Avaya Connected Blog

Training Your Home Agents

2012-04-30T17:51:50Z

What if you're hiring new agents to work from home? You have a big decision to make. Will you train them remotely, or bring them into the office initially - or some combination thereof?

If you transition in-office agents to a work-at-home environment, chances are they're already fully trained. All you need to do is to make sure they're versed on equipment and connectivity, and are thoroughly familiar with the policies and procedures of your work-at-home program. But even if all your home agents started out in the office, you'll undoubtedly need to give them additional training at some point.

Most of the companies who presented at the Remote Agent Summit last month touched on the topic of training, as it's a critical area to a successful home agent deployment. Let's look at what they had to say.

One large financial services company who spoke at the conference asserted that virtual training can't consist of just PowerPoints. And, even their part-time workers are required to complete four weeks of full time training. This company retained a third party company to develop their training, and was very happy with the results - they said the engagement model was excellent. They cited one example of in-office versus virtually trained agents where a quiz question is "tell me what APR is". With the in-office group, two people raised their hand, compared to 20 out of 20 for the home agents. (Of course, this could be partially attributed to the fact that home agents typically have higher levels of education.)

A large rental car agency presented a "would do" and "would not do" list. On the "Would do" list, they listed a technical training lab. They also recommend tracking all metrics for premise versus home-based agents. On the "would not do again" list - they advised against delivering 100% of agent training on-line. They found that agents were completing the tests and even passing them, but found a higher rate of errors and a higher drop-out rate. Exit surveys revealed that training was an issue. This finding supports the financial services company's decision to use an outside company to develop their virtual training program!

A third company provides high-quality concierge service to high-end financial companies. They consider it essential to hire educated agents who are talented in working with their high-end customers. All 800 of their agents in NA and Europe are home-based, and 100% of their training is virtual. They use a learning management system, and have a blend of self-paced (~10%) and instructor-led training, and have no more than 15 students per instructor. Agents take assessments and when they are ready to go live, have a "soft launch". They take a couple of live calls, during which the instructor listens in and is available via chat. Then they go back into the "classroom". For this company, they feel instructor-led training is critical.

An agent staffing company who presented at the Remote Agent conference has put 25,000 agents into companies has also become an outsourcer at the request of some of their clients. This company has a 100% virtual training program.

The common thread I'm seeing here is companies can be successful using virtual training for their home agents - but having an instructor involved is rather important.

On a final note - I've found good information provided by FurstPerson, a company that helps contact centers hire and develop "the right employees." I recently downloaded a nice white paper from FurstPerson - "Going Home - Which Road Do You take". This paper provides well-thought-out pointers on talent assessment for remote agents.

What has worked for you? Let me know what you've learned and I'll share your experience.

Who's afraid of Electronic Customer Service?

2012-04-06T13:32:34Z

Hello Folks, today I have the honor of presenting to you a guest blogger who has an interesting perspective on a trending topic of the Humanization of the IVR. Ricardo is one of Avaya Professional Services top Consultants worldwide and he resides out of Brazil. Enjoy! Christian Goffi

_________________________________

Who's afraid of Electronic Customer Service?

Earlier this year, I was talking to a friend and, he confessed to an exaggerated fear of talking to strangers, not only in person but over the telephone as well, especially when he needs to provide personal information to a stranger. Curious about this behavior, I did some research and found some studies that indicated that fear to relate and talk to strangers is the most common one out there and, for some people, it is regarded as the greatest fear.
This article caught my attention, since at that time I was involved in a project for the Humanization of electronic customer service, the voice portal, also known as IVR. During the research work, we analyzed the behavior and preferences of the customers of companies that have voice service and realized that, most of these customers prefer to speak directly to the human service.
Well, considering both surveys, it appears there's a conflict. One says that most people do not like to talk to a stranger and the other states just the opposite; that most people prefer a stranger rather than the electronic service. This is curious, to say the least. When reading the first research I would argue, surely, that talking to a "machine" would be perfect for these people.

I then decided to understand some more about what motivates people to prefer talking to a stranger instead of solving the problem in the electronic service; and I came to some very interesting conclusions:

 people generally believe that the information being transmitted through the Voice Portal (IVR) is not reliable or it is not up to date;
 people think that companies set up the Voice Portal to act as a machine just to keep them from speaking to an attendant;
 people find it difficult to locate the service they want without spending too much time.

However, even with this negative view of electronic customer service, when the client is exposed to a humanized IVR, then there's great acceptance. When we create a Voice Portal (IVR) scenario with reliable information and easily accessible services, most people say they would like to be served by the IVR, i.e., if the client receives the desired information through the electronic customer service or, if he/she can easily access the service they need, then he/she will probably not ask for human service.

Today we see companies increasingly investing in the evolution of customer care, whether electronic or human. However, investing without knowing what the customer really wants and expects, can often be a mistake. The above paragraphs clearly proves that; because there is no point in having many channels of service if the information provided therein is not clear, complete or useful. I think one of the first actions in an electronic services development project should be to focus on understanding the client, then if the behavior is proven, a Humanization of the Voice Portal just might be the true solution.
If well built, a Humanized IVR can bring compelling results to your business, not only with increased retention in Voice Portal, but also cost reduction and the customer's perception of a quality service, exceeding expectations.

