The following great questions were asked during the recent APCO training Webcast on Public Safety Quality Assurance Best Practices and Tools. Please find below our answers for your review:

Quality Assurance Software Questions and Answers

Does the VPI QA system come with quality evaluation forms? If so, how would we customize them or add new ones?

Yes, VPI’s QA system is delivered with sample evaluation forms that have been developed based on best practices of our customers. These forms can be used as templates – you can modify, delete and add any number of questions, skills and sections.  One or more questions can be associated with each skill – answers to those questions during the quality evaluation session are automatically aggregated for a total score for each skill.  You can also create any number of new forms from a scratch, simply following intuitive graphical user interface.

Will the VPI QA software work in a situation where telecommunicators both call take and dispatch multiple, overlapping calls?

Yes, absolutely.  The system does not just associate different forms to different telecommunicators.  This form association is done based on the type of call taken and the type of work done.  Naturally, you will have different criteria for dispatching vs. call taking – these requirements can be either combined in the same evaluation form yet still separated into sections (in a tabbed interface), or you can have different forms for each type of work, depending on specifics of your call flow. Concurrent, overlapping calls are recorded as separate audio/data files which can be then evaluated separately.  With this said, you may also group multiple recordings (such as when evaluating the entire incident) into an “incident” collection that you save under a custom name and then this set of recordings can be evaluated with a single form that contains all needed sections or elements.  In summary, VPI’s QA system is very flexible and adaptable to virtually any center and situation.

We are a small countywide dispatch center with only 6 fulltime personnel. Does the QA program scale well for small dispatch centers as well as for larger ones?

Yes.  Agencies of all sizes should have a QA program in place.  The per-seat pricing of the software allows for easy incremental scaling. Beyond that, since you create your own process, evaluation criteria and forms using VPI software interface, it is completely scalable and adaptable to your evolving needs.

How would multiple evaluators access this system on-site or off-site?

VPI’s QA system is browser based, which means that it does not require installation of any software at user workstations.  It can be accessed by any number of authorized users via your LAN or WAN connection to your local Intranet or “private cloud”.   Evaluators could even review and evaluate calls remotely from off-site locations, using secure remote connection such as VPN.

Since during the training phase you evaluate a trainees’ skills, knowledge and abilities, could this software serve as a type of DOR for the OJT Phase?

Yes.  You can build in any evaluation form you wish.  This would provide excellent documentation by allowing you to save the audio files to the evaluation for ease in future retrieval.

What audio recorder platforms can you work with?

VPI’s QA system can coexist with any full-time recording system, including the VPI Capture NG9-1-1 ready recording system. For public safety agencies that currently have an existing full-time recording system, the VPI Quality software bundle comes embedded with its own built-in quality recording module to record console audio for quality assurance purposes.  All console audio is recorded and calls are then automatically selected using a business rule or manually selected for QA evaluation. If calls are not selected for quality evaluation within a period of time that you define, they are deleted to free up space to record future calls for quality evaluation. The quality assurance application and the quality recording element share the same the hardware platform.

What CADs can the VPI QA software integrate with?

VPI integrates with major CAD brands, including Tiburon, Intergraph and Tritech and provides a variety of integration options for any other CAD system as well. The CAD data is used for automated classification and visualization of recorded call taker and dispatcher calls and screens for fast evidence assembly and value-driven analysis – by incident types, numbers, severity, and/or other parameters. The integration is a passive, one-directional intgegration where we pull data from CAD systems and use it, but do not feed any data back to CAD.

Does the QA form software interface with Intergraph (or other) CAD systems?  If so, in what way?

Yes, VPI’s QA evaluation system successfully integrates with Intergraph CAD.  CAD data can optionally be captured and used to drive the selection of the most important calls for evaluation.  Intergraph CAD (or any other CAD including TriTech, Tiburon, etc.) system provides incident data, such as incident type, ID, severity and the like.  When this data is attached to relevant call recordings, it serves for classification of calls by incident types (or severity) which then helps with prioritization of recordings for review according to their significance or urgency.  For example, your local requirement may be to evaluate ALL domestic violence calls, but only samples of other types of calls.  The system can pull all domestic violence (or any other incident type per your setting) calls for evaluation and automatically attach the most relevant evaluation form to those calls, all of which is then served in the “to-do” list of assigned evaluator(s).

If you would like to/need to, can you still "hunt and peck" for calls?

Absolutely.  You can set up the call selection for QA in any way you want. It can be a combination of calls that are selected automatically by a system rule that you define, calls that you select manually as needed, and even calls that may be flagged by dispatchers/call takers for review.  Hunting and pecking for calls o be evaluated is really easy with VPI’s recording systems – either search by any number and combination of criteria (date/time, employee ID, call type, call length, radio ID, etc.) or you can simply respond to system reports and notifications of abnormal calls.

