White Paper: "Keys to a Successful Call Center Transition" (31West Knowledge Series)

10ESSENTIALS
FOR A SUCCESSFUL
OFFSHORE TRANSITION
Insights from a real‐life global outsourcing engagement
Web: www.31west.net | TollFree: (877) 262-5030
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(White Paper)

1
© 31West Global Services www.31west.net
Overview
1 Knowledge Transfer
2 Systems Ingress
3 SPOC
4 Expeditiousness
5 Established QA System
6 Reporting Structure
7 Security & Compliance
8 Escalation Matrix
9 Trust
10 Patience
Conclusion
CONTENTS

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The hot pursuit of excellence in business has
always involved smart solutions. Outsourcing is one
such business solution. It’s a strategic decision
which could give a company the free hand required
to seize opportunities for refining processes,
improving competencies in the market, increasing
flexibility, and expanding the business. The benefits
listed above are but a few of the many that a
company could derive in a stable and prospering
economy. Furthermore, during times of turbulence
like The Great Depression or an economic down
run, outsourcing could be the lynchpin that helps a
company reduce costs, generate cash flow, and
shed low-value operations.
The true value of an outsourcing engagement
depends greatly on the ability client as well as the
vendor to plan and execute effective outsourcing
transitions. Discussed herein below are some key
factors responsible for a successful transition.
OVERVIEW

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Training
Material;
Videos, PPTs
& Flow Charts
Archive files,
tickets or
cases to view.
Business
Requirements
and Company
Policies
KNOWLEDGE
TRANSFER
Once the pre-sales formalities are complete the
step that follows is transition. The most important
aspect In order to facilitate a smooth transition is
the knowledge transfer. When outsourcing a
business section or a project, the client and the
vendor have to be on the same page on matters
such as operational requirements, policies, training
etc. The client should provide complete and
updated training material, along with some similar
archive files to study older cases.
The training materials should be as
illustrative as possible to ensure an
effective training program. The readability
should be high not only for the agents but for
anyone else who may be related to the project.
Research indicates quite clearly that people can
grasp and retain graphical contents like
videos, presentations, flow charts etc. far
more easily and rapidly than text. The
client should
define the
hierarchy and
proper training
material should
be provided for each hierarchy. Needless to say,
tools or approach towards a case used by
supervisors will be different from that of an agent.
Hence, the training material for a supervisor has to
be more illustrative than that of an agent. Once the
knowledge transfer is complete, it is the duty of the
vendor to conduct proper and effective training
sessions for better understanding of the process.
I KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

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Every business has its own unique system in this
regard. Let’s consider a hypothetical scenario of a
technical support team. Now, let us begin by listing
down the kind of tools they might use in their day
to day operations.
1. Ticketing System: To log the conversation
between the customer and the agent.
2. Knowledge Base: Internal Encyclopedia for
agents to navigate steps by step
information on issues relevant.
3. Remote Access Software: Allowing the
agents to remotely access or control the
customer’s computer.
4. Escalation System: Allows the managers to
look into the escalated systems.
In essence, there have to be systems in place based
on each hierarchy and the access needs to be
provided based on the roles, responsibilities and
access restrictions. Providing access to the systems
in the initial stages helps the vendors train
themselves and the agents on how to use the
system. In some cases it also allows them to go
through some archived files using the system in
order to get a clear picture of the kind of support
expected by the client from the vendor.
II
g
a
SYSTEMS INGRESS

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Single Point-of-
Contact (SPOC) is a
person or
department where
all day-to-day
communications
are channeled
through. Typically for IT Services, this would be the
Service Desk. This ensures that the vendor is able
to contact trained client staff about common
queries or issues and the resolution is coordinated
and dealt with expediently.
Reasons for establishing an SPOC:
• This stream‐lines the flow of information
between clients and the vendor.
• A single person to contact regarding repairs and
projects will minimize the confusion for vendors.
• There will be lower duplication and overlapping
of requests from multiple requesters.
• This will facilitate a smooth transition for training
and communication with a smaller group of users.
• As the vendor strives to improve feedback and
status updates regarding work in progress, it will be
more efficient to communicate with a single
person.
Responsibilities of an SPOC:
The SPOC begins by developing a prioritized list of
issues to be dealt with in the project. Once the
priorities are set, root causes of the issues are
uncovered.
Based on customer response, we have categorized
the possible root causes into these sections:
 Any issue that causes the customer to call
and can be eliminated;
and cannot be eliminated and are deemed
to require an immediate response;
and cannot be eliminated and are deemed
not to require an immediate response.
This allows you to focus resources effectively. If the
cause of such calls can be eliminated then it should
be a high priority of the organization to fix it.
III SPOC

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Service delayed is service denied. This part is
necessary not only for the smooth functioning of
the processes, but also essential for customer
satisfaction.
In most cases, vendors are the ones handling direct
customer contact. Waiting for and answer can be
arduous for a customer. Generally, the questions
have simple answers and can be easily handled by
the agents. But in cases where indulgence of the
client is required, the customer has to wait until
the vendor gets the information from the client
which then has to be passed
on to the customer. In such scenarios, the response
time of the client is of great importance.
Prompt response from the client helps the vendors
get updates and increase real-time resolutions for
the customers which in turn creates consumer
loyalty and earns great goodwill. Delay in
responses from the client's end leaves the vendor
as well as the customer waiting. It is the
responsibility of the vendors to train the agents on
any updates from the client immediately and also
maintain an Internal Knowledge Base so that the
agents can have access to the information at all
times and the query is not repeated to the client.
IV EXPEDITIOUSNESS

