Quality is the Key to Success
10 Oct, 2011
By: Katrin HenkelThe following case study illustrates how quality and process management can be optimized in a financial institution’s environment.
Over 13 years of successful client service, company X handled more than 70 million calls, carrying out quality monitoring to ensure its agents met a basic standard. Customer contacts were analyzed by recording calls and on-screen information to verify service quality and manage call center processes.
A Change in Emphasis
Five years ago, contact center management decided to revamp their operations by purchasing a next-generation monitoring system and renewing their commitment to becoming a customer-centric organization. Quality became a constant and established virtue in the company. Team leaders and coaches worked closely with employees while in-house trainers constantly expanded their level of qualification. A new motto was promulgated, “Calls are our product, and our employees are our asset.”
Meanwhile, contact center operations expanded to meet growing customer demands. Quality monitoring grew in tandem to cover inbound and outbound calls, telemarketing, email and fax processing. The company concluded that “quality monitoring is the most objective, most significant and most comprehensive method of evaluating quality in the call center.”
The calls of all employees were recorded depending on their department or job role. An enterprise-wide monitoring effort occurred up to twelve times per year. The employees were integrated into the process by informing them a week in advance when the calls were to be recorded. Recordings and evaluations were coordinated by a quality assurance department, and coaches assessed the calls. Reports and statistics were compiled for inspection by the management staff, and monthly quality summaries were prepared.
Quality Monitoring Details
The quality monitoring followed a five-step process: 1) approval of the caller; 2) voice and screen recording; 3) assessment by a coach; 4) feedback to the agent (systemic and personal); and 5) calibration with a trainer where appropriate.
Assessment of calls was based on subject-related topics, phone conversation techniques and language, and detailed customer-specific requirements. Sales approaches for cross selling, direct purchases and arranging appointments were evaluated as well.
In securities trading, all calls must be recorded including internal and external consultations. However, a securities-related conversation may turn into a service call for a different department. In that case, it is not to be recorded. Any redirection of telephone banking calls must be recorded, but the recording must stop automatically in case of a query not meeting the specifications defined by QM.
Thus, a quality management solution for a financial institution must handle a great deal of complexity. Other requirements include “record on demand” for threat calls as well as redundancy and back-up functionality to ensure continuity when going “offline” can result in significant monetary losses.
Conclusion
Financial institutions need a “legally impeccable” quality monitoring solution with a high level of complexity to ensure compliance with regulations, quality agent service and efficient contact center operations.
