Strategies for Dramatic Cost Reduction in the Contact Centre - June AusContact Webinar

1. Strategies for Dramatic Cost Reduction
in the Contact Centre
John Cray
VP, Product Management
Enghouse Interactive

2. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
One minute on Enghouse …
 Founded in 1984
 Delivering contact centre communications
products for over 20 years – to currently over
10,000 customers
 1200+ employees, $250M in revenue, market
cap over $1.3B, profitable
 Global Operations in 15 countries
Customer Communications
Software and Services
Telecommunications and
Utility Networks Software
Transportation Services and
Operations Software

3. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
Our Agenda Today
Putting Cost Reduction in Perspective
Can You Save Money While Protecting Customer Relationships?
Key Cost Savings Methods: Making It About ROI
The Enghouse Approach
Quick Success Stories

4. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
Worldwide Top 3 issues in a contact centre (Gartner)
» Improving customer satisfaction
o It’s about their time and it’s about your people
 The timeliness and quality of your customer interactions
» Increasing revenue
o Maximized when it’s the best person to interact with the customer
 Best skill set, deepest existing relationship
o Increased when you can be proactive
 Timely outbound contact
» Decreasing costs
o Many opportunities for greater efficiency through smart communications
 Self-service options (IVR, web)
 Agent productivity (screen pop, desktop tools for multichannel)
 Blended inbound multichannel; blended outbound interaction

5. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
Which top Gartner issue would your contact centre most
relate to?
Improving customer satisfaction
Increasing revenue
Decreasing costs
Poll Question:

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The natural conflict …
Cost
Reduction
Customer
Satisfaction
Vs.
B
O
T
H

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Where are the costs?
Source: CONTACT BABEL U.S. CONTACT centre DECISION-MAKERS' GUIDE (2014)

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Efficiency matters…
Contact centre operating expenditure
Technology is nothing. What's
important is that you have a faith in
people, that they're basically good
and smart, and if you give them
tools, they'll do wonderful things
with them.”
- Steve Jobs

9. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
How Do Agents Spend Their Time?

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Average Cost of Agent Call
INBOUND CALL OUTBOUND CALL
$5.84 $6.34
IT/Technology Technical Queries Can Be Much Higher: In Excess of $30/Call

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OPTIONS FOR CUSTOMER SELF-SERVICE

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Best interactions for self-service

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Self-Service Types by Vertical
Self-service activity Typical sector offering this form of self-service
Problem reporting and resolution IT helpdesk
Account access Banking
Product information Retail
Online registration Any
Order entry Retail, travel
Balance inquiry Banking, credit cards
Dealer or store location inquiries Car sales, retail
Ticket booking Cinemas, other entertainment
Real-time punctuality checks Airlines, trains
Status checks Retail (esp. online), IT helpdesk
Address changes Subscription services, utilities
Form filling Any
Brochure request Travel, retail
Password reset Finance, IT

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Use and Usefulness of Self-Service

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Uses of Outbound Proactive Self-Service

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OPTIONS FOR AGENT PRODUCTIVITY

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Time Taken to Verify Caller’s Identity
SO … Automatically “screen-pop” the customer record using Caller ID, Issue ID,
Customer Name or ID, or From Address

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How many applications do your operators use on a daily
basis?
One
Two
Three
Four or more
Poll Question:

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The Problem of Agent Desktop Complexity

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Getting agents the information they need
Use of knowledge workers for customer service

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Staffing
Level
Time of Day
Efficiency through workload flattening …
Offer Self-Service Options (IVR, etc.)Shave Time Off Calls (screen pop, tools)Offer Callbacks (in slower times)Move Calls to Emails

22. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
OVERALL COST SAVINGS APPROACH …

23. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
Contact centre Efficiencies, an additive approach
No automation Screen pop Skills-based
routing
IVR & Web
Self-Service
Proactive Outbound Email and Web-based
Communications
The impact of proactive communications
management:
C
O
S
T
S
V
A
L
U
E

24. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
A quick savings analysis …
Potential Contact centre Efficiency Yearly Savings
Suppose … you run a 50-agent contact centre, averaging 80% agent utilization efficiency.
Agents are at $40K/year. CC takes 1500 calls per day (average call duration is 12.8 minutes).
Offer self-service options thru IVR
(assume 5% of calls are serviced this way)
$100,000
Move calls to email, handled during downtime
(assume 10% inbound call reduction)
$200,000
Blend proactive outbound, handled during downtime
(assume 3% inbound call reduction)
$30,000
Automatically ID customers/needs, provide screen pop
(assume average of 24 seconds saved per call)
$62,500
Intelligently route to the best skill for that customer
(assume 10% of calls no longer require transfer, 60
second savings)
$15,625
TOTAL SAVINGS $408,125

25. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
What is the primary reason you lose agents from your staff?
Wrong person for the job
Excessive pressure or stress
Low pay or lack of promotion opportunity
Repetitive calls or unpleasant callers
Seasonal fluctuations
None of the above
Poll Question:

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The Cost of Agent Attrition

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THE ENGHOUSE APPROACH …

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Mechanisms Enabling Self-Service
• Text-to-speech
• Speech recognition
• Proactive Outbound notifications
• Web or Mobile
• Chat or Callback for Online Assistance
• Self-Service Knowledge Base

29. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
Agent productivity
Efficient interaction handling – multiple channels,
knowledge articles, common responses, etc.
Useful and productive tools and statistics.
Agent satisfaction is all about visibility and control.

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Screen pop customer records for identification and efficiency …
Use “click-to-dial” for rapid callback
Agent productivity

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Unify channels for metrics and management

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QUICK SUCCESS STORIES …

33. © Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011
• Self-Service IVR, providing many services including:
• Tax refund information
• Account balance
• Funds transfer
• Handled 67,000 calls per day (450% of expected demand)
• Saved three times the cost of the system in YEAR ONE
• In first few months, reduced call volumes by over 40%
• IVR, Increased agent efficiency
• Directly contributed to profitability:
• Reduced staff (lower cost)
• Allows agents to focus on new memberships (higher revenue)Weight Management

34. My contact info: john.cray@enghouse.com
Questions?