Is this a paperless system?

Yes, it can be completely paperless.  All interfaces, forms and reports are electronic.  Printing of any reports or details of QA evaluations is available but not required.

If our telephone system is on a separate server than our CAD system, can it all still be integrated?

Yes, we can pull data from multiple sources and attach it to appropriate recordings, enhancing the quality evaluation process as well as reporting on incidents in general.

What is the licensing model for the QA system - site license or by seat?

Pricing for licensing is by seat/position.

Coaching / E-Learning Questions and Answers

What is your definition of coaching? Is it formal training, simple discussion, notes on QA form or something different?

In general, coaching is a personalized learning process (or program) that provides timely support to employees. In some cases, coaching may be a short verbal conversation with personnel while reviewing the quality evaluation form.  However, for documentation purposes, you want the majority of your coaching to have some written component that should effect a change in performance and behavior, and a quiz to ensure there is retention and that learning did take place.

Does the VPI QA software facilitate E-learning? Does it allow for the development of messages and quizzes with questions on e-learning and messages? Does it report on when the dispatcher has viewed and acted upon all of it?

Yes, the VPI Coaching software allows you to create business rules that will automatically deploy coaching assignments based upon scores to certain questions, skills or overall scores on the evaluation.  You can also create quizzes and include them with training to confirm comprehension of conveyed information.

Any learning course can be associated with a quiz that is automatically started at the conclusion of the training content.  Quiz results are included in the training report of each employee.  Messages to call takers/dispatchers can be triggered based on a variety of events, such as specific QA scores, passing/failing scores in quizzes, and the like.  You can set up the messages to require acknowledgement.  Report / quiz / message assignments as well as their completion and acknowledgments (as appropriate for each) are listed in coaching reports that show dates and times associated with each action.

Can you tell if they actually read the document? Does it show how much time they had the document open?

Yes, this is a part of standard tracking of e-learning assignments.  Coaching / E-Learning reports show dates and times of all content and messages sent to each dispatcher/call taker as well dates and times of when the content was accessed and completed.  When SCORM compliant content is used, the system can also report on very granular details of the learning process, such as the amount of time that each employee takes with each quiz question, section of the coaching content, and the like.  This will provide valuable hints regarding most common struggles that need additional attention.

Will the coaching sample be the same across the board or will it change depending on the situation?

Coaching assignments should fit the situation.  Some errors are generic, such as talking too rapidly, and that type of learning content could be prepared and used for all call takers.  You may design a variety of other learning modules and associate them to evaluation questions or skills, so that they are automatically selected when ratings in various areas do not reach desired minimums.  Each employee would then receive a different collection of learning modules, according to their specific knowledge or skill gaps.  In addition to this, other coaching materials may need to be created when warranted, in the form of a Personal Improvement Plan (PIP) to address specific, individual performance deficiencies that cannot be addressed with generic content.

Do we create the coaching or do you all create the coaching session?  Are the coaching and learning assignments pre-made or is it something that needs to be developed by the PSAP?

Training managers or supervisors select content from a variety of resources (APCO, your own recorded calls that show best practices, specific cases posted on-line, etc.) and add custom-designed content that reflects your specific policies and requirements.  The VPI software then takes care of automated (and also manual, when desired) assignments of coaching content to individuals in your PSAP center, as well as tracking of coaching status and resulting improvements.

Can we use our own recordings for coaching purposes?

Yes, absolutely. Any standards-based files can be used, to include recordings from your logger.  When recordings are captured by VPI systems, you receive an interface for redaction of sensitive sections of call and screen recordings.  You can also add notations (such as to clarify why various sections of the call were or were not handled properly) and pop-up messages to maximize the learning experience.  These customized, modified recordings are saved as copies in order to protect the integrity of original recordings.

The following excellent questions were asked during the recent APCO training Webcast on Public Safety Quality Assurance Best Practices and Tools. Lori VanGilder, Manager of Quality Assurance Services at Replay Systems, APCO Institute Adjunct Instructor and prior Communications Supervisor in Florida, provided the following answers below for your review.

Our QA program is viewed by the dispatchers negatively. We offer several training steps to assist the dispatcher in improving. What advice do you have to make the QA process a more positive experience?

First of all, it is great that you do have a program in place.  If there are negative perceptions of the program, start by asking if you utilize the evaluations on the employees annual review?  If so, this provides documentation of all the times they did great, and not just a supervisory file of the occasional negative situations that occur.  I would also ask if everyone on the staff has been trained on the program to understand its process and objectives.  Lastly, perhaps you want to try ensuring that you are including motivational feedback and not just the documented deficiencies.  Are you sending out positive feedback on great performance?  And is it timely? Also, are you sending out informational responses with your QA regarding stress management?  Try to make the program "feel" more empathetic to the Telecommunicators.