Ricardo Pena
Advanced Solutions Architect
Avaya Professional Services-Brazil

A Conference Focused on Home Agents

2012-03-01T21:35:36Z

What a great conference! Last week I attended the 2nd annual Remote Agent Summit in Dallas. Most of the sessions were real-life case studies presented by companies who have sent some or all of their agents home. This A-list of speakers included United Health Group, The Hartford, American Express, Kaiser Permanente, Hertz, Support.com, World Travel Holdings, Hilton, VIP Desk, Stanford University, Express Scripts, and many others.

My next couple of blogs will focus on key take-ways from this Remote Agent Summit. I'll give you a conference highlights, some trends, and at least one instance of a trend-bucking approach.

Likely the "trend-bucking" phrase got your attention, so I'll start there. Agent pay. Prior to this conference, every company I talked with was consistent with respect to agent salaries: there was no pay difference for in-office versus home agents.

At this conference I found an exception. A large rental car company says they publicize that home agents will take a voluntary pay reduction of 50 cents per hour. This company had talked with other businesses that also pay a lower salary to at-home agents, so apparently they're not alone in this approach. They reported that some companies pay home agents $1 hour less.

What I found particularly interesting about the reduced paycheck for at-home agents approach is that this company discovered it didn't diminish agents' desire to move to home offices! Positioning was key - agents are reminded that their costs are lower: lower gas bills, no lunches out, and no budget needed for work clothes.

This company's recommendation is that if you're going to give a pay reduction for home agents, do so early in the process. And, remind agents that the money they save by working at home more than offsets the relatively minor pay reduction. The speaker for this session acknowledged her company began the reduced-pay approach after some agents were already at home; she said they "grandfathered" full salaries for agents who were already working at home.

Now let's talk about trends.

The first trend that stands out is that companies are expanding their home agent programs. Most companies started their programs with a pilot program, and many had expanded beyond the initial pilot. I believe every single company that I heard speak - except those who were already 100% home agents - stated their intent to expand their programs. One large financial services company started their program with 13 home agents in 2010, expanded to 100 agents in 2011, and their goal is to increase it by tenfold, to 1,000 home agents.

This tells me that home agent programs are proving to be very successful. (Or, perhaps only those who are finding it worthwhile attended the conference!) According to Michele Rowan, President of At Home Customer Contacts and sponsor of the Remote Agent conference, evaluation results have been excellent.

Did any of you attend? If so, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

I Wish I Knew...

2012-02-08T22:53:57Z

Do you know everything you need to know about Home Agents? You know all the business drivers for implementing a home agent program... or do you? You know the pitfalls and how to avoid them... or, are there some problems lurking?

Knowing the facts can help you sell a home agent program - or avoid stumbles if you're already walking down that path. So, today's blog is focused on resources and learning opportunities.

First, let me point you to a couple of white papers.

My "Best Practices for Home Agents" paper helps you proactively address the many facets of a Home Agent program, and includes examples from several companies who have successfully sent agents home.

A second paper, "Go Green with Home Agents", has an environmental slant. How much benefit is your company realizing, from a carbon footprint perspective? This paper gives you a template to do the math for your implementation. Be sure to let your VP - and your company's marketing department - know what you come up with. Environmental impact is one of the factors analysts take into consideration when they evaluate companies. It's one more way you can demonstrate the value you've delivered for your company.

Now let's look at a couple of live forums. Do you ever wish you could just sit down, listen to and brainstorm with, your peers in other companies? You can do that from Feb. 21-23 in Dallas, Texas, at the 2012 Remote Agent Summit. This conference is sponsored by Customer Contact Strategies, a company founded by Michele Rowan, formerly Vice President of International Customer Care for Hilton Hotels. While at Hilton, Michele successfully launched a 1,000+ Home Agent program.

What is unique about this conference is that vendor presentations are virtually non-existent. The sessions are presented by companies who have sent agents home. You'll hear case studies from companies like American Express, The Hartford, Capital One, Hertz, and Stanford University. Breakout sessions focus on areas such as security, operations, HR, and training. And social hours on two evenings give you plenty of opportunity for networking.

Another opportunity for Home Agent training is the Avaya International User's Group, held in Boston the week of May 20th. You'll hear United Healthcare talk about their Home Agent program. We're also planning a focus group - an interactive forum for those who've already implemented Home Agents and those who are exploring the possibilities. Experts will share their experiences with the novices.

What have you found most helpful as you send agents home? Are there other training opportunities you're aware of? What tripped you up, and how did you get back on track? Let me know and I'll be happy to post your suggestions and share your comments.

Emergency Call Handling using NG911 Additional Data

2012-01-28T21:45:58Z

I was reading an interesting article over breakfast this morning that brought me back to an article that was written at the beginning of this year by Mark Gomez of the Mercury News. It seems that even the police are dealing with the issue of false alarms, not from vehicles necessarily, but from businesses. With nearly 12,000 all the alarms that occurred in 2010, 98.4% turned out to be false alarms.

