Foundations of Contact Centre Management

Think of this 3-day program as a mini-M.B.A. for Contact Centre Management. It is an ideal starting point as this program covers the basics of the Contact Centre business including the concepts of balanced scorecard, Management by Objectives (MBO) and the role of performance management.

Day 1 covers Contact Centre technologies and the roles they play, including telephony, telephone networks, PBX, ACD, VRU, CTI, call load forecasting, scheduling, predictive dialers and call monitoring systems, plus emerging technologies like VoIP and next generation call /contact centres.

Days 2 and 3 cover the principles of Performance Management, Service Level Management and productivity, telecommunication theories, call arrival patterns, queuing, and Erlang theory.

I. THE PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT

• Strategic positioning: the power of intention (vision) and attention (execution); avoiding myopia
• The purpose and mission of business
• The mandate, role and functions of management in any business
• A roadmap and template for management success in any business

In covering these topics, students discuss Peter Drucker's "The Practice of management", Michael Porter's value chain and generic competitive strategy, Theodore Levitt's Marketing Myopia and Tom Peters' concept of excellence.

II. CALL CENTRE BASIC TECHNOLOGY

• The role of technology in business at the strategic and functional level
• The role of technology in Call Centre management at the strategic and functional level
• Key technology components in Call Centres
  • Telephony: definition, public network, categories, hierarchy
  • PBX: definition, key functions, key applications
  • ACD: definition, key features and functions, key applications
  • Headset & phone sets: key applications
  • Work bench: key applications
  • CTI: definition, key functions, key applications
  • WorkForce management: definition, key functions, key applications
  • Quality assurance/monitoring system: role and key applications
  • Predictive dialer: categories, functions
• Emerging technologies and next generation Call / Contact Centres; challenges and responses

III. THE ROLE OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

Performance management is the primary means for organizational focus and to influence organizational behavior.

• The how and the why of Performance Management
• The concept of the Balanced Scorecard by Norton and Kaplan
• Peter Drucker's "Management by Objectives"
• The construction of an organizational balanced scorecard
• The guiding principles for setting proper organizational objectives

IV. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN CALL CENTRES

• The key metrics for tracking Call Centre performance
• Understanding these key metrics and their applications
• Customer impatience factors and applications

V. THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES TO CONSISTENTLY ACHIEVE SERVICE LEVEL

Understanding the significance of service level: the key to customer satisfaction and optimal productivity

• The primary driving force affecting service level management: telecommunication traffic
  • The theories and basic laws of telecommunication traffic
  • Random and non-random call arrival and their applications in service level management
  • Erlang formulae and their application in service level management
• The principles and practices to consistently achieve service level:
  • Setting the right service level
  • Customer impatience factors
  • Aligning organizational resources with service level objective
  • Planning, forecasting, scheduling, and shrinkage factors
  • Schedule adherence; principles and practice
  • Real-time response process: concepts and a practical model for turnkey applications
  • The principle of pooling
  • The critical role of the human factor

VI. THE PRINCIPLES & PRACTICES OF ACHIEVING COST SUPERIORITY

Understanding and managing the root causes of Call Centre inefficiency for higher productivity

• Call volume
• First Call Resolution
• Process engineering / re-engineering
• Call handling skills
• Systems support

VII. PUTTING IT TOGETHER: APPLICATIONS FOR EVERYDAY CALL CENTRE MANAGEMENT

If you are a Call Centre Manager or Supervisor - or aspire to that level- then this Foundations of Call Centre Management workshop is perfect for you.

The course leader, Stephen Ng is a retired Call Centre Executive from a major bank, and an alumnus of MIT's Senior Executive Program. He is also the former Program Director for Centennial College's Call Centre Management Program.