Traditional contact center quality monitoring involves random capture of call recordings – either based on predetermined selection criteria or schedules.   We agree that it is impossible for human beings to inspect every single call; but there are two dynamics we have to consider – separating the capture method from the call selection method.  

Latest-generation call recording software allows for recording all calls first, and then a powerful rules engine is used to decide which calls to keep or inspect.   It may sound like a small nuance, but actually this type of call center recording software design approach opens the solution to become far more effective to inspect call center effectiveness.   Rather than make selections of calls for call center quality assurance based on when somebody is scheduled to be in their seat, or assuming that we are taking an X% sample of total call volume when we are not yet aware of how many calls the agent takes, or hoping that we get a sample of calls that are prime examples of effectiveness in handling high value transactions – we suggest a different approach – an approach we term precision quality monitoring.    It involves a call recoridng software designed for the capture of all calls, then determination of what to inspect based on a variety of outcomes. Outcome-based information is used to determine which calls need to be stored, which calls need to be secured in a more robust manner (i.e. for PCI and HIPAA compliance, etc.), which calls answer interesting questions about the performance of a new process, and which calls can simply be discarded.

The outcomes used to make these critical decisions are either attributes of the calls themselves, attributes of the agents fielding the calls, or simply true random samples based on any number of criteria.   When the call recording software is enhanced with desktop screen analytics, not only can the calls be tagged with extended information in a unique way, but they can also be analyzed based on the associated information and provide a roadmap for your management team to identify trends – both positive and negative - that affect performance.    This approach is revolutionary, because it breaks down barriers that have long been separating related functions.   In the old days (a couple of years ago), you would have an approach for running reports and analyzing data that flows through your call center, then you would go to another call center quality assurance system for inspecting agent performance and perhaps hunt for examples of the performance trends.   Unfortunately, using a random method based on limited agent based information meant that it was often difficult to find enough examples of the call types involved in the trend to make a legitimate operational adjustment based on the sample.  

Latest call recording software and integrated performance optimization technologies change that dynamic. The process of identifying and addressing business issues is completely unified. Now you can identify trends in interactions, both positive and negative, and then the recorded interactions become an element of the data you are reviewing.   Importantly, these latest-generation call center optimization technologies are incredibly easy to use and take the selection guesswork out of the equation. They truly automate the end-to-end quality review process, beginning with identifying the appropriate calls to inspect, serving those calls to the right person to perform the inspection in a simple “to do” list, and address the issues uncovered through a variety of action steps. 

To find out more about uncovering performance issues via intelligent recording and quality management, visit: http://www.vpi-corp.com/Call-Center-Quality-Assurance-Management-Software.asp

The saying in business that you can’t manage what you can’t measure is so true that it became cliché’.   When it comes to call center quality assurance at today’s organizations, latest generation technologies breathe new life into this over-used expression.   For more than a decade now, QA teams have been using agent centric approaches, listening to calls at random for the purpose of inspecting call handling skills (x or % of calls per Agent per month).    Agent-centric call monitoring will always have a place in call center quality assurance as an element of a broader quality program, but progressive contact centers should not be satisfied that this method is enough.

The amount of calls and transaction types that flow through the enterprise can be staggering; and let’s face it, not all contacts are of equal concern for inspection.   Sure, it is nice to know that an associate is handling an address change request with respect and professionalism, but the transaction itself is a low value interaction – so inspecting it simply adds cost to a transaction that tells you very little about the business.  

Latest technologies enable a practical and cost effective approach to increasing the business value of call center quality assurance - termed Precision Quality Monitoring.   Instead of relying on a solely agent based approach,  rules for inspection can be more concerned with call outcomes.   Precision Quality Monitoring recognizes that the best answers – those answers that lead to cost reduction and improved outcomes -- are a function of the most interesting questions.   Instead of asking, how is a particular associate doing with ten random calls per month, the questions can change within a Precision Quality Monitoring context to be customer or operations focused.    Instead of looking for random interactions, the questions driving inspection can be more focused: show me calls that resulted in a sale of product type X, that also included product Y, and had a value greater than $150.    In a service situation, the question may be framed this way: “Show me all calls where John Smith called me from Store 123 in the last 10 days,” or “Show me all calls from case #4567,” or “Show me all examples where calls related to issue XYZ has led to multiple calls from the same caller in the last 30 days.”   These types of questions are operations and outcome focused. They get to the heart of issues and help you uncover ways to improve the business – ways that transcend agent behavior, yet fully account for this key performance element.