With today's ever shrinking public safety budgets, and citizens demanding that police do more with less, the $662,203 that police say cost them to respond to these alarms is a huge burden to carry. Some may say that finds for repeated
false alarms should be implemented, and in fact San Jose does have a policy for that. However those fines, $466,633 worth, still even 30% deficit over the cost.

San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore wrote that "the primary purpose of police is to respond to reported crimes, preventive patrols and community policing, and the practice of responding to all audible alarms does not accomplish any of those goals." It also should be noted that Moore's department has also been hit with a 20% decrease in resources in the past two years and has been forced to scale back other operations to maintain patrol levels
.

This is an area where public safety can utilize some intelligent workflow concepts that are used in day to day enterprise contact center, that streamline the communications interaction between the caller and the call taker.

For example, San Jose reacted to the increase in audible alarms in an all or nothing manner, based on statistical data that they had.

98.4% of audible alarms are false

False alarms are audible alarms

Audible alarms do not require police response

The problem with the logic is that audible alarms, are associated with false alarms. When in fact the logic should be that 98.4% of false alarms are businesses do not manage their alarm system properly. The missing statistic is what part of all the alarm systems are represented by the businesses creating false alarms. It could be the classic case of one bad apple spoiling the entire bunch.

What needs to happen in the 911 center is a correlation of the origination point of the emergent event, with details of the event if available, and some history on previous event outcomes. Using this prioritization intelligence, we don't necessarily have to deny service to any one particular caller, or event originator, but during times of overload we can effectively manage and prioritize inbound call traffic based on additional information.

Next-generation 911 will make further use of this additional information, and in fact, there is a specific workgroup that is dealing with this very topic.

This is not new technology. This is not a new idea. This is something that's been done in the enterprise space, in some of the largest call centers in the world, for the past 10 to 15 years. It's only because we've had a 40+-year-old architecture in our nations emergency services network, and we've been handcuffed with using caller ID or ANI as our sole index to additional information, and that additional information has been limited to a Street address, that we haven't deploy these common call handling methods to public safety.

Sure, public safety is experiencing a budget crunch each and every year. But guess what? The economy is been tanking for the last 10 years, and businesses have been forced to get lean and mean. One of the primary ways that a public facing company can minimize their expense of "customer contact", is to use technology to streamline that interaction and minimize the expense of that interaction.

In order for public safety to survive, we will have to either shovel more money into the furnace, or get a more efficient furnace that burns less money. In my opinion, the latter provides a more efficient environment for public safety, more services for the public they serve, and an evolution path that brings the current emergency services network at of the dark ages.

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Thanks for stopping by and reading the Avaya CONNECTED Blog on E9-1-1, I value your opinions, so please feel free to comment below or if you prefer, you can email me privately.

Public comments, suggestions, corrections and loose change is all graciously accepted ;-)
Until next week. . . dial carefully.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @Fletch911

All those not in favor of creating jobs in America, please say "Yea"

2012-01-10T06:01:01Z

Given the critically important issues facing our nation you'd think that by now politicians in Washington would get the message that we are tired of symbolic gestures that solve little and devour precious time and resources. I guess that conspicuous public protests, occupations and massive volumes of online dissidence have yet to filter through to those who we have sent to Washington that we are tired of easy answers, divisive tactics and strategies that isolate us into factions.

Hope dwindles in these early days of this election year as we see examples including the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act bill filed by U.S. House of Representatives members Timothy Bishop (D:NY) and David McKinley (R:WV).

At first glance one can't help but agree with the sentiments expressed by supporters of the bill such as the comment "'This ... bill is exactly what we need now' to aid in the country's economic recovery, overcome deficits, and restore the American dream."

I like to wave the flag as much as any proud former Boy Scout but getting past the initial emotion I realize H.R.3596, makes little sense. The bill is proposed to act as if a modern version of the Scarlet Letter by requiring, "publicly available a list of all employers that relocate a call center overseas and to make such companies ineligible for Federal grants or guaranteed loans and to require disclosure of the physical location of business agents engaging in customer service communications."

Don't get me wrong. I am vehemently in favor of creating US jobs. What American is not in favor of keeping jobs in the United States?

The reality today, however, is that complex forces are at work in moving jobs overseas.

I don't believe that it is ever an easy decision for any American business to offshore contact center work. There are significant costs, risks and sacrifices and as my colleague Kay Phelps has pointed out in her excellent blog entry Is the Offshore Trend Ebbing? results can fall short of initial expectations.

Is it really Band-Aid treatments of the symptoms that we Americans want or do we instead want those sent to Washington who represent us to use the resources that we have made available to them to attack the real causes of job losses in this country?

What this bill doesn't ask is, "What makes an American company send jobs overseas?" I know the convenient metaphor is the big bad heartless corporation as seen through the lens of the Michael Moore camera.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of that intellectually vacant Red Herring of blaming the generic "them."

