VPI ─ ENABLINGCONTACT CENTERSTO ACHIEVE THEIR

GOALS WITHPERFORMANCE

ANALYTICS

A Frost & Sullivan Whitepaper

Sponsored by

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction – The Current Marketplace 3

Service Delivery Challenges 3

Addressing the Challenges 5

Performance Analytics Solution Benefits 6

Customer Case Studies 9

Choosing the Right Vendor 11

Conclusion 11

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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INTRODUCTION – THE CURRENT MARKETPLACE

The current business environment makes it harder than ever for enterprises to createsustainable competitive advantage. Globalization and the associated advances ininformation technology have created intense competition and given customers a multitudeof options that they never had before. In these environments, superb customer service isoften a key differentiator that promotes customer loyalty and reduces propensity toswitch to competitors. Also, today’s customer is extremely sophisticated and has higherexpectations for customer care. Supported by effective business processes, well-trainedagents have the ability not only to meet these expectations, but to also influencecustomer behavior and promote customer advocacy. Insights yielded by comprehensiveperformance and customer interaction analytics solutions help enterprises strengthen andexpand their competitive position. Currently available advanced analytics solutionsenhance agent performance continuously and in real time, accelerate response tocustomer problems, and tap into opportunities to generate new business from anorganization’s existing customer base.

A wide variety of enterprise-wide job functions and processes impact and influence thecustomer in different ways. For most organizations, the contact center represents theprimary customer interface. Customers often evaluate the quality of service given by anenterprise based on their experiences with its front-line staff. Consequently, in this eraof sophisticated customers, the contact center represents a key service channel. Theeffectiveness of agents within the contact center in delivering quality customer care hasbeen proven to be a critical factor in influencing customer loyalty. A number of trainingand coaching tools available today help in identifying and addressing agent skill gaps andenhancing performance. Training and coaching tools tightly integrated with analyticssystems further empower agents by providing the right information at the right timethereby driving greater effectiveness in meeting customer needs.

SERVICE DELIVERY CHALLENGES

Most enterprises have very high expectations of their customer service operation.Success is measured across multiple parameters, such as the ability to reduce costs,improve customer satisfaction, lower AHT, improve quality, keep agents happy andproductive, and so on. Yet, these goals often compete with each other. For example,contact center managers are frequently tasked with increasing customer satisfaction andretention, while contending with diminishing resources, and increasingly tight budgets.

Today’s contact center environment is incredibly complex with support for multi-site andmulti-channel operations, an increase in the number of remote agents, as well as the issueof offshore outsourcing of contact centers. Consequently, consolidating and evaluatingcontact center performance in these complex environments is more difficult and crucialthan ever before.

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“Advanced analyticssolutions enhance agentperformancecontinuously and inreal time, accelerateresponse to customerproblems, and tap intoopportunities togenerate newbusiness.”

“Training and coachingtools tightly integratedwith analytics systemsfurther empower agentsby providing the rightinformation at theright time therebydriving greatereffectiveness in meetingcustomer needs.”

The average contact center spends between 60-70 percent of its annual budget on itsworkforce. Optimizing and effectively managing this workforce significantly impacts thebottom line and holds the key to helping contact centers control costs while improvingservice levels. High agent attrition rates continue to be a major challenge for contactcenters of all sizes and functions. Targeted agent training combined with appropriatereward/ recognition programs and a well-defined career development path are crucial –not only in creating more satisfied, motivated employees, but also in driving incrementalimprovements in customer satisfaction and advocacy levels.

An increasing number of calls for standard service requests are now being handled viaself-service channels such as IVR and the Web. The balance of calls transferred to theagent require superior handling skills and present immense revenue opportunities, whichhave better chances of realization if handled effectively by well trained agents.Consequently, from an enterprise perspective, effective agent training is one of the keypriorities for contact centers. This trend is one of the most significant drivers for e-learning and coaching applications within contact centers.

