eg targets call centre market with application based operational performance management tools.eg solutions plc is extending the use of its eg operational intelligence® software suite into call centres to provide improved end-to-end customer service management and wider performance reporting capabilities.

The eg operational intelligence® software suite (incorporating eg work manager®) is a work, resource and performance reporting tool that allows users to gather information about the key factors affecting performance and, using eg’s operational management techniques, implement actions that dramatically improve customer service and reduce costs within weeks.

eg’s solution is applicable to call centres across a range of sectors including telecoms, banking, insurance, retail, local and central government, legal, marketing and non-governmental organisations – in fact it can be used by any service provider where customer service involves a range of work types including telephone, white mail, email, SMS and interactive TV.

In the call centre environment eg advocates the use of eg operational intelligence®. This can be used in addition to existing workforce management solutions to:

• Reliably track the detail of call types received
• Provide visibility of all work received and outstanding, allowing quick response to chase up calls, such as “have you received my….”
• Immediately access work handed off to other areas or being processed in back offices
• Provide greater clarity around individual performance which can be masked by the more traditional measures of talk time, wrap time and the number of calls handled

Call centres are increasingly at the forefront in the overall service strategy for end customers. The current technologies used in the call centre environment do not provide the full picture of the customer experience. There are usually significant “black holes” where the customer experience is left very much to chance. eg operational intelligence® creates a positive and dynamic link between call centre activity and the downstream administration tasks handled by other areas of the business and gives organisations the ability to measure end-to-end customer experience from first receipt of a call to the full satisfaction of customer requests. Whilst providing improved service for customers, organisations can also dramatically reduce the costs of that service too.

With a front-end screen integrated with existing call centre systems, the software provides the ability to easily capture, view and manage all work received and outstanding in real-time, allowing for quick resolution of chase-up calls. It also offers functionality that compares the forecast schedule of resources produced by workforce management solutions with actual performance data. This feedback loop frequently demonstrates the excess in-built capacity that current call centre tools suggest is required to handle anticipated call arrival patterns. Because eg operational intelligence® operates in real-time, management can take immediate action to use this spare capacity more productively, for the benefit of the end customer or the organisation, thereby achieving a more efficient use of its resources.

eg solutions’ software combined with the eg principles of operational management® also enables call centres to measure process performance to enhance existing telephony data and create a greater understanding of supplier vs customer demand. As a result, one client with a 2000 seat call centre saw call traffic reduce by 35% purely through achieving greater synergy and team working between call handlers and processing teams.

Another of eg’s clients, a Business Improvement Manager, from a major UK general insurer states: “With eg’s help, we have developed our contact centre offering for the first time and have the ability to look at end-to-end performance. We have been able to free up resources so we are now doing more work with the same number of staff. eg has helped us to create synergy across our locations – everyone speaks the same language, which means they understand the same goals and are moving forward in the same direction. If we get it right for our people, they will get it right for our customers.”

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