If customer participation is a highly sought after aspect of any integration, John Croll, CEO of Media Monitors would have to be a vendor's dream client. Representing a new breed of upper management with a firm understanding of IT, Croll is an active participant in the implementation of any and all new technology within the company.
"IT is by far our largest capital expenditure," says Croll. "We are totally reliant on our information delivery services, which makes IT purchasing a serious investment decision."
Croll believes the greatest danger to any software rollout is the initial phase of development, and gaining an extensive understanding of both the business requirement and the scope of the software.
"The time taken in the initial needs analysis is all important," Croll says. "A lot of the time, a product is built from a technical point of view and there isn't sufficient consideration given to the business need."
To combat this, Croll asks vendors to work closely with the appropriate business units in order to gain a clear understanding of how the products will eventually be used.
These techniques were put to test during a recent implementation of Professional Advantage's Webhouse software developed for Microsoft's Great Plains platform. With preliminary discussions beginning in early November 2001, the software is already up and running thanks to a customisable format which provides for the functionality to evolve as its business needs change.
While Croll admits there was a fairly instant recognition that the software was ideally suited to the need, the implementation process was essential to an effective roll out.
"The key lesson for us was that there are a number of different stake holders in the company that need access to data in different ways," Croll says. "More technical issues like the tight integration and training were the easy part once we had established the functional requirements."
Speaking of change management
Peter Chidiac, country manager for voice recognition vendor Speechworks in Australia and New Zealand, believes one of the keys to successful corporate software implementation lies in the setting of expectations throughout the technology's touchpoints.
In January 2001, Credit Union Australia (CUA) launched an automatic speech recognition service based on Speechworks technology called 'Telebanker'. As with the RMIT SAP integration, speech recognition rollouts in call centres can be a sticky issue for HR departments, especially when efficiency improvements are central to the project's objectives.
Eight months later, CUA's voice recognition system was handling roughly 95,000 calls per month; well on the way to the 280,000 target initially specified. However, following the implementation of the speech recognition system, staff turnover dropped to an all-time low, and phone-based loan applications rose by 20 percent.
"Because many of the more mundane and routine enquiries can be handled by 'Telebanker', CUA's member service representatives are able to spend more time focusing on more complex and rewarding activities such as establishing new accounts, helping with investment products and other value added services which need the skills of a human customer service agent," explained CUA's managing director, Graham Olrich.
Chidiac puts much of the success down to a concerted effort to sell the rollout of speech recognition technology to staff and customers alike. He describes a detailed pre-implementation process which includes extensive reviews of functional requirements, training requirements of staff and the psychological requirements of customers.
"We do usability tests even on quite simple aspects of the technology," Chidiac says. "There is a full application development life cycle which needs to be followed, and it can't be done in a hurry."
However, when the process is carried out thoroughly, the benefits are clear, according to Chidiac.
"One of the key drivers was reducing the amount of time people were on a call, which in itself brings significant savings to the company," he says. "However, because staff had more time to focus on more complex enquiries, there was also the added element of improved job satisfaction."