While improving agent effectiveness is a major goal for contact center managers,optimizing the entire customer service process, via a variety of touch points within theenterprise, is also becoming important. Very often, problems in the underlying process orin back-office operations can impact service delivery, regardless of an organization’sefforts to train and coach their agents. Therefore, any effort to improve the customerexperience and drive high levels of satisfaction will not be complete without optimizingassociated business processes.

Contact centers contain a variety of technologies geared to improve performance in oneor more functional areas, e.g. quality monitoring to improve agent performance,workforce management for effective scheduling, elearning to deal with agent skill gaps,ACD systems for effective call routing, CTI systems for customer information screenpops, IVR for self-service etc. All of these products are deployed with the objective ofenhancing the productivity and efficiency of contact center operations, thus resulting in apositive customer experience. Each of these technologies has an individual reportingmechanism that yields important performance parameters. However, the parameters offera rather one-dimensional perspective. Acting on such parameters will bring aboutimprovements in just one functional area and may or may not result in the incrementalimprovement of the customer experience as a whole. Such isolated information silos canonly yield very limited benefits, when compared with the exponential benefits that can beaccrued by a holistic approach to performance optimization.

Technology and software in the contact center environment though catering to distinctfunctional areas, are all related and draw on information from each other to enhanceefficiency. Performance analytics products give a snapshot of performance across all ofthese functional areas, thereby driving contact center and agent productivity up to totallydifferent levels.

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“Any effort to improvethe customerexperience and drivehigh levels ofsatisfaction will not becomplete withoutoptimizing associatedbusiness processes.”

Performance analytics products give a snapshot of performance across all of these functional areas. VPI’sActiv! Intelligence performance analytics solution integrates data and information from disparate sourcesand presents it in clear, easy-to-understand reports (above) that allow users to drill down to a verygranular level and playback associated call recordings for review.

ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

The pursuit of contact center performance improvement has, until very recently, been allabout cost cutting and tracking a narrow selection of expense numbers. The change in theprofile of the contact center to a more strategic asset within the enterprise has givenway to a more holistic assessment of contact center performance: one that includes acombination of quantitative and qualitative measures. It thus becomes imperative tomeasure performance not just on the basis of cost-containment statistics such as averagehandle time, but also on measures that tie contact center performance to the objectivesof the enterprise, such as the value or revenue outcome of the call. Leading enterprisesare beginning to understand the implications of shortsighted cost reduction crusades oncustomer satisfaction and quality of service, and are striving to strike a balance betweenefficiency and effectiveness in the contact center customer service operations.

No customer care operation can succeed without the right underlying technologies.State-of-the art call routing and self service technologies play an important role inminimizing customer hold times, whereas workforce management technology helps matchcustomer calls to the agent with the right skill set. Quality monitoring solutions offerinsights into agent skill gaps, which can be addressed by associated e-learning products.For technology-heavy contact centers, it is extremely challenging to effectivelyconsolidate all of these disparate technologies, and unify them under one performanceoptimization strategy, which would allow for centralized tracking of progress.To enable a holistic approach to performance optimization within the contact center, a

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“Enterprises arebeginning tounderstand theimplications ofshortsighted costreduction … and arestriving to strike abalance betweenefficiency andeffectiveness in thecontact center customerservice operations.”

number of progressive enterprises are currently implementing performance analyticsproducts. The value of performance analytics solutions in continuously driving incrementalenhancements within agent and contact center performance is becoming increasinglyevident. Enterprises that commit themselves to sophisticated performance analyticssolutions are infinitely better positioned to assess, understand, anticipate, and meet theneeds of their customers. With their ability to access, process, and present up-to-the-minute performance statistics, real time analytics are invaluable in helping enterprisesimplement proactive measures to drive customer service excellence. Modifying andimproving the behavior of agents based on real time information helps enterprises containproblems before they have a chance to magnify and escalate. With real time access toinformation, enterprises also gain the advantage of uncovering opportunities and trendsfaster and more accurately than their competitors, allowing them to more effectivelymeet the needs of their customers and dramatically improve revenues and profits.

Sophisticated real time performance analytics systems, such as those developed by VPI,also present new opportunities for much more relevant, targeted and proactive agenttraining, via tight integration with e-learning and messaging modules. Training content isdelivered to the right agents at the right time, based on rules that combine their needsand performance results, derived from telephony and business data continuously collectedand processed by the performance analytics systems.

Due to the emergence of more customized, individualized, just-in-time training optionsthat are much more agile and proactive than traditional e-learning, electronic coaching isbecoming a more relevant term for the training function within today’s progressivecontact centers.

PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS SOLUTION BENEFITS

Performance Analytics solutions yield several benefits to end-users. Lets take a look atsome of these benefits:

Attractive ROI and Quantifiable BenefitsPerformance analytics solutions have attractive ROI cycles of between six to12 months.Vendor case studies have revealed quantifiable benefits with double digit savings in areassuch as: average talk time, time agents spent on line, sickness and absence, average holdtime, agent attrition, quality scores, first call resolution, etc. All of the above result inincreased productivity, customer satisfaction, and revenue, coupled with a significantreduction in costs.

Proactive Planning and Informed Decision MakingPerformance views can be presented in the form of reports or dashboards delivered toemployee desktops on a daily basis and customized based on their specific scope ofinterest and responsibility. Presenting updated information in real time or near real timeoffers even greater benefits to contact centers seeking ways to improve decision-making

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“Enterprises thatcommit themselves tosophisticatedperformance analyticssolutions are infinitelybetter positioned toassess, understand,anticipate, and meetthe needs of theircustomers.”

“Sophisticated realtime performanceanalytics systems, suchas those developed byVPI, also present newopportunities for muchmore relevant,targeted, and proactiveagent training, via tightintegration with e-learning and messagingmodules.”

“Performance analyticssolutions haveattractive ROI cycles ofbetween six to 12months.”

and performance. Information presented in a timely fashion can aid contact centermanagers in identifying and rectifying problems proactively through early recognition oftrends and patterns. The key is to get this information quickly, so that managers cancorrect unfolding problems before they have a chance to escalate and magnify.

VPI’s real-time performance dashboards can display both individual and group metrics , sales data,messages, links to training, FAQs and other content that help drive performance and enable agents andmanagers to be proactive – to actively identify, intervene, and optimize rather than wait and react.

Increase Employee Satisfaction and MotivationPerformance analytics solutions are more than just reports, or snapshots of performancefor management purposes. Real-time performance metrics, when appropriately formattedand presented to agents, may be leveraged to serve as means of influencing changes inagent behavior. Agents can, on a daily basis, see their performance statistics at anindividual and group level. Awards and recognition programs tied into these performancestatistics allow agents to see the correlation between activity and compensation. Agentsare quickly able to recognize the behaviors and actions that translate into rewards andare motivated and empowered to improve accordingly. These applications are thusimportant tools in optimizing performance, while also increasing agent satisfaction andmotivation.

Dashboards can be customized and sized to display a variety of important real time and historicalperformance metrics on multiple scrolling views to have minimal impact on desktop real estate

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“Information presentedin a timely fashion canaid contact centermanagers in identifyingand rectifying problemsproactively throughearly recognition oftrends and patterns.”

“VPI’s real-timeperformancedashboards help driveperformance andenable agents andmanagers to beproactive – to activelyidentify, intervene, andoptimize rather thanwait and react.”

“Performance analyticsapplications areimportant tools inoptimizingperformance, whilealso increasing agentsatisfaction andmotivation.”

Scorecards provide agents their own performance results , empowering them to improve their productivityby showing them how they are tracking to their goals . Managers can quickly see where individualimprovements need to be made, and take proactive measures to improve agent performance.

Consolidated Reporting Results in Time Savings and Cost ReductionContact center managers currently rely on a number of systems and reportingmechanisms to get a sense of their evolving contact center performance. Presenting asnapshot of performance across these various software applications and technologiesfrom a single source reduces administrative workloads and increases transparency, givingmanagers and supervisors quick insights and time to focus on more critical tasks.

