Does your company see the call centre as a necessary evil or as a fountain of vital information about how customers are responding to the company's products or services? For smart companies, the decision to document customer interactions with the call centre is easy. If you're the call centre manager, the challenge is figuring out how to capture that information efficiently and accurately.
This week I'll share some advice rendered by fellow TechRepublic members for making sure your technology stays in line with the company's appreciation of your call centre's results.
What good is the ACD without CRM?
In a previous article, TechRepublic members were asked about their experiences with automatic call distribution (ACD) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. The article asked the question all call centre managers hear at budget time: Will the benefits of the new system outweigh the costs of implementing it? Put another way, the question for the call centre manager is: Will the new system enhance or diminish the call centre analysts' ability to serve customers?
The theme that rang through all of the responses was that the CRM and ACD solutions are rendered irrelevant if the people using those solutions aren't properly trained.
TechRepublic member Martiad began her comments with a reminder that ACD and CRM are not the same thing, even if more and more vendors are offering both services in a single package.
-The ACD is call queue monitor and director, while the CRM is customer interaction tracking tool."
Some companies believe that by putting a new and more efficient ACD online, they're practicing good CRM. But CRM is more than just a toolââ,¬"it's a philosophy. As Bob Weinstein put it in his article "Jump-start your IT career in customer support," CRM is about capturing, servicing, and retaining customers.
In other words, CRM is more than just about tracking who called and why, and as JMohlen put it, without a good CRM solution, a company -is not doing all it can to ensure customer retention, sales, business development, etc". JMohlen wrote that a good CRM solution is as necessary to a company and its customers as e-mail, a phone number, and Internet access.
The most important ingredient for success
So what's the secret to implementing a successful CRM solution? According to Martiad, it isn't the CRM application but the people using the systems who make the difference. -It is as the old adage says 'The computer is only as smart as the person behind it.'"
So how does the person behind the computer become a smart user of CRM and ACD applications? There's only one right answer: training.
TechRepublic member MStanley, a call center consultant for over 10 years, cited poorly trained agents as one source of irritation for customers. -In the quest to cut costs, many centres hire the lowest common denominator, and then fail to provide adequate training," MStanley wrote. -The result: Agents who can't think on their own."
Training is also a critical function for TechRepublic member Missy R., whose company has recently implemented a -home-grown tracking system." Missy said response by the company's customer service department has been overwhelmingly positive.
-I can already agree with those who have stressed training," Missy wrote. -Ultimately the tracking will only be as good as the input of the user, regardless of the magic of the program."
6%
1%
