Contact centres are not “set and forget” environments. Businesses change, customers (and their expectations) change, and technology changes. Unfortunately, many contact centres do not review their operation in the light of these changes on a regular basis.

Every contact centre should have a strategy – a plan for the next 1 to 5 years – to allow for growth planning, budget planning and changes to customer service. This strategy should be reviewed every two years or so to ensure it is still relevant, to include any evolving technologies that are appropriate and to cater for any changes to customer needs.

At the same time, a comprehensive review of the current operation should be undertaken – not just from a technology perspective, but overall. This includes organisational structure, staff skills, training, rostering and scheduling, recruitment, internal and external communication, use and effectiveness of technology, and customer service.

The health check should cover technical, operational and personnel aspects of the contact centre and will provide a baseline of current capability and recommendations to proceed into the future, considering the likely expectations of customers and the business itself.

The health check should cover all areas of the contact centre, including:

• The current technology including versions and support.
• How the technology is used, including whether there is additional functionality that could be activated easily to improve business outcomes.
• IVR configuration and call routing.
• Reporting and metrics.
• Scheduling and rostering.
• Job descriptions and KPIs.
• Recruitment and training.
• Staff skills.
• Organisational structure, roles and responsibilities.
• Customer service and call quality.
• Internal and external communications.
• Contact centre features and facilities.

At the conclusion a detailed report including prioritised recommendations will be produced. The report will provide an objective, independent opinion of the best way to progress while considering the short, medium and long-term business requirements.

The contact centre technology environment is changing rapidly There has been a strong push to cloud-based telephony solutions for some years now, but during 2020 that ramped up significantly as businesses had to transition their contact centres to a work-from-home model.

Amongst vendors there have been mergers and acquisitions, and companies that were well known overseas are now starting to operate in Australia, with many new players in the market today. Often their products are innovative, feature-rich and competitively priced in comparison.

There are significant advantages in enlisting specialist, external assistance when investigating or evaluating new technology – for example:

• Specialist consultants know how other companies are using technology to enhance their customer service and improve business efficiency as they are working with a variety of different companies on a daily basis.
• Specialist consultants maintain an understanding of the capabilities of different technology vendors (including new and emerging vendors) and how the different features and functions can benefit your business.
• Specialist consultants maintain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the different technology re-sellers (dealers) and can assist clients with their selection to minimise their risk during the project implementation.
• Specialist consultants can leverage their knowledge of the industry and key technology vendors to ensure your business requirements and tender document contain the features and functions that will enhance your business in the short, medium and long term. Where internal staff write the tender document it often contains current business practices rather than current and future business needs, resulting in a “like-for-like” technology replacement that does not provide the business with strategic benefit in the future.
• “The devil is often in the detail”, and an experienced consultant knows what to look out for with the different solutions – challenges that may not be immediately apparent during the purchasing phase – again reducing the risk to the client.

CCA are in an ideal position to assist clients with the evaluation, selection and implementation of new contact centre technology. In our 20+ years of experience in the industry we have undertaken many similar engagements for other clients in all industry verticals.

We maintain knowledge of the different vendors and solutions in the market today, ensuring the most appropriate vendors are included in the tender process.

We are vendor-independent. We have no commercial relationships with any technology vendors, ensuring that we work only in the interests of our clients, and our clients get the best possible solution to meet their individual requirements.

We have extensive experience in contact centre operations and technology, allowing us to easily translate business requirements into technical specifications, and to translate technical capabilities into business benefits.

In operation since 2003 Contact Centre Action was established in response to a need to provide high-quality, specialist consulting services to the call and contact centre industry.

Since establishing Contact Centre Action, we have been fortunate to work with some of Australia’s largest and best-known companies covering many industry verticals including financial services, retail, general and health insurance, state and federal government, utilities, telecommunications, transport and logistics, outsourcing and technology.

Some of our clients include: NAB, Coles Myer, Australian Unity, Pacific National, BMW Group, Vic Roads, iSelect, SP AusNet, Brother, Primus Telecom, Nu Energy, SingTel, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Worksafe Victoria, Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency, Oceania Customer Interaction Services, Victoria Electricity and Excelior.

To illustrate the variety of the work we are able to undertake, we have detailed below the different tasks we have performed for multiple clients as part of our client engagements:

• Analysed the structure and workflows within a workforce planning department and recommended changes to reduce cost, improve service delivery and improve strategic thinking and planning.
• Developed a group-wide call centre strategy that involved technology upgrades, amalgamation of existing call centres, advice on recruitment and skill requirements, updating process and procedures and improving work flows.
• Performed ‘health checks’ including staff interviews, and presented a report with recommendations concerning management practices, environment, key performance indicators, metrics, customer service, internal communications, structure, remuneration, reward and recognition, reporting and feedback, process and procedures, and training.
• Gathered requirements and advised on the selection of a vendor and a suitable solution for a total contact centre infrastructure replacement.
• Gathered requirements and prepared a Request for Tender, analysed responses and advised on the selection of a suitable solution and vendor for a technology acquisition.
• Project managed a variety of projects, including the implementation of a call recording solution, the implementation of replacement contact centre infrastructure, the relocation of a contact centre to new premises and the implementation of the virtualisation of call centres across multiple sites.
• Analysed call flows, call routing strategies and IVR configuration and made recommendations to improve customer service.

Our staff have broad practical experience in many aspects of managing and operating Call and Contact Centres, allowing us to match the most appropriate skills to your needs and have access to many industry resources to provide you with the highest level of service and expertise available.