Our agency has had QA established for quite some time; however, the scores were always very high and rarely pointed out errors that needed to be addressed. Now, there is a new supervisor completing the QA (previous dispatcher/trainer) and she is fair grading all the same across the board. Many dispatchers/call takers are offended and upset with the supervisor because errors are now being brought to their attention. She also uses positive feedback and constructive criticism when necessary. Is this negativity a typical phase that centers go through and what can we do to help the morale.

Unfortunately, what you have described is very common occurrence.  If the program has been in place and not fairly administered, the new person completing the evaluations faces some challenges.  I would recommend starting out with a training session for the entire staff regarding the policy that governs your quality assurance program.  In that training make sure everyone is aware of the grading standards and what is viewed as compliant/non-compliant/ and exemplary for scoring.  There are going to be some hurt feelings, however stepping forward and addressing the issue should also garner her some respect from the team.

Once the criteria is well understood, we would recommend that you introduce some elements of call taker / dispatcher participation into your QA process.  For example, you can have them flag some of their calls for evaluation – such as those where they did exceptionally well.  Be quick to recognize them for the work well done as soon as such calls are reviewed. You can also allow the call takers/dispatchers evaluate some of their own calls, following the same process as the supervisor.  People typically rate themselves more strictly then when third party does it – listening to their calls after the fact provides a different experience than when they are involved in the call for the first time. These evaluations would be subject to supervisory review and finalization.  We also recommend that call takers/dispatchers receive a copy of their evaluation with embedded call/radio recording for review and specific, constructive comments that can be entered into the evaluation if they believe that their rating was unjust. The evaluator may still revise the ratings (if the employee feedback is valid) and finalize the evaluation thereafter.

What statistical data suggests that "many agents are under-motivated, and see QA as only punitive"?  We have had QA in place for years - and that is not the case here.

You are indeed in a very fortunate situation.  This data is published by a variety of organizations to include:

• National Academies of Emergency Dispatch
• 911Trainer.com
• 9-1-1 Magazine whose team conducted an extensive research to assess many aspects of today’s QI/QA at 9-1-1 centers and published results in their magazine.  They queried dispatchers, supervisors, QI/QA personnel, managers and EMD system providers – in all states around the nation.
• Individual sharing posts from dispatchers can be found on social media sites (LinkedIn and Facebook) and in blogs
• Apart from this information, multiple attendees of our Webinar meeting posted comments about their centers experiencing this same situation – their dispatchers/call takers view the QA process very negatively

Do you suggest one person do all QA work or divide it up by Shift/Supervisor? And if it is divided up, would it be a good idea to have supervisors only evaluate those not on their respective shift?

The answer would depend upon your agency staffing.  In some cases there are too many calls to be reviewed by one person for this to be practical, and in others one single point of contact is an excellent idea.  The most important thing is to ensure that any and all evaluators are grading the same way- that is considered calibration of the gradings.  Also, it is important that those who conduct the evaluations understand the need for confidentiality, otherwise a Telecommunicator could become embarrassed and end up with a negative perception of the program as a whole.

In some states, medical QA is protected from legal discovery (i.e., it is not available for use by attorneys in lawsuits. Is there any similar protection for dispatch QI?  If not, another approach is to not maintain QI info as a permanent record - meaning use it for improvement then delete.

Unfortunately, we are not able to advise an answer for the legal implications as each state has their own statutes.  Please turn to your own agency’s legal division.

Do you recommend Q&A if you are not a 911 center or the main emergency answering point. You get the occasional emergency call that you transfer to the 911 center but for the most part you only answer non-emergency or after the call type calls. If you do, what type do you recommend?

Yes. Quality Assurance can be conducted in any type of call center.  Any personnel who are coming in contact with the public on telephones can/should be evaluated to ensure that the contact is positive for everyone. Your evaluation forms would follow the requirements and criteria that are relevant to your organization and its objectives.

I am a working Supervisor, how much time is dedicated to the QA program?

To conduct a complete evaluation, document it and apply some coaching/learning  (if needed) can take approximately 20 min per call.  If the call is exceptional, obviously that time is greatly reduced.  Assignments of coaching/e-learning can be automated, so that it is automatically triggered based on results of you QA evaluation. 

What is the business model for using ReplayQA? Per call evaluated, monthly fees, etc.?

ReplayQA pricing is based upon call volume and system needs.

Is there anything in CALEA, APCO or NENA certifications that require QA programs in Communications centers?

Yes.  All of them have standards that require Quality Assurance.  APCO Mini Telecommunicator Training  Standards, APCO P33 certification standard, Calea does have a QA standard, NENA call processing standard 56-6 and NFPA standards 1710 and 1221..

How important is calibration of QA? We have 4 people review the same call for monthly random QA. Then calibrate any scores with a 10 point variance?  It's a lengthy process.

Calibration is excellent and it is great that you are including it in your quality assurance program.  It sounds like there is not a lot of effort invested into the objectivity of your evaluation process.  You should be able to reduce the number of calibrations needed by clearly outlining what specific conduct or performance equates to each grade.  These internal standards can be conveyed in a meeting format and reinforced via electronic training where the standards are reiterated.

What is the legal liability associated with disposing of QA recordings and coaching documentation? Is ALL QA discoverable?

Unfortunately, we are not able to advise an answer for the legal implications as each state has their own statutes.  Please refer to your own agency legal division.

Does RePlay QA hire independant contractors to work from home doing reviews

Yes, Replay hires experienced Telecommunications professionals to perform as Assessors and complete the evaluations from their homes.

Do you see any negative issues with having call takers and dispatchers doing the QA reviews and not just supervisors?

If the grading criteria are firmly established in your policy, then the grading should be consistent, regardless of who performs the evaluation.  However, the confidentiality issues may prevent evaluations done by call takers or dispatchers from being a good idea, unless you are referring to agent self-evaluations.  We do recommend self-evaluations. In general, the personnel conducting the evaluations need to be capable of keeping the information in the evaluations confidential so as to not embarrass or discredit a peer, which would create a negative view of the entire program.

My agency currently has a QA program and we have an initial evaluator and 2 additional raters per call. Our program takes an average of all three scores for the call-takers final score. Is this overkill to have 3 evaluators. Do most QA programs only utilize one rater?

Your agency clearly has seen the need for calibration of the ratings on the evaluations, which is great.  However, we do see having three people evaluate the same call as a redundant, likely unjustified usage of time and resources.  Perhaps you want to look at the grading criteria for your evaluations and work to remove all subjectivity so there can be more belief that the correct ratings are issued by a single evaluator.  Organizations typically perform one calibration session once or twice a month, which has been shown to suffice as long as grading criteria are clearly defined and the evaluation forms use the proper selection of grading choices to address each evaluation question.  For example, 10-point sliding scales invite more variance between evaluators than 3 or 5-point scales. Yes/no answers may be most appropriate with questions that relate to accuracy, and the like. 

There are many people who believe that expectations such as the 1221 standard on call processing times (< 60 seconds for 95% calls) is unrealistic when performing EMD on EMS calls. Would you comment on that please?

There are many recent discussions on this topic on APCO PS Connect.  Yes, the standards are very high.  However, you have to keep in mind that many agencies who have a separate call taker and dispatcher, as well as smaller agencies where your partner can dispatch while you continue talking to the caller, are meeting the standard by sending the call to the dispatcher as soon as basic information is obtained and then updating the screen and the responders after the initial dispatch.  That helps a great deal with the call processing time.

Currently, we cannot buy software so how do we best start a QA program?

You can conduct a QA program completely without the software.  Create a paper form or use MS Excel and define your grading criteria there.  Then randomly select calls from your recorder to evaluate and tabulate the results. If budget is an issue, you may also want to consider leasing the VPI quality assurance software for an affordable monthly payment.

VPI has fully integrated its award-winning VPI PERFORMANCE real-time call center reporting and performance management software with Cisco’s UCC Express and UCC Enterprise platforms. VPI PERFORMANCE contact center reporting software complements and enhances Cisco UCC Express and UCC Enterprise platforms greatly by consolidating data and presenting actionable, real-time information in the form of Web dashboards, interactive reports, scorecards and desktop tickers to empower managers, supervisors and agents to make better, quicker decisions.

We invite you to watch the new "VPI PERFORMANCE Cisco Reporting Software for UCC Contact Centers' video - you'll learn how to get even more value from your Cisco UCC investment!

Join VPI and Straumann for an exciting webinar showcasing the powerful reporting solutions for Cisco UCC Contact Centers. You'll learn how Cisco and VPI helped Straumann develop and award-winning real-time contact center performance reporting solution.

Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Time: 1:00 PM ET, 10:00 AM PT
Register here.

Now you can get even more value from your Cisco UCC Express (UCCX) or UCC Enterprise (UCCE) investment. VPI, a Cisco Solution Developer, VIP and SIP Partner, has integrated its award-winning VPI Performance contact center reporting and performance management software application with Cisco. This functionality complements and enhances the UCCX and UCCE platforms greatly by consolidating data and presenting actionable, real-time information in the form of Web dashboards, interactive reports, scorecards and desktop tickers to empower contact center managers, supervisors and agents to make better, quicker decisions.

Learn how Cisco and VPI customer Straumann, a global leader in dental implant solutions and restorative dentistry, enhanced the capabilities of its Cisco Unified Contact Center system and operations with VPI’s award-winning real-time Cisco reporting software solution.

