When Robby the Robot burst onto the scene in the 1956 movie “Forbidden Planet,” and later as a regular on the television series “Lost in Space,” the 7-foot-tall character fascinated both kids and adults. Of course fans in those days never could have imagined what a vital role robots would play for military, law enforcement, and emergency response organizations. Consumers could purchase a Roomba® to vacuum their homes—as close as modern technology allows to the Jetsons’ maid, Rosie.
Until recently, the U.S. robotics industry put a large portion of their time into developing technology for the military and security sectors, and we have seen robots in action as they searched for and disabled improvised explosive devices (IEDs).. As the war in Afghanistan winds down, robot manufacturers like iRobot (Roomba’s manufacturer) may be shifting production to consumer products, but they are still involved in the market for the military and security sectors.
Emergency, disaster, and security personnel can still rely on robots to step in whereas in the past, human beings were required to put their lives at risk. Because it decreases risk for human injuries and/or fatalities, sales are going strong. A 2012 report by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) confirmed that demand is growing for service robots (robots that assist humans). Total worldwide sales grew to $3.6 billion from 2010 to 2011.
iRobot is looking to repurpose its robots from military to industrial applications. Robots that used to dispose of bombs in the past can now be used for standard maintenance and other tasks in nuclear power plants, meaning less radiation exposure for humans. For instance, the Robinson Nuclear Plant near Huntsville, S.C. purchased three such robots in 2012.
Robots were used in another nuclear facility back in March of 2011. When the earthquake and tsunami disaster hit Japan, robots were shipped out to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The robots measured radiation levels and pulled hoses to spray water on fuel rods. iRobot supplied these robots. One of their models is the 510 PackBot, which can be fitted with sensors that can check for radiation and discern when other chemical and biological threats are present.
Law enforcement agencies can use robots for a number of purposes. Along with the management of explosive devices, robots can be used for reconnaissance, hostage negotiations, and other potentially dangerous missions. Minnesota-based manufacturer ReconRobotics has developed a sturdy device called the Throwbot that can be launched by hand into an area to survey a situation before officers move in.
The barbell-shaped Throwbot weighs 1.2 pounds. What appears to be the “weight” portion of the device is actually its wheels and motor. The bar that connects the wheels houses a camera, batteries, and antenna. Throwbot also uses a stabilizer bar to keep it heading in the right direction and help the antenna stay in place. Robots like Throwbot and the devices that iRobot has developed will continue to evolve and help keep law enforcement, military professionals, and other emergency response personnel out of harm’s way.
Aside from household tasks like vacuuming the floor, the capabilities of robots are only as endless as the imagination and capabilities of those who program them. As public safety and emergency-based technology advances, the opportunities to protect emergency responders and law enforcement professionals grow. The future may see robotic fire fighters and real-life Inspector Gadgets, meaning that less human lives are put at risk.
If it has been awhile since you have assessed the effectiveness of the processes, technology, workforce management system, and productivity of your contact center, it’s time for a review. Personnel and technology are always changing and your staff needs to meet the demands. Review your current system, identify areas that need improvement, and update your processes and equipment to help improve both the quality and productivity of your contact center.
To figure out where you’re going, you need to establish where you are. Assemble a team to review where your current stance with processes, personnel, and assets that support your contact center. Areas to consider include:
In order to properly analyze the “state of the union” in your organization, you could hire an outside resource to survey and audit your current processes, vendors, employees, and customers. Hiring an outside resource would likely provide a more objective view of your business. If you prefer to handle the process internally, you will want to do a proper analysis of your organization as it stands and compare it to similar businesses in your industry. In order to compare, you will likely have to call and speak with a representative about specific procedures as not all information will be available (or apparent) online.
Along with your organization’s balance sheet, you can gather information on your business by conducting in-depth, randomly selected focus groups to get a realistic view of your contact center’s performance. A focus group is ideal because it helps you to get a general consensus from the group, such as attitudes and beliefs. Later, you can take this information and develop a survey to distribute to all members of the group. You should have a conversation with:
It’s also helpful to gather information about your industry from colleagues to see how your organization stacks up. This will take some legwork, but it can really pay off.
At Kova Corporation, we offer workforce management solutions that can help improve the efficiencies and outputs of your contact center. And if you need help assessing the state of the union in your contact center, we can help. Contact us to learn more.
Regardless of the type of contact center you manage – stress levels have a tendency to run high from time to time. Not only can stress have a negative impact on a person’s health, it can also affect productivity and turnover in a contact center. Acknowledging that stress is a reality in your organization and helping employees deal with it in a proactive fashion can work wonders.
