THE BEST ANSWER IS PROVIDED BY

" Only People who have actually experienced the pains of projects failing or the bliss of difficult projects succeeding could have formulated this little beauty"

BEA GLENN (ORGNISATIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL CONSULTANT)
CHIQUITA BRANDS INTERNATIONAL, CINCINATTI
Ref:GOAL / QPC HANDBOOK ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT

This calls for a professional Project Management Approach.

Project Management is a professional task. It has no shortcuts. It has to be planned and monitored through all stages.

1. Creating Successfull projects.
2. Designing a Project Charter.
3. Working Together as a Team.
4. Preparing a Project Plan.
5. Working through the Project.
6. Closing the Project.

Our Project Management Service is available for

• INHOUSE set up
• OUTSOURCING requirement.
• CRM Implementation

First always look at the possibility of setting up your inhouse call center .
So How & Where..........

How you select a site for your call centre and the different criteria you will want to consider. Your call centre will need to be designed. You will need to select and configure your ACD and other selected technology.

To develop a schedule, working backwards from the proposed start up date at which point all of the following should be in place.

• Agents and supervisors recruited, trained and in position.
• All mandatory checks and certifications in place.
• Equipment installed, including exchange lines, all tested and operational.
• Air conditioning, lighting and power in place.
• Cabling and wiring .
• Workstations installed and operational.
• Carpenting and partitioning completed.
• Design in place.
• Equipment and furniture selected and ordered.
• Building chosen and purchase/ lease completed.
• Site selected.

Location of the call centre

Future hasseles and problems can be avoided if some thought is given to as to where to site your call centre. There are certain factors which need consideration before setting up a call center however, companies automatically tend to house their call centre within their current corporate offices and find out too late there are difficulties in recruitment and staff retention, restrictions imposed by legislation or additional overheads that might have been avoided.

How many sites?

In recent years technology has enabled the networking of multi-sites to achieve one virtual call centre giving you the advantage of both more efficiency and flexibility of several sites. You may want to locate one or all your sites in one or more countries, depending upon your major markets, after examining factors unique to a country.

• Recruitment Methods
• Language Skills
• Employee remuneration and benefits
• Legislation
  a) Employee Laws
  b) Consumer Protection
  c) Data Protection, Laws if any
  d) Telephony Protection (restrictions if any)
  e) Distance Selling Aspects
  f) Monitoring Practices (in regard for privacy)
  g) Cost overheads both initial & recurring.

• Telephone Tariffs:
  Most countries now offer touch tone phones, ISDN, ACD and IVR facilities but check what penetration of touch tone phones or digitalisation exists. With deregulation in many countries, don't limit yourself to the local PTO. International companies may be able to offer you a more cost effective service.
• Office Selection:
  Accessibility for staff can make the difference
• Incentives:
  Covering both tax reduction and grants/subsidies/perks.

Check List:
Once number of centers &/or outsorcing options have been decided, the following points will help to sort out with local development agencies.

If you do have a choice of network providers in your country, we help you to put out a tender for call center services. The tendering process is sometimes referred to as the RFP, the request for proposal.

The objectives of tendering are:

• To find the system which meets or exceeds all technical requirements now and has the capacity for expansion/growth in the future.
• To obtain the best possible price.
• To discover innovative ways to meet you business objectives both now and in the future.
• What compatibility the ACD has with other systems, MIS Reports.

You must ask for the following from the vendor:

1. MIS Reports

Their Samples & how they are generated

2. Basic Functionality

You will need a list of the ACD features you require, any minimum or maximum capacities and a full explanation of how those features work. Also you will want them to specify upgrade costs for both your future expansion plans and their future releases.

3. Supervisor monitor

How supervisor screen will assist in day to day management.

4. Basic features

It is important that the basics are right, such as the displays on the agent turrets. The agents turrets. The agents should be provided with a system which is easy to operate and helps them do their job, rather than hinder them.

5. Configuration and training

How much training is required to configure the system in an ongoing process.

6. Vendor information

So as to ensure vendor support to your call centre through good maintenance and ongoing assistance.

