April 9, 2001

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The Modern Call Center

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More on call centers:

sidebar: WorldCom Bets The Future On Its Web Center Service InternetWeek: Nationwide Gets Big Picture (4/2/01) InternetWeek: Marketing Automation Gives CRM A Lift (3/20/01) InternetWeek: Real-Time Help Slashes Costs (2/2/01)

Fassman couldn't anticipate the fundamental ways a Web call-back button would change IBM's call-center agents' sales incentives. "We didn't care if the customer stayed with us and bought on the phone, or hung up and went back to the Web, as long as they still bought from us," he says. But the agents cared, and IBM didn't want the Web to cannibalize its existing call-center sales. "We changed the incentive system to give our representatives credit if they closed the sale on the phone or if the customer went back and bought online. The smarter reps would rather have the customer complete the transaction on the Web so they could move to the next sale," says Fassman.

IBM.com's response targets are two minutes for Web call-back and instant chat and four hours for E-mail inquiries. In the days before Web call-back and instant chat, Fassman says the average sale was closed after 7.2 calls from the customer. The goal is to slash that number to three calls per order--and IBM.com is close to achieving it. Fassman says 70% of customers who make purchases on the Web site contact the call center to complete their orders. "They still want to talk with someone who's a systems expert and who deals with their problems every day," he says. "They want to know if they're making a wise decision or if there's a better alternative."

One thing Fassman has learned about customers who use the Web call-back and instant chat buttons: Their orders are twice as large on average as those who call the toll-free number. "We don't know if that's a chicken-or-egg situation. We do know that when the chat or call-back buttons are clicked, it's a high priority," he says.

How have IBM.com customers taken to the new level of customer service? "There's definitely the 'wow' factor," says Randy Haight, a software sales adviser who has found that instant chat and Web call-back help him close sales more efficiently. "The common feedback I hear is how much customers like the cutting-edge technology and the fact that they can get instant feedback about products so they can make better decisions," he says.

Sean Hagerty is a firm believer that integrating phone, E-mail, and online agent-customer collaboration for his call-center staff could prove the best thing for customer service since AT&T launched toll-free phone service. Although integrating all these communication channels promises to improve customer service while cutting costs, the long and expensive road to full implementation could take 18 to 24 months, estimates Hagerty, a principal at investment-services firm Vanguard Group.

The value of this integration is crystal-clear to Hagerty: Vanguard Group can serve its 401(k) customers better and quicker when they change jobs or retire. This is being accomplished through the use of software from HipBone Inc., which lets an agent and a customer use the company's Web site together at the same time to handle the complex process of filling out forms for 401(k) program changes. Still to come: integration of Vanguard's voice and E-mail systems.

Vanguard Group's operations include call centers in Charlotte, N.C., Malvern, Pa., and Scottsdale, Ariz., each staffed with 150 agents. The centers handle a combined 15,000 to 25,000 calls daily via AT&T's toll-free service, says Hagerty, who adds that calls are answered within 20 seconds at least 90% of the time.

For one Vanguard agent, the integrated call center has made life a lot easier and has pleasantly surprised a lot of her customers. "Before, we were hamstrung in how much we could help callers as we were limited by technology to verbally explaining to them what to do with the forms on the Web site,'' recalls Sara Munoz, a communications associate at Vanguard's Scottsdale call center. "Now we can give them verbal instructions and use a special pointer that shows up in their Web-page view to direct them step by step through the process and even fill out parts of the forms ourselves to reduce errors."

The firm's 401(k) plan customers have reacted positively since collaborative capabilities became available earlier this year. "They're pleasantly shocked that we have this functionality, not to mention thrilled that the forms can be completed online, printed, signed, and mailed in quicker than before. And it obviously makes my job easier, too," Munoz says.

This approach is helping Vanguard offer a higher level of customer service. Hagerty says that by collaborating with customers online, agents can complete paperwork in nine days, compared with the 30 to 40 days it took for forms to be mailed to customers, filled out, and mailed back to Vanguard. Another benefit: In a trial, the collaborative approach cut the number of forms with errors from about 20% to zero.

For companies that want the benefits of Web-enabled, integrated call centers but can't afford the infrastructure, AT&T, Qwest Communications, and WorldCom may have the answer. Network-based call-center services may prove to be the antidote needed for companies struggling with the onerous equipment and integration costs required to assemble the modern call center their customers expect.

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Call center photo by Burke Uzzle
Photo of Hagerty by Bill Cramer

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