I won't put it in the same terms as Mitt Romney and hopefully you'll avoid the temptation to mock me as he was, but the fact is that corporations are made up of people. As in any human endeavor there are good and bad people. Sometimes bad actors rise into positions of control. There is no shortage of headlines of examples, but more often these are "stories to be suspicious of" as economist Tyler Cowen might warn us.

What we don't see are enough headlines depicting the true norm in corporate America. The truth according to statistics from the US Census Bureau in the United States today there are 129 thousand firms employing 100 or more workers. In total these companies employ 180 million people and pay salaries of over $8 trillion. Some evil empire? NOT.

The truth is that corporations are one of the pillars upon which the American system draws its strength. Those of you who like me who work for, draw a pension from and do business with corporations, despite our occasional disgruntlement, know this to be true.

Less easy for Washington than the symbolic gesture is to face and deal with the real problems of this country.

The hard fact is that the world is not going to become less competitive and Puritanical practices like the public pillorying of American companies, although it may make some of feel better in the instant, does little to help our long-term prospects.

Instead of easy answers we need Washington to focus on measures that will grow the competitiveness of our nation so that we may stand our own in a increasingly sophisticated world. In August NPR was right to ask, " do US workers want call center jobs?" With all due respect to the people doing this work in America today, sitting in a cubicle answering a telephone is not an example of the kinds of jobs that will insure our country a prosperous future.

Here's an idea, how about laws that help our business environment and improve it so that America becomes more attractive to increased job creation? How about laws that don't fall short of their promises and instead create an education system that prepares young Americans for the jobs of the future?

Another true fact is that for those today who need such jobs, in 2011 the US saw a surge in home shored contact center agent hires. In fact available US Census data shows that the numbers of people employed in the United States in telephone call centers and telemarketing bureaus and other contact centers has steadily increased each year.

Where were those jobs created? The answer is in states including Florida, New Mexico and Utah where the economics of home shoring make sense.

The question I ask representatives Bishop and McKinley and others in congress who offer politically convenient answers such as H.R.3596, "What's next, sanctions against other US states who are more successful in attracting jobs and creating home shoring opportunities?"

Is the Offshore Trend Ebbing?

2012-01-06T18:38:27Z

In an effort to slash costs of providing customer support, in the past several years many companies decided to offshore their customer service organizations. They found fertile ground in countries such as India, where poverty was widespread, unemployment high, and where many young college-educated employees were looking for work. So, droves of companies began to move their contact center operations overseas.

This approach seemed like a win-win. Companies seeking highly educated employees for relatively low wages were able to find them far more readily overseas. And for new graduates entering a difficult job market in these countries, they were able to find employment in a professional environment that paid relatively good wages.

Sounds great! So, what's the rub?

Customers complained. Although the contact center agents spoke English, sometimes it was with a heavy dialect. And sometimes the agents didn't understand the context of customer inquiries, or weren't sure how to handle requests that deviated from the dialog in their scripts.

And, as more companies moved their operations offshore, two things happened. Agent salaries began to rise rapidly - and, agents had more opportunities to move to other contact centers. Attrition rose, and with it the costs of hiring and training their replacements.

At the same time, queries directed to contact center agents started to become more challenging. Consumers began to self-serve, finding a plethora of information on companies' web sites and in social forums. Additionally, most companies were now providing voice portal systems to self-serve. Today, when customers actually pick up the phone and make a call, it's because they haven't been able to find what they need or the solution to their problem in other places. They may already be frustrated because of fruitless searching.

Now we have the perfect storm. Callers have more difficult problems, and they may encounter an agent who doesn't have the needed expertise. Or, they talk to someone they find difficult to understand. Customers may get even more frustrated. This provides fertile ground for the company's competitors!

To counter this unpleasant customer experience, some companies are beginning to "nearshore" or "homeshore" their customer service delivery. Call Center Software magazine has a good article on this topic at http://www.insidecallcenter.com/offshoring-nearshoring-and-homeshoring-what-to-choose/. This article quotes data showing that calls perceived to be handled in the US ranked 20% higher in customer satisfaction, and that first call resolutions were 20% higher in American call centers. The article talks about two major airlines that have closed their offshore contact centers.

All this data gives companies one more good reason to consider other approaches for reducing costs - such as implementing home agent programs!

You Better Watch Out! Santa Claus is Coming!

2011-12-05T03:03:47Z

Every Christmas season, since 1955, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command), and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa's flight from the North Pole as he delivers toys to children all around the world.

The tradition began when a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa accidentally misprinted the telephone number. What children who called the misprinted number got was a special hotline for the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations. Colonel Harry Shoup, the Director of Operations at the time, didn't want to spoil Christmas for the callers expecting to reach Santa, and set up a procedure for his staff to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole and provide updates on his location.

Every Christmas since that time, starting at 2:00 a.m. MT on December 24 through the early hours of December 25, more than 1,200 volunteer Santa trackers will man the 1-877-HI-NORAD Santa hotline, answering phone calls from children of all ages. In 2009, the 25-hour NORAD Tracks Santa operations center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado received more than 74,000 calls from families around the world. Helping Peterson AFB deliver this level of performance was Avaya's real-time voice communications. Avaya Aura™ software and hardware have been tested and certified by the Department of Defense Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) to ensure security and reliability for missions such as this -- when failure is not an option.

