How speech analytics can improve customer service
Customer service is one of the main differentiators in the contact centre industry. In today's economic adversity, the challenge is to reduce waste and cut costs while growing market share and improving customer relationships. Organisations are looking to employ technology that gives more for less; enabling them to balance efficiency needs against increased customer satisfaction.
In the contact centre industry, understanding what is happening at the point of customer and agent interaction is the real challenge. There is a need to understand why your customers are calling, what their issues are and where they are having problems.
In a tough competitive environment, we chose to deploy speech analytics to reduce costs, win loyalty and drive improvements in quality and service.
Traditionally Capita's main metrics were limited numerical logistics such as time, date and number of calls. Manual call listening was originally the only approach to content analysis. Taking as much time as the actual call, manual call listening proved inefficient, was poorly targeted and produced meaningless or unrealistic assumptions and results. We needed a more complex understanding of challenges in order to drive service improvements. With key performance indicators (KPIs) in place for each client, we required the ability to define and quantify actual improvements.
In order to achieve this, we chose Nexidia's Enterprise Speech Intelligence (ESI) solution to:
> Drive
improvements in quality and service
> Reduce Average
Handling Time (AHT)
> Drive down repeat
callers
> Identify and remove
problem processes
> Gain detailed
insight across a high volume of calls
> Improve cross/up
selling
> Drive revenue
> Build customer
satisfaction through value-added services
The use of speech analytics has enabled us to objectively measure and analyse large volumes of audio across customer service and sales areas. In just six months, over half a million calls encompassing 50,000 hours were analysed and key recommendations acted upon with impressive results. To put this in context, it would have taken 11 years to manually analyse the same volume of calls.
Significant benefits
Reduced Average Handling Time (AHT): In the early stages of the project, we chose key high traffic areas for detailed investigation. Through Nexidia's call driver analysis, we were able to categorise and validate the AHT for each type of call, quantify the outliers and draw up targeted actions for maximum improvement.
We achieved an incredible 42 second call reduction, which gave an overall 4 second reduction in AHT across 30,000 calls and 800 advisers in the customer services unit, generating major savings.
Driving down non-talk time: Weekly and monthly call driver analysis reports highlighted the non-talk time by adviser. The top 200 agents with the highest level of silence time were offered training and support. Prior to the programme, silence time was running higher than expected due to online processes, hold time and areas of poor call control. Within three weeks of using the speech analysis tool, non-talk time had been reduced by 10% on over 550,000 calls.
Adding Value/Cross Selling: Through call driver reports, we were able to identify the advisers offering the product, chart the reasons for their success and pass this information to the process improvement team to help those not yet meeting their targets. This has now increased cross selling of this particular product by 50% in only five months.
Customer Satisfaction/Complaints: Outsourcing companies are increasingly measured on multiple performance indicators, not just cost reduction, hourly rates or number of calls. KPIs are a core commercial mechanism that rewards key behaviours that result in lower costs, improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. We strive to understand what drives customer satisfaction, and perhaps more importantly, what generates complaints.
The KPIs for our customer satisfaction surveys, which chart positive and negative agent behaviours, have doubled. Additionally a report can be obtained at the click of a button that tracks key complaints.
Getting the right balance
Although it is important to select the most appropriate technology, it must be appreciated that analytics is still a very people based process. It is not an 'out-of box' solution, Analytics is a process aided by a tool, not the other way around. To maximise the potential of Speech Analytics you need committed staff from both sides to fully understand key factors in your processes that you didn't know before.
A combination of in-house knowledge with analytical and product knowledge is crucial. Focussing on key issues within the organisation, queries are developed to categorise the type of calls being received; observation allows the classification of call drivers by handle time; targeted listening for particularly long calls investigates root causes; working with training and process improvement teams puts in place key corrective actions, then the improvements are measured to ensure effectiveness.
Developing in-house skills
With any developing technology, building inhouse skills can be challenging. Often however, the core skills do exist in-house and simply need to be redirected. At Capita, new Business Analyst and Engagement Manager roles have been created within the core team to aid implementation across the company.
The future
Ventura is now focusing on specific areas that will contribute to driving continuous improvements across the business. These operational areas include:
> Adherence
> Efficiency
> Customer
Experience
> Staff
Development
> Business
Insight
> Cross Selling/Adding
Value
We strive to offer a 'Best in Class' service and speech analytics is giving us that value-added ingredient. Speech analytics has become an invaluable part of our arsenal, providing the insight that enables us to deliver real benefits to our clients.
Thank you!
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