Staying ahead of the pack - Contact Management

Does your centre
need a GPS?
It’s all about knowing your destination and getting there
as quickly and directly as possible. The same applies to
where you are taking your contact centre. So here’s how to
adopt a GPS model and avoid any wrong turns. BY JEFF DORAN
Is your contact centre headed
in the right direction? As the
old saying goes, if you don’t
know where you are going, any
road will take you there.
This is particularly apropos when
it comes to business planning. If you
don’t plan the right route to reach
your destination, you may never get
there. If you’re struggling to meet
your goals, you may need a GPS
(Global Positioning System) for your
contact centre.
What is a GPS?
It is a global navigation system
that provides reliable positioning,
direction, and timing services
to users on a continuous basis
anywhere on the planet. GPS assists
in everyday activities such as
banking, mobile phone operations,
and even the control of power grids.
A GPS structure is made up of three
segments: 1) Space – satellites, 2)
Control – master control station,
monitoring stations and ground
antennas, and 3) User – people who
are accessing, updating and securing
the network.
Now how does this apply to
contact centre planning?
Well, if you could take all of the
variables that need to be analyzed for
your business plan, enter them into
one system, and produce a road map
on how to achieve your goals, you
would save a tremendous amount of
time, resources and frustration.
With a GPS model, you can
manage your planning process more
effectively for better results. Let’s
look at the three main segments in
more detail.
Space - The final frontier!
(sorry about that)
Whether you operate a domestic
contact centre or a worldwide
operation, you need to have a
global perspective on your markets,
customers, competition and the
economy. You need timely and
accurate information coming in on a
consistent basis.
Are your markets changing,
are your customers asking for
different products/services, is your
competition eating into your market
share, has the economy shifted and
affected spending habits?
You can get this information
through traditional media sources
such as newspapers, trade
publications, television and radio.
However, you should use the Internet
to tap into newswire feeds, chat
rooms, Webinars, blogs and social
networking sites. These provide some
of the best and most current sources
of information available.
Also, don’t forget about
attending industry networking
sessions, conferences, seminars and
tradeshows. These are still excellent
sources of information and allow you
to personally connect with customers
and competitors.
Once you’ve developed a robust
system for acquiring this information,
you need to manage and nurture it.
The more aware you are of emerging
trends, the better equipped you will
be at guiding your business through
rough waters.
Control
Collecting lots of pertinent
information is great, but you must
do something with it. You need a
central point to house the data and a
methodology to assess it in a timely
fashion.
First, set up a task force to
manage this segment. This will be
GPS Task Force
Contact Centre
Management
Employees
Executive
your “master control station”. All
information will feed into this group.
People on the task force need
to be focused, reliable and be
accountable. Look for people who are
detail oriented and have an affinity
for doing research. Distribute the
workload equally to ensure a steady
stream of relevant information.
This group will be responsible to
assessing data/information, making
recommendations for improvement,
developing plans of action,
determining budget, presenting to
upper executives.
You will also want to establish a
section on your corporate Intranet
to allow people on the task force to
connect virtually. You may want to
open this up to a broader audience
if you feel that more input would
be advantageous. If you go this
High
Low
12 contact management.ca March / April 2011