HyperQuality Success at a Glance

Challenge
A global management consulting, technology and outsourcing company wanted to standardize calibration, reduce average handle time and increase customer satisfaction across multiple contact centers operated by several different providers.

Solution
Three carefully crafted projects allowed the company to tackle improvements from the big picture to the agent-level. First, HyperQuality employed Gage R & R analysis to study calibration and improve precision of the calibration process across multiple contact centers. Next, at a single contact center, calls were broken down into parts, and each part was analyzed to identify which sections were contributing to the excessive call time. Finally, HyperQuality custom-designed an in-house academy for training and coaching agents.

		The calibration study and follow-up proved a positive correlation between individual Call Section and Gage R&R Calibration Accuracy Scores. As calibration improved, quality scores improved as well. The success of the program convinced the global consulting company to initiate the Gage R&R study at additional sites, incorporating the calibration study as an effective tool for its Calibration Change Control Process (CCCP).
		AHT was reduced from 19.78 to 17.86 minutes when the parts of each call were analyzed and it was determined that agents were not properly following call steps during one common call section. Once the new training rolls out fully, the company expects nearly a $6 million annual cost savings.
		A custom-designed in-house academy for training contact center agents resulted in CSAT Scores which increased by 5.9%, exceeding goals.

The successful return on investment for these projects set a foundation for quality monitoring and management, which the company has rolled out and now applies to customer contact providers throughout its business.

Executive Summary

Call quality monitoring – including frequent and precise calibration – is one of the best ways to improve a contact center, which ultimately can reduce operating costs, increase revenue and drive margin improvement. A global management consulting, technology and outsourcing company wanted to standardize calibration, reduce average handle time (AHT) and increase customer satisfaction across multiple contact centers operated by several different providers. HyperQuality designed three carefully crafted projects allowing the consulting firm to manage improvements from the big picture to the agent-level. First, precision calibration using Gage R & R analysis improved quality scores while reducing millions in costs. Next, HyperQuality reduced AHT from 19.78 to 17.86 minutes when the parts of each call were analyzed and it was determined that agents were not properly following call steps during one common call section. Finally, HyperQuality custom-designed in-house academy for training call center agents resulted in CSAT score improvements of 5.9%, exceeding goals. The reduction in AHT alone resulted in a $192,000 annual cost savings and when rolled out is expected to generate nearly a $6 million annual cost savings for the corporation. The successful return on investment for these projects set a foundation for quality monitoring and management, which the company has rolled out and now applies to customer contact providers throughout its business.

Company Background

A global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with net revenues of almost $20 billion, uses its industry knowledge, service-offering expertise and technology abilities to identify new business and technology trends and help its clients enter new markets, increase revenue in existing markets, improve operational performance and deliver products and services more effectively and efficiently. Staffing and managing its customers’ contact centers is one of the company’s most sought-after services.

In this particular case, the global consulting company was managing customer contact services for two high-profile clients, including a variety of vendors that staff each customer’s multiple contact centers.

HyperQuality’s efforts were impressive, delivering actionable results with an excellent ROI. With a partner like HyperQuality, even a giant company with multiple vendors can achieve consistency and improved customer service through agent-focused monitoring, consistent coaching and precise reporting.

Solving the problems required the perfect partner.

Like many companies, the contact center vendors managed by the global consulting company had internal teams that used their own QA tools and procedures, developed by supervisors, to monitor and evaluate phone calls. However, when managing multiple vendors, the consulting company knew they would need to establish consistent calibration standards from the top down.

The global consulting company had two main options for tackling its call monitoring, evaluation and calibration challenges. First, the company could have continued allowing individual contact centers to develop internal monitoring processes and systems and hoped for improved calibration. This, undoubtedly, would have fallen far short of their goals. The second option was to outsource the quality program to a third party independent and unbiased partner, such as HyperQuality, providing actionable data to improve center performance.

The most basic benefit of outsourcing call quality monitoring is simple: it gets done! And when quality monitoring is done, businesses reap improved efficiency and performance. Setting aside the cost savings (which can be substantial), increasing the number of evaluations, combined with consistent oversight by professionals who can see the “big picture,” will give customers a much more accurate report of their contact center’s performance and provide direction for improvement.

When considering outsourcing options, a completely objective partner is vital. This is the only way to get an accurate picture of a contact center and each and every agent’s true performance. In addition, it is critical to find a partner truly focused on quality, rather than simply on “workforce management.” While many workforce management solutions will deliver some level of improvement in most contact center environments, to achieve truly substantive improvement that is long-term, that builds customer loyalty and that delivers a positive impact ROI, a contact center partner must focus on quality.

		Standardize and manage calibration across multiple vendors and sites.
		Reduce average handle time (AHT)
		Increase customer satisfaction

HyperQuality meets the first challenge: manage calibration across multiple vendors.

The global consulting company and HyperQuality believed that effective calibration management and the reduction of calibration variance across vendors would improve overall quality scores, improve efficiency and reduce costs.

HyperQuality began with a Gage Reproducibility and Repeatability (R&R) process for two of the consulting company’s clients. Gage R&R analysis is used to determine the accuracy of a measurement (or test result) by establishing its repeatability and reproducibility. A successful calibration program requires a measurement system that is accurate in both aspects.