As with many services, NORAD has now added support for tracking on the iPhone and Android platforms which can be downloaded from the App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/app/norad-tracks-santa/id474927766?mt=8 or in the Android Market at http://market.android.com/details?id=com.visionbox.NoradTracksSanta

The Official NORAD Tracks Santa Homepage can be found here http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html and is full of detailed information you can pass along to your friends and family.

This closes out the first year of the E911 Talk Podcast, and I personally would like to wish all of my readers a very happy holiday season, and joyous New Year. The Avaya E911 CONNECTED BLOG and PodCast will be on hiatus, but will be returning on Friday January 6, 2012. We have a great 2012 schedule planned with some exciting industry experts, and we are working on finalizing our activities for Global Connect 2012 in Boston, with a return of the Great E911 Debate - Part Duex diving even deeper into remediating E911 in the Enterprise.

Stay Safe, and Thanks for Your Continued Support!

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Social Business Evolution: A Summary from the Customer Response Summit 3

2011-11-18T17:05:08Z

The Customer Response Summit 3, hosted by our friends @ExecsintheKnow is a place where bright minds meet to talk about the Enterprise adoption of Social Media, with a special interest in the area of customer care. The CRS3 was hosted in Scottsdale, AZ on the week of Nov 13th and is where we get to hear and collaborate directly with executive leaders of top companies on how they are succeeding in this ever-present topic of Social Media. I got a chance to experience today's reality and wanted to share it with all of you... Here are some key take-aways:

Want to succeed in Social Media? Let Passion lead the way!
As any good sports coach might tell you, there are certain things that are just un-coachable... things that you've either got or not. Passion for what you do is one of those things... It is no coincidence that in all cases where success has been shown, there has been great leadership behind it which was undoubtedly filled with passion. Looking for a great leader for your enterprise, you might find someone at the corner of Talent Avenue and Passion Street!

Make it about your customers, not about technology
I know... this one can be tough to understand right? How can we NOT focus on technology when Social Media is a technology enabled phenomenon? Well, in recognition of an evident and simple fact that Social Media is really "one more" way to reach your audience, you realize along the way that what is needed is not necessarily a Social media Strategy but more of a recognition that your strategy is really one about how you perceive a customer should be treated whereby you are simply manifesting that via this new channel called Social Media. So what does this mean? Social Media will put a spotlight on your company values and how you perceive customer care. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it is not good... Nonetheless, if your planning is guided by your customer's needs first, it will provide a great level of clarity from which to build from.

Marketing + Customer Care = Success
Leading Edge companies that have evolved in this space all spoke of the importance to have awareness and a plan for bringing these functions together as a social media plan comes to fruition. Many that have struggled attribute this in part to a lack of clarity and a seemingly never ending red tape struggle inside the walls of the enterprise. There is data to support that the top 2 "asks" of consumers to their brands are to (1) I want you to give me incentives to do business with you (i.e. discounts/promotions) and (2) I want you to fix my problems... These 2 comments are particularly interesting as they create a situation for organizational overlap within the enterprise as these matters become the domain of both the Sales/Marketing efforts as well as the Customer Service & Support areas. Seeing this Social Evolution as a joint cross-organizational mission early on will facilitate a path of low resistance.

True Integration into the Contact Center is the next step of the Journey but progress has been slow
Becoming a Social Business has many hurdles to overcome and for those that are currently considered as leading edge companies, the topic of handoff into the contact center is a natural next step but we are just now seeing real signs of being ready for that step. Social is still being managed in an incubated state and this is representative of the comfort that leaders feel regarding social interactions. Part of the reason for the slow developments into Customer Care is that organizations have not yet reached the necessary comfort level to "let go". What I mean is that Social interactions are considered highly sensitive situations due to its "1 : the world" exposure, the likelihood of handing off activity to a customer service environment is going to continue to be slow and phased in as comfort levels rise. An initial step could be to look to specifics types of mentions that are ok to make transactional, for example: any social mention that is a direct question to the company but not any "intercepted or mined" comment that the business intelligence engine might uncover.

What a Difference 1 Year Makes!
As an introductory part of any new phenomenon, the first phase is now behind us... this was the phase of 'shooting from the hip' and letting our common sense skills take over as we really had little to no guidance on how to get started. As a result, Enterprises did what we can safely call "best effort"... Well, this best effort has led to deep expertise in a very short amount of time.

In Summary, there is a song out there by Miley Cyrus called "The Climb" which suggests that even more important than our destination is the path we take to get there that defines who we are... Let's not lose sight of the fact of why corporations exist, shareholders are not interested in your journey, they want shareholder value and I recognize that... But being part of a community of "Can Do", passionate individuals is a special place. Having vendors, partners, competitors from all different verticals and backgrounds working together towards a common goal. I'm humbled to be part of such a movement and though we are all looking for revenue growth in the end, we are having a great time along the way! Kudos to the folks that put this together and I highly recommend it to anyone that is serious about this space.

