If there was Pulitzer prize for achievement in ambiguous terminology, contact center “analytics” would certainly be in the running. Seemingly every vendor has a solution – e.g., speech analytics, data analytics, text analytics, performance analytics, customer experience analytics – with no consistent naming convention to describe the target use.
If you are planning to purchase a cross-channel analytics solution for your contact center, I’d suggest the following starter list of questions as you entertain vendors:
- Which modes of customer contact does your solution take into account – e.g., store front, point of sale, kiosk, call center (inbound, outbound), self-service (IVR, web), proactive alerts, web chat, social media, mobility?
- Does the solution measure cost per contact by channel and overall?
- Do you integrate with CRM to assess findings and yield insights by customer segment?
- Do you have a means to capture and report on the customer experience at every step of their process within a given channel? As they cross channels? Can you identify exactly where and why problems occur and the actions customers take in response?
- Can you identify the percentage of each channel’s activity that is directly related to hand-offs from, or deficiencies in, other channels?
- Can you identify which agents, skills, or sites drive repeat contact? Can you tell which customer segments, products, services, or business processes drive repeat contacts?
- Will the solution identify places where technology, process, or people changes might drive revenue, reduce churn, and/or decrease operating costs? Does it pinpoint opportunities to drive customers to lower cost channels?
- Does your solution provide a graphical user interface that readily presents findings and enables drill-down for detailed analysis? Can dashboards be tailored to the individual user?
- Are you willing to invest in a “proof of concept” to demonstrate the benefits of your offering and the ease with which the requisite technologies and processes can be put in place to support it?
Do you need some help sorting through your options? Contact us. We’ll be glad to lend a hand.