Consolidated, multi-site, multi-system, web-based reports that show both real-time and historical callstatistics and performance data on an agent, group or site basis; reporting successes and highlightingwhere adjustments need to be made

Align Operational Objectives with Corporate GoalsThe profile of the contact center within the enterprise is slowly but surely undergoingchange. Contact centers are strategic, customer-facing assets with a great deal ofinfluence on customer satisfaction and retention. Aligning contact center operational

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“Presenting a snapshotof performance … froma single source reducesadministrativeworkloads andincreases transparency,giving managers andsupervisors quickinsights and time tofocus on more criticaltasks.”

objectives with corporate business objectives will further aid this transformation. Withtheir ability to incorporate key company objectives into agent performance indicators,performance analytics solutions ensure that each and every employee is working towardsrealizing the strategic vision of the organization, thereby ensuring the successfulexecution of this vision.

Optimize Performance in Complex EnvironmentsThe rise in offshore outsourcing, remote agents, and virtual contact centers, requiresstrategic, outcome-focused performance evaluation, consolidated across multiple sites andfunctions. The traditional cost-centric basis of performance evaluation has given way to amore holistic approach to performance evaluation. Performance analytics applicationsenable the meaningful alignment of day-to-day contact center and agent objectives withoverall company objectives, thereby overcoming geographical boundaries.

Patterns and Trends – Identify the Root Cause of ProblemsPerformance analytics solutions present a multi-dimensional view of the data present inthe contact center environment. Advanced solutions have functionality that permitsfurther drill down into metrics in order to analyze the root cause of problems. Rootcause analysis can help identify problem areas responsible for substandard performanceand result in improved decision-making. For example, the contact center might beinundated with calls on a particular day as a response to ineffective messaging in a newlylaunched marketing campaign. One approach is to temporarily increase staffing levelswithin the center, analyze the root cause of this sudden surge in calls, and work withmarketing departments to fix the problem.

CUSTOMER CASE STUDIES

1. 1-800-Flowers.com

Company Profile: 1-800-Flowers.com® provides a broad range of products, includingflowers, plants, gourmet foods, candies, gift baskets and other unique gifts. With a total ofnine sites – five internal throughout the United States and four outsourced partners –and up to 2,000 agents working at peak periods, 1-800-Flowers.com has tackled all thechallenges inherent to a businesses operating large, multi-site contact centers.

Solution Overview: VPI’s Activ! Intelligence real time performance analytics and fullyintegrated Activ! Coaching contact center solutions implemented in 2004.

Key Purchase Considerations• Streamlined Reporting• Efficient Messaging System• Open architecture and flexibility in integrating with existing and future

technology environment• Consolidation of information from multiple telephony and business databases

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“Performance analyticsapplications enable themeaningful alignmentof day-to-day contactcenter and agentobjectives with overallcompany objectives.”

“Advancedperformance analyticssolutions havefunctionality thatpermits further drilldown into metrics inorder to analyze theroot cause ofproblems.”

• Easily accessible executive and management level reports and dashboards• Availability of real-time and historical performance information• Automated, rules based e-learning tool

Benefits and Results• Higher utilization of work time • Increased overall performance in service • Improved ability to measure the impact of training• Consolidated reporting on all nine sites

2. National City Mortgage

Company Profile: National City Mortgage is a premier mortgage and originationservicing company. The company was faced with the challenge of improving its agents’performance and was looking for up-to-the-minute access to performance statistics. TheNational City Mortgage contact center is a blended environment, managing both inboundand outbound calls. The company needed a solution that would blend its data togetherinto a unified database.

Solution Overview: VPI’s Activ! Intelligence real time performance analytics and fullyintegrated Activ! Coaching contact center solutions implemented in 2004.

Key Purchase Considerations• Streamlined Reporting• Distribute real-time information to agents and managers using dashboards,

scorecards and consolidated reports• Display performance metrics against set standards or overall call center results. • Trigger training based on agent performance results for an unprecedented

degree of coaching automation. • Set thresholds for performance and receive immediate feedback.

