Based in the 2013/14 global contact centre benchmarking report published by Dimension Data, this presentation aims to share the vision that, within contact centres, the agents's role is expanding

1. | Workforce

2. Sense of purpose 'adds years to life'
According to BBC and a
research published in
Psychological Science,
“having a sense of
purpose may add years
to your life, regardless
of what the purpose is.”
Source : BBC News (13/05/2014)
Well, according to
Dimension Data 2013/14
report, “having a shared
purpose and objective
drives a sense of
belonging that increases
employee engagement.”

3. The power of employee engagement
Workforce optimisation (WFO) is
obviously important for the
contact centre industry – a
“people business” – and
optimising human resources to
ensure the best use of this
valued asset is a priority.
Less obvious are the tangible benefits for all stakeholders if
workforce optimisation is executed well.

4. People are the cost component in contact centres – 69% on average. Agent-
based interactions are becoming increasingly critical and this is leading more
organisations to empower their staff to use their own judgement on
enquiries that have financial consequences.
Optimisation Components

5. TOP 3 areas that will improve
staff satisfaction
Optimisation Components
• Clear company goals and purpose
• Proactive communications
• Relationship with direct manager
Engaged employees are not only less likely to leave, but also deliver a
better customer experience and build a quality platform for services

6. Aligning, communicating
and managing KPIs
Optimisation Components
Recording, evaluating and
improving interactions
Defining and developing
the skills need
Forecasting, scheduling,
and monitoring adherence
Operational
processes and
procedures
Performance
management
Quality
management
Workforce
optimisation
Competency
management

7. Optimisation Components
A holistic approach managing the components is crucial to establish employee engagement.
People need to be effectively managed, empowered and
motivated to provide a differentiating service

8. Optimisation Components
As customer management philosophies are extended via new channel offerings and reach
more deeply into the organisation’s back-office functions, workforce optimisation systems
have to become more integrated and intelligent.
Tools that blend user applications for call recording, and quality and performance
management, can be programmed to logically analyse interactions.

9. Competency Management
While technology advances may help
harmonise operational management
approaches, the task of managing and
motivating people to deliver
consistently, every day, remains the
great challenge.
The competency management
landscape is changing. Traditional
methods are no longer effective and
competency management
approaches need to be modernised
to keep up with the changes.

10. Competency Management
1- Bridge the skills gap before entering the job market – align with community
investment programmes aimed at youth development
2- Train for the future – a huge benefit of having Generation Y in your workplace is
their propensity for embracing and engaging with technology. With Generation Y
blending home and work life (as opposed to striving for work-life balance), learning can
happen anywhere, anytime.
Initiatives that can help an organisation step up and deliver
more effective competency management:

11. Competency Management
3- Design your competitive edge – Enabled by technology, learning is moving out of
the classroom and going directly to the learner. Knowledge will be pushed to the desktop
where agents can have direct access to data that’s updated in real time and designed to
push information alerts.
4- Adapt, but maximise skilling – organisations should be able to show the benefit of
each technique and whether a revised approach is enabling faster track towards full
competency – which is currently about 8 weeks. It should also allow for cost comparisons
and information on the level of performance being delivered by trainees.
5- Create a training warranty – a training warranty system that associates training
expenditure with guaranteed improvements in service capability will help transform the
learning function into a value centre, and demonstrate return on investment by linking
training benefits with desired business objectives.

12. Employee satisfaction
Staff satisfaction has been
proven to reflect in employee
engagement levels, which in
turn will affect customer
satisfaction and ultimately the
profitability of organisations in
the private sector, or citizen
engagement in the public sector
Source : Dimension Data
Employee satisfaction surveys
are often too infrequent and
poorly constructed.
Surveys need to be anonymous
to ensure employees feel
comfortable about expressing
how they feel.

13. It’s crucial that contact centres continue to respect their entire employee
population’s need to understand the bigger picture and objectives of the enterprise