“Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay!” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
In the age of Big Data, more organizations are turning to analytics to provide insight into, amongst other things, their services, agents, customers and back office. Why, you ask? In the above quote by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; his famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes could not formulate motive, theories or draw certainty on the culprit until he had enough data to analyze. The same holds true for the contact center. Data is the essential building block of analytics and without it, we will not successfully drive business, make informed decisions, or improve and progress from our yesterday.
If you have “liked” a page on Facebook lately, you have probably noticed that other pages--similar to the one that you have recently liked--are displayed on your wall as being recommended just for you. If you purchase something on Amazon, the next time you return to the site, you will receive product recommendations based on your previous purchase. These are both examples of how analytics are driving business. In both examples, the data from your purchases (or the pages you like) are analyzed to tell a story about your experience as a customer. This type of predictive analytics is just one of many different types of analytic solutions that organizations are using to help drive their contact centers. Below is a list of the most popular analytics applications that can aid you in your efforts to create a customer centric culture within your organization.
Speech Analytics − The most popular of offerings, Speech Analytics analyzes voice transactions for keywords and phrases, and can be utilized to identify customer churn, escalations, procedural inefficiencies and customer satisfaction. Typically, this type of analytics is used with a quality management program, including training and/or coaching based off of the findings.
Desktop Analytics − This solution monitors 100% of system performance and agent workstation activities. This application extends beyond screen capture by potentially providing real time guidance for the agents. Desktop Analytics is often integrated with a CRM solution and used in conjunction with Speech Analytics to provide a holistic view of agent performance and organizational processes.
Cross Channel/Multichannel/Omnichannel/Text Analytics- These types of applications are becoming more prominent as customers do business through various channels. These solutions help identify the channels used by each customer so businesses can interact with them using their preferred channel. This helps optimize customer transactions for specific channels and, as such, is ideal for sales and marketing efforts. Text Analytics extracts the needs of the customers through written channels including chat, email, and social media, for example.
Self-Service Analytics – While not as common as other analytic tools, self-service analytics is increasingly beneficial, since customers often complain or opt out of a self-service tool. This type of solution allows organizations to identify the self-service areas that most discourage customers and therefore implement needed process enhancements and improvements.
Predictive Analytics – As mentioned earlier, this type of solution typically works with a CRM tool, cross channel analytics, and/or speech and text analytics to determine the most effective channel in which to communicate and—based on a customer’s previous interactions—suggest products or present the most appropriately skilled agent for the interaction.
Donna Fluss, President of DMG Consulting, recommends that "companies should identify two or three customer experience analytics applications that have the most potential to help them improve profitability while enhancing the customer experience.” These applications deliver more than the rudimentary analysis of simple quality management, Workforce Management and existing rich data that is already common to contact centers. These solutions open the door to the millennials and the various ways different generations are interacting with our organizations. Though the bottom line will still be a dominant focus in Contact Centers, investing in solutions such as these will ultimately reduce cost and identify sales opportunities turning the “cost center” into a customer driven revenue center.
