professionals process calls and integrate Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and/or
Internet services to sell additional products and offer services in a dedicated
environment.

They also integrate customer care services, predict customer behavior and take
action, while the customers are still on the line. The inbound call centers employ a
dedicated team of live operators, account representatives and program
managers. Offering 24/7 operator availability for the customers, these call centers
provide round-the-clock account management. The teams of qualified and
trained operators understands the business, products and services and perform to
deliver their best. Using advanced telephone service technology and
programming, these call centers lay great emphasis on attention to detail in
messaging and reporting of all inbound calls.

Inbound call centers offer communication services specifically designed to maximize

the efficiency of direct marketing efforts or to be a part of the technical support
team of the clients. They work together with you as a partner building a strong,
successful long-lasting relationship with customers.

Inbound call centers offer

• Skilled, professional, customer support and technical service representatives

• Improved market coverage
• Faster ramp-up, launch, and roll-out of new campaigns
• Experience with programs similar to yours
• Rapid response to market conditions
• Account management expertise
• Enhanced reporting capabilities
• Market testing capabilities

The 24/7 services of Inbound Call Centre comprise of:

• Order Processing
• Catalog Orders
• Consumer Response

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• Customer Service
• Dealer Locators
• Toll Free Response
• Help Desk
• Direct Mail Response
• Direct TV Response
• Print Media Response
• Website Response
• Seminar Registration
• Answering Service
• Inquiry Handling
• Email Management
• Product Technical Information
• Interactive Voice Response
• Sales Lead Qualification
• Technical Support
• Trade Show Registration

Outbound Call Center

The success of the Outbound Call Centers depends on the extensive experience,
technological solutions, quality assurance programs and commitment to customer
service excellence that further ensures maximum results from the direct marketing
efforts.

The Approach

The integrated call management systems in the outbound call center facilities use,
systematic calls to consumers and transfer successful connections to a
designated marketing representative (MR) who is dedicated and has been trained for
the specific client application. As a call is presented to the MR, the consumer's name,
address, and other available information are simultaneously presented on the MR's
workstation along with a client's customized script.

The outbound clients benefit from the rigorous adherence to highly cost-effective,
results-based production and management processes. The key to success is the
thorough understanding of the business. Having understood the differences between
business-to-consumer and business-to-business telemarketing, the outbound call
centers use experienced management to focus on the unique requirements of
each client and their targeted market - from recruiting to hiring, training and
production.

The qualified personnel employed in the outbound call centers excel in highly
attentive outbound call center service environment. The well developed and
thorough procedures ensure that the individuals on are prepared and accountable
for the success of programs.

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Services of Outbound Call Centers:

• Market Intelligence
• Database Selling
• Direct Mail Follow-up
• Lead Generation \ Qualification \ Management
• Seminar Population
• Product Promotion
• Debt Collection
• Information and Literature Fulfillment
• Appointment Scheduling
• Decision Maker Contacts
• Up Sell/Cross Sell Campaigns
• Surveys
• Customer Satisfaction

Web Enabled Call center

The Introduction

The market for Web-enabled call centers is burgeoning. For the past decade,
computer-telephony integration (CTI) has been one of the hottest topics to hit the
call center, promising reduced call volumes and handle times, as well as a higher
level of customized service. The global emphasis on electronic commerce and the
use of the Internet as a delivery channel has sparked the development of new CTI
applications that offer tremendous opportunities to call centers.

The Internet provides for a more complete alternative by supporting a full range of
transactions, almost regardless of their complexity. As its popularity continues to
increase, its impact as a delivery channel will improve dramatically and may
finally begin to stem the tide of demand for live agents. To ensure that the needs of
all users are met, websites must be integrated with the call center, giving customers
a full range of options without completely eliminating the valuable personal touch.

A web enabled call center improves the e-commerce initiatives by offering high
quality customer service. Various features offered by Web enabled call center are:

• Web Pop that automatically provides CSRs with a pop-up screen of client's
website, intranet or web script.
• Web Callback that helps the visitors of the client's website request a callback
from the CSRs by simply clicking and entering their name, telephone
information and time for call.
• Web Chat that assists visitors engaged in a live, two-way text chat directly
from client's site to a trained agent. They can obtain answers to questions or

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resolve customer service issues without having to disconnect from the

Internet or use a phone.
• Web Push allows CSRs to assist client's website visitor to find out
information through guided "browsing."
• Email Management - This manages high-volume email inquiries directed to
client's mailbox or produced via a Website. The incoming messages are
tracked and provided an appropriate auto reply message to the customers
letting them know that their email has been received.