@christiangoffi

Customers, smartphones, contact centers: Are you making the right connections?

2011-09-09T13:47:58Z

By 2013, an estimated 1 billion people worldwide will own smartphones. Eighty percent of the U.S. population will own them by 2015.

Think about that. Roughly 250 million U.S. citizens will be calling, texting, emailing, browsing, networking and gaming from their smartphones just three years from now.

Is your business ready to take advantage of these astonishing trends? From what I see as I visit with Avaya clients, some are -- but more should be.

We already have the ability to bring mobile interactions into contact centers the same as any other channel. And, we can bring those interactions into the contact center with full "context." This means that when a specialist responds to a customer's request for help, he or she gets a complete picture of the customer's information and transaction history, be it the navigation of the mobile application, or maybe a picture sent along with a request to speak to an expert, enabling a much faster and more efficient response to the customer. Then, really using the intelligence and advanced capabilities of our contact center solutions, we can give a customer "credit" for the time they have spent trying to help themselves, prioritizing their call by just that kind of detail where and when it makes sense.

Are you using such capabilities for competitive advantage? One Avaya client, an insurance company, is exploring innovative ways to leverage smartphone capabilities in their contact centers. For example, their policy-holders can now send in pictures of damage to their homes or cars to speed the claims process. Claim adjusters, who are constantly on the road, can do the same, ensuring quick, informed resolution of insurance claims. Imagine if all insurance companies had this capability in the wake of Irene!

What are the possibilities for your company? Right now, there are a combined 630,000 iPhone and Android apps available in the market. Is one of them yours? If not, why not?

Ultimately, when customers decide to interact with your company, you want to give them the greatest flexibility possible and connect them with the most knowledgeable and best-informed person. Are you?

Please share your views of how smartphone use has impacted interactions with your customers. I also invite you to take a look at our view of Experience Management: Customer Service 3.0 to see how Avaya is helping companies like yours put the customer in the center of every interaction.

Essentials to Include in Your Home Agent Policy - Part 1

2011-09-08T14:01:24Z

As you prepare to launch your Home Agent program, you understand the importance of having a written policy statement. If not, see my previous blog entry!

So, your fingers are poised over the keyboard and you're ready to start. What do you need to include in your policy? This topic is so broad that you'll see multiple blog posts on Home Agent policies over the next couple of weeks. I'm going to include the collective wisdom I've garnered from many Avaya customers, and actual quotes from those of you who have shared your policies with me.

If your company already has a policy statement, you may nevertheless find it helpful to read through these postings. As I read multiple policies, I found many instances where one company made a simple statement that at first glance seemed sufficient - then, upon reading other policies, I saw obvious opportunities for strengthening and clarifying those statements.

Very important - so important I'll put it up front. Be sure to include a statement that your policy is subject to change, and may be changed at any time. This gives you the leeway to update and modify your program, fine tuning as needed. Many companies tell me they've made tweaks to their initial policy statement.

Now, let's look at topics you'll want to include in the first section of your policy.

Statement of Purpose. Some companies begin their policy by stating their rationale for a Home Agent program. One company says it helps them "attract and retain a diverse and talented work force, enhance productivity, reduce commuting and parking requirements for associates, and promote a better balance between work and personal life."

Definitions. One Avaya customer includes a Definitions section, where they list terms associated with their telecommuting policy. This removes any opportunity for ambiguity.

Ability to rescind. The policy statement shared by one customer says "Telecommuting is not appropriate for all associates or situations, and the company has the sole right to approve or rescind a telecommuting arrangement. Telecommuting is a work alternative that may be appropriate for some associates and some jobs. It is not an entitlement; it is not a Company-wide benefit; and it in no way changes the terms and conditions of employment. Telecommuting status may be terminated at any time based on business s needs or failure of the associate to meet performance expectations or any of the eligibility criteria as outlined below." Another company's statement "reserves the right to change any arrangements made for working at home at our discretion with or without reason."

Eligibility - personal requirements. Who may apply, what characteristics are helpful, what is essential? What requirements are necessary for both the agent and the supervisor? The following quotes are garnered from several customers' policy statements:

- "Telecommuting is a privilege and not an entitlement."

- "Associates must have six months of consecutive service with the Company to be eligible to participate." Another company specified a minimum of 12 months of continuous employment.

- "Agents must have demonstrated conscientiousness about work time and productivity", and should have a "limited need for feedback but willingness to ask for it if necessary."

- "Meet acceptable corporate attendance standards."

- "Associates who are currently on a Performance Improvement Plan, or have active disciplinary action(s) are not eligible to telecommute." One company's policy statement took it a step further, saying they require "A work record with no formal Disciplinary Action (Written Warning, Probation, or First, Second, or Final Warning) within the preceding 12 months."

- "Must be a full-time Associate. Part-time Associates will be assessed on a case by case basis." (Note to readers: this statement concerns me a bit from a legal perspective. If you make an exception such as this, I would recommend specifically stating that all part-time associates must meet all other requirements of the program.)

