The document discusses the development and purpose of contact center standards in South Africa. It was developed through a collaborative process between government, industry bodies, consulting firms, and over 70 industry representatives. The standards aim to improve customer satisfaction, staff efficiency, quality, revenue, and reduce costs and waste. They cover leadership, operations, human resources, and technology. The standards were created to help South Africa attract offshore business by demonstrating efficiency and quality. Contact centers previously did not measure or address sources of waste. Implementing the standards can help centers operate consistently and successfully meet customer and business objectives.

1. Introduction to the SABS
Standards?
Will They Benefit the Contact Centre
Industry and What Did We Do Without
Them?
By Diz Milne
084 308 3741
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2. Who Were Involved in Developing
the Standards?
• The dti – Representing Government
• The Industry Body - SACCOM (Now BPeSA)
• The Business Trust – Representing the Private
Sector
• 5 Work streams in the Industry- Support Sector
Facility (SSF) 1=Standards
• Consulting Firms – PWC and Letsema
• The Industry representatives – > 70 individuals
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3. What Other Information Was
Considered?
Research was done on:
• ISO 0991:2000
• COPC
• CCA Standards
• ISO-IEC 2000
• UNI Call Centre Charter
• Six Sigma
• Merchants Global Benchmarking Report
• Baldridge Awards
• Call Centre Operations and Establishment Guidelines
(Australia and Canada)
• Benchmarking Scotland
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4. That Categories Covered in the
Standard
• Leadership and Customer Satisfaction
Management Practices
• Operational Management Practices
• Human Resource Management Practices
• Technical Resource Management
Practices
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5. What Are The Standards Designed
To Do?
This framework provides the highest
probability of success resulting in:
– Higher customer satisfaction
– High levels of staff efficiency
– High quality and service standards
– Increased revenue
– Reduced cost of waste
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6. Sound Like Lofty Ideals..?
• Most company executives will tell you that
this is what they want .
• How often is it achieved?
• Do we know if it is?
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7. Why Do Companies Have Call
Centres?
• To meet a customer or business objective.
– Service
– Service recovery (complaints)
– Sales
– Maintenance of customer records
– Research
– Setting of appointments
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8. Bottom Line?
• Keep the customer happy – so that the
company can generate revenue
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9. Is Revenue Enough?
• No!
• The company must be efficient to ensure
that the costs to serve the customer are
kept to a minimum to realise a profit
• Every cent ‘wasted’ eats into the bottom
line
– (What does this have to do with the
Standards? We needed to put the Standards
in place to do this ‘on purpose’.)
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10. Why South Africa Needed to
Implement the Standards
• South Africa needed to ‘up its game’ to be able to prove
that we could sustainably attract offshore business and
meet the required standards of efficiency, customer
satisfaction, reduced waste and revenue generation.
• South Africa needed to demonstrate that the Industry
can consistently service the domestic market
• Confidence in out-sourcing was needed – the Standards
broaden the understanding of this channel (we don’t use
our out-sources– why should the companies over-seas?)
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11. Lessons shared by the industry
• We didn’t separate the softer issues in quality
from the issues that will impact other areas of
the service value chain – resulting in re-work,
financial impact and customer satisfaction
impact. (Critical and non-critical errors are treated
differently)
• We only mapped the business processes – not
the service recovery processes (so in a perfect
world – agents know what to do, when something goes
wrong – they delegate upwards)
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12. Lessons shared by the industry
• Most ‘channel’/dependency processes are
not documented – so we waste time
and/or fix the wrong problems (e.g. capacity in
a back-office environment has a headcount freeze – and
call centre sales capacity is doubled. Sales increase,
complaints increase – agents are punished for low
customer satisfaction scores)
• Agents are moved from one area to another and
expected to succeed, but don’t (roles and skills are
not documented and gaps are not closed when agents’
roles change)
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13. Lessons shared by the Industry
• Everyone used the same words for
different calculations – so we are speaking
the same language and meaning very
different things – making it difficult to
‘export’ our services
e.g.(We say we have an 8% absenteeism – but
it isn’t annualized, so it is understated/
misrepresented when talking to international
potential clients)
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14. Lessons shared by the Industry
• Data security requirements in the
Standards were implemented before the
POPI requirements were put in place – (to
manage the risk of agents walking off with data
on a USB or CD – or an entire database being
lost).
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15. The Industry, typically, did not
measure: ‘Waste’. (Is that important?)
• Assume an in-bound cost centre
environment (typical of inbound customer
service)
• Divide the budget into the number of seats
and minutes during operating hours – to
reach a cost per minute
• This gives you the cost to serve per
minute
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16. Map a Service Value Chain from a
Customer’s Perspective
The customer calls
The call centre Courier
Back office Warehouse company
answers processes retrieves delivers
and starts the request stock goods
ordering
the process
Happy Customer
pays
16