When your employees know that there are programs available to help them, it relieves pressure off them to do it on their own. It also shows that their company cares about their well-being and will do what is needed to in order to see that they succeed—mentally, physically, and otherwise. This program can include paid visits to a medical professional to check their health vitals, access to human resources professional or therapist, or life coaching and goal setting.
“I don’t have the time” and “It’s too expensive” are two of the biggest excuses individuals make for reasons why they can’t exercise. Prevent your employees from saying these phrases by providing easy access to exercise. Options include an in-building gym, paid membership, or in-building classes taught by outside instructors. One option is to bring in an instructor to teach calming exercises such as yoga or tai chi in a larger conference room once or twice a week, during lunch or dinner hour. You could also establish a walking group if there are safe paths (or hallways and stairwells) nearby.
Whatever your choice, know that having this option readily available to your employees will make them more likely to utilize it. And then you can be ready for some happier, healthier employees!
Even on relatively “easy” days, it’s important to encourage your employees to take a mandatory break (not including lunch) for about 15 minutes. This allows the employee to mentally recharge and get their body moving again. Light stretching, such as getting up and walking around, will benefit the employee in the long run (think avoiding back and neck trouble). Encourage them to take this break by offering light, healthy snacks in the break room.
Be consistent about your commitment to the program by reminding employees of the health risks associated with stress. Provide them tips on how to keep it under control by offering seminars, informative posters in the break room, or wallet cards to take on the go. During particularly stressful seasons (like holidays), remind your employees of the value of their work and your appreciation for all that they do. Sometimes a reassurance that the job is being done—and done well—is enough to alleviate work-related stress.
An orderly office with vibrant yet calming wall colors and décor can help get your employees into a positive mindset that will help ward off stress. Encourage your employees to have clean desks by setting up quarterly de-cluttering sessions and provide them accessories to organize papers and office supplies. Invest in a fun yet practical stress ball for each employee for when things get rough. Or get them in a Zen mood with a small tabletop Zen garden (turn it into a fun group activity by having each person make their own!)
If your agents are well trained to handle a variety of call scenarios and to achieve the best possible outcomes, they can feel more confident in their jobs and less stressed out. Proper training can also help them become more successful which can lead to higher job satisfaction, less stress and ultimately, higher productivity. Commit to have refresher courses for employees, whether that is a group seminar or digital course to be completed. When your employees know what they’re doing and why, they’ll succeed stress free!
The job can be stressful, especially for 9-1-1 dispatch centers. But no matter what type of calls your contact center handles, remember to keep the culture fun, happy, and positive. Focus on the positive achievements of your team and acknowledge successes – big and small. Offer workable solutions to agents who are struggling instead of using negative reinforcement. Nobody enjoys being reprimanded: Agents are more likely to strive to improve if they believe you are on their side and committed to their success.
Lastly, your software can be a source of stress too! Working with a program that is too slow, confusing, or outdated? Kova Corporation offers a variety of workforce management solutions that can help reduce the stress in your contact center. From simplifying processes to integrating state-of-the-art training programs, we can help. Learn more at our contact center page today.
Evaluating the voice recordings of your public-safety answering point (PSAP) staff can be a time consuming process but it is the best way to monitor the capabilities, compliance, and effectiveness of staff. If you don’t listen in once in awhile, you could be missing issues that could easily be corrected and lead to faster problem resolution.
The most obvious reason why public safety answering centers need to record calls is for legal or compliance reasons. Many state and federal regulations require PASAPs to record calls. Unfortunately, some industries (such as healthcare) are highly regulated and thus would be unable to prove compliance without call recording technology.
These recorded calls can also help aid investigators in solving crimes, providing evidence for legal proceedings, locating missing persons, anticipating when a crime is about to occur, pinpointing a person’s location, and more. Eye witness testimony—and in this case, a witness who just hears what is happening—is the least reliable form of evidence. Therefore having a recording can remove benefit of the doubt and present investigators with an exact replication of the crime scene. Removing hypotheticals from the situation means that crimes are solve quicker and more efficiently.
A successful PSAP workforce management plan will include a well-defined training program for PSAP agents. One of the best tools PSAP managers can use is taking advantage of the wealth of information available in recorded calls. The recorded calls can then be used for training purposes in a variety of ways.
In the case of new employee training, PSAP managers can isolate calls that demonstrate what new employees should and should not do when handling a call. Playing a sample call can make it easier for the trainee to learn from or understand how they may handle a real-life situation. They can learn when an agent:
For ongoing training, PSAP managers can monitor call recordings to make sure that their employees are following protocol and making improvements. They can also use the calls to identify employees who struggle with problem resolution and monitor the progress of new employees. One of the most rewarding reasons for monitoring voice recordings is to catch employees excelling at their positions. The manager can then recognize quality staff, helping to motivate the team and boost department morale.