Register to attend the complimentary Webinar, hosted by subject matter experts from Straumann and VPI, to learn how you can:

• Create and report on metrics based on Cisco UCCX, UCCE and other contact center data (CRM, ERP, QA, WFM) to meet business objectives.
• Report across multiple teams and queues, locations and Cisco UCCX/UCCE systems to get a holistic view of contact center operations.
• Perform true historical reporting with unlimited data collection – get insights into trending over time and a historically accurate representation of your agents’ group assignments.
• Create flexible grouping structures to report on groups and teams in any manner that makes most sense to your business.
• Drill through layers of data for root cause analysis and trigger targeted alerts, notifications and Coaching assignments based on performance thresholds to promptly correct performance gaps.

Scheduling Conflict? Register for the Webinar and we'll send you the recorded version.

Presenters:

Carlo Wise - IT Specialist, Straumann

Carlo Wise serves as a senior IT Specialist at Straumann, a global leader in dental implant solutions and restorative dentistry, leveraging his strong background in all facets of telephony and network systems integration. He is an experienced IT and Contact Center professional with over 16 years of experience in supporting and implementing Contact Center technologies in small to large Contact Center environments. Mr. Wise holds a variety of industry certifications, including Cisco, CompTIA and Redhat.

Delee Shields - Channel Sales Director, VPI
 
Delee has been instrumental in working closely with Cisco in developing VPI's Cisco Developer Network (CDN) Solution Developer, Value Incentive (VIP) and Solutions Incentive (SIP) partnership programs. She is responsible for working hand-in-hand with Cisco customers and channel partners through the entire sales process. She has extensive knowledge of Cisco Unified Communications product platforms and is highly experienced in Cisco reporting software, Cisco call recording software, workforce optimization, VoIP, LAN, WAN, MAN and wireless solution design. Prior to joining VPI as a sales engineer in 2007, she worked in sales and sales engineering capacities promoting Cisco solutions as well as earning her Cisco CCNA and CCNP certifications.

Just like a home that sometimes needs to be refreshed, traditional quality assurance has reached a fork in the road of its 30-year life. Now's the perfect time to re-evaluate the way we monitor and measure our call center agents and “cleaning house” in the Quality Assurance (QA) department to make room for analytics-oriented QA tools and best practices. By implementing this makeover in your contact center, you can radically reduce manual steps required by most QA applications by more than 60 percent. And, who among us can’t use 60% less manual work?

Get started with these key items of focus in the new article 'Extreme Makeover: Contact Center QA Edition' authored by Patrick Botz, VP of Workforce Optimization at VPI, featured this month’s issue of Contact Center Association’s Inbound Magazine:

• Random Selection = Random Results The focus is no longer just on recording calls or randomly checking on how well agents adhere to scripts and policies, but rather upon prioritizing customer interactions according to their business value – so that every minute of the in-depth quality evaluation is optimized by its potential to deliver business insights.
• Embrace the New Generation of QA The new generation of QA goes far beyond internal agent compliance – representing a rebirth and evolution of the concept of QA designed to meet the needs of today‘s contact centers. The new, intelligent QA systems rapidly identify and deliver insights into critical business issues and opportunities to improve the customer experience and revenue.
• Using Analytics to Focus QA on Desired Business Outcomes Tagging data directly from desktop screen analytics enables you to focus your QA resources on calls with outcomes such as: Was the call put on hold? Was it transferred? What level of employee was it handled by? Was it a VIP customer? Was there a sale or no sale? What was the value of the sale?
• Re-evaluate your current QA Evaluation Forms As your business evolves every year, so should your QA forms. Ask questions on your call center quality assurance forms that are interesting to your business. Any question that makes the form should be owned and some should be held accountable for that question. For example, if “Upselling” falls below a certain threshold, who is accountable for making sure that agents are being properly coached and trained on upselling? And consider using different QA forms for different call types to get more valuable information from your QA program.
• Rapidly Close Skill Gaps With an automated QA solution, instead of flying blind, every agent, supervisor and executive gets their own personalized desktop ticker, dashboard and scorecard displaying all the metrics or KPIs on which they’re measured in real-time. This level of transparency often leads to improved agent satisfaction and supervisor efficiency.

Spring cleaning may not have been enough this year. Is it time for an Extreme Makeover: QA Edition in your contact center? Check out the full article here. What are you doing to keep your contact center quality assurance program fresh?