CRM Call Center

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a worthwhile endeavor to ensure

good returns on investment. In a CRM call center, customers communicate in
multiple ways that include phone, e-mail, Web chat, personal sales representative,
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and a host of others.

The Working

The CRM software integrates all the forms of customer contact into a central
history database where they can be retrieved or viewed together. Using CRM
software, a customer issue can be tracked from the original point of contact
through to resolution.

CRM call centers help companies realign their entire organization around
customers. And thus, is a strategic business initiative. Sales, Marketing and
Service as well as other groups are connected and coordinated through the CRM
applications. Before a call is made to the customer, all recent activity for that
customer should be reviewed to be informed of recent events. Then a sales
strategy needs to planned based upon observed opportunities. The use of CRM
software in the call center allows the assignment of a value to each customer if
the culture supports that philosophy. With that feature, one can choose how to
interact with that customer.

CRM helps the company identify most valuable customers and understanding their
lifetime values. Using CRM, the call centers design the organization systems and
service to best meet the needs of customers and maximize their value. CRM is
intended for long-term relationship building. Besides capturing the different forms
of customer interaction, CRM allows you to capture and store all available
customer information in the central history database. This allows agents the
ability to pull up a customer's entire history while the two interact. Communication
and service are more effective and efficient. Most CRM products also track trends in
purchasing and customer feedback.

Telemarketing Call Center

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Telemarketing call centers specialize in developing and implementing professional

inbound/outbound B2B and B2C telemarketing lead generation, appointment setting,
telesales and market research programs.

The Understanding

Telemarketing refers to the business or practice of marketing goods or services by

telephone. It is the act of selling, promoting or soliciting a product over the
telephone. Reliable telemarketing is an essential part of the organization's working
to enhance sales and increase profits. Combining the best of personnel,
processes and progressive technologies, the telemarketing call centers serve as
highly reliable specialist resource for organizations seeking outstanding
performance and results.

The telemarketing call centers provide customized telephone services that reveal
the valued techniques used by successful telephone sales and support
professionals. The fully automated, state-of-the-art call center equipments and
custom software enables the call centers to field thousands of calls daily for each
client with a high degree of professionalism and customization. The clients
receive superior quality, experience and courteous service, coupled with the
advanced technical capabilities. The call centers are staffed 24x7 and 365 days
and they totally concentrate on using the tactical skills and effective processes
during inbound/outbound call process.

Phone Call Center

The phone call centers offer flexible call routing, superior IVR capacity and predictive
dialing systems.

The Concept

Utilizing advanced telephony and Internet technology, the Customer Service

Representatives (CSRs) in the phone call centers provide accurate and timely
information for the most complex inbound or outbound programs. The phone call
centers offer personalized call management by a team of professional operators
who know about the client and his business.

The phone call centers provide 24/7 answering and business services that help
keep the customers satisfied. This is essential as the call centers could be loosing
customers because of not answering the phone when they called and also as they
expect answers to questions immediately. The customers expect the call centers to
work around their busy schedules. The call centers are equipped with top-of-the-
line communications technology.

The phone call centers focus on building trust and understanding with every
interaction between the company and its customers. They thoroughly understand the
fundamentals, as well as the subtleties of the client's business. The go beyond
mere data gathering to give the customers, timely information that supports rapid
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decision-making. The friendly, courteous and professional operators offer excellent

service. They are trained to convey the rightful impression of the company.

Challenges for HR Professionals in Call Centers

I) Staff Turnover

Strategies For Combating Staff Turnover

Across the call center industry, there have been 12 typical causes of call center
turnover, including (in no specific order):

• Pace of effort required

• Sense of powerlessness or lack of control
• Frustration of not being allowed to do a good job
• Repetition
• Daily physical confinement (tied to their desk)
• Over-regimentation
• The feeling of being spied on
• The feeling of not being appreciated by others in the organization
• Handling complaints and problems all day
• Odd work hours
• Pay
• Better opportunities elsewhere

Of course, not all will apply in each case, but one or two are likely to be the biggest
culprits. In this case, I'd start by asking what changed in the internal and external
environments from the period of no turnover to the current situation of 30 +percent
turnover? Which of these 12 factors stand out?

Pay could be a problem if you're not keeping pace with the market. As the call center
environment becomes more complex, I think a lot of organizations are going to have
to do some soul-searching on the importance and commensurate remuneration
associated with these jobs. Many managers are quick to point out that pay is just
one factor, and often not the most important; true, but there's a point at which this
argument gets carried too far. Reality is, there are lots of opportunity out there for
competent, personable people who have both technical and communication skills.
That said, if you truly are paying market rates, there should be relatively small,
incremental differences between what you and others are offering. The following
have been proven time and again to have a direct, positive bearing on turnover and
morale:

• Broaden and extend the training your agents receive and the responsibilities
they have.

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• Involve them in managing the call center -- quality improvement, forecasting,

and collaboration with other teams and departments, establishing schedules,
etc.
• Ensure they have an understanding of (and involvement in) the direction and
values of the organization.
• Ensure that your call center is accessible (maintain good service levels) so
that you're not burying agents in customers frustrated from the start.

II) Career Path for staff involved in Operations

Creating Career Paths

You may need to get creative with job titles and compensation practices within the
call center. If you only have 10 agents in the call center and little or no room for
advancement out of the call center within your company, develop different "micro"
job tiers for which agents can strive. Use such titles as "contact specialist,"
"advanced contact specialist," "expert contact specialist," and "lead contact
specialist/supervisor. But don't insult agents' intelligence by creating only new job
titles - be sure to tie in formal skill sets and knowledge requirements needed to
achieve each "contact specialist" level, and, most importantly, implement a skills-
based pay program that rewards agents financially for continual development. To
help fend-off/reduce agent burnout in a small environment, tap the talent and
creativity of each agent when working on off-phone projects. Empowering agents
and creating job diversity is essential to retaining staff in a small call center for as
long as possible.

III) Key performance measurements for individuals

Want to start a lively discussion among call center managers? Float the issue of
performance measurements for reps. Since performance measurements are usually
tied to expectations and standards, that will raise issues about fairness, what reps
can and can't control, why people have different capabilities and drives, and the
processes they are working within. Few subjects elicit such strong and varied
opinion.

Consequently, there are about as many different sets of performance measurements

and standards as there are call centers. Here, we will look three types of
performance measurements -- calls per hour, adherence and qualitative
measurements -- commonly used in assessing individual performance. We'll also
discuss why calls per hour are fading, while the other two types of measurements
continue to gain acceptance.

Calls Per Hour Is Fading

Traditionally, calls per hour have been an almost universal productivity
measurement. In fact, many call center managers have viewed calls per hour as
virtually synonymous with "productivity." Sure, there have always been concerns
about sacrificing quality for quantity. But, in practice, calls per hour has been the
preferred benchmark for establishing productivity standards, comparing performance
among reps and groups, and assessing the impact of changes and improvements to
the call center.

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However, as a measure of performance, calls per hour is (and always has been)
problematic. Many of the variables that impact calls per hour are out of the rep's
control: call arrival rate, type of calls, knowledge of callers, communication ability of
callers, accuracy of the forecast and schedule, adherence to schedule (of others in
the group) and absenteeism, to name a few.

There are also mathematical realities at work that are not within the control of an
individual. For example, smaller groups are less efficient (have lower occupancy)
than larger groups, at a given service level. Since the number of calls is changing
throughout the day, so does average calls per hour for a group or an individual in the
group.

And, as is often pointed out, if calls per hour are over-emphasized, quality can suffer.
Reps may even "trick" the system to increase their call count and achieve a
standard. (Many call center managers get a sheepish smile when this point comes up
in discussion. One could surmise that more than a few, once upon a time, have
"accidentally" clicked off or erroneously transferred a call or two).

Some call center managers convert raw calls per hour into an adjusted measurement
that is more fair and meaningful. For example, occupancy, which is not within the
control of an individual, can be "neutralized" by dividing call handled by percent
occupancy. Others go a step further, and develop statistical control charts to
determine whether the process is in control, what it's producing, and which reps, if
any, are outside of "statistical control."

But even with further analysis, calls per hour begins to lose meaning as technologies
such as CTI, skills based routing, and web integration, which enable increasingly
sophisticated and varied call handling routines, proliferate. For many who have
depended on calls per hour, this has left a vacuum: How can we measure
productivity in an increasingly varied and complex environment? Enter adherence
and qualitative measurements, which continue to gain acceptance.

Adherence Measurements
Adherence factor, or signed-on time, is a measurement of how much time an
individual is available to handle calls versus the time he or she was scheduled to
handle calls. If adherence factor is 85%, a rep would be expected to be in adherence
.85 x 60 minutes, or 51 minutes on average per hour. Adherence consists of all
plugged-in time, including talk time, after call work (wrap-up) time, waiting for the
next call, and necessary outgoing calls. Lunch, breaks, training, etc., are not counted
as time assigned to handle calls. Adherence factor should be established at a level
that is reasonable and that reflects the many things that legitimately keep reps from
the phones. It should also flexible (adjustable downward) when call volumes are low.
Some have developed adherence factor into a more refined measurement that also
incorporates timing -- when was a person available to take calls, in addition to how
much time they were available. The idea is to ensure that people are plugged in mid-
morning when calls are barreling in, and saving special projects for Thursday and
Friday afternoon when calls slow down. ACD and forecasting/staffing software has
improved adherence reporting significantly in recent years.

The advantage of adherence factor is that it is reasonably objective. Reps cannot

control variables such as the number of staff scheduled to answer calls, the number

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of calls coming in, the distribution of long and short calls or the distribution of easy
and difficult calls. But they can generally control how available they are to take calls.

Qualitative Measurements
In most call centers, qualitative criteria, which focus on knowledge of products and
services, customer service and call handling skills, and the policies of the
organization, continue to become more refined and specific. Most use some form of
monitoring (silent, with a beep tone, side by side, or record and review) to evaluate
individual performance and identify training and coaching needs.

An important and developing aspect of quality is that reps take the necessary time to
do the job right -- no more, no less. This means not rushing calls, but also not
spending excess time on calls over and above what is necessary to satisfy callers and
handle them completely and correctly. If qualitative measurements are refined
enough to insure that reps are spending the appropriate amount of time handling
calls, then adherence and qualitative measurements make a powerful pair. In fact,
measuring calls per hour is unnecessary.

This is easier said than done in environments where qualitative measurements are
vague and indeterminate. And, many managers still believe that tracking production
outputs, such as calls per hour or average handling time, is necessary. But the trend
is clear: well-defined qualitative measurements are beginning to erode reliance on
measurements that are after-the-fact outputs.

Conclusion
Calls per hour, which used to be an almost ubiquitous productivity measurement, is
fading. It is increasingly being replaced by focused and specific qualitative and
adherence measurements. Reps can concentrate on being available, and on handling
each transaction according to its individual needs. If implemented well, qualitative
and adherence measurements can cultivate a better working environment, better
quality -- and higher productivity.

Research in Call Center Industry

1) When asked what measures comprise the key performance indicators in their call
centers, respondents to the Prosci study cited, in rank order, the following:

• Service level and/or average speed of answer

• Service quality and customer satisfaction (monitoring results and customer
surveys)
• Abandonment rate
• Call volume
• Handle time
• Revenue, sales and cost data

http://www.call-center.net/ccstudy-practices.htm

2) A study conducted by supportindustry.com featured the following findings

regarding call center metrics:

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• 16% of respondents handle 80% or more of their support incidents on first

contact, while 23% have a first-call resolution rate of 65%-80%.
• 22% of respondents enjoy an average abandonment rate of less that 1%,
while another 41% have a rate of from 1% to 5%.
• 7% of respondents answer a call in less than five seconds, while another 25% do
so in 6-15 seconds. On the high end, nearly 20% take more than a minute to
answer calls. www.supportindustry.com

3) Call centers participating in Purdue Research Foundation's benchmarking study

reported that their agent's attendance averages 86.81%, their average adherence to
schedule is 85.09%, and the average occupancy rate is 74.54%. Purdue Research
Foundation Benchmark Performance Report

4) Purdue Research Foundation's benchmarking study found that participating call

centers answered calls on average after 35.1 seconds, abandoned 5.85% of calls,
kept customers in queue an average of 45.6 seconds, and resolved 71.96% of caller
inquiries on the first call. Purdue Research Foundation Benchmark Performance
Report

5) Leading call centers perform staffing forecasts more frequently and better than
average call centers, according to a study by Hackett Benchmarking & Research.
More than half of the first-quartile centers are forecasting staff requirements weekly
or better, 57% vs. 30% at average centers. Top performers are achieving the
industry's standard for staffing forecast accuracy, 71% of the time vs. 62% accuracy
at the average contact center. Hackett Benchmarking & Research

6) Datamonitor, Inc. found that companies often do not know the effect on their
return on investment (ROI) from their Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
programs. Of 500 companies surveyed, only 15% reported a positive effect, while
15% said ROI remained the same, 5% said it decreased ROI, and fully 65% could
not quantify the impact. Datamonitor, Inc.

Strategic Decisions for a Call Center

Improving Forecast

Matching up call center resources with the demands of the workload is a critical part
of call center planning. This responsibility goes to the heart of Incoming Calls
Management Institute's definition of call center management: Incoming call center
management is the art of having the right number of people and supporting
resources in place at the right times to handle an accurately forecasted workload at
service level, and with quality.

Accurately predicting the workload presents one of the most important, and often
most challenging steps in this effort. Without a good workload forecast, the rest of
call center planning is an "uphill battle" at best. And, when predictions are off the
mark, there is a tendency to look to those who do the forecasts for explanations.
However, the person (or group) who does the forecasting may be highly trained,
equipped with the latest in forecasting software, and armed with every conceivable

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ACD and database report and still be unable to produce good forecasts if they aren't
made aware of what marketing is up to or if reps are handling calls inconsistently.
Twelve ways to improve the predictability of the workload are summarized below.
Each is outside the realm of what is usually thought to be the forecasting process.
Yet, each is essential to an accurate forecast.

1) Use ACD modes consistently. Each rep has an impact on the components of
handling time (talk time and after call work) and, therefore, on the data that will be
used in forecasting and planning for future callloads. When the queue is building, it
can be tempting to postpone some after call work (wrap-up) that should be done at
the time of the call. This skews reports, causes planning problems and may lead to
increased errors. An important and ongoing training issue is to define ahead of time
which types of work should follow calls and which types of work can wait.

2) Emphasize quality. Supervisors and reps can feel that the pressure of a backed-
up queue forces them to make tough tradeoffs between seemingly competing
objectives, such as service level and quality. However, although service level and
quality seem to be at odds in the short term, poor quality will negatively impact
service level over time by contributing to repeat calls and other forms of waste and
rework. This will contribute to workload volatility and inconsistencies. The emphasis
should be on handling each call correctly, regardless of how backed up the queue is.

3) Avoid callbacks. Many call centers have discovered the hard way that giving
callers the option to leave a message when the queue gets backed up often
backfires. For example, you may call back only to get perpetual busies, ring-no-
answers, voice mail or somebody else in the person's work area ("sorry, she stepped
away for a moment"). And in the meantime, the caller may call the call center again.
A minority of call centers do have success with a callback strategy, particularly when
reps have to do some amount of preparation in order to handle the calls, or when the
center is flooded with calls because of a once-in-awhile occurrence. Still, most call
centers find that, in the end, it makes more sense to handle the inbound calls when
they arrive.

4) Anticipate and manage growth. Do an analysis of the likely impact of growth

on your call center. This often takes the form of a chart or document that illustrates
the projected costs and time-frames of growing the call center in increments, such as
ten percent growth in call load, twenty percent growth, thirty percent growth, and so
on. The document should illustrate required lead-times and key decision points
associated with things like additional workstations, new or upgraded equipment, or a
new facility

5) Develop better ties with other departments. This should be an ongoing effort
in any call center. Most of what happens in a call center is caused by something
going on outside the center. The forecast is doomed if strong ties with other
departments don't exist. There's no substitute for knowing well in advance when
marketing is running the next campaign, when manufacturing is releasing the new
products and when finance is redesigning the terms and conditions.

6) Make forecasting a collaborative process. Involve supervisors and lead reps

in the forecasting process, on a rotating basis. This yield two positive results: 1) they
will better understand the pulse of the call-load and what's behind the schedules

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Call Centers in India- Challenges for HR Professionals!!!

(and will often adhere to them better as a result), and 2) because they are
continually dealing with callers, they have their "ear to the ground" and can help
anticipate caller reactions to changes and developments in the marketplace and the
organization's services.

7) Track absenteeism. If you are part of a network of call centers or if you have
overflow routines established between call center groups, absenteeism in one area
has a direct impact on the workload in another. It is important to anticipate
absenteeism in advance and, contrary to conventional wisdom, it is reasonably
predictable. For example, in work groups with typical Monday through Friday
schedules, unscheduled absenteeism tends to be higher on Monday and Friday than
the other days of the week. Have someone track absenteeism, and look for patterns.

8) Anticipate the factors affecting caller tolerance. The seven factors of caller
tolerance include motivation, availability of substitutes, competition's service level,
level of expectations, time available, who's paying for the call and human behavior.
Putting some thought into these factors goes a long ways towards anticipating caller
behavior.

9) Track and manage non-phone activities. Forecasting non-phone activities

such as research and correspondence is a challenge. Many call center managers,
used to having detailed information on the call-load, long for similar reports on non-
phone activities. Fortunately, as with inbound calls, these activities often occur in
predictable patterns, and usually have a strong correlation to other forecasts, such
as the inbound call-load, units of sales or number of customers (and they are usually
a lot less time-sensitive than incoming calls). Investigate the tracking capabilities in
your ACD, forecasting/staffing software and computer database. As a last resort,
track these activities manually, as they occur.

10) Better educate callers. The inbound call-load tends to be less erratic when
callers are aware of other service alternatives (e.g. services via faxback, voice
response units or the World Wide Web). Billing inserts, focused advertisements,
newsletter articles, and customer support sections in user manuals are all examples
of ways to better educate callers on the service alternatives available.

11) Minimize transferred and escalated calls. An excessive number of

transferred and escalated calls will wreck havoc on the workload forecast. Utilize
quality improvement tools, such as flow charts and cause and effect diagrams (see
Service Level Newsletter, Notes column, May 1995) to address root causes. Common
problems include insufficient training, insufficient authority, incomplete or missing
database information and poor call routing design (e.g. calls often end up in the
wrong place to begin with).

12) Accomplish as much as possible during talk time. When tasks related to
inbound calls can be completed with the caller still on the line, errors are usually
reduced. Further, the time reps would otherwise spend in more discretionary (and
less predictable) work modes, such as after call work or auxiliary modes, is
minimized.

Conclusion

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Call Centers in India- Challenges for HR Professionals!!!

Call centers with good forecasts do not necessarily have inherently stable
environments. Rather, they have established good ties with other departments,
pulled in the data required, and established a forecasting process they are
continually working to improve. They recognize that the responsibility for producing a
good workload forecast cannot rest solely on the person or group who "does" the
forecasting. Instead, they view forecasting as a call center-wide process and work on
all contributing factors.

Key performance measurements (KPIs) in a call center

A significant amount of information is required to effectively manage a call center.

We need, for example, data on caller needs and expectations, the queue and caller
tolerance, the load on the system, agent activities and performance, call patterns,
cost components, the activities of other parts of the organization and conditions in
the external environment. But we must also be able climb above the detail and
assess overall performance, without the need to review dozens of reports. The
question is, what measures can adequately summarize the numerous activities of a
call center? While any measure by itself has the potential to mislead, the ten reports
summarized below generally give a good synopsis of the call center's performance
when they are interpreted together.

Average Call Value (Sales and Reservations Only)

This measure is generally calculated by dividing total revenue generated by number
of calls. This has historically been, and continues to be, a top priority in sales and
reservations environments.

Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is, without doubt, a top priority. Most call centers conduct
surveys via either outbound calls or mail to randomly selected callers. Some call
centers contract with outside firms to conduct surveys and prepare the results, while
others do the surveys themselves. And a growing number of call centers are
automating some surveys; callers are transferred into a VRU that guides them
through a series of questions and allows them to respond via touch tone.

Service Level
Service level takes the form of X percent answer in Y seconds (such as 80 percent of
calls answered in 20 seconds), and is a high level measure of how fast callers get
through to reps. The best managed call centers take service level seriously, and
strive to meet it as consistently as possible. An appropriately selected service level
objective should mean that answering calls less quickly (or a lot more quickly) would
actually cost money, not save it.

Percent Abandoned
Abandonment is a an ongoing concern in incoming call centers. If callers hang up
before we get a chance to talk to them, we are missing the opportunity to make
them happy, sell to them and solve their customer service problems. However,
abandonment is difficult to accurately forecast (and, therefore, staff around) and is
often a misleading indication of the queue callers experienced. In the final analysis,
we can control how accessible we are -- how many trunks we have, how many skilled
reps are plugged in. But we can't control how callers will react or the myriad of

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circumstances that influence their behavior. Accordingly, be sure to view

abandonment in light of the other measures, and in consideration of the callers'
circumstances.

Cost Per Call

There are various ways to calculate cost per call (i.e. what factors to include in staff
costs, how to allocate equipment, how to value the building) but the basic formula is
to divide total costs by total calls received for a given period of time (usually a
month). The potential in following cost per call is to identify the variables that are
driving it upwards or downwards, and the impact they have.

A climbing cost per call can be a good sign, depending on the variables driving it up.
For example, process improvements may result in fewer calls than would otherwise
be necessary (e.g. eliminating the need for customer callbacks, improving the VRU
and coordinating with other departments to eliminate problems that generate calls).
As a result, the fixed costs (in the numerator) get spread over fewer calls (in the
denominator), driving cost per call up. But, of course, total costs will go down over
time, because the elimination of waste and rework will drive down variable costs.
(Similarly, cost per call usually goes down during the busy times of the year, and up
during the slower times of year).

Errors and Rework

A major theme of the quality movement is that good service pays for itself because
of the elimination of things that come with a lack of quality: doing work over,
correcting mistakes, handling complaints, increased public relations costs, canceled
orders or subscriptions, costs of closing accounts, costs of inspection, and others.
Errors and rework are often part of a cycle. For example, errors and rework consume
valuable staff time, which can lead to insufficient staffing to handle the incoming
workload; insufficient staffing tends to lead to high occupancy, unhappy callers and
increased stress on the staff -- which contributes to errors and rework. So, reducing
errors and rework has a positive impact on service level, morale, customer
satisfaction and costs. A variation on errors and rework is a measure of the percent
of calls completed on the first attempt, which has become an increasingly important
measure in many call centers.

Errors and rework can be measured in a number of ways. For example, the database
may allow you to track repeat calls, unresolved issues and errors in data entry.
Monitoring or side-by-side coaching should detect and track specific problems that
are occurring during call handling. Call coding in the ACD (where reps use codes to
track specific types of calls and issues) can trace problems. And transferred calls,
escalated calls, customer complaints and correspondence (both to and from
customers) can be additional sources of information.

Forecast Call-load to Actual

Underestimating calling demand will mask and defeat all other efforts to provide
good service, and overestimating demand results in waste. Good forecasting comes
from constantly tracking results and making improvements to the forecasting
process. Common practice is to blend quantitative "time series" forecasting
(projecting out existing call patterns) with judgmental forecasting (for example, what
is marketing about to do? new terms and procedures? process changes? interest

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Call Centers in India- Challenges for HR Professionals!!!

rates? the weather?). If the forecast is off by much, we need to identify which
variables caused the problems, and factor them in (or out) in the future.

Scheduled Staff to Actual

This measure is independent of whether we actually have the staff necessary to
acheive a targeted service level. How well do the staff we have adhere to schedule?
If this is a problem, why?

Adherence To Schedule
Adherence factor is a measure of how much time an individual is on the phone,
available to take calls, and generally consists of all plugged-in time, including talk
time, wrap-up time, waiting to receive calls, and necessary outgoing calls. Generally,
when adherence factor improves (goes up), service level goes up and occupancy
goes down. Adherence factor is not just an issue of how much, but also an issue of
when -- when during the course of the day, are reps are plugged in and available to
take calls?

Conclusion
In conclusion, there are a few things to keep in mind. One, as Gordon MacPherson
pointed out in The Great Call Center Brain Teaser, is that these are high-level output
measurements, and focusing on them won't inherently improve them. To make
improvements, we have to improve the factors that cause them to be where they
are. Second, as with any measure, we must ensure that they are as accurate,
complete and unbiased as possible. Finally, they should be interpreted in light of how
they relate to each other; by themselves, any can lead to erroneous conclusions, but
together they paint a fairly complete, high-level picture of call center performance.

Concluding Remarks

BPO industry, as a whole can be divided into two-voice based and non-voice based.
HR policies and strategies required to succeed in each segment are different. This
report is an overview of voice based BPO industry.

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