Eligibility requirements often include technological and work space requirements as well. I'll cover that in Part 2 of this blog series on policy statements - stay tuned. And, if you still want to share your company's policy statement with me, I'll be happy to peruse it and share sections with other readers.

Be Sure to Write it Down!

2011-08-08T18:01:04Z

For a successful Home Agent program, a written policy statement is a critical component of your foundation. Your policy lets everyone knows what to expect - agents, their supervisors, the director of customer care, and the IT department. Over the next few weeks we'll delve into the details of policy statements. Topics we will cover:

Why you need a policy statement

What to include - excerpts from various companies' policy statements

Process for approval within your company

Reviewing policy with prospective Home Agents

So, topic # 1 - why do you need a policy statement? Everyone needs to be able to read, understand, and agree to the provisions of the policy prior to participating.

All of your agents need to know you're launching a Home Agent program. You'll want to let them know whether working at home is an option for everyone. If not, what are your criteria for selecting who can participate in the program? Will there be a trial period? What happens if an agent wants to come back into the office? What if an agent is happy working at home, but their supervisor feels like it isn't working?

Supervisors need to know how to select the "right" candidates. Are there metrics that must be met 1) for an agent to be selected to work from home, and 2) for a Home Agent to continue to work from home? How will supervisors conduct the Home Agent's performance appraisal? Will agents need to drive into the office occasionally for face-to-face meetings or reviews? How will Home Agents be trained? Do you plan to give Home Agents more flexibility with their schedule - for example, let them work two-hour shifts to cover peak periods instead of your in-office minimum of four hours?

Your Director of Customer Care will want to understand the business impact of Home Agents, and a written policy will help make that assessment. Will a Home Agent program reduce turnover, help your company attract and retain more highly qualified agents, reduce training and hiring costs? (Hint - your Avaya or channel partner team can assess your projected Return on Investment by sitting down with you and filling out our Home Agent ROI tool!)

The IT Department needs to understand the ramifications from a technology support perspective. You'll probably want to work with them as you develop your policy statement to ensure buy-in.

And last but not least, your legal department will want to carefully review your Home Agent policy to ensure you avoid any problematic statements. One important note - during the Home Agent focus group meeting at the our user's conference, one savvy Avaya customer pointed out that once a written Home Agent policy is in place, you must consistently adhere to that policy. Otherwise, an agent who felt he or she was treated unfairly could possibly have grounds for legal action.

My next blog will delve more deeply into the content of the policy statement. If you've already implemented a Home Agent program and are willing to allow me to share sections of your policy statement with others, please send them to me at rphelps@avaya.com. Are there any "oops!" areas that you forgot to include in early versions? Is there ambiguous language, or sections that you've needed to clarify? If you've revised your policy, what did you modify, and why? Please share your experiences.

Three trends to consider when inviting the autonomous consumer into your contact center operation

2011-08-04T12:10:13Z

Voice, email and chat capabilities have been the basic toolkit of contact centers for several years, with voice, of course, being the cornerstone. These tools -- and the people, resources and training around them -- have been the primary focus for customer service, sales and support.

Emerging consumer trends are creating new demands, and opportunities, for contact center operations. Customers are using the Web for almost everything: personal communications, education, information gathering, purchasing, bill payment, and product and service support.

Then there's social media, the place to meet, greet and spread the word. Social media creates an entirely new dynamic by being both a channel for customer communications and a rich source of real-time market data for businesses and consumers.

At the same time, consumers are constantly connected as never before. Cell phones, smart phones, and tablets with voice, Web, text and video capabilities are proliferating. People are constantly in motion and are demanding access whenever and wherever they want it.

These new media trends are inter-related, yet each offers distinct possibilities for improving and enhancing your customer interactions -- and customers ARE demanding interaction through each one.

I relate this to the trend of the autonomous consumer. This individual wants personal flexibility. They want the companies they deal with to be available thru the channel that they want to use now. They don't have a pre-defined preferred channel; they have a preference for using a range of channels to contact organizations.

Considering the how quickly consumer preferences for communication channels are changing, you have the opportunity to gain a competitive edge by being there when and where your customers want to engage you.

Avaya is in lock-step with these trends, and our customers are taking full advantage of new media capabilities in their contact centers. Be on the lookout for future postings where I'll be sharing more about Web, mobility and social media capabilities in the contact center. It's a fascinating stage of evolution in the communications industry, and you don't want to miss what's coming next.

Note: BT and Avaya recently teamed to publish research findings on the Autonomous Consumer. Click here to learn more.

It's Here! Per Your Request, Our Avaya At-Home Agent Blog

2011-07-21T13:58:08Z

The number of companies who have implemented Home Agent programs is growing by leaps and bounds, and analysts project this trend will continue. As requested by 50+ Avaya customers at our annual user's conference in May, I've launched this blog to help you gain the knowledge you need to successfully implement Home Agents within your company.

This blog will provide a forum for two audiences. If you're kicking the tires and exploring whether it makes sense for your company, you'll get solid information upon which to base your decision and get started. Or, if you've already implemented a Home Agent program, you can add immense value to others by providing comments based on your expertise - and perhaps you'll pick up a few helpful tidbits along the way!

