10/23/2018
10/23/2018
When customers contact a company with whom they’re doing business, they expect a certain level of service. The most common types of customer interactions are those where someone is requesting information, in need of support, or initiating a transaction. Their expectations for service are usually centered around three areas:
Sounds simple. Right? However, many companies find it difficult to consistently deliver on these expectations.
Call center agents are the first line of defense and point of contact for customers. Their interactions are critical to defining the customer experience. Service agents are trained to adhere to numerous policies, procedures and metrics while keeping abreast of an ever-evolving list of new product information that must be effectively communicated.
To better align customer service agent efforts, quality standards are defined and audited by internal quality teams. Nearly every customer service center has a quality assurance team or “phone police” – that listens in on interactions and assesses whether or not the front line agent’s conversation meets a specific standard. In fact, it’s somewhat ironic that the most skilled agents, who are promoted to the Quality team, are considered inhibitors rather than champions of success. Is a Quality team necessary to build and deliver strong customer service?
Let’s examine several areas that outline responsibilities vs capabilities.
First, the role and goal of a Quality team is to listen to customer/agent interactions and assess whether the correct information was provided in a way the customer understands. The team manages their checklist that measures the agent’s skills and effectiveness. Some checklists are short, consisting of five to seven 5 – 7 questions, while others are quite rigorous consisting of more than 30 questions. Some are of the opinion that the more questions included on a checklist, the higher the quality of the assessment. But, if you stop to think about it, your customer does not care about the checklist; they only care about if someone is actually listening to them.
The main reason most quality processes fail is due to the lack of focus placed on listening to the customer and determining whether the company is delivering on expectations. This is not achieved by filling in a checklist, but by collecting the relevant information that illustrates the reasons why the customer is reaching out for help. By design, Quality teams are uniquely positioned for this purpose. Just think: Who listens to the most calls in a customer service operation? Not operations, not training, and not even the senior leaders. It’s the Quality team. Your Quality team can potentially be the central source for ascertaining what customers want and how to deliver what they expect.
Secondly, Quality teams provide objective feedback and are the voice of truth. They know how things should be and are responsible for documenting what happened versus what should have taken place. This feedback is usually packaged with an evaluation and provided to a supervisor or directly to the agent. The process is sometimes ineffective, resulting in unnecessary work that includes fact checking by several individuals as well as an effort to determine if the assessment is 100% correct. Just one error and the Quality process loses credibility and could potentially be considered a waste of time and money as supervisors and agents may discard these files. What is most helpful and effective to agents is a clear path to success. The Quality team is uniquely positioned to provide this support. How? You may ask….
Because your Quality team listens to both good and bad interactions, they can pinpoint the most effective agents who provide positive customer experiences. Choose the calls that model the types of behavior that support ideal customer experiences. To test this belief, ask your Quality team “Who are the best agents on the floor? Who are the less than stellar performers?
Your mission is to collect the successful attributes of your best agents and use them as examples to show others how to be effective and in coaching and development sessions. Admittedly, this process still has some flaws. For instance, some supervisors may not know how to effectively provide helpful, actionable steps for improvement. But it is a start in the right direction.
Kevin Zehnder is the Vice President of Customer Experience Solutions, for eClerx Customer Operations. With over 24 years’ experience in Customer Service and Sales, he is an industry leader in aligning Quality processes to optimize Customer Experience, including quality process design, customer survey methodology, closed-loop feedback, and associate coaching. Kevin has also designed and implemented Customer Analytics that have provided corporate leaders with the data to enhance decision making in keeping with their brand promise. Prior to joining eClerx, Kevin spent nine years managing quality delivery for major outsource partners and has worked with industry leaders in NPS that include USAA, Amazon, and T-Mobile.
To find out how we can help advance your business goals, contact us today.
Kapil Jain is the Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of eClerx. He joins us after a 23 year career at Infosys where he served as Executive Vice President for the Global BPM business. As a strong people champion and customer success zealot Kapil has the unique ability to build long-standing client relationships. He holds an MBA and MS from Case Western Reserve University, USA, and an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Kapil is responsible for executing the business strategy, directing the overall performance and growth of the organisation and long-term shareholder value.
Ms. Bala C Deshpande is the Founder Partner of MegaDelta Capital. Of her 32 years of experience, Ms. Bala has over two decades of investing experience. Her experience as a Board member is variegated in terms of size and stage from young, high involvement companies to large listed companies and she has also played an instrumental role in shaping many innovative businesses and entrepreneurial journeys. She is passionate about Technology and its far-reaching implications on markets, businesses and consumers. She attended the Singularity University course to sharpen her knowledge in this space. She is a Management Graduate from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute and has a Master’s degree in Economics.
Mr. Naresh Chand Gupta is founder and CEO of Accuracap Consultancy Services, a technology oriented public market investment firm. Before that, he headed the Applied AI group at LNK corporation and was founding Managing Director of Adobe India, Sr. Vice President, Adobe Inc. and General Manager of Print and Publishing Business Unit, where he headed one of the three Adobe’s global business units, responsible for engineering, product management, marketing, sales, and P&L of print, eLearning, gaming, and several other classic publishing product lines. Mr. Naresh Chand Gupta has done M.S and Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Maryland, College Park and B.Tech in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur).
Mr. Naval Bir Kumar has a diverse experience in financial services over the last 30 years. He has worked with Indian Companies and Multi Nationals and has held leadership positions in investment banking, asset management, treasury and consumer banking. He served as an investment banker in ANZ Grindlays Bank, where he launched ANZ Grindlays Mutual Fund, India’s first foreign bank owned Mutual Fund. He was CEO of the ANZ Grindlays Mutual Fund business for 16 years. He was an AMFI Board member for many years and worked with SEBI on evolving various regulations. He was also the Head of Consumer Banking on receiving the banking license to re-imagine and build a digital led, branch light model. Mr. Naval Bir Kumar has done Post-Graduation in Management from Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta).
This comprehensive Robotic Process Automation platform offers improved business efficiency and effectiveness by replacing high volumes of repetitive and rule-driven tasks, allowing firms to save costs and focus on strategic, value-add activities. The ability to standardize business processes, build automation that can be leveraged across your organization, and drive improved control due to reduced human error are some of the benefits of this platform. Roboworx is built to seamlessly integrate with existing applications for minimal business disruption.
Anish Ghoshal is a Non-executive, Independent Director who joined the eClerx Board in August 2007. Currently, a law partner at Dua Associates, Anish’s areas of expertise includes corporate, regulatory and labor law, acquisitions, joint ventures, and intellectual property. He has a bachelor’s degree in Commerce with honors from St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta and a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Bombay.
Biren Gabhawala is a Non-executive, Independent Director who joined the eClerx Board in May 2011. With 30 years’ experience, Mr. Gabhawala is a qualified chartered accountant and a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Presently, he is a senior partner at M/s. C. M. Gabhawala & Co. Chartered Accountants, specializing in direct and indirect Taxation, FEMA, International Taxation, and Mergers and Acquisitions. Mr. Gabhawala holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from H. R. College of Commerce & Economics in Mumbai.
Deepa Kapoor is a Non-executive, Independent Director who joined the eClerx Board in March 2014. She is currently the Director of an MBA program and leads various executive education initiatives. Previously, Deepa headed Corporate Social Responsibility at Genpact and Punj Lloyd and has worked at several international companies including Broadview Associates, Oracle Corporation, and Lucent Technologies. Deepa holds an MBA from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Smith College in Northampton, MA.
Shailesh Kekre is a Non-executive and Independent Director, who joined eClerx’s board in March 2017. Prior to joining the board, Shailesh was a Partner at McKinsey & Company in India and a leader of the firm’s global Sourcing and Analytics practices for over 17 years. Shailesh serves as an advisor to several global enterprises in India, US, UK and Germany and specializes in business strategy and operations for IT / BPM and the R&D industry. Mr. Kekre holds a management degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and a bachelor’s degree in Technology and Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
Srinjay Sengupta is an Non-executive, Independent Director who joined eClerx Board in January 2021. He is a seasoned professional in the technology and outsourcing industry. He held senior roles at Infosys, where he setup the UK and European operations of the company, and at iGate, where he was head of global sales and marketing. He also worked at McKinsey & Company and is now an independent adviser to global corporations in the areas of technology, operations and outsourcing. He is also an investor in tech intensive scale ups. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and holds a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.
Anjan Malik is a Co-founder and the Executive Director of eClerx’s on-shore subsidiaries. He has over 25 years of experience in consulting, investment banking and knowledge process outsourcing. Anjan worked with Accenture in Europe and Lehman Brothers in the US before starting eClerx, with PD Mundhra, in 2000. Anjan holds an MBA from The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania (USA) and a Physics degree from Imperial College, London (UK).