Ahead of this year's holiday season, consumers charged more to their credit cards for second straight month. Robust holiday spending is driving the speculation that U.S. consumers are shifting their use of credit and debit toward credit. Early spending patterns do suggest that total credit card spending is increasing, as it has all year. Worldwide, consumers carry more than 1 billion Visa cards alone. More than 450 million of those cards are in the United States. The number of U.S. identity fraud victims rose 12 percent to 11.1 million adults last year. Credit and debit card fraud is the No. 1 fear of Americans in the midst of the global financial crisis. Concern about fraud supersedes that of terrorism, computer and health viruses and personal safety – one in ten Americans have already been victims of credit card fraud. Software.net found that as many as 40% of its transactions were fraudulent. Expedia.com lost $6 million due to fraudulent credit card purchases.

During the holidays and throughout the year, contact centers that engage in catalog sales, up-selling and/or cross-selling, service providers, and collection companies that take payments in the form of credit or debit cards can become unsuspecting targets of cyber criminals. The card information is typically entered by agents into a CRM or other sales automation software and may be recorded by voice and screen recorders. And there it resides - thousands and even millions of card records inviting remote criminals or even greedy employees to extract consumer card data for personal gain or sell into a sophisticated secondary market.

The payment card industry (PCI) established a Council to define technical standards aimed at minimizing the risk of cyber crime to the misuse of credit cards. The Council subsequently issued a Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) which details security requirements for members, merchants and service providers that store, process or transmit cardholder data. Contact centers and other organizations that accept credit card payments are generally prohibited from archiving sensitive information such as account numbers and security codes after payment authorization has been received. Compliance to PCI-DSS is now mandatory for all non-credit card 'issuing' organizations dealing with credit, debit and ATM cards, as defined by the PCI Security Standards Council - size of an organization and its annual sales are no longer a factor for exceptions. While being compliant to PCI DSS - an already daunting task - is the first part, it it also required that you prove your organization's compliance to PCI-DSS. This PCI Audit is performed either with a set of questionnaires or by a Qualified Security Assessor, external to the organization.

On October 28, 2010, the Payment Card Industry Standards Council made a major update to the PCI Data Security Standard to clarify it. PCI DSS version 2.0 went effective on January 1, 2011. In PCI DSS version 2.0, the PCI DSS standards were clarified to require that no sensitive credit card information be stored within recorded calls, even if those calls are encrypted. The standards committee made the change because of the availability of sophisticated malware that could penetrate encryption algorithms. Organizations that do not take action by December 31, 2011 to ensure compliance with these new PCI call recording requirements could face costly fines. 

Achieving PCI DSS Compliance

To help organizations ensure compliance and avoid costly fines, VPI has developed an effective, affordable solution. The VPI CAPTURE PCI call recording system has the ability to detect when an agent enters an application screen with sensitive information, when sensitive information is inputted, and when they leave a screen containing sensitive information.  The VPI telephone voice recording system then has the ability to promptly mute sections of recorded audio and mask screen video during this sensitive portion of the call.


To further secure sensitive information, the VPI CAPTURE PCI DSS call recording system help you:

• Secure File and Data Transport and Storage Encryption – VPI uses built-in end-to-end data encryption and key management to secure the SQL database that holds attributes of all recordings. The media manager provides for AES 128, 192, 256 or variable bit encryption/decryption when files are stored and accessed from the media manager.
•  Ensure Authenticity with File Watermarking - Every call within the VPI system is wartermarked in real time to ensure authenticity. VPI offers a powerful application to validate the authenticity of any WAV file.
• Monitor User Activity with Detailed Audit Log Reporting – VPI records all user activity within the system so that organizations can conduct full trace audits to determine who accessed any recording in the system and when - for playback, export, or any other critical events.

I recently attended the Avaya Evolutions Conference in Toronto at the Metro Convention Center and had the opportunity to discuss the latest technology trends and best practices of Avaya partners and hearing success stories directly from satisfied customers.

It was insightful to hear from leaders on the direction of the industry as it embraces another exciting year ahead in Canada. I learnt how organizations in today’s turbulent economy have used these practical tips for improving their overall effectiveness through VPI products on the Avaya platform.

VPI has been a dedicated Avaya DevConnect Gold Partner since 2002 and has fully integrated its award-winning VPI Performance real-time reporting and performance management software with Avaya Communication Manager.

VPI Performance consolidates and presents real-time information to empower contact center managers, supervisors and agents in several integrated ways to help them make better, quicker decisions with actionable, targeted performance and business intelligence. Included in this robust suite are 18 Avaya CMS reports, over 40 Avaya CMS metrics for use in customizable scorecards and desktop tickers, and a messaging and alerting capability.

This functionality supplements the Avaya Communication Manager platform greatly and has been a valuable asset to many Avaya customers in achieving their objectives. Regardless of the industry—an effective deployment requires the right partner like VPI who has insight on the right improvement methodologies and talented resources available with the highest impact and most cost-effective resourcing opportunities.

VPI Performance consolidates and presents real-time information to empower contact center managers, supervisors and agents in several integrated ways to help them make better, quicker decisions with actionable, targeted performance and business intelligence. Included are 18 Avaya CMS reports, over 40 Avaya CMS metrics for use in customizable scorecards and desktop tickers, and a messaging and alerting capability.

In a turbulent and volatile economy, organizations still must strive to improve their business environments using these tools and strategies to develop their skilled workforce while automating routine tasks and processes.

This is where I believe VPI can greatly enhance an organization find ways to enhance their overall operational effectiveness with our wide range of products and professional services.

Here are some important capabilities that I believe, that VPI Performance offers beyond standard Avaya CMS reporting capabilities:

1. Gather Performance Information from Additional Contact Center Systems – VPI Performance can bring in meaningful data and metrics from other sources – including other business systems (CRM, ERP, WFM, etc.) and other VPI modules (Quality, Coaching) and in a timely and relevant manner for each user – to Avaya CMS to get a fully consolidated view of the contact center which is critical in today’s environments.
   
2. Easily Report Across Multiple Teams Across Multiple Queues, Multiple Locations and Even Multiple Avaya CMS Systems – Managers get a single, holistic and enterprise-wide view of their contact center operations across several work groups and channels. 
   
3. Create Custom Metrics based on Avaya CMS and Other Contact Center Data to Meet Business Objectives, then report on those metrics displayed in a variety of formats including real-time Web dashboard charts, scorecards and desktop tickers. No need to rely on raw Avaya CMS data alone.
   
4. Presents Information Instantly in Real-time – no need to rely on IT or reporting analysts to pull together information, by downloading it, adding to Excel, and preparing for management.
   
5. Off-loads the Burden on the Avaya CMS Server – all reporting is performed within VPI Performance. This saves time and money when creating reports for senior leaders.
   
6. Create Flexible Grouping Structures to Report on Groups and Teams in any Manner that Makes Most Sense to the Business – managers are not used to seeing reports by a single queue only. For example, most contact centers will have a team of agents that handle calls from multiple queues. VPI reports give managers a true view into an individual agent’s performance thereby the true measure of their individual performance.
   
7. Create a Flexible, Hierarchical Grouping of Split/Skills – Allows users to reorganize and consolidate data across multiple splits. Multiple hierarchies can be created to provide different views of split data. This is helpful when split/skills are created by IT and don't directly map to business measurements.
   
8. Reports Present a Historically Accurate Representation of an Agent's Group Assignment – team data is retained as agents are moved to different teams, something that is often asked by managers especially when skilled agents are moved around to help call loads.
   
9. No Limitation on the Amount of Contact Center Data Collected or How Long it is Stored – managers can do true historical reporting on consolidated contact center metrics (such as sales conversions, CSAT, emails, Web chats, etc. in addition to CMS call metrics), giving them insight into trending over time, or simply giving them the option to pull reports on older data. With VPI Performance, interval-based data is retained indefinitely.
   
10.   All Group and Agent Data can be Controlled and Dispersed Based on User Profiles and Permissions – this type of reporting flexibility allows contact centers to mitigate and contain risks and unwanted breached caused by agents. 
    
11.   Ability to Deliver Targeted Alerts, Notifications and Optional E-Coaching Assignments based on Performance Thresholds to promptly correct performance gaps while at the same time keeping a watchful eye out for situations that are creating issues for agents.

I found that VPI’s Call Center Reporting and Call Center Coaching Software are perceived as a cultural transformation within the contact centers by their leaders who are deeply appreciative of VPI. We have trained their Supervisory staff and Managers in powerful work habits that are easy to describe on a large scale and on a regular basis. For example, coaching, performance management, feedback sessions, formal rewards, and people development are now part of our customers’ culture where one did not exist. Such developments have strongly motivated our team of developers, our managers and most importantly the front-line agents, which is our ultimate goal.

The holidays are right around the corner and that means everyone’s favorite day to shop, Black Friday, is too! The National Retail Federation recently released its estimates for the holiday shopping season and its expecting an increase this year with total spending reaching $465 billion.  Is your call center workforce management team and help desk support center ready to handle the increased call, email and Web chat volume?
 
CRM Analyst Lauren Carlson’s article, “Four Tips to Make Your Holiday Help Desk Shine,” outlines four quick fixes that will boost your call center workforce optimization and get your help desk and support center fully ready for the high-volume holidays. Here are the helpful, holiday tips:
 
1) Create a holiday-specific FAQ list.
2) Cross-train your staff.
3) Communicate unavailability ahead of time.
4) Develop a plan of agent support.
 
Click here to read the full article, “Four Tips to Make Your Holiday Help Desk Shine.”