Importance of a Well Designed Call-Centre

• A well-designed, well-built and well-run Call Centre can focus the energy of an organization to the service of its clients through its databases and communication technologies. Some staff may be freed to concentrate on the work they were appointed to do, and avoid spending time trying to find institutional information to answer the telephonic queries of callers who were previously randomly put through to them by PBAX operators.
• A well-designed Call Centre can very quickly and accurately adapt to changes to an organization and the services it offers to its clients. This is because only one database, from which all the technologies draw their information to provide to clients, needs to be updated. This updating is immediate.
• A well-designed, well operated call centre at an entity such as an education department could provide a huge impetus to the management of education in a province, or even in the whole country. It could dispense accurate information both quickly and cheaply to callers from within and without the educational structure. Since information is one of the major issues in education, well-designed Call Centres could also form the hub of larger educational initiatives.

CAUTION

• However one of the greatest weaknesses of a Call Centre is that, if it is not properly and carefully designed , it could have serious repercussions for an entire organization.
• Likewise, it might also be too expensive for certain organizations to operate optimally.
• Another weakness is that management might see a call centre as a magical solution for all of the problems of an institution. It is definitely not, and will actually magnify existing organizational problems if it is not implemented carefully.

Project Programme

First you need a good project programme in order to identify problems. Start with a list of essentials and then evaluate the practicalities of these against the budget you have available. The project programme should include a description of projected staff levels, Business functions, administrative support, computer systems, ancillary spaces, standby power and parking requirements.

General Requirements

Parking

Parking can be painful in central locations

Access

Whether ascess to the building is available round the clock

Facilities

Most existing buildings will require extensive modifications. The call centre is labour intensive and most offices are planned for a much lower density of occupants.

Space required

Adequate space must be provided for housing ACD/Telecom Equipment and to station agents based on current and projected requirements as well as space for office reception administration, meeting room, rest room, storage and locker facilities.

Accoustics One of the single most important elements to consider is acoustics. As all call centre business is conducted over the telephone it is imperative that the agent's voice is presented to the customer in a clear and intelligible way. Background noise from traffic or the sound of the other agents chattering can be distracting and have an adverse impact on productivity, customer service and corporate image.

Lighting
Proper lighting arrangement plays an important role in reducing eye strain in a call center

Power/Workstations

Once the internal layout of the building is designed, one of your first decisions needs to be the type of workstations you will provide for the agents. This decision impacts the electrical wiring and cabling and the carpeting of the call centre.

Electrical wiring, cabling & telephone points

Many call centers suddenly find they don't have enough power points or the ones they have are not in the right place.

Connections from your computers to the mainframe or server and connections from the agent headset to the ACD all need cabling. These wires need to be attached via an underfloor system or an overhead system. Flood wiring really is essential to protect from leaks either from the roof or air conditioning units.

Ensure your cabling scheme is flexible and safe, tidied away so that it cannot be tripped over accidentally.

Temperature

Consider the temperature. With so many people working in a relatively small area, with computers and lighting, generating heat coupled with completely enclosed building and sound proofing, even those cities/countries which need not normally consider air conditioning will have to do so.

Compliances

You may have regulations to consider and the building may need an official inspection from health and safety officials, possibly including the fire services.

Relaxation Space

Rest room facilities, coffee vending machines and canteen facilities.
and locker facilities for the staff.

The Final Touches

Use a colour scheme that is cheerful, and one that people can live with comfortably.

Pictures & posters

Plants and Pictures help to create a soothing and peaceful environment which is very essential to ease stress and strain of agents and the staff.

Water

Talking on the phone all day is thirsty work and a glass of cool water is appreciated, even during the winter months.

Most people work more productively in a pleasant working environment So to get the best out of your most expensive resource, ensure the call centre is designed well and offers an atmosphere in which motivation can thrive.

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

ACD Configuration

One of the most important and complex jobs during the project is to configure the ACD to your requirement. As each ACD offers different functionality and uses different jargon, there can be no blue print for how you go about this. The ACD vendor should provide the initial configuration, but this will be based on your requirements. They also usually supply the systems administration training which will enable you to make modifications whenever you wish but this is often scheduled after the initial configuration has been acquired. With or without training, you will need to advise the vendor how you want your system to be configured and therefore you need to fully understand the ACD and the functionality it provides.

Call routing

As technology has advanced, call routing has become far more sophisticated. So you now need to configure all your exchange lines to route into the appropriate queues.

Queues

This is the holding pen for calls and also determines where and whom they will be handled. Once you have configured your exchange lines to route into a specific queue you will also configure those queues to be handled by specific agents or agent groups. You may choose to have skill based routing where the system identifies the call or caller and automatically routes the call to a queue that is handled by an agent group with appropriate skills, such as languages.

You need to map out exactly where you want each of these different call types to be handled, making decisions as to which agent or agent group the call type should first be presented to, and then the interflow to the second and third best options.

Different ACDs have differing levels of sophistication and functionality and of course different reporting mechanisms. If something is particularly important to you, ensure you place this requirement on you ACD tender document.

Interflows/ Overflows

Once you have created your queues, you need to work out your interflows, sometimes called overflows. This is where you programme the system to present calls to a secondary agent group once a call has waited a certain length of time or when there are more then a specific number of calls waiting in that particular queue.

Music & Messaging

There are several specialist companies with expertise in this subject that offer both equipment and consultancy.

Tie lines

If you select a stand alone system you may need to specify the number of tie lines required between the ACD and other telephone systems within you organization, enabling internal call transfers.

Call control tables

With regards to outbound calling, do you want everyone to be able to make outgoing calls to everywhere in the world, or do you want to restrict this? Once you have identified all the different restrictions you may want to place on each agent or group of agents, you can create you call control tables.

Agent Groups & Profiles

You will need to give each employee a personal ID number and each ID number will have its own profile.

Functionality

There are a variety of functions for you to choose, which most are available as buttons on you telephone keypad. Again every ACD may offer different functionality and a different word to describe it.

MIS Reports

Every ACD will offer a set of standard reports and some ACDs now give a degree of customization. In addition to choosing which reports you want each day, each week and each month, also what reports other people might want and you then need to schedule them for printing. Choose a time when you won't need the printer for anything else, as report printing can keep it busy for some considerable time.

The Screen

Your supervisors will use this to monitor progress throughout the day. Decide what do you want to show on the main screen?

Parameters

Most systems show each individual agent status and queue status. You can usually highlight any status that goes over a specific parameter. You need to select and configure all the parameters for both agent status and call status.

Certifications and implementation checks

Different countries will have different legislation so check with your network provider and ACD vendor with regards to the installation of your exchange lines, terminating on the ACD.

You may need to have connection inspections and receive certification for the installation before you are connected to the public network.

Your cabling and electrical wiring standards including the power arrangements throughout your building may also be subject to legal standards.

Check with your contractors and with your local utility companies.

Fire precautions and health and safety checks and certification may be required by the various authorities. Also check to see whether you need to display any documents or certificates within your call centre.

Some countries demand your company registration to be displayed prominently. Check with your head office to ensure your building and contents are fully covered under an insurance premium.

CHECK LIST FOR CONFIGURATION CONSIDERATIONS

• Identify the different exchange lines inbound and group them according to where you wish them to be handled (called queues) .
• List the skill sets required for each call queue type and identify the number of agent groups you need to handle the different call types.
• Map out how you want your calls to interflow between agent groups.
• Decide how long you want calls to ring out for until they are intercepted by an announcement and calculate the length of time you want callers to wait between messages.
• Identify the different messages you require and amp these to the exchange lines and choose the music on hold.
• Decide where calls should go when the office closes.
• Calculate the number of tie lines required.
• Identify any outbound restrictions you want to place by agent or agent group.
• Work out call tables to reflect the desired restrictions and permits including password protection for out of hours calling.
• Choose the type of agent ID numbering system you want.
• Create an employee profile for each employee group, attaching call tables.
• Decide how you want each telephone/keypad formatted and with what functionally
• Configure and schedule your daily, weekly and monthly reports. You may need to customize these and schedule them into the system for daily printing.
• Decide what information you would like to show on the main supervisor screen.
• Determine warning parameters for status of calls and agents.
• Determine Certification legislation to be complied with 4f:

* Source/ Ref Call Center Management by Janette Menday sponsored by NORTEL

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is an emotive subject, since it may represent reductions in staff, loss of personal power and loss of control. It has been used by many companies simply to lower headcount, so the very word can cause alarm and anxiety. However, outsourcing the call centre has a number of benefits. There are a variety of services available, from outsourcing the entire operation over to a third party, to using an outsource bureau simply as a back up, intraflowing seasonal peak volume or advertising response volume on an ad hoc basis.

COST CONSIDERATIONS IN OUTSOURCING

Costs

One major consideration: Capital intensive technology requires major financial resources if your organization wishes to stay at the leading edge. Outsourcing removes this burden, enabling companies to enjoy future proofing technology with no capital outlay.

Pricing

It is important to evaluate any proposal. Be vigilant for hidden overheads. It is essential, when outsourcing a currently in house performed activity, to fully understand your present cost structure. The same process is required for a greenfield site and projected costs calculated so comparisons can be made.

You will need to work out:

• The fixed costs, including floor space, personnel etc.
• The variable costs such as training
• Asset utilization and depreciation
• The internal costs that will continue after contracting out
• Closure and transfer costs if applicable
• Projected annual costs
• Implementation costs

NEXT: RFP/TENDERING to select an outsourcing partner.

You may want to put your business out through tender, and therefore need to document the full specification and the performance levels you demand. Shortlist three or four companies to complete a full tender document by visiting their site and assessing their technical competence through discussions.

Find out about their experience in running campaigns, telephone selling or telemarketing, and how can they help your business flourish?

Ask about their flexibility. If there are market changes which require swift action, can they adapt to your needs/ What about their management style and culture? How do they coach and motivate the agents? Can they provide you with detailed reports showing agent productivity and call handling data?

What skills can they offer you? Do they employ multi-linguists, and in what languages. Are their agents mainly graduates and if not, what caliber? How big is the resource pool available to them? What is the attrition rate? Then Factors like

• Stability
• Quality
• Recruitment & Training
• Partnerships
• Disaster Recovery
• Call information- Advise your anticipated call volume (details of peaks/troughs with seasonality and trends), average call handling time, the nature of calls (their complexity), what training needs are expected
• Service provision: hours of operation, the service level you demand
• Technology- advice if there are any specific requirements such as CTI links, multi-media, internet integration, IVR etc. and ask what they can provide for you, such as Post Code look up, scripting, fax back, etc.
• Fee- Specify how you would prefer to pay- by number of calls, per agent or flat fee for the operation
• Contingencies- Find out the happens to your calls when all agents are busy. What overflows are provided and where to. Are guarantees given that other clients will not adversely impact your service levels? What are the procedures with
  (a) fire drills,
  (b) major powerfails and
  (c) disaster to the building?
• Reports
• Penalties

Which Co Will Relish it? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ NONE !

• On the average Cos lose almost 50% of their customers every 5 years.
• Cost of making & retraining New Customer going up

But these are facts revealed by Surveys

CALL UP AGCCS !

For proper Consultative Project Management
Of entire "Customer Life-Cycle"

Why is it important to understand the role of Consultative Project Management:

• to know latest trends
• to understand software implementation methodology considering alternatives, pitfalls & risks
• criteria to select vendor for CRM implementation: whether vendor has
  1. domain knowledge
  2. can operate in multiple environment
  3. able to capture Qualitative/Quantitative data

 

SHALL AGCCS DESIGN ENTIRE ROUTE-MAP
FOR IMPLEMENTING CRM ·

• Defining Objectives & setting measurable targets.
• Technology determinants & leveraging technology with process & people.
• What to look for in a CRM solution.
• Creating & Implementation of an effective CRM strategy (issues to consider, good practices, success factors, building CRM based organisation structure etc.).
• From SCM though ERP to CRM.
• Integrating CRM solution through entire 'customer life cycle'.
• Mastering CRM technology, tools and techniques for effective implementation.

CALL UP AGCCS FOR eCRM SOLUTIONS