Benefits and Results• Decreased agent talk time • For supervisors and managers, access to data not previously available to them • Increased internal response times to data requests, with less reliance on IT

department • Better control and tracking of agent education • Increased employee morale • Improvement in outbound talk time • Increase in blended calls per hour • Improvement in average speed to answer • Improvement in inbound abandonment rate

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“A cookie-cutterapproach does notwork for all types ofbusinesses and it ispreferable to select aflexible vendor thatcan provide a customapproach to supportunique business needs.”

CHOOSING THE RIGHT VENDOR

Selecting a vendor that provides the right technology is the first step towards achievingenterprise customer service objectives. Additionally, partnering with a solution providerthat offers not only the technology but also the necessary experience, knowledge base,best practices insight, and ongoing consulting services is a critical success factor. Whilecustomer service processes within enterprises are generally quite similar, there are manyindustry or vertical-specific needs that require certain customizations to be made withinthese processes. Therefore a cookie-cutter approach does not work for all types ofbusinesses and it is preferable to select a flexible vendor that can provide a customapproach to support unique business needs.

CONCLUSION

The value of implementing performance analytics solutions has never been greater than inthe current business environment. Creating market differentiation based on products isbecoming more and more difficult to achieve. Superb customer service is a keydifferentiator that promotes customer loyalty and reduces propensity to switch tocompetitors. Insights yielded by comprehensive performance analytics products helpenterprises accelerate their response to customer problems and quickly close onopportunities. Well-trained agents supported by effective business processes have theability not only to meet these expectations, but also influence behavior – stimulatingcustomer advocacy and long-term revenue growth.

Presenting performance statistics and information in real time or near real time offers theopportunity of e proactive identification and rectification of problems through recognitionof trends and patterns. The key is to get this information quickly, so that managers canbegin correcting problems before they have a chance to escalate and magnify. Real-timeanalytics and the ability to access up-to-the-minute performance statistics are invaluablein helping enterprises proactively drive customer service excellence.

Vendor case studies explored the benefits of performance analytics solutionimplementations and revealed quantifiable benefits with double digit savings in areas suchas: average talk time, average hold time, agent attrition, quality scores, first call resolution,and much more. All of the above result in an increase in productivity, customersatisfaction and revenue with a significant reduction in costs.

Implementing sophisticated performance analytics solutions should be a strategic priorityfor all enterprises seeking to achieve excellence in customer service delivery, and improveretention, loyalty, and revenue potential from their customers.

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“Insights yielded bycomprehensiveperformance analyticsproducts helpenterprises acceleratetheir response tocustomer problems andquickly close onopportunities.”

“Real-time analyticsand the ability toaccess up-to-the-minuteperformance statisticsare invaluable inhelping enterprisesproactively drivecustomer serviceexcellence.”

“Implementingsophisticatedperformance analyticssolutions should be astrategic priority for allenterprises seeking toachieve excellence incustomer servicedelivery, and improveretention, loyalty, andrevenue potential fromtheir customers.”

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C O N T A C T U S

ABOUT VPI

VPI (Voice Print International, Inc.) is a leading innovator and provider of integrated interaction

recording and workforce optimization solutions for enterprises, trading floors, government

agencies, and first responders. Through its award-winning suite of solutions, VPI empowers

organizations to proactively improve the customer experience, increase workforce

performance, ensure compliance, and align tactical and strategic objectives across the

enterprise. With the power to be proactive, organizations are equipped to actively identify and

maximize opportunities and minimize risk. For more than a decade, VPI has been providing

proven technology and superior service to more than 1,000 customers in over 25 countries.

This dedication and commitment to excellence has resulted in an unmatched customer loyalty

rate of over 90 percent. For more information, visit http://www.VPI-corp.com.

ABOUT FROST & SULLIVAN

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients tosupport the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company'sindustry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporatemanagement training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensiveclientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investmentcommunity, by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique globalperspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, anddemographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com.

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