Go Fish for an Agent Desktop

Go Fish for an Agent Desktop Or 13 questions to ensure you get what you asked for

By Randy Saunders, Cincom Systems

When a customer is “on the line,” and your agent is “fishing” for the right information to respond to that customer, it might be a little bit like real-life fishing – but a lot more frustrating. The agent trawls for information, searching through billing, ordering, inventory, and a score of other applications, piecing together the appropriate information. This takes time and patience, just as fishing in the wrong place or with the wrong equipment or knowledge can be painstakingly slow and exasperating.

No Fishing Allowed

A unified agent desktop brings all of the right information – for and about each customer – directly to the agent’s desktop. No need to fish through murky backend systems, casting and recasting until you get a hit. With a unified agent desktop, the agent has a crystal-clear view of the customer – including their history, contact information, resources, and relevant applications.

Catch and Release

Your customers, just like fishing resources and all of our natural resources, are too valuable to be wasted. A unified agent desktop helps promote and preserve your customer base by treating them with care and efficiency. Equipped with the necessary information, tools, and resources on the desktop, you can effortlessly reel in the customer with little to no pain (hold times/inadequate responses/repetitive input) and then release them happily into the market where they can advocate to other hungry customers about just how great their experience was.

Back to Go Fish – Make Sure You Get What You Asked for

So you’re convinced that you need a unified agent desktop, but you’re not sure of what to ask for. What capabilities should you look for? Should you consider hosted or on-premise? What is important to look for in a vendor?

Here are 13 questions to consider as you fish for the solution, and the vendor that is best for your organization.

1. Are you making the proper presentation on the desktop?

Like the fly fisherman selecting the perfect lure to fool a finicky trout, you must present the right information at the right time for success. Look for a solution that can expose data from your legacy systems and silos of information, and present them in one desktop view. This universal view enables you to maximize your previous technology investments while providing all of the information your agents need to satisfy the customer’s request at the time of contact.

Some of the categories that should be accessible from the desktop include:

· Contact management

· Workflow

· Legacy applications – billing, ERP, inventory, shipping, etc.

· Resource and content management – intranets, websites, FAQs, decision trees, access lists, etc.

· Knowledge management

· Interaction management

· Activity management – to manage customer issues from beginning to end through activity and task management

2. Is the desktop dynamic and relevant? Does it adjust to provide the proper tools based on who is contacting you or the nature of the contact?

Matching your tactics and equipment to your situation is vital to success. You wouldn’t use a rod built for tuna to catch sardines. Similarly, your agents aren’t going to save much time if the desktop doesn’t automatically populate with the content that is relevant to the customer or interaction at hand. Look for an “identifier” capability such as a customer’s phone number, e-mail address, account number, or social security number that triggers a lookup of a complete, detailed history of the customer, and initiates the workflow and desktop content that puts everything at the agent’s fingertips. This also eliminates the need for customers to repeat contact information even when the contact is escalated to someone else.

3. Does the desktop highlight information so that agents can easily find it?

Once you cast your bait out in the water, it can be difficult to tell what’s going on below the surface. That’s where a bobber can save the day. When it goes under, you know the most important information right away, and you can react. Today’s desktops can serve the same function, highlighting important information so that agents know what is going on.

Some applications do a better job than others at presenting information. Things to look for include:

· Does the application present a universal view of the customer? Most do not. Sorting through various applications to find the correct information wastes time and aggravates the customer.

· Does the application use pop-up windows or “folder tabs” to organize different information? Pop-up windows are tedious to navigate, requiring the agent to click multiple times and remember which window has the appropriate information. Folder tabs are comparatively much easier to navigate.

· Can the application be customized to always present selected information to the agent? This is made more difficult, if not impossible, if the solution doesn’t utilize a universal view or folder tabs. If the solution utilizes multiple windows, it is likely that windows will eventually block each other and the necessary information.

4. Can you see a total view of the customer across communication channels all within the single desktop (phone, fax, e-mail, web chat)?

Information is the key to learning and success. Much like today’s underwater cameras have unlocked mysteries locked in the deep with a complete unobstructed view, today’s desktop can provide a total view of the customer. To get the full benefit of the desktop, your customer touch points – voice, e-mail, fax, and chat – should be integrated. Without leaving the desktop, agents not only see current activity, they also get a complete picture of all of the customer’s previous contacts. This enables the agent to see a complete history of the customer’s communications and interactions with the company and allows them to act accordingly.

5. How does the desktop present all of these legacy systems?

Fishing guides, like vendors, come in all shapes and sizes. Rarely is the one-size-fits-all variety a good choice, but each has its place. A dedicated fly angler won’t be happy with Johnny-the-worm-drowner as a guide and vice versa. Vendors also can have vastly different approaches to creating a unified agent desktop – some are more invasive than others. The “non-invasive” approach typically uses web services to present any web-enabled application to the desktop. If an application is not web-enabled (typically older, legacy systems), professional services work can get you there. If the desktop doesn’t support web services, expect a much larger integration and customization project for each application you need to access.

6. To host or not to host? And is there a migration path from hosted to on-premise that’s licensed with the same desktop? If not, what are the differences?

It’s not uncommon for someone who is new to fishing to immediately buy armloads of expensive equipment before they understand how they will use it. Soon after, they find that the equipment they have chosen doesn’t suit their needs. That’s where careful research and just a little patience and experience could have saved them both money and aggravation. Many companies offer both hosted and on-premise licensed solutions. At first glance, this looks like a logical path for small and midsize businesses or departments – begin with the hosted option and then migrate to the licensed version after a proven ROI. But often the hosted and licensed solutions are not the same solutions, having completely different features, functions, and desktops. As a result, there is a less-than-linear migration path, with additional training and costs to move to on-premise. To ease migration, look for the same solution in both environments, and consider testing the waters with the hosted model.

7. Can I still be operational if my center goes down or my agents can’t make it to the office?

Contrary to what some believe, fish will bite in the rain. The prepared angler – with a wind- and waterproof suit to protect against hypothermia – could experience some of the best fishing to be had. Similarly, your contact center has to be prepared to handle customers even when the weather turns bad, power goes out, or another emergency hits your location. A hosted option, where the software operates in a secure, remote location with 24/7 redundancy, minimizes your risk. Agents can access the system from anywhere with a high-speed internet connection whether that is from home, a hotel, or a satellite office. This provides two major advantages. One, in the event of an emergency or disaster, your agents (or your entire contact center) can relocate to safety and begin working as soon as possible. The second advantage is that because the agents can be located anywhere, you can hire the best possible candidate for the job.

8. Can you be provided with company names and/or references from two current customers and one company that did not select your services?

Equipment failures on the water are a source of exasperation that can be eliminated with research. Ask experienced anglers and store clerks what they recommend. They are often more than willing to share what equipment they use (but probably not the location of their secret honey hole.) Likewise, established companies should be able to provide references of its capabilities. Additionally, it is wise to ask about lost businesses. Every company loses deals, and learning why could provide valuable insight to help you make a decision. It also is a good measure of how open the potential vendor is willing to be.

9. What is the typical ROI? How long should it take to realize 100% return on investment?

How long will it take you to catch a fish? Well there are no guarantees that you’ll ever catch a fish – that’s why it’s called “fishing” and not “catching.” However, if a vendor has done its due diligence during the discovery process, they should have an in-depth understanding of your business and the areas where the unified desktop will impact your business. Using this custom data, they should be able to provide a quantifiable figure and timeline for reaching your break-even point. As a point of reference, ask for examples of the ROI of other implementations.

10. What levels of product support are available?

After your implementation, you don’t want to be a fish out of water if you suddenly need assistance. Make sure that your vendor has a clear, established support infrastructure including escalation procedures. With your contact center on the line, 24/7 support is mandatory. Talk to existing customers to understand their experiences with the vendor’s support staff to ensure that you will have experienced and responsive product support.

11. How long is a typical implementation?

When you hop on a boat for a fishing excursion, you typically have an idea of how long you plan to be to out there. Likewise, established companies should be able to provide a reasonable estimate and actual examples from past installations of the length of time required to implement the solution. Typically, the more complex your environment – the more systems and applications you are presenting through the desktop, the complexity of workflows, and the number of customer channels being implemented – the longer the implementation. Spend the time upfront with your vendor meticulously planning the implementation and setting expectations within your organization.

12. Are there reporting and analytics capabilities? Can you access real-time statistics as well as standard and customized reporting to build out in-depth business intelligence?

Other anglers could be quite reserved with information about what they are catching, where, and with what bait. Or they could just be lying. Fortunately, contact center reporting and analytics enable you to monitor and track communications to improve your customer service. Make sure that the vendor you select gives you the ability to query the database for the report that your business needs, not what the vendor determined ahead of time. Additionally, if you are considering a hosted solution or plan to utilize remote agents, ensure that you will have adequate reporting and real-time monitoring capabilities to effectively manage those agents.

13. Has your preferred vendor been acquired or experienced a recent merger with another company?

Wildlife agencies are taking a much more proactive role in managing their resources. Because of this, regulations often vary from one body of water to another, or even within different spans of the same water. This puts the responsibility on the angler to make sure they know the regulations wherever they are that minute. Likewise, in the technology industry, recent mergers and acquisitions have resulted in wide disparity in the knowledge, experience, and service capabilities within these companies and their newly acquired or legacy solutions. Make sure that the vendor you plan to work with has the internal resources, longevity, and commitment to make your implementation a success.

Whether equipping yourself for fishing or for improving customer service in the contact center with a unified agent desktop, determine what you are really after, ask the right questions of the right people, and make the proper investments. Then you will be well on your way to productive days. While no one solution will be a true one-size-fits-all, some solutions are dramatically more flexible than others. This can make a substantial difference later if your needs or desires change and you want to go after bigger fish in larger waters. Tight lines all!