To learn how to incorporate and leverage intelligent, business centric questions in your call center quality assurance process, visit: http://www.vpi-corp.com/Call-Center-Quality-Assurance-Management-Software.asp

Ready to upgrade your contact center? Looking to implement new TDM and VoIP Call recording, call center quality assurance, call center performance management, or call center coaching solutions or replace some of your existing applications?

If so, it's now time to zero-in on the most appropriate call center optimization technology and ask management for the money. This must-read resource guide is crucial for any contact center professional looking to take their organization to the next level.

Use the promo code LINKEDIN to download your complimentary resource guide at http://www.VPI-corp.com/ROI-Guide authored by prestigious industry analyst Dick Bucci from The PELORUS Group, to learn about the key components for developing a compelling and convincing business case for your successfully obtaining your contact center investment funds, including:

• The importance of building both business and ROI cases
• How to prepare your funding request
• The many financial benefits of call logging software, call center quality assurance, call center performance management, contact center analytics, call center coaching solutions
• How to prepare your ROI analysis, and much more!

Public safety emergency communications have never been on the threshold of greater change than they are today. Navigating in a complex world of tracking, digital call recording, quality assurance call monitoring, and training on interactions in today’s increasingly complex communication centers requires much more insight than ever before. This ground-breaking guide discusses the areas that public safety organizations need to focus upon in preparation for the many changes and challenges that lie ahead.

Use the promo code VPIBLOG to download your complimentary public safety communications recording and QA resource guide authored by analyst Dick Bucci from The PELORUS GROUP, to learn about:

• Successfully managing unified radio and telephone call recording in increasingly complex environments with any combination of digital, analog, and IP phones, conventional and trunked radio, and CAD systems used at multiple sites
• Achieving automated and expanded data collection for faster search and complete incident recreation
• The importance of being able to remotely access, retrieve and share interactions from your communications recording call logger in a multi-site environment with utmost security and ease
• Which calls and how many to monitor for quality in order to identify areas for training and call center coaching
• How to construct quality assurance call monitoring rating forms and perform evaluations
• How to effectively implement electronic training solutions to boost productivity and retention

Dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software is more important today than ever before. Recognized as an essential component in the quest for improved performance, efficiency and productivity, public safety organizations are now placing an increased emphasis on the capabilities and deployment of dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software. In the midst of today’s consolidation and changes, many public safety and security organizations are being asked to do more with less resources. Therefore, it is even more important than ever before to maximize the productivity and effectiveness of current employees and resources. There is tremendous value in assessing recorded interactions with dispatch quality assurance voice logging software. As public safety organizations roll out new programs, new communications recording and dispatching technologies, and Next Generation 9-1-1 initiatives, a quality assurance program using automated dispatch quality assurance tool integrated with your call recording software can be invaluable for monitoring the adoption and success of your initiatives.

Benefits of Dispatch Quality Assurance Software

Integrated dispatch quality assurance call recording software can be extremely valuable in improving the efficiency and accuracy of emergency communications. Quality assurance helps improve productivity and reduce staff turnover. With new Web-based dispatch quality assurance software tools that automatically assign the appropriate customized evaluation form, public safety and security organizations can objectively evaluate individual call taker quality or performance of multiple call takers during entire incidents, regardless of how many locations, units and jurisdictions involved. In addition to enabling thorough evaluation of call taker performance with regard to fast, efficient, accurate and high quality call handling, dispatch quality assurance software helps public safety and security organizations ensure that call taker and dispatcher processes are working properly and within compliance.

Advantages of Console Screen Analytics

Today’s advanced multimedia phone call logger and dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software solutions use screen analytics to easily capture important fields, values and data from desktop monitors and console screens. This can be achieved without requiring organizations to perform expensive back-end integrations to the applications running on employee desktops. By being able to tag data like “Incident Type” from the CAD system to recorded calls, organizations now have the ability to evaluate calls by incident type. For example, an organization may determine a need or desire to listen to all or a high percentage of calls recorded by their voice logger related to a certain incident type such as robberies, domestic violence, medical-related calls or homicide.

Additional Advantages of Automated Coaching

Public safety organizations are using the assessment scores from their dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software to improve their training programs and automatically assigning targeted, supplemental coaching to those call takers that need improvement in certain areas identified by quality assurance evaluations. With an integrated, automated coaching solution, public safety and security organizations can quickly and automatically deliver feedback and training content that addresses the needs of each call taker, dispatcher and supervisor. Advanced coaching solutions enable authorized users to access training content and reports on results of training via customized Web dashboards or desktop tickers.

To learn more about best practices for using and the latest advancements in dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software, visit http://www.VPI-corp.com/911-Quality-Assurance-Management-Software.asp

Can your current voice logging system handle NG9-1-1 communications? How effective is your dispatcher quality assurance call monitoring program?

Public safety emergency communications have never been on the threshold of greater change than they are today. PSAPs, both large and small, are now preparing for Next Generation 9-1-1 to keep up with the rapidly evolving world of mobile, multimedia and IP communications. This ground-breaking resource guide discusses what you need to look for in a new call logger and quality assurance system to meet the challenges arising from Next Generation 9-1-1.

Use the promo code VPIBLOG to download your complimentary resource guide, authored by analyst Dick Bucci from The PELORUS GROUP and sponsored by VPI, to learn:

• The goals and benefits of NG9-1-1 and how to ensure a smooth transition.

• The implications for public safety voice logging recorders - learn why the majority of voice call recording systems installed today cannot be cost-effectively scaled or modified to support NG9-1-1.

• What to look for in new call recorder software to effectively meet NG9-1-1 requirements for IP communications support, open architecture, flexibility and scalability.

• How a well-designed quality assurance program can help you monitor and improve the effectiveness of your NG9-1-1 program roll-out initiatives.

Get your complimentary copy of the resource guide "Next Generation 9-1-1 Communications Recording and Quality Assurance" today.

Call logging software comes in all shapes and sizes. Selecting the best call recording equipment for your organization’s specific needs can be tricky. Do you need to record for compliance and liability purposes? Or, are you more focused on your quality management goals? What kind of telephone voice recording does your organization currently utilize – traditional voice logging, digital call recording, VoIP call recording, or a combination? Is your organization growing or downsizing? Do you record multiple locations, and if so, is it easy to administer the communications recording system in order to access and analyze any and all recordings, by site, by group, and even down to individual calls? How many technologies do you currently have in place? Would the new call monitoring system have to integrate with any of them? There are indeed many questions to answer and issues to address in the quest for a new quality assurance call monitoring system. VPI has been listening to these questions from its customers for over 15 years, and has designed flexible solutions that can adapt to, and work within, virtually any environment – meeting the needs and expectations of organizations of all types and sizes.

For organizations seeking compliance and liability voice logging, such as public safety agencies, security companies, government bodies, and financial institutions, VPI developed VPI CAPTURE PRO. As the industry’s most secure and feature-rich audio and data phone recording software, VPI CAPTURE PRO enables organizations to seamlessly capture, assess, assemble, and share their recorded communications from a combination of telephone, radio, email and Web chat systems – traditional digital call recording and IP call recording software. In addition to handling compliance and risk management, VPI CAPTURE PRO enables federal, state, local, and private organizations to improve the quality of their mission-critical voice and data interactions and deliver first-rate customer service by acknowledging and utilizing call center quality assurance.

If you’re looking for a call logging software solution that will help you achieve your call center quality assurance goals, VPI CAPTURE PRO is by far your best bet. Whether or not you use a formalized quality evaluation process, VPI CAPTURE PRO allows you to engage in quality assurance call monitoring which will improve the customer service quality delivered by your local or locate and playback high value call recordings directly from a variety of standard reports, and leverage best practice remote employees, focusing on the most pressing business issues. You can monitor live calls across multiple locations, conveniently calls for training – call recordings are highly portable in standard formats and small file sizes.

With the VPI CAPTURE PRO voice call recording solution you can rest assured that whatever your needs may be, and whatever kind of technology and telephone voice recording you may have – both now and in the future – all of your immediate needs will be met, and you will be fully equipped to rise to every challenge that lies ahead. VPI’s open standards call recording equipment and technology welcomes change and meets the associated challenges with many options for fast and cost-effective reconfigurations in order to satisfy changes in legislation, increased capacity, new geographic distribution of your employee teams, or changes between centralized and distributed operation.
 

Voice logging systems were once very basic solutions built to record all or a sample of calls along with some rudimentary telephony data. Generally deployed for compliance and liability purposes, digital call recording systems were viewed as a backroom necessity that occasionally served a purpose whenever a customer dispute occurred. Over the past decade, the role of the call recorder has changed a great deal. The value of recorded interactions and their importance for effective quality assurance call monitoring has become a major focal point in the development of the highly advanced call logger systems available today.

Today’s flexible, elegant communications recording solutions are light years away from the clunky, hardware-based beasts of the past. Gone are the proprietary parts and expensive customizations – today’s advanced digital and VoIP recording software solutions are software based, leveraging open architecture for easy integrations and cost-effective customization. VPI’s robust digital and IP recording software solutions can be customized, scaled and adapted to meet the evolving demands of organizations of all kinds – from small- and medium-sized contact centers to global enterprises employing any combination of in-house and remote employees. VPI CAPTURE PRO is the most progressive, ground-breaking voice call recording and screen data call recording software available today. Highly reliable, easily implemented and remarkably effective in virtually any environment, VPI CAPTURE PRO can record multimedia interactions from a wide range of network configurations, TDM and VoIP telephony environments, and across any number of locations. Powered by VPI Fact Finder™, VPI's powerful desktop screen contact center analytics engine, the call logger tags important employee screen events and facts to call recordings for automated call classification and analysis centered on key business issues.

In recent years, it has become generally recognized that recordings of customer interactions contain a vast amount of intelligence about an organization’s processes, customer satisfaction, front-line employee performance, revenue opportunities, and chances for improvement of strategic position in the marketplace. Recorded interactions between agents and customers are a veritable gold mine of business intelligence, yielding insights into agent performance, product or service perception, and customer satisfaction. Intelligence garnered from customer interactions can be used to improve managerial decisions and investments made by strategic-level departments such as sales, marketing, human resources, research and development, finance, or operations.

VPI EMPOWER offers a rich, business-centric set of tools that make a significant impact on an organization’s bottom line – mitigating risk, enhancing call center quality assurance, streamlining call center reporting, improving call center coaching, and optimizing call center performance management. VPI EMPOWER combines and enhances the benefits of VPI CAPTURE PRO, VPI QUALITY PRO and VPI PERFORMANCE. Individually, each software solution is robust and powerful, but they are exponentially more valuable when integrated.

VPI, the premier global provider of contact center recording and analytics, quality assurance call monitoring and workforce optimization software solutions for enterprises, trading floors, government agencies, and emergency service providers, announced today that VPI EMPOWER has received a 2009 Product of the Year Award from Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC®) Customer Interaction Solutions magazine, the leading publication covering CRM, call centers and teleservices since 1982.

"I am pleased to honor VPI for its hard work and success. VPI has displayed true innovation and excellence in the development of its VPI EMPOWER suite of analytics-enhanced contact center recording, call center quality assurance and workforce optimization solutions, and is dedicated to improving the contact center experience as well as the ROI for companies that use them," said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC.