We'll span a wide range of topics in this blog, topics you've told me you need to tackle in order to successfully launch your Home Agent program. I'll address not only business benefits, but possible pitfalls to avoid. Topics will include policies and procedures, with real-life examples from companies who have well-established Home Agent programs. You may be concerned about technology, or human resource issues. You may want to know how companies are dealing with privacy concerns. This list is just the tip of that proverbial iceberg.

So, let's get started! You've heard the old cliché "the squeaky wheel gets the oil." Which of the above topics are of most interest to you right now? What have I not mentioned that you need to know more about? Let me know.

Conducting the customer experience with Orchestration Designer

2011-07-14T13:13:47Z

If you have been reading the Avaya blog recently, you may have noticed that a few of my peers have been focusing on contact center topics, fueled by Avaya's recent announcements in this space. My own interests in our latest set of announcements are focused on the developer audience we care for within the DevConnect program. Specifically, Avaya has announced the Avaya Aura® Orchestration Designer, an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for creation of multimedia agent-assisted and automated self-service applications and workflows.

The value of Orchestration Designer became clear to me last week while I was working on a new presentation for our upcoming Avaya Technology on Tap event in September. My desktop was full of multiple applications - a video editor, a screen capture program, PowerPoint, some graphical editing tools, and so forth. I was constantly juggling across these different applications, each with their own user interfaces, having to move content back and forth from one toolset to another to preview my presentation material in its final form, and then back to the original applications to make adjustments, and then back again.

Contact center managers and designers face a similar issue with today's tools. IVR and voice portal systems provide their own environments for Speech applications, while agent workflow tools often require use of a different toolset.

The downside of this mixed toolset approach is readily apparent when you start to consider how to blend self-service and agent-assisted workflows into a holistic customer-centric approach. One of the most frequent complaints of end-users is often the frustration of having to take a human agent back through the same set of information and steps that they've just completed via an automated system, simply because the agent workflow cannot accurately determine the context of the interactions that have occurred previously during the contact engagement, but rather only the specific data elements captures and, if you're lucky, passed from automated system to the assigned agent.

Orchestration Designer represents both an upgrade to our award-winning Dialog Designer toolset for Avaya Aura® Experience Portal (itself an evolution of the Avaya Voice Portal), as well as the integration of agent workflow scripting capabilities that support our Avaya Aura® Contact Center software. These two components, the Contact Center Module and the Self-Service Module, can be installed individually or used in conjunction with one another as part of a consistent service development toolset.

The Self Service Module supports design, simulation and deployment of VXML, CCXML and SMIL-based multimedia applications, allowing for use of Java, web services, computer telephony integration, 3rd party database access and even integration with applications using legacy 3270/3250 interfaces.

The Contact Center Module is based on the former NES Service Creation Environment for Contact Center, and supports the design of multimedia agent workflows and scripts. These applications ensure that contacts are routed to qualified agents as quickly as possible. Treatments such as estimated wait time, call back and other self-services can be provided with the entire in-queue data transferred to the agent for screen-pop. In fact, Orchestration Designer is a common platform capable of supporting Avaya customers using platforms as diverse as Avaya Voice Portal, Media Processing Server, Avaya Interactive Response, and NES Contact Center applications, making it easier to migrate when they are ready to take advantage of the newest capabilities available with Experience Portal and Avaya Aura Contact Center.

Orchestration Designer begins to change this outcome by allowing a singular toolset to be used to design, test and deploy both the automated and agent-assisted workflows and applications, using a consistent, easy-to-use "drag-and-drop" development environment.

Orchestration Designer offers support for a wide range of multimedia, agent-based, inbound speech and video, and automated outbound phone, email and SMS applications.

It also supports sophisticated simulation and debugging capabilities for phone and multimedia applications and workflows, including Live Call-Flow Highlighting that tracks execution within the environment by highlighting where the application is currently executing. Breakpoints and tracing can also be set within applications for monitoring and reporting. Perhaps more importantly, applications can be scripted to simulate application behavior without a complete data and speech environment, thereby reducing development environment costs.

The development tools include many database and Web Service (WSDL) wizards to simplify service creation and management, as well as Pluggable Data Connections that can be written to packaged applications and simplify use of Web Services and third party applications within contact center services. For Avaya customers, these pre-built connectors include Avaya Aura® Application Enablement Services, Avaya Proactive Contact and Avaya Interaction Center.

So in the end, Orchestration Designer simply makes it easier to look at the end-to-end customer service experience, with a simpler approach to application creation and management. And in turn, allows you to build more personal, cross-channel experiences that leave your customers happier with the interactions they have with your company.

Orchestration Designer will be available as a free download to all registered DevConnect members when it becomes generally available in August. Visit www.avaya.com/devconnect to register and access the download and other related materials.

And if you are going to be at the SpeechTek show in New York, August 8-10th, make sure you stop by the Avaya booth and say hi. We'll be demonstrating many of the new contact center offers at the show, including Orchestration Designer.