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It is very important for the vendor to have a most
effective and result-oriented Quality Audit (QA)
System. A solid Quality Audit system helps
companies achieve the highest levels of customer
satisfaction and keep employees motivated at the
same time. It also helps a company identify
weaknesses of their support staff members and to
address them.
Common quality criteria include such things as:
 Use of appropriate greetings and other call
scripts
 Courtesy and professionalism
 Capturing key customer data
 Providing customers with accurate and
relevant information
 First-contact resolution (FCR)
 Accuracy in data entry and call coding
 Grammar and spelling in textual
communication (email and chat)
Regular feedback and calibration sessions will
ensure that the agents are on the same page with
the client’s objectives and deliver their best.
There are three primary methods to monitor
quality:
 Live Agent Monitoring
 Data Monitoring
 Test Calls
The quality assurance system compares high levels
of reliability, competence and delivery quality with
the level of customer satisfaction.
V ESTABLISHED QA SYSTEM

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Every company demands a seamless and consistent
approach across all channels when it comes to
customer service. The constant need for real-time
intelligence that allows a company to make
informed business decisions and proactively adjust
to trends is met by an efficient reporting system.
Prime Benefits:
 Measure average response and resolution
time for customer service requests and
track the performance of support agents
across multiple channels.
 Anticipate and plan for peak support hours
and adjust self-service content to be more
effective.
 Real-time reports help to keep the
parameters like Average Handling Time
(AHT), Wait time, etc. in place.
Reports also allow the client to keep an eye on the
performance of the contact center and advice
necessary changes if required. The reports are
mainly made for a certain intervals of time like
daily, weekly, monthly or in real-time. Report
analysis provides valuable insight into the customer
base and total control over your business.
An effective reporting tool should have the options
to create chart or graph forms, options to export
the data to excel and give real-time as well as
historical data based on the company needs.
VI REPORTING STRUCTURE

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Compliance means that your systems are secure,
and customers can trust you with their sensitive
information including personal details, credit card
information, etc. Compliance with data security can
bring major benefits to a company; on the other
hand failure to comply can have serious
ramifications.
Compliance is an ongoing process, not a one-time
event. It helps prevent security breaches and theft
of confidential information.
As data compromise becomes ever more
sophisticated, it is increasingly more difficult for a
company to stay ahead of the threats. As a vendor,
one should constantly monitor threats and improve
the industry’s means of dealing with them.
Compromised data negatively affects consumers,
merchants, and financial institutions.
Just one incident can severely damage the
reputation of the company and the ability to
conduct business effectively. Account data
breaches can lead to catastrophic loss of sales,
relationships and standing in your community, and
possibly other negative consequences not least of
which are Lawsuits, loss of contract, Payment card
issuer fines, and cancelled accounts.
Both the client and the vendor should have a
secure channel of communication and data
transfers. Most VPN software provides security and
anonymity at very low costs.
Quick steps to security:
 Do not save any sensitive data in computers
or on paper.
 Use a firewall on all networks and PCs.
 Make sure your wireless router is password-
protected and uses encryption.
 Use strong passwords.
 Be sure to change periodically default
passwords on hardware and software.
 Teach your employees about security and
protecting cardholder data.
VII SECURITY & COMPLIANCE

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Escalation Matrix needs to be defined carefully
during transitions. For a successful transition,
active contribution from each department (say, HR,
operations etc.) is needed. Hence there is a need
for a proper escalation metric in each case. The
client as well as the vendors should have proper
communication details like name, email address,
and phone numbers to each of the SPOCs. A
simplified escalation metric increases other metrics
like FCR, SLA in various ways.
The Escalation Metrics can be issue related, such
as:
 Systems Related
 HR related
 Operations Related
It is essential to remember that maintaining a
senior management contact between client and
provider enables issues to be escalated and
resolved without the emotion that may occur at
operational levels. It will help manage changes to
the transition project, transition plans, contract,
etc. in a formal and professional manner.
VIII ESCALATION MATRIX

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Service providers offer their standard approaches
to transition as part of contract proposals and
negotiations. These approaches often appear very
similar, using the same words and phrases.
However, the quality of supporting documentation,
methodology and content may vary significantly.
Independent of the provider’s methodology, the
quality and experience of the assigned provider or
transition manager tends to have the greatest
impact on how the project will be approached and
managed.
Ultimately, success of transition depends on
interpersonal relationships, especially between the
client and provider organizations. There are several
techniques that enable the client organization to
maintain control during the transition and build the
trust it desires.
 Implement a governance meeting structure,
with frequent (at least weekly) joint
client/provider progress meetings.
 Maintain senior management contact
between client and provider. This enables
issues to be escalated and resolved without
the emotion that may be present at
operational levels.
 Monitor and manage service provider
delivery performances against the contract
deliverables and obligations analysis
described above. This is a very powerful
tool that helps ensure that commitