Even some of the smallest businesses have contact centers to ensure customer needs are met and the company continues to grow. Technology plays a vital role in maintaining contact center operations since without communications solutions like PBX for business from AccessDirect, the contact center would likely be unable to operate. However, while a PBX telephone system enables contact call center conversations to take place and while technological advances have produced many ways to improve business processes, nothing can replace the value of human capital behind the machines. In a recent Financial-Planning article, contributor Matt Matrisian noted that one of the key assets for any firm is its people, and business decision makers need to understand that their hiring and training processes can impact many layers of the company.
Matrisian explained that while many entrepreneurs today are brilliant, this does not necessarily mean that they can manage people well.
Valuing Human Capital in Contact Call Centers
“The best way to manage these problems is to institute a sound human capital program,” Martisian wrote. “The goal of a human capital program is to align employee motivation and performance with the goals of the firm so that everyone is pulling in the same direction to create a successful, sustainable, profitable firm. All of the employees in an organization have expectations about what their responsibilities and roles are and what they should receive in return. Yet managing these expectations may be a nightmare unless everything is clear to all involved. The point of the program is to codify these expectations so that everyone understands his or her responsibilities and rewards.”
Evaluating employee behavioral performance in the call center
Call center operations can occasionally get hectic, because there is no fool-proof way to accurately predict call volumes. The contact center, however, is an excellent example of how valuable human capital needs to work in tandem with the company’s virtual business phone system.
In a recent article appearing on Business 2 Community, business consultant Brendan Dykes outlined three signs that the contact center perfect storm is nigh.
Value of Human Capital Management
“You know how it is, it’s Monday morning, more calls are coming in than were expected, not all of the staff have arrived or logged on yet and your customer service goals are already unachievable,” Dykes wrote. “For the customers calling its equally as bad – they’ve worried about their problems and issues over the weekend, they’ve called you as soon as they could and now they are waiting in a queue with no idea when they’ll be answered and if that person will be able to assist them. On top of all this, the telephony technology supporting the call center is ageing, antiquated, inflexible and costly to keep updated and running. You are in the contact center ‘Perfect Storm’!”
Dykes explained that in these situations, the customer is typically the one that “suffers the most,” dealing with long wait times, repeat calls and the stress of busier than average support associates. Since the customer is the most vital component of business success, SMBs need to implement solutions that can improve the contact center experience. With an automated answering service and virtual receptionist from AccessDirect, even the smallest contact center can operate on a high level and behavioral performance will increase dramatically.
