Analytics and the Power of Data in the Contact Center

Since the beginning of business as we know it there is one thing that has remained consistent … the need to know more! It seems every time we write a report, no matter how thorough it is, someone asks for additional information. Let’s take a look at the importance of having advanced analytics available to us in the contact center and some of the tools you can use to get the information you need out of your data.

In the past, businesses have used real time and historical data to create reports and make decisions. But, the phrase “big data” is dead. Today, everything we have access to has been flattened and tagged so we can look at it any which way we choose. Data and reporting has evolved to the predictive phase – meaning we are always trying to predict the next thing someone will want to see or know. Let’s discuss a few of the new concepts we see entering the contact center…

Natural Language Analytics

Natural language analytics is basically a combination of text analytics and voice analytics. To obtain this, you’ll need to take the content of each call - from the caller’s side and the agent’s side - and transcribe it into text. Any social media and chat interactions should also be included. Once you have everything transcribed you can begin to look at trends and topics, words and phrases. More importantly, you can start to look at combinations of words and phrases to get to caller intent. Natural language analytics will allow you to:

• Analyze every single interaction for quality assurance
• Use interactions that are out of the norm to provide training/learning opportunities for your agents
• Score your agents or measure performance accurately
• Ensure you agents are resolving issues according to your company’s policies
• Give your agents the data they need to ensure first call resolution

Implementing natural language analytics can provide your organization with many benefits. Some results we’ve seen with our clients include:

• 15% improved customer experience
• 5% improved agent/employee utilization
• 31% reduced supervisory activities
• 3-5% increase in revenue (sales or collections)
• 2.5% reduction in handle times

Sentiment Analytics

Sentiment analysis is the practice of recognizing the demeanor of the caller and the agent. For example, if a customer calls your organization and they are upset by an issue they are having with their recent purchase you will know if your agent is using the appropriate amount of compassion and understanding when dealing with the customer to ensure a pleasant experience. If the customer is simply curious or has a question, you can ensure they are getting the answers and explanations they need. The data from these interactions will help you:

• Train your agents
• Improve quality issues with your products or services
• Drive sales with targeted advertising and up-selling
• Retain your customers
• React! You will have the data to know who you should be focusing on.

Workforce Engagement Management (WEM)

Workforce Engagement Management is a combination of performance management, workforce management and quality management. For WEM to be effective, you need to have all three components in place and be talking about them regularly with you team.

Simply put, workforce engagement management means that you are providing your agents, supervisors and managers with the data they need to know how they are performing within your organization. This is where you will get metrics for recognition and rewards. Here are some examples of how WEM can be used:

• Gamification – dashboards that use your KPIs to measure and rank your agents. Promotes and drives competition and, ultimately, good performance because no one wants to be in last place!
• Evaluations – suggests improvements from a training perspective so agents know what they need to work on.
• Time and task management – Automate repetitive tasks. This helps with onboarding new agents, distribution and management of tasks and employee satisfaction surveys.

There are many benefits to your organizations for implementing a solid WEM program. According to Gallup (pre-Covid) businesses have seen:

• 17% increase in productivity
• 41% decrease in absenteeism
• 24-59% decrease in employee turnover
• 20% increase in sales
• 21% increase in profitability

Data and analytics can be one of the most powerful sources of information your company has available, take full advantage of it! Text and speech analytics are the keys to creating a solid workforce engagement management program which, in turn, will lead to increased revenue and profits and decreased employee and customer turnover. Remember, happy agents = happy customers and vice versa!

To learn more about this topic watch my short presentation and contact EDCi if you would like help implementing data and analytics or a WEM program within your contact center.