Planning Forum News July 2006

TotalView owners IEX close sale to NICE Systems

Tekelec, a leading developer of high-performance network applications for next-generation fixed, mobile and packet networks, closed the sale of its IEX business unit to NICE Systems , as previously announced in April. IEX provides the TotalView workforce management system which will continue to be sold and supported in the UK by QPC. The purchase price was $200 million in cash, subject to a post-closing working capital adjustment and NICE estimates that it will realise net proceeds of $160-$165 million. More about TotalView

Witness suggests 5 tips to improve agent turnover

Many contact centres have agents from the baby boom era interspersed with Generation X and Y agents, yet these groups have very different attitudes toward employment. Witness Systems are recommending a look at some tips from Eric Chester, an author and speaker who coined the term "Generation Why". Baby boomers grew up in an era in which loyalty to an employer usually translated into having a job for life and the attainment of long-term goals can be powerful motivators for them. In contrast, Generation X and Y agents have no expectation of long-term employment; consequently, the traditional motivators tend to fall short. See more

Barclays and AIM win Bankers Technology Award

Using AIM Technology for a complete contact centre performance management solution, Barclays Bank was able to show that it had saved a significant number of work hours, improved customer response times and satisfaction, and could demonstrate a clear financial return for its investment. By improving its call centre operations, Barclays has also improved the working conditions for its employees, also reducing turnover. see more - and more about AIM.

ContactCentreWorld announce finalists for European Awards

Finalists for these awards, to be presented at the conference on 30-31 August in London, include Client Logic, Sage UK, national Australia Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, eircom, Abtran, Teleperformance Portugal and Siemens Communications and Royal and Sun Alliance. Raj Wadhwani, CCW President, commented "these contestants are fantastic and are prepared to be on show for their peers to vote". See more.

Home working a success for Canterbury

At Canterbury City Council a newly-launched scheme has seen 7 home-based customer service agents increase their call handling rate by 15 per cent, leading to a quicker response time for callers to the council's services. The scheme had been implemented on a trial basis only, but with output exceeding all expectations, the council is now talking about making the pilot scheme permanent. City Council deputy leader, councillor Rosemary Doyle said: "Staff who work from home can apply all their attention to the needs of the customer and everyone gains."

New research finds UK firms are the least flexible employers

Research carried out by the Cranfield School of Management has found that less than one in two British firms offer a more flexible approach for their staff, whereas 90 per cent of German and 92 per cent of Swedish employers offer their employees flexible working. Elsewhere in the survey, which contains data from 8000 organisations from 32 countries, just one in five of UK firms offer tele-working compared to 44 per cent in Germany and Sweden, 40 per cent in Norway and 39 per cent in Denmark. The proportion of UK organisations using part-time working and job-sharing arrangements is more comparable to the rest of Europe.

EDF Energy handles 2.5m calls with voice automation

EDF says that customer service levels have rocketed at the utility company, following the successful integration of new speech recognition technology from Fluency Voice. The company, which generates around seven per cent of the UK�s electricity, has reported that one in five calls are now being handled by a state-of-the-art automated speech system at its call centre operations near Brighton, to enable agents to focus on more complex queries and addressed the three areas where EDF wanted to make immediate service improvements, according to Mike Belton, head of management information at EDF Energy. He says that the service has become so popular that customers think they are really dealing with a human agent.

Speech is going mainstream, says Sabio

In a seismic move away from cost cutting goals, a growing number of UK call centres are deploying speech applications to add value to their core customer service processes, according to services and solutions provider Sabio. "Every year pundits predict that the mainstream adoption of speech technology is just around the corner," commented Peter Galloway, head of Sabio's voice self-service practice. "This time, however, they've got it right! The difference is that instead of just implementing the technology, the organisations who are getting it right are the ones who are addressing key customer service questions � such as 'who are our customers', 'why are they calling us', and 'what's the most appropriate way to handle this call?"

New centre drives improvements at South Hams District Council

As part of the e-government drive to improve ease of contact in local government, a recent survey conducted within the South Hams district of Devon has revealed that customer satisfaction has has increased by 4% and abandoned call rates fallen since the introduction of a customer contact centre in October 2005. "89% of people now 'satisfied' with our overall telephone service and 99% 'satisfied' with our telephone payments service" said John Paul Sanders, Head of Customer Services. In the Environmental Health section abandoned call rates have fallen from around 35% to 5%Customer complaints about service have also fallen.

Ofcom will now investigate silent calls

Since introducing new principles � including stiffer fines of up to �50,000 � and closer monitoring, the regulator has discovered that there "may be some organisations failing to fully comply" with the new rules. Ofcom has now issued a warning saying it will respond "swiftly and effectively" to punish any party found guilty of persistent misuse. Ofcom has conducted investigations previously, but has never used its powers to stop or fine companies found guilty of making silent calls. Silent calls occur when automated diallers generate more calls than the available call centre agents can manage. When the person dialled answers the telephone, there is no agent available, resulting in silence on the line, because the dialler has ended the call.

Event Round-up:

Best practice, training & networking

Training Focus:

Real-time management & planning for outbound

Research Focus:

Employee Recruitment & Retention.