Fortunately, technology continues to evolve, making analyzing employee capabilities easier. At Kova Corporation, we offer workforce management solutions that help automate, categorize, and analyze voice recordings as well as text correspondence via email or chat. Our unified solution for PSAPs contains a single data set for all of your organization’s customer and employee-related information, including work force management, quality monitoring, eLearning, and customer survey. Visit our contact center page to learn more.
Employees and businesses are pushing for more robust mobile workforce solutions today, and IT departments have been working to accommodate these requests. As more businesses embrace the use of mobile technology, they need to decide whether to allow employees to use personal devices for work purposes instead of company-issued devices. Bring your own device (BYOD) programs have evolved as both employees and companies continue to see the advantages.
When companies didn’t want to bear the expense of issuing a mobile phone for every employee who could use one, they allowed employees to access their email and other applications with their personal devices. With the advent of smartphones, the applications for business use have grown exponentially. BlackBerryTM used to be the go-to for mobile business applications but now they are struggling to compete with Apple’s iPhone® as well as AndroidTM and a host of other Windows-based smartphones.
According to a 2012 Forrester Research survey of IT decision makers, nearly 70 percent of North American and European enterprises either have or are interested in having a BYO smartphone program, and 34 percent are for a BYO PC program, too. For enterprises and their IT departments, BYOD programs require thoughtful consideration.
While they can come with benefits like equipment cost-savings, productivity gains, employee satisfaction, and increased mobility, there are plenty of challenges, too. Challenges that IT departments will need to consider include:
These issues can affect multiple departments and stakeholders and therefore should all be part of the discussion when planning for a BYOD program begins. When you bring your team together, consider these topics of discussion. Be sure to determine who will be responsible for research and management:
Both mobile data management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) systems can help you support, deploy, and monitor the data and applications in your program. These systems allow administrators to oversee mobile devices and help ensure that the systems remain in peak performance. Your management systems should include tools such as file synchronization, data security, and technical support.
Creating a written policy that employees are required to understand, comply with, and sign should be a part of any BYOD plan. Both business and employee liabilities also need to be clearly spelled out so that both parties understand what is required of each other. For a BYOD program to work, administrators need to enforce the policy and review it with their employees on a periodic basis.
Before deciding to support a BYOD program, you will want to test the equipment and operating system you are looking to support to see how it affects your other assets, employees, and cost centers. Failing to test equipment compatibility can result in higher costs in the long run and potentially ruin your system momentarily.
Determine in advance your requirements for registration of devices, encryption, SSL certification, remote device wiping, password storage, antivirus software, and so on. Look at desktop virtualization systems that can keep applications and data stored in a central location instead of on employee devices.
Taking advantage of the expertise of vendors who are well versed in the integration of external devices with your current IT infrastructure can save you a lot of headaches. Decide which companies you want to have a conversation with regarding you BYOD program. See if any of these vendors have a pilot/demo program or cash studies that show how their integration worked for similar centers. Doing your research beforehand will narrow down your choices and help find the best fit.
This list is just a starting point but should give you a few ideas on where to start. Doing a little research first and developing a clearly defined plan can help both your business and employees realize the advantages of a BYOD program.
Most successful contact center managers will tell you that they watch individual employee performance metrics very closely because they affect the company’s bottom line. If an employee is struggling to meet his or her productivity goals they could be out the door tomorrow. After all, there is no shortage of people looking for work these days, right?
Employee Engagement’s Affect on a Company
The reality is, turnover affects a company’s bottom line, too. So what can your operation do to boost the productivity and reduce turnover of your current workforce? Work on employee engagement. According to research that Gallup conducted in 2012, employee engagement has a clear impact on a number of performance outcomes. The study looked at nearly 50,000 business/work units in 192 organizations, in 49 industries and across 34 countries. In total, 1.4 million employees were surveyed in the research.
When they compared the bottom quartile of business/work units to the top quartile, these nine performance outcomes were affected:
These results were in line with Gallup’s 2009 study, which also showed a clear relationship between employee engagement and the key success metrics that companies measure: profit, productivity, customer engagement and employee retention. Another interesting point that Gallup brings up is that the results don’t vary based on the state of our economy.
It depends whom you ask, but the gist is typically the same: An engaged employee is someone who is willing to put forth the effort required to achieve great results for their employer. They are happy working for their employer. Why they are engaged is a totally different question. What did their employer do to engage them?
To determine engagement levels, the same Gallup study asked employees a number of questions regarding:
Through her research at the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Workplace Innovation, Meredith Wells-Lepley, PhD, has concluded that meaningful work is key to employee engagement. According to Wells-Lepley, “People have strong motivation to seek meaning in their work. Employees want to feel worthwhile, useful, valuable and as though they make a difference.”