Renowned contact center market research firm Pelorus Associates just published a new and exciting resource guide on the use of analytics in the contact center. In it, they discuss 7 problems that can easily be solved with desktop analytics:

1. Measurement and analysis of first call resolution (FCR)
2. More effective agent evaluations
3. Optimizing call handle time
4. Campaign analysis
5. Identification of at-risk customers
6. Collections optimization and compliance
7. Achieving PCI-DSS compliance

Chief analyst and author Dick Bucci does a great job of illustrating the power of contact center analytics by describing the challenges faced by the contact centers of a fictional cable company. By digging deeper, desktop analytics like VPI Fact Finder can, for example, identify outstanding agents out of seemingly poor-looking call handle time statistics by uncovering call types, processes, and policies that are unnecessarily increasing handle time. Other compelling examples include the poor results of a marketing campaign that were turned around once analysis showed that agents were having to return calls due to lack of training. Once the agents received proper training, the campaign met its revenue goals.

Another powerful capability of call center analytics is providing more effective agent evaluations. The primary aim of these evaluations should be to improve performance by identifying specific target areas for coaching and training support. Call center analytics software allows for selection of call monitoring on the basis of several criteria, including call type, call length, repeat callers, customer type, disposition code, credit score, account balance, and many others. You can even combine criteria to track very specific types of calls.

Finally, desktop analytics is a critical factor in increasing collections while maintaining compliance with federal regulations.  It can help to identify best practices that help speed collection of overdue accounts and ensure that all contacts made are within compliance guidelines.

Download your complimentary copy of the guide 'How to Solve 7 Everyday Contact Center Problems with Analytics' now to learn how you can put this powerful tool to work in your contact center.

• It is timelier and less costly
• It enables companies to prioritize the review of the interactions by categorizing interaction recordings by business issues and outcomes
• It has a more unified structure
• It is more objective, so all participants can trust the outputs

Lately it’s been tough to find much positive news about business and the economy. However, the latest report from the National Association of Call Centers (NACC) shows a very positive outlook for the contact center industry. The benchmarking report shows that the contact center industry has rebounded from the recession and has been steadily growing over the past couple of years. In fact, 95% of the respondents felt that economic and business conditions in 2011 will be the same or even better than they were in 2010. Download the North American Contact Center Industry 2011 Mid-Year Update and Forecast research report now to learn more about how our industry has weathered the tough times and come out smarter, stronger and prepared for the future.

In this report you’ll learn what the NACC sees as some of the contributing factors to the industry's resilience, including:

• Advances in Workforce Optimization technology, including quality monitoring, performance management, E-learning and workforce management.
• Growing interest in Social Media
• High interest in Desktop Analytics solutions
• How First Call Resolution is being tracked
• Key Unified Communications trends
• Contact Center Hiring patterns and trends

I always appreciate sitting down and chatting with leaders in the contact center industry. It gives me the opportunity to learn about new trends or issues and I get to share how VPI is helping solve those issues.  Patrick Botz, VPI’s VP of Marketing, recently had such a chat with Rich Hand, the Director of Membership and Publications for Contact Center Association (CCA). The topic was the critical nature of analytics in the performance and success of contact centers. Listen to the Queue-Talk podcast on the CCA Web site to learn how leveraging analytics improves not only the customer experience and quality of the contact center, but ultimately the business overall.

But wait there’s more! Patrick will also be speaking about the importance of analytics at CCA’s Contact Center Conference Fall 2011, Oct 3-6 in Phoenix, Arizona. His session, “Analytics-Driven Quality Monitoring and Coaching: The Next Generation in Contact Center Quality Management,” will be held on Wednesday, October 5 at 2:30 pm. This is an outstanding conference for anyone involved in the management of the customer experience and success of your contact centers. Hope to see you there!

Will you be attending the Contact Center Conference? Let me know!

August 7^th, the start date of this year’s APCO International Conference and Trade Show, is approaching fast - we are looking forward to seeing you in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!  We are particularly excited about this event as APCO selected our customer City of Edmond to share the best practices for latest-generation communications recording and quality assurance at a Training Session that has been scheduled for 4pm on Monday, August 8^th. This is a must-see presentation that breaks the barriers of what was once seen as too much to ask from recording and quality assurance technology. As a bonus, we are certain that you will enjoy the dynamic, engaging presentation style of Matt Stillwell, Director of Emergency Communications for the City of Edmond, Oklahoma and senior advisor at APCO.

In the meantime, or if you're unable to make it to the APCO Conference this year, we invite you to watch the video here to learn about:

·      Smart new ways of the City of Edmond's 911 center and other departments to record and share communications.

·      What you really need in recording and multimedia incident recreation technology.

·      How to implement an effective QA program to get better insights in less time and prepare for upcoming new standards.

If you have any questions about this video or would like to schedule a private meeting or demo with us at the conference (our booth number is 1001), please contact Patrick Botz at pbotz@VPI-corp.com. Thanks and hope to see you there!