17. What Was The Cost to Serve?
(Assume R10.00 / minute)
R65.00
The customer calls 5 min
R50.00
fee
3 min
R30.00
The call centre Courier
Back office Warehouse company
answers processes retrieves delivers
and starts the request stock goods
ordering
the process
15 min
R150
Cost = R 295
Happy Customer
pays
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18. OOOOOps! Wrong order!
• What happens when the agents orders the
incorrect colour or model?
• The customer will definitely complain.
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19. What Was The Cost to Serve?
(Assume R10.00 / minute)
R65.00
The customer calls 5 min fee
R50.00
3 min
R30.00
The call centre Courier
Back office Warehouse company
answers processes retrieves delivers
and starts the request stock goods
ordering
the process
15 min Wrong order
Complaint R150
Cost = extra
R345.00
Happy Customer
Pays/ doesn’t pay?
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20. Do you know how much your waste
is costing your company?
• One area I saw recently is spending 70%
of their time on waste (re-work)
• This is a wonderful opportunity to
demonstrate efficiency – by implementing
the Standards!
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21. Risks?
• What risks have you identified in your call
centre?
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22. Consider these elements - at every
opportunity to serve a customer.
The agent talking to Is the agent
If there is more the customer giving the correct
than 1 doc, is the agent information?
using the right 1? Is the correct Is it sensitive info?
decision being made?
The Is the agent respectful
customer in all elements of
Do the talking to the voice management?
systems agent.
work
Is the data being optimally? Has the agent
captured correctly understood the customer
if at all? requirements?
Can the
Does
customer
the agent
understand
know how to Can he agent
Is the data the agent?
use the hear the
stored/ managed system?
correctly? customer?
Is the
customers
Is the right process Is there a documented objective
being followed? Is there version service recovery for the call
control? Is it trained? process? Does the being
Does it work? agent know it? met? 22

23. Impact of Mistakes That WILL
Cause Re-work?
• If each of your agents is taking 2 200 calls
a month (assume an AHT of 180
sec) how many opportunities are there to
cause waste?
• How much does this cost your call centre?
• If you aren’t looking for these risks are you
purely reactionary and constantly putting
out fires?
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24. Who is responsible?
• Most of us hold the agent responsible and
have stringent performance management
processes in place
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25. Who is responsible for ensuring the
agents have the ability to succeed?
• Training provides the knowledge and skills
• HR recruits specific skill and profile of person
• IT supports the systems to be up and optimally
functioning
• Management provide a supportive nurturing
environment in which to succeed
• Facilities provide a safe and environmentally
friendly place in which to be productive
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26. Continued
• WFM provides rosters that improve that probability of
meeting customer requirements
• MIS provides the tools management need to gauge
success and areas of required improvement
• Quality assesses and feeds back the success of the
business
• Sales sells things that are achievable
• Marketing communicates new product launches on time
• Training is appropriate to the operational requirements
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27. Who makes sure that these
departments support the agents?
• Usually we don’t
• Customer service is normally seen as a
‘customer facing department’s’ responsibility
• Silo’s that don’t face the customer are usually
not measured
• Can the call centre meet customer facing
performance metrics if they are not supported?
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28. How Do You Mitigate These Risks?
• By ensuring your agents have the tools
they need to succeed
• By ensuring that the right management
principles are in place .
• By having the appropriate processes
mapped and managed
• By measuring the right performance
metrics .
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29. What tools do you give your
agents?
– Shifts – that are effective (and legal)
– Processes – that work
– Systems – that work
– Skills – that are appropriate to the operational
requirements
– Management – that provides an environment in which
to succeed
– Communication strategy- on time!
– Company stated focus – shared and implemented
across silos
– Guidance on where and how to be successful
Do they work? 29

30. Every Interaction With a Customer
Represents a Number of Risks
•
Customer
Dependencies for
performance
Agent
30

31. Dependency Management
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Training
External
IT Agent
Systems
TL
Manager
Facilities
WFM
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Quality Customer
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32. Capacity Management
• Are we looking at the right things to determine
our capacity requirements?
• FTE model?
• Call Arrivals at 30 min intervals – Erlang C
• Shift by team
• Shift by rotation – be fair
• Breaks when they need one?
• Breaks when we need one?
• What else do we need to factor in?
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33. Capacity Management
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Head count
Work rules Training
Legislation
training
External
IT Agent
Systems ism
tee TL
s en
Ab Manager
No seats Facilities e
enc
her
, ad
aks
s, b re
WFM S hift
AHT arrival Pat
Targets
MIS Customer facing Metrics
coaching
Quality Customer
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34. Processes
• Who is responsible for these tools?
• Who is held accountable when they don’t
work?
• Do these processes have the customer’s
best interest at their core?
• Are they tested regularly to assess the
impact of ‘change in customer
requirements’?
34