When employees feel as if they are making a difference, they are more likely to have a better attitude about their work and seek ways to improve their performance and the work at hand.
Entrepreneur and author David Sneed specializes in teaching entry-level employees about the personal benefits of a strong work ethic. In a recent article on the website TLNT, Sneed talks about the importance of getting employees to think like business owners to bolster engagement. He also states the importance of rewarding employees (whether it is through recognition or a financial perk) and helping them understand the actual value of the work they do to the company’s success. This helps the employee feel a sense of ownership.
Having the resources and tools necessary to learn and grow was also important to employees in the Gallup research. KOVA Corporations workforce management solutions can integrate eLearning and coaching into your enterprise solution plans. Visit our contact center page for details.
Enterprises looking to beef up the customer service experience they provide have a wealth of contact center solutions to consider. New innovations seem to be cropping up everyday, many which embrace the digital technology currently available to keep customers – and employees – smiling. In order for any customer service initiative to be successful, it needs to offer value – that could involve anything from resolving a problem quickly, making a purchase easier or injecting a little bit of fun into the experience.
Customers are embracing digital technology faster than it can hit the shelves. Enterprises will need to incorporate tools to effectively communicate with customers on these platforms if they want to be successful. How can your enterprise use digital to its best advantage? Keep up with these trends in digital if you want to stay on top.
Mobile. A February 2013 report published by Cisco looked at mobile usage in 2012. They noted that average smartphone usage grew by 81 percent, representing 18 percent of global handsets in use, but 92 percent of total global handset traffic. In addition, the number of mobile-connected tablets grew 2.5-fold, to 36 million and generated 2.4 times more traffic than the average smartphone. This technology allows consumers to connect with you no matter where they are and at any time of day. Creating a unique and user-friendly mobile experience is key. Simply duplicating your standard website experience to mobile devices doesn’t work. Start optimizing your customer experience for mobile now.
Video. There are a number of ways enterprises can use video to enhance the customer experience. Not only can they entertain, videos can also be great tools to educate customers about your business, products and services and help customers answer questions on their own. Effective use of video education and tutorials can help reduce the number of calls coming into your call center.
Live Chat. Visit websites such as Best Buy, Sears or QVC if you want to have a chat about products you want to learn more about. They can answer questions about the product and even arrange for the purchase. They make it easy to buy – that’s great value for the customer, which means more sales.
Social Media. If you have ignored social media as a customer service channel, you should think again. Consumers want answers fast and social media is one of the first places they go to complain (or sing their praises). If you aren’t proactive about addressing these complaints, you could be in for a PR nightmare. Demonstrating that you take your customers concerns seriously and are able to resolve problems via social media can work in your favor. Since you can often resolve issues quickly through this channel, it also gives you another opportunity to reduce pressure on the call center.
Customer Analytics. For most enterprises, customer data can be spread across many different departments that don’t share information with one another. As the amount of data grows, it becomes more difficult to handle, and information that could be used to more efficiently serve the customer is not being utilized. Customer service organizations can improve operations, enhance service and increase sales when data for all points starts working together. Bringing all data into one central location is one step. Utilizing technology, such as Verint®’s Voice of the Customer Analytics solutions can help your business better understand and serve your customers in the future.
Kova Corporation offers Verint® workforce management systems for contact center applications. Visit the contact center page on our website to learn more.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology allows machines to talk to each other (send data) through wired or wireless communications, and new applications for M2M, utilizing advances in wireless technology, continue to grow in a wide range of industries. These innovations have been revolutionary both for consumers and the business world. Today we’re also seeing more government entities integrating M2M and wireless technology to improve public safety and emergency response communications.
Consumers can enjoy M2M primarily in the form of consumer electronics, energy use, transportation, education and health. For businesses, M2M is developing new ways to use data smarter and advance automation, in the areas of asset management, security, remote diagnostics and repair, fleet management, customer service improvements and more.
How Big Is M2M?
In their 2012 annual report, M2M Global Forecast & Analysis 2011-22, technology and research consulting firm Machina Research shared the following predictions for global M2M communications in the coming years:
Applications for the Public Safety Sector with Wireless and M2M
For first responders, getting crucial information fast, could mean the difference between life and death. With the growth of wireless systems and advances in M2M technology, communications between the team on the streets and the command center will continue to advance.
The opportunities to improve public safety through advances in M2M and wireless technology are endless. If you’re looking to take advantage of new technology for your emergency response center or business call center, Kova Corporation can help. We specialize in workforce management, public safety and contact center solutions. Contact us to learn more.
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