In the software industry, when we talk about Workforce Optimization (WFO) we’re generally referring to tools that are developed to enhance employee efficiency, streamline tasks and organizational processes, and simplify business management within the company.

At KOVA, we offer a full suite of tools to facilitate those efforts that include Verint System’s Workforce Management, Quality Analytics, Desktop Analytics, Voice of the Customer Analytics and Performance Management.  But tools, while completely necessary, have to be used in conjunction with what is called a WFO Center of Excellence (COE). A successful WFO program can certainly transform the way your organization does business, but in order for it to be fully optimized it must be properly supported.

Responsibilities of a Center of Excellence

The Agile Elements blog, “What is a Center of Excellence,” quotes John Strickler, who said, “A Center of Excellence (COE) should, at a most basic level, consist of a team of people that promote collaboration and using best practices around a specific focus area to drive business results.” A WFO COE is the people that enable and execute a successful WFO program. They typically carry out key functions such as:

Benefits of a Center of Excellence

A good Center of Excellence is able to create and share best practices, develop system-wide learning and usage processes, ensure these functions adequately meet business objectives. The COE needs to be able to answer questions that deeply probe WFO programs to determine their efficacy and what, if any, changes need to be made to improve or enhance performance.

The Center of Excellence should also be behind all the decisions and steps taken so that when a new process is implemented, the tools can provide a single source of performance data like a dashboard that manages staff, work, and processes. The Center of Excellence also ensures that the business is using all tools and processes effectively and efficiently and seeks to gain a ROI on the Workforce Optimization program.

Creating a Center of Excellence

When implementing a WFO program, it may be assumed that COE responsibilities are already built into a particular department’s role; however, it’s a challenge for organizations to know or anticipate problems that could arise without having designated oversight of integration of a WFO program. These multi-faceted, multi-layered initiatives require a significant amount of attention and focus.

Instead, specifically define what responsibilities fall under which department—or if there are shared responsibilities, what is the procedure for sharing information among departments? With your management team, list out your departments and define what the responsibilities are for each. Is the responsibility appropriate for that department? Does one department have too many responsibilities? Use this information to make intelligent changes that will lead your company to an overall source of excellence.

Remember that nothing works forever, so once you have found your ideal, continue to benchmark and make improvements (quarterly, bi-annually, or annually) to ensure that your center remains one of excellence. All cars need an oil change every now and then to stay in peak performance!

Contact the experts at KOVA and we will work with your team to help define, designate, and deploy WFO responsibilities within your organization—before rolling out a program.  The extra time spent in this phase helps to improve the overall experience for your customers.

Kova is proud to announce that our partner Verint Systems tops the Ventana Research 2012 Value Index for Agent Performance Management (VIAPM) tools. Verint delivered the highest value on an overall weighted-evaluation measure, coming in ahead of other industry heavyweights like NICE Systems, VPI, Envision, CallCopy, OnviSource, KnoahSoft, Genesys, inContact, Aspect, and LiveOps.

Ventana’s Value Index is an analytic representation of how well vendors’ products meet buyers’ requirements for software tools that enable and support Agent Performance Management.

The VIAPM evaluated the tools in seven key categories:

Product-related:

Customer assurance

Using the VIAPM evaluation framework, they examined the operational and performance activities and processes in organizations. The research is impartial and authoritative: It is geared toward any organization looking to assess, validate, and/or improve its APM investments and technology. The firm recommends the Value Index be used to support a comprehensive evaluation process.

“Ventana Research sees Agent Performance Management as a step beyond workforce optimization to include capabilities covering all aspects of managing employees handing customer interactions,” said Richard Snow, Vice-President and Research Director. “Organizations therefore need to be clear on their specific requirements and assess which vendors meet them. The APM Value Index is therefore an essential tool to help them carry out this task.”

According to a Ventana Research press release, the VIAPM examines the maturity of software vendors and their products, providing a baseline of knowledge organizations may use when aligning business and IT to manage and improve agent performance.

This comes as great news because investments in APM greatly improve an organization’s performance as a whole. And we know that Ventana’s methodology evaluates aspects of product functionality and suitability-to-task in great detail. It also looks at the effectiveness of vendor support for the buying process and customer assurance, translating to success on all fronts for our powerful workforce optimization solutions.

The benefits of Ventana’s research for your enterprise is that it reflects the value offered by a vendor and its products through a clear thermometer graphic using a precise index maturity percentage. Technology vendors earning the highest “Hot” and “Warm” Vendor classifications are those that Ventana Research certifies as the best in delivering buyer value based on a thorough evaluation and audit.

We’re proud to report that Verint topped the list as hottest!

Ventana Research Statement of Independence

This new research-based undertaking is fully independent. It is neither sponsored nor influenced by technology vendors and is conducted solely in pursuit of Ventana Research’s mission to provide value to business and IT through benchmark assessments, workshops, and advisory services. Ventana Research’s goal is to guide organizations to optimal efficiency in their use of technology investments for business and IT.

For more information on how KOVA can help your organization deploy an industry-leading APM solution, contact our team of experts for a complete needs assessment.

The thought of conducting a call center audit may seem like a daunting task, but audits are a great way to determine how best to enhance your customer service operations. Through a methodical examination, audits allow you to identify areas of improvement and opportunity and take the necessary steps to put strategies and structural changes in place to reach your desired business objectives.

Reasons for conducting an audit

There are many good reasons to conduct an audit within your contact center. They generate awareness of improvements that can be made and help to drive necessary accountability and, ultimately, positive changes by providing an honest look into your organization’s weaknesses and strengths. The goal of an audit is to identify gaps within an organization and, using the data gathered, make recommendations to correct these gaps. Gaps can come from various areas of your organization, so conducting an audit will allow you to collect information on all areas. Each area can be evaluated separately, but this is not necessary. Audits can also:

Depending on your needs, your organization can decide to conduct a “general” audit, which looks at the entirety of the organization, or a “specific” audit, meaning that just one factor, department, or program of your organization can be audited. For example, a performance enhancement-focused audit would look at service objectives and their performances or the effectiveness, efficiencies, or maximization of existing services. These precisely focused audits can look for new opportunities or preexisting weaknesses/gaps. An audit can also be conducted as a review on the performance of management and their staff, identifying weaknesses or potential capabilities. Other options include:

Before launching an audit it’s imperative to have a well-defined plan. Without one, the data collected will be meaningless. Your audit needs a defined purpose: What are you looking for (objective) and what do you hope to gain from the audit (insight, suggestions, feedback)? These two pieces will be the foundation for your audit and help focus your questions as you go throughout the process. As part of your audit you should also:

Evaluating Audit Findings

A successful contact center audit means that findings can be translated into actionable solutions that contribute to the success of your organization.

A good audit report should include a “Gap Analysis,” which compares potential/desired performance with actual performance. This comparison can help you set realistic goals to make your actual performance grow and meet your goals. You’ll also want to make sure that your company meets or exceeds industry standards and best practices. Your audit can also help you determine if you are.

The audit will provide you data that you can analyze and, based on this information, create detailed recommendations for improving one or multiple areas of your organization, from departmental policies to overall procedures. Ensure that these recommendations include measurable outcomes and goals to reach.

At Kova Corporation our team of contact center solution experts can help you identify your organizations areas of opportunities to better manage customer retention and maximize your customer satisfaction. Contact us for a needs assessment and introduction to our proven contact center solutions.

 

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