		Accuracy Scores by Vendor/Site
		Accuracy Scores by QA — Highlighted the QA variance
		Accuracy Scores by Attribute — Highlighted calibration process gaps
		Accuracy by Recordings — Recordings/calls with the lowest accuracy were played in calibration sessions intended to bridge the gaps.
		Four weeks rolling average focused on outlier attributes

The studies proved a strong correlation between average quality score (AQS) and Gage R&R score, and data points were shared with the relevant outsourcers. Further, gaps that were identified in the R&R study were discussed in the calibration sessions, to further close the loop and improve quality scores.

Thus far, HyperQuality’s Gage R&R efforts have helped improve quality scores and customer satisfaction.

Client #1: Gage R&R initiated in Q1


Client #2: Gage R&R initiated in Q2

As calibration accuracy increased, quality scores increased as well

HyperQuality’s calibration study and follow-up proved a positive correlation between individual call section and Gage R&R Calibration Accuracy Score for a given site. The success of the program convinced the global consulting company to initiate the Gage R&R study at additional sites, incorporating the calibration study as an effective tool for its Calibration Change Control Process (CCCP).

Find the real reasons for increased AHT — and eliminate them.

A second project was undertaken on behalf of Client #1 only. The goals of this effort were to identify factors negatively impacting average handle time (AHT) and to identify call drivers on which agents were spending maximum time.

In order to capture the time spent by agents in the different sections of call flow, calls were broken into five sections: call opening, probing, troubleshooting, proving functionality and call closing. Approximately 1,200 calls were sampled, with each call’s time broken down for the five sections.

It was observed that agents were spending the most time on the troubleshooting portion of calls. When this was correlated with the scores of the troubleshooting attributes in the evaluation form, it was discovered that agents were not properly following the company’s predetermined troubleshooting steps, and thus not validating the functionality of the resolution. Company management felt this was clearly responsible for the extra minutes being spent on the call. What’s more, this not only resulted in increased AHT but also created dissatisfied customers, lowered fix rates and increased the number of repeat callers.

The outsourcing company asked HyperQuality to provide recommendations on high AHT, which were later forwarded to the contact center vendor’s training department and subsequently incorporated in new hire training.

Next, HyperQuality initiated a data-centric time and motion study to correlate call types to AHT. For one quarter, 600 calls were sampled, and the call types were captured along with AHT. The study found that “Modem,” “No Trouble Found” and “Customer Computer” contributed to about 78% of the volume, and their corresponding AHT was above the target of 18 minutes for the program. These key call drivers created opportunities for further training and improved hygiene metrics.

Create an in-house Academy to improve quality scores now and in the future.

Following the success of its efforts in calibration management and AHT reduction, HyperQuality turned its attention to call monitoring and coaching at one of the company’s offshore contact centers. The company wanted to improve CSAT scores for one of its clients, by nurturing service excellence with steady coaching and feedback. Working with contact center management, HyperQuality created the Customer Satisfaction Advanced Training Academy(CSATA) within the contact center.

The goal of CSATA was to increase center-level customer satisfaction scores through daily evaluation of CSATA-participating agents, effective on-site coaching by both HyperQuality personnel and in-house supervisors, and weekly reporting of CSAT performance.

HyperQuality selected 156 agents for participation in CSATA, based on their historical CSAT performance. The agents were trained in customer satisfaction skills over 13 weeks by HyperQuality and specially trained team leads and quality analysts on site. The agents were grouped into four waves, each receiving focused training modules based on daily agent monitoring findings. Multiple coaching sessions included group coaching, one-to-one coaching, “buddy up” sessions and coaching focused on “at risk” agents. Weekly CSAT performance was published, showing trending on key metrics for all waves of agents and compared to the call center site overall. Agents in the CSATA also received formal recognition in the form of weekly and graduation certificates and incentives such as movie tickets.

Over the course of the CSATA program, the contact center experienced a 5.9% improvement in CSAT.

Investing in HyperQuality’s custom solutions gets results quickly and with maximum ROI.

Like all its programs, HyperQuality’s custom-designed solutions for the global consulting company were built to be standardized and consistent, so they could be easily scaled and maintain consistency of evaluations and reporting over a number of contact center locations. And as always, HyperQuality functioned as an extension of the consulting company’s business, with a dedicated account executive as a primary point of contact.

Call quality monitoring is one of the best – and fastest – ways to improve any contact center.

In the pursuit of better customer service, contact center managers naturally want to evaluate the performance of their center’s agents. And when companies make the decision to outsource all or part of their call center operations — to one or many providers — the need for quality monitoring is greater than ever. Unfortunately, while most center managers agree on the importance of call monitoring, whether onshore or offshore, the average call center evaluates far too few calls — an industry average of just five calls per every 1,000 calls per month, for each agent. Monitoring five calls per agent per month may be “average” for the industry, but how effective is that rate? If a center’s agents completed 1,000 calls per month, the center would have to monitor 350 calls per agent every month to reach a 95% confidence level. There isn’t a contact center on Earth that can devote the time and resources required to ensure this level of statistical reliability, meaning that change and cost-savings can’t be effected. However, increasing the frequency of call monitoring – even by just a few calls per agent per month – can have a dramatic impact on a contact center’s quality and profitability in both the short term and long term.

For real success, combine the power of contact center monitoring with the right partner.

Like many companies, this global consulting company knows that in today’s competitive marketplace, the quality of a customer’s experience — created and maintained day to day in contact centers – impacts customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and ultimately a business’ bottom line. Successful management of the call monitoring process – with the right partner – ensures consistency, reduces costs and delivers ROI that gets noticed.

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