A well-organized call centre. Calls are routed automatically. The operator only fills in the request template fields with the customer’s oral information and presses OK. The customer’s request is then processed by the intellectual enterprise management system, which particularly chooses the most suitable employee providing the shortest expected time of execution. Free of charge and error-free.
And what is CRM, dear friends? In the
diverse and barely tangible world of enterprise automation systems, juggling with terms/acronyms has
long become the mainstream trick. One designed, naturally, to better set up the prospective customer.
Also magic practices, in a sense.
With the passage of time, the annoying need to explain to those asking for ’CRM’ the same things (obvious for us, but amazing discovery each time for the audience) made us write a special essay intended to explode the common myths around CRM systems.
Ultimate Co. is not disposed to concoct CRM modules out of thin air with the only purpose of having them in our price list – that is, inflating our bill even more for he customers.
Moreover, Ultimate will never concoct amy
’modules’ as a matter of principle; all our solutions based on the Ultimate Solid platform are
monolithic systems whose entire functionality is available to the customer once and for all. No
’modules’ need to be bought, at least because there are none. Also, unlike most ’modular
systems’, Ultimate monolithic systems are operable in practice — and not just in
ads.
The e-Service solution includes
- (a) integrated and
- (b) full-featured CRM functionality called Ultimate CRM Drive
Integrated means that all the
contact centre operations are performed directly in the managing system not in an external piece of
software.
An operator plunged into the single info space and able to work directly with
information needed for the conversation needs no extra time to open and/or toggle among
spreadsheets, various databases and other software, etc.; all the required information is displayed
on one screen.
Changes are made and data are updated right in the operator’s contact window.
Full-featured means that the CRM functionality of Utimate e-Service (Ultimate CRM Drive) covers positively every need of the target audience.
One Contact Centre for Different Business Lines
Imagine that your business runs a number of business lines that differ widely, e.g. expensive on-site computer repairs, cheap repairs of home appliances and night-time delivery of restaurant food. A number of websites, a phone pool, and travelling personnel. How can we organize the efficient operation of a call centre in this situation?
The overheads of this ‘kitchen-table’ scheme of operating the call centre are easy to imagine. Different telephones, tons of ‘tabs’/’bookmarks’/’sheets’ etc., and a loose array of information that requires vigilance and concentration on the operator’s part.
What do we have in Ultimate IEM?
When a call comes in, the call
centre operator reads on his/her computer screen which business line the caller belongs to, how to
greet them, and which tone and mood (‘want some relaxation, gentlemen?’) to
keep.
Visibly displayed are the business line’s sets of services, prices, and the obligations to
be announced to the client. The operator needs neither to keep anything in his head nor even to
identify the business line on his own; Ultimate CRM Drive does it all automatically after a short
setup procedure.
How the Operator is Chosen
However sophisticated the logic may be, the operator who has been idle longer than others is selected. If a client calls again, then Ultimate CRM Drive will route the call to the operator whom the caller contacted last, because client satisfaction is of paramount importance to a service company. The reader will probably remember more than one case where, due to a lost connection or other stochastic events, he or she had to explain their case again to a fresh person on the other end — incidentally, often to get a different result.
What Happens when the Operator Answers a Call
An i-Zet example: imagine a typical call to a computer assistance
company (a non-typical one, as we’ll see later). As soon as the operator picks up and the caller’s
number is checked against the database, the screen will display a form with all the information
available on the client: name, where he lives, call history, status of his active orders, balance
(if any, and if the operator is authorized to check it). It also shows the price list and the set of
services for this client depending on the business line and, say, the client category.
All is
handy, and NOTHING should be opened in addition.
And if the caller’s number is not found in the database, then a
pre-filled form opens that the operator will replenish with info as he talks.
Incidentally, the caller may be using his other number (e.g. the office
one); no problem, the client’s two cards will be merged into one, and next time... so you
understand.
Dialogue
Depending on the type of the client’s call (or business line), the
operator will ask the client questions from a pre-determined template. The templates can be freely
configured to reflect the specifics; from classical questions like ‘Did you try to turn it off and
on again?’, ‘How do you know about us?’, to more specific ones, like: ‘Will you plaster the jambs by
yourself?’
These data can eventually support a useful analysis.
As he configures the request
(fills in the answers), the operator keeps an eye on the schedule of available resources that
displays the free time of travelling engineers of the required speciality (in the case of
i-Zet).
So it is easy to project date and time of their arrival.
There is no need to wait for anything, check with the operator/engineers for the resources available and/or call the client again; the free time schedule is always on screen. After arranging the desired date and time of the visit with the client, the operator saves the order, and that is all.
That is, really ‘all’;nothing else is
required of the operator.
The further order distribution
operations are performed automatically by Ultimate e-Service.
And, ideally, no operator is needed. You can receive orders via the
website or IVR and teach your customers to self-serve. This approach is great for discounters and
other businesses working in the ‘cheap and cheerful’
format.
And What about Outgoing Calls?
The single call centre serves both the incoming and outgoing call
traffic. Applications from the website and e-mail from clients that require callback are easily
integrated into this task flow.
Nothing will be lost.
And if your business is built on outgoing (call and sell) contacts, then the procedure is quite similar to that described for incoming calls. Rather than incoming calls, distributed are the outgoing call assignments → whom to call next. The analysis and motivation make it possible to prepare and track employees’ individual call plans.
External Sources
The e-Service API (application programme interface) can connect to an unlimited diversity of external event generators, e.g. external developers’/suppliers’ call centres – retaining all their functionality.
Now let us discuss the results.
Previously, i-Zet operators
could NOT cope with the incoming call flow very well, with all the entailments. Growth was out of
question.
And six month after Ultimate e-Service was adopted:
the number of operators decreased by 35%, while
the
number of orders grew nine-fold (300+ orders a day)
This case deals with the results directly related to the work of
just one unit, namely the call centre.
Let us rack our brains and imagine the combination of
circumstances that would let us achieve similar results using Excel.
Have any idea?