35. Continued
• Have channel processes been
documented?
• Is time wasted sorting out non-business,
but required processes?
• Is root cause analysis done across silos?
• Is accountability for failure taken across
silos?
35

36. Processes Management
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Training
Business Processes
External
IT Agent
Systems
TL
Manager
Facilities
WFM complaints
Channel
Processes
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Quality Customer
36

37. SLA Management
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Training
External
IT Agent
Systems
TL
Manager
Facilities
WFM
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Quality Customer
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38. Systems
(does the tail wag the dog?)
• Who is held accountable when they don’t
work?
• Who determines severity levels?
Customer or IT?
• Who determines cycle times? Are the
customer focused or company
determined?
• Is there a constant battle for ‘action’?
• What is the up-time figure?
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39. Skills
• Do the skills hired and trained match the
requirement of the role?
• Is there consistency between what is ‘asked for’
and what is received?
• Is there alignment between what skills are taught
and what skills the customer values?
• Are skills
– Verified, trained, taught, coached and refreshed?
• Are all customer facing roles – skilled?
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40. Training
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Training
Induction
External
IT Agent On going
Systems
TL
Manager Changes
Facilities
WFM
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Quality Customer
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41. Management
• Are managers ensuring that their staff
are:- supported, guided and developed?
• Are managers disempowering their staff
through inadequate leadership skills?
• Are managers focusing on the right
issues?
• Are managers ensuring that their staff
have the tools they need to succeed?
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42. Continued
• Are managers implementing the strategic
vision?
• Are managers managing and measuring their
dependencies on other departments?
• Is root cause analysis being conducted across
silos?
• Are areas of risk being assessed?
• Are you improving on purpose?
• Is improvement repeatable, scalable and
sustainable?
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43. Quality Management
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Training
Root Cause Analysis
External
Root Cause Analysis
IT Agent
Systems
TL
Manager
Facilities
Complaints
Bus
Risk
WFM Assess Interactions
Customer
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Exp
Quality Customer
43

44. Communication Strategy
• Who is responsible for accurate
information?
• Who is responsible for communicating
changes in information, systems and
processes?
• Is the communication on time?
• Is the method of communication – e-mail?
• The company sated focus included in the
communication?
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45. Communication /Version Control
V/C Risk
External Leadership
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
V/C Training Communication
Change
External
IT Agent
Systems
TL V/C
Manager
V/C Facilities
V/C WFM
V/C
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Test success
V/C Quality Customer
45

46. The customer focus, efficiency and
quality accountability message
filters from the top.
• Is the ‘message’ permeating:
– The training approach
– The performance management
– The quality approach
– The performance metrics used
– The recruitment strategy
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47. Stated Focus Penetration
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Training
External
IT Agent
Systems
TL
Manager
Facilities
WFM
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Quality Customer
47

48. How do We Know That We Are
The Best?
48

49. Performance metrics measured
External Leadership Risk
Staffing HR
Channel Performance metrics
Training
External
IT Agent
Systems
TL
Manager
Facilities
WFM
MIS Customer facing Metrics
Quality Customer
49

50. Do We Manage the ‘Dependencies
for Performance’ First?
• By taking the focus off the result – focus
on the inputs
• Ensure the agents have the tools they
need to succeed by managing the
departments that provide those tools
• When the tools are complete and work –
then manage the agent’s ‘choices’
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51. This is exactly what the Standards
are designed to do
• The Industry standards provide the
management framework - of what needs
to be in place - to improve the companies
probability of success
• They lay out the requirements for the
approaches, processes and performance
metrics that a company must implement to
mitigate the risks inherent in call centres
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52. 52
What does success look like?
Increased Customer
satisfaction
Profits
Decreased Waste and
Cost
Increased revenue

53. How do we get started?
• Check what is ‘said’ officially – against the
standards
• Audit the ‘De Facto’ reality against what is said
and the standards - where it counts
• Identify the gaps
• Identify the impact on: ‘the customer, the contact
centre, the staff and the cost’
• Close the gaps - starting with those that produce
the highest yield - in all targeted issues
53

54. The Benefits?
• Increase Customer satisfaction
– Through improved quality and service
• Reduce the cost of waste
– Through process management
– Through quality management
• Increase efficiency
– Through dependency management
• Improve effectiveness
– Through failure source elimination
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55. Conclusion
• All sustainable performance in a contact
centre is underpinned by sound
operational management principles
• Evidence of the implementation of these
principles ensures the highest probability
of success
Diz Milne
084 308 3741
55