We help clients define and execute customer interaction strategy. We partner with them to share our expertise, to develop the best solutions and processes possible, and to educate them about potential pitfalls. We wrap each of our projects with contact center best practices – practices that only come from years of being in the trenches.
While no two clients are the same, our project frameworks enable us to define the project scope, identify and analyze common issues, and accelerate realization of project goals. Our project types include:
PLANNING
- Contact Center Assessment and Plan
- Assess current environment, define the vision and actions to meet goals, and develop the roadmap to make it happen.
- Technology Assessment and Plan
- Assess existing contact center technology and develop a vision and roadmap to meet business needs.
- Business Requirements and High Level Design
- Build business requirements and high level designs to use in technology selection, outsourcing evaluation, process or call flow changes.
- Multi-channel Customer Contact Strategy
- Develop a vision, define requirements, and establish an operational framework and governance structure to support traditional (voice, fax, voicemail, email, web, IVR) and emerging (chat, outbound alerts, social media, mobile applications) customer contact channels.
- Multisite Strategy
- Design a cohesive, multisite environment that optimizes resources and performance during normal operations and responds effectively to disruptive events.
- Metrics Strategy
- Develop the appropriate metrics strategy, including KPIs, accountability models, and the technology plan to provide the right information to the right people.
- Outsourcing Strategy
- Determine when and how to outsource or use in-house resources, and when and how to use premise-based or hosted/cloud-based technology solutions.
- Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Planning
- Develop executable operations and technology plans.
- Business Cases and Financial Analyses
- Identify the benefits and develop the qualitative and quantitative analyses to assess cost structures, evaluate profitability or revenue contributions, and support business plans.
EXECUTING
- Contact Center Design
- Design new centers and multisite centers, and redesign existing centers.
- Implementation
- Provide project management and/or subject matter expertise to implement new centers, changes to existing ones, and transitions to new service models (e.g., in-house to outsourced).
- Technology Selection
- Develop requirements (functional, technical, implementation, support, etc.) and selection criteria, conduct vendor evaluations, and facilitate decision process.
- Technology Design
- Design contact routing strategies, develop migration plans, or address other specific technology needs to optimize business operations and technology use.
- Technology Support
- Establish governance, testing, monitoring, and trouble reporting and resolution protocols to achieve or maintain stability and reliability.
- Process Design
- Establish processes that meet business objectives while optimizing use of people and technology.
- Organizational Design
- Design or redesign the contact center or IT/telecom to optimize existing operations or address business and technology changes.
- Speech Analytics Optimization
- Provide managed services program to help clients achieve business value from speech analytics technology in partnership with MainTrax.
- Workforce Management
- Provide a full service, affordable WFM program that includes a cloud-based tool (injixo) and expert planning, forecasting, and scheduling by Human Numbers.
- Change Management
- Leverage the Prosci change management methodology and our certified staff to provide planning and implementation support to address the people side of change
EDUCATING
- Speaking Engagements
- Provide speakers for conferences, seminars, meetings and events.
- Customized Training
- Develop and deliver training in contact center technology, strategic planning, the contact center market, and operational needs such as coaching and quality monitoring.
- Writing Services
- Write independent articles, white papers, research papers, and case studies.
ANALYZING
- Market Opportunity Analysis
- Assess product fit, identify market needs, and provide customer perspective.
- Surveys and Benchmarking
- Design custom surveys and analyze results for contact center issues and opportunities.
- Expert Witness Services
- Provide a highly qualified, experienced expert witness for contact center technology patent lawsuits.
Technology Expertise
We’ve seen, assessed, implemented, and helped clients optimize the use of dozens of different solutions. Most importantly, we know how they should work. Our expertise spans:
- ACDs and PBXs, including VoIP
- Multimedia and multisite routing, skills, and reporting
- Unified Communications (IM/Presence, etc.)
- IVR, including speech recognition and text-to-speech
- Web self-service, web chat, and other assisted service
- Social media
- Mobile apps
- CTI
- CRM
- Knowledge Management, Wikis
- Workforce management
- Reporting, Analytics (Speech, Text, Data, Desktop, etc.)
- Performance optimization, including scorecards/dashboards
- Quality monitoring, logging/call recording
- Voice of the Customer
Many of our projects involve planning, designing, or implementing new technologies and processes. Check out our project profiles to learn about some of our recent engagements.
Contact us to discuss future technology initiatives or develop plans to get more out of existing investments.
Operations Expertise
We’ve built a team of professionals with deep operational expertise to help our clients get the most out of their technology, processes, and staff. Some of the competencies that we’ve leveraged in our project work include:
- Multimedia contact routing, skills, and processes
- Client-specific call handling and soft skills training
- Supervisory coaching and mentoring skills
- Workforce and peak season resource planning
- Quality management program development and implementation
- Customer Satisfaction/Voice of the Customer program design
- Organizational design (front-line and support services)
- Change management
Contact us to explore ways to improve your operational effectiveness and get the most out of your organizational investments.
E3 Spectrums® Assessments
Our clients are always asking for “benchmarks” against which they can assess their current performance and identify targets for improvement. Our Efficiency and Effectiveness Evolution Spectrums®1 (E3 Spectrums®) provide the means to assess our clients’ contact centers against best practices across all aspects of strategy, operations, and technology. This innovative tool also helps educate leadership on the state of the center and guides change initiatives and investments.
The E3 Spectrums® assessment tool provides a performance rating in each of 16 categories:
Strategy
Organization
Operations & Processes
Contact Center Support
Workforce Management
Quality Assurance
Training
Metrics
Facilities
Architecture
Routing
Reporting & Analytics
Other Performance Tools
Self-Service
Agent Desktop
Technology Support
The rating reflects one of four levels of progress toward best practices based on a set of specific criteria.
As part of an E3 Spectrums® Assessment, we work with clients to define the resource requirements and investments that will move their centers forward. We focus on initiatives that will lead to positive outcomes for their companies, their centers, and their customers.
To learn more about the E3 Spectrums® and how they can help you in your center’s pursuit of best practices, contact Strategic Contact.
1 Efficiency and Effectiveness Evolution Spectrums® is a registered trademark of Strategic Contact, Inc.
Expert Witness
As one of the industry’s leading authorities on contact center operations and technology, Strategic Contact President Lori Bocklund brings the right combination of skills, expertise, and practical, real-world experience to each contact center expert witness engagement. In patent infringement cases, she lends her expert opinions on patent validity and infringement. In liability cases, she evaluates contact center operations, processes, roles and responsibilities, and use of technology for both in-house and outsourced centers. Findings may be delivered in expert reports, rebuttal reports, depositions, and sworn testimony.