VPI EMPOWER is a powerful, modular suite of Web-based contact center recording software and contact center optimization solutions, comprised of applications for multimedia communications recording and contact center analytics, quality evaluation, electronic learning and call center coaching, and real-time call center performance management. VPI EMPOWER marks a radical departure from the conventional solutions currently available to contact centers. Built upon the foundation of VPI’s long-established, proven technologies, VPI EMPOWER leverages VPI Fact Finder™, a ground-breaking desktop screen analytics technology that automatically detects events and data directly from application screens being used by employees and tags them to appropriate points within recorded interactions. This enables automated classification and more meaningful, targeted quality assurance call monitoring focused on key business issues, such as customer churn, first contact resolution, missed up-sell opportunities, product issues, long hold and handle times, multiple transfers or escalations, and much more. VPI EMPOWER contact center workforce optimization software delivers a significant advantage in just weeks, with an easy-to-use product that requires minimal training.

"We are deeply gratified that VPI EMPOWER has been honored as Product of the Year for Exceptional Innovation by TMC’s Customer Interaction Solutions Magazine," said Patrick Botz, vice president of solutions marketing at VPI. "This prestigious award is a testament to VPI’s commitment to providing innovative, world-class digital and VoIP call recording, call center quality assurance, call center reporting and call center coaching solutions that enable organizations to rapidly and affordably maximize the potential and profitability of their customer contact center operations.
 

Call center quality assurance software is now a fundamental technology in virtually every competitive call center environment. As the economy begins to recover, 2010 is expected to be another tough year for enterprises, with contact center managers asked once again to reduce their operating expenses while improving the customer experience and satisfaction scores. They will be expected to achieve this goal with limited resources and without incurring any additional costs. This is why the use of an automated call monitoring system has become so crucial for organizations of all types and sizes. To deliver on these key enterprise goals, contact center managers need to improve agent productivity without making major technology investments. The call center quality assurance software solutions that most contact centers already have can play an important role in helping managers meet their corporate objectives.

Screen Analytics – An Inexpensive and Invaluable Adjunct to the Quality Assurance Call Monitoring Process

Call center quality assurance software solutions improve call quality and productivity by identifying the impediments that prevent agents from delivering an outstanding customer experience. The issues may be training-related, operational, procedural or systems-oriented, but most, if not all, can be resolved once they are identified. However, since traditional quality assurance is based on a random sampling of a small percentage of calls received by the department, important trends and improvement opportunities are often missed. In the past, contact center managers had little to no visibility into the performance of their desktop servicing solutions. They could see how each agent used their systems to address each call, but could not identify trends for the entire department, which is now possible with screen analytics.

Screen analytics software is a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-implement solution that can dramatically improve the effectiveness of the call center quality assurance process by helping identify the calls or back-office transactions that will most benefit from management attention. Screen analytics extends the benefits of the mission-critical quality assurance call monitoring process while providing timely insights that can be of use to the entire organization. Enterprise and contact center managers who want to rapidly and cost effectively identify insights into customer needs and agent performance issues should seriously consider screen analytics.

Benefits of Desktop Screen Analytics

With regard to call center quality assurance and workforce optimization, desktop screen contact center analytics solutions offer many significant benefits. The solution empowers managers to intervene in a timely manner – altering outcomes and changing contact centers from reactive organizations to proactive, engaged advocates. Screen analytics can help improve the customer experience, increase First Call Resolution, and reduce transfers, holds and call backs. In addition to boosting the effectiveness of call center quality assurance processes, screen analytics can improve agent productivity, decrease the cost of service, identify call center coaching needs, and improve agent satisfaction. Furthermore, desktop screen contact center analytics can play a major role in increasing revenue and profitability, reducing risk by rapidly identifying inappropriate agent behaviors and performance, highlighting broken business processes, identifying “at-risk” customers while there is still an opportunity to retain them, and improving the customer experience.

Authored by leading industry analyst Donna Fluss of DMG Consulting, “Accelerating Call Center Quality Assurance and Performance Optimization with Screen Analytics” is a must-read whitepaper that offers valuable insights and advice that can help your organization survive and thrive in the year ahead. To learn more about the value of workforce optimization software enhanced by screen analytics, download your complimentary copy of the white paper at http://www.VPI-corp.com/Screen-Analytics.  

To learn more about VPI’s screen analytics-enhanced call monitoring system, visit: http://www.VPI-corp.com/Call-Center-Recording.asp