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1. The Contact Centre is often viewed as a
necessary evil, by both companies and
their customers. To companies, it can be an
expensive cost centre that produces vague
and immeasurable results. To customers,
it can represent an unsatisfactory end to a
frustrating quest through the labyrinth of
an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu.
Here at Voyager we are exploring new ways of thinking about
Contact Centres, in order to transform them from a large expense
on the balance sheet to a business differentiator that actually
creates value for both you and your customers.
WHITE PAPER Contact Centres
A look at the changing
face of Contact Centres.

2. WHITE PAPER
Contact Centres
Contact Centre’s generate value primarily in the “buy” and “service/support” phases of the
customer lifecycle. Value in the “buy” phase is simple to explain, any sales function has a
clearly definable business metric that pays its own way. The biggest challenge faced by
most organisations is with the service and support function, the link to downstream
business value creation is less obvious, while the cost to the organisation of running a
Contact Centre is often painfully apparent.
With the rise of the Web, the role of the Contact Centre has expanded to include
“e-service,” which includes devices such as mobile phones and modes of interaction such
as chat and video. The essential challenge for organisations today is to find the balance
between managing costs in the Contact Centre and understanding the impact of Contact
Centre interactions on customer behavior downstream.
Traditional Call Centre’s are run using very tight operational metrics but with little view
of how their customer interactions affect factors such as customer retention and long-
term revenue. In the current economic climate it’s essential to examine how changes in
customer expectations, empowered by technology are changing the calculus and increasing
the complexity of decision making in the Contact Centre environment.
1. Contact Centres of the 21st Century.
Traditional Contact Centre’s are undoubtedly trying to change. However, many of the
metrics used to measure success – such as first contact resolution, speed to answer and
customer satisfaction – seem to be moving in the wrong direction. Contact Centre’s still
struggle with the double negative of low agent utilisation and high rates of staff attrition,
which has dire impact on costs. This is a situation that is not likely to encourage
organisations to make further investments. Nonetheless, on the cost control side,
companies are taking steps in the right direction, with investments in IP telephony,
IVRs and other automated systems, outsourcing, virtualisation, and integration of
web and voice functions, the problem is if they are poorly executed they can lead to
more serious customer dissatisfaction.
2. Customer Satisfaction – A priority
One other factor to consider is the clear disconnect between Executive perception and
Customer reality.
If you ask any Executive to name their top 3 strategic business priorities, customer
satisfaction is guaranteed to be one of them. And quite right too, in these barren times of
course customer retention trumps customer acquisition.
Firstly it’s important to
understand where the
Contact Centre fits in the
overall customer
relationship lifecycle.
2

3. 3. Consumer have a difference of opinion
Take a look at Facebook as an example; there are over 80 Contact Centre Groups on the site,
the majority of which are derogatory, with both Customers and Contact Centre staff using
the site as a platform to bear their grudges. This is not an isolated example, the connected
consumer is becoming the norm, their voices are now heard and their influence is growing.
In the past the consequences of poor service in the Contact Centre were not always
apparent, not so today. At a time when companies should be working harder to make their
customers happy and persuade them to continue spending their hard-earned cash, many
seem to be getting it very wrong, according to new research conducted by YouGov. They
revealed that only one in 12 of those questioned “feel valued” by the companies they are
doing business with, after dealing with their call centre.
When companies should be investing in ensuring a positive beginning-to-end experience
for their customers with their organisations, it was found that the majority of those
questioned (76%) have contacted customer service because of problems that could be
perceived by consumers to have been avoidable if the company had taken more care
with theirproductsandservices(i.e.billingerrors,technicalissues,and problems with
deliveries or missed service calls).
When consumers attempt to deal with issues, the negative perception of their service /
product providers’ attitude towards them is reinforced, with many of those questioned
reporting giving up without having their problems solved - 63% when using online facilities and
48% after phone contact. And over a third of those questioned had to re-contact customer
services to get their issues dealt with completely when they do persevere.
No wonder over a 1/4 of those questioned for the survey have actually postponed
making contact with a supplier to address a problem, presumably because they couldn’t
face dealing with the hassles and delays associated with the call centre. And that 34% of
those questioned reported that they now expect to get poor service when they finally get
do get through to a customer service agent.
With this kind of data, it is clear that the Contact Centre experience is an important part of
the overall customer relationship and needs to be transformed.
34%
of people calling a contact
centre expect to get poor
customer service
48%
people giving up after one
contact without having their
problems sorted
69%
expect a complete
resolution on the first call
3
In the past the
consequences of poor
service in the Contact
Centre were not always
apparent, not so today.

4. WHITE PAPER:
Contact Centres.
4. Consumers in the driving seat.
In the midst of all the challenges facing Contact Centres today, a new complication has
arisen. A new generation of empowered customers has arrived, with the both the
desire and the ability to take control. Armed with the power of the Internet and the
many options it provides for sharing information, consumers are now in the driver’s seat.
We are dealing with a new generation of consumers who have different skills, different
expectations, and different needs. They share experiences and influence opinions in blogs
and social networking communities. They create and share content on YouTube and Flikr,
and get involved in consumer-driven product development efforts. They have product
reviews at their fingertips, and can write their own reviews to share their experiences with
others. They enjoy nearly ubiquitous connectivity, allowing them to access information
and services from nearly anywhere, using their choice of device. They have grown to expect
personalisation, customisation, and the ability to serve themselves whenever and however
it is most convenient for them.
All of these new customer-empowering capabilities have raised consumer expectations
across the board. Customers want a consistent, high-quality service experience regardless
of how and when they interact with the Contact Centre. Organisations have responded
by adding e-service components, but without necessarily connecting them with existing
service channels, especially the call centre. The result is the worst of both worlds: more
complexity to manage, but little credit from customers, and few of the business benefits
that accrue from the multi channel environment.
The Customer Conversation report from
Forrester puts this into context.
5. Customer expectations – Customers want a consistent,
high quality experience…
> 69% expect a complete resolution on the first call
> 57% are dissatisfied with contact center experience
> 38% try an alternative channel first
> 35% want to reach a live agent when required
…But Companies interact inconsistently across Channels
> Only 43% of firms know about a problem before a customer does
> Only 43% alter service based on a customer’s profitability
> Only 37% know if they share a customer with another division
> Only 23% of phone agents can see customers’ web activity
Not only do new technology tools give customers higher expectations, they also give
them a greater ability to broadcast their negative interactions to a mass audience in a
very compelling way.
In the midst of all these challenges there are also some very positive opportunities
presented by the empowered consumer.
4
Customers have grown to
expect personalisation,
customisation, and the
ability to serve themselves
whenever and however it is
most convenient for them.
23%
of phone agents can ses
customers’ web activity
37%
know if they share a
customer with
another division

5. 6. Short and long term effects on the business.
The upcoming generation is more comfortable with self-service and automation than
previous consumers, if these services are well executed. They are also looking to new
channels, such as the mobile Internet and SMS messaging, through which to manage their
service interactions. These new expectations and capabilities are beginning to force a
redefinition of the Contact Centre, which will undoubtedly accelerate over the next
three-to-five years.
Meanwhile, in the face of these rising expectations and new modes of service and support
delivery, organisations continue to make short-term decisions to manage costs, which can
have highly significant impact on the long-term health of the business.
So here’s the key question:
Can companies have it both ways?
Can they improve their customers’ experience with the Contact Centre and reduce costs?
We believe they can.
7. System integration is key to a less
fragmented experience for customers.
While Contact Centres have expanded their reach in terms of the channels and modes of
interaction, they have not necessarily created an integrated customer service experience.
Web teams have developed standalone web services without integrating them into the
main Contact Centre infrastructure. In-store customer service agents donothaveaccessto
customers’onlineorcallcentrehistory.The result is a fragmented, fractured experience for
customers. Without integration, customers see the added electronic channels as a means
of reducing call traffic, but not necessarily as a way of improving customer service.
5
New expectations and
capabilities are beginning
to force a redefinition of
the Contact Centre, which
will undoubtedly accelerate
over the next three to
five years.

6. 6
Gaining knowledge at every
customer touch point to
continuously improve the
service experience.
8.The integrated experience.
The next Contact Centre evolution will be one that takes us from a disconnected, siloed
service and support approach to a rich, integrated, multi-dimensional experience. This new
customer-centric Contact Centre experience offers a rich experience at every touch point,
encompassing all of the following:
Multiple channels deliver the service experience consistently, coherently and cost
effectively through any device or channel of access that makes sense for the customer.
Multiple modes deploy the full range of Web 2.0 and multimedia interaction tools to
deliver a relevant, engaging and satisfying service experience across channels, devices
and stakeholders. Five years ago, we wouldn’t be discussing contact modality - it was
voice, or voice. With the rise of the Internet, Web 2.0 tools, and broadband, the mode
of interaction becomes a potentially powerful tool in the service and support toolkit.
The array of possibilities is dizzying – from “click-to-chat,” to virtual worlds and
social networks.
Multiple stakeholders extend the network of service and support providers to deliver
an outstanding service experience by including other corporate knowledge holders,
partners and customers through use of collaboration tools. The enablers are the new
technologies and new business processes that liberate expertise, wherever it may
reside, to be shared with customers, wherever they may reside.
9. Maximising investments.
Finally, this approach is able to derive Multi-point insight from interactions across the
service experience, gaining knowledge at every customer touch point to continuously
improve the service experience.
To fully understand the value impact of a truly multi dimensional Contact Centre
experience, we need to manage and measure Contact Centre’s in a more holistic way that
recognises the overall short-and long-term effects of our decisions. Most Contact Centre’s
have to manage to very tight operational metrics, primarily cost per contact. Managers do
not always have downstream visibility into how customers behave when they move out of
the Contact Centre: Do they purchase more products? Or do they defect to a competitor?
What is their annual per-customer revenue?
Without being able to see this downstream cause and effect, Contact Centre managers are
in danger of making short-term decisions to meet cost performance goals without being
able to see their long-term effect. For example, cutting seats or putting pressure on
associates to get customers off the phone more quickly will have the required effect on
Contact Centre costs, but could adversely impact overall revenue and profitability.
WHITE PAPER:
Contact Centres.

7. Managers need a new multi-dimensional view into service interactions to maximise Contact
Centre investments.
The magnitude and relative importance of the various value drivers changes dramatically
across industries. There is no “one-size-fits-all” prescription. The precise balance between
experience improvement and cost reduction will depend on the particular industry,
especially on the revenue per customer and churn rates.
So what do you need to get started in the process of transforming a Contact Centre
into a Customer Experience Centre?
You begin by asking the right questions.
Executives can use these questions to start identifying what kind of opportunities they
have, what kind of experience they may want to create, and how to develop a roadmap to
transition today’s one dimensional, cost intensive Contact Centre into a strategic asset
that delivers sustainable competitive differentiation.
In beginning this transformation process, use all the technology tools and capabilities that
are available and appropriate to meet the empowered customer on the customers’ terms.
Understandtherichmixofinteractionchannelsandmodes,alwaystakeanintegrated,customer
centric approach, and look at the long-term impact of your Contact Centre decisions.
And finally, optimise your Contact Centre strategy by aligning customer needs with your
business model to create value for customers, and your organisation.
The result will no longer be a cost-draining call centre, but a competitively differentiated,
value-creating “customer experience centre.”
7
Transforming a Contact
Centre into a Customer
Experience Centre.
Source: Cisco IBSG, 2008
Multi – Channel
> What are the most
appropriate access points
for customers?
> What is the role of
each channel ?
> What is the cost to
serve by channel?
> What role can
technology play?
Multi – Modal
> How do we develop the
right content for the
right customers
in the right channel
> How do we ensure
consistency across
content types
> How do we measure
effectiveness of different
modes of interaction?
> How do we develop and
manage compelling,
engaging content on an
ongoing basis?
Multi
Stakeholder
> Where does
expertise reside?
> Enterprise
> Partners
> Customers
> How can the expertise be
connected to the point of
customer access?
> How empowered are
employees to solve
problems for customers?
> How are experts
Multi – Point
Insight
> How do we measure short
and long term impact
of service experience on
customer value drivers?
> How do we derive insight
across channels and
modes of interactions?
> What economic model
will help us understand
relative benefits of
service channels, and the
interaction modes most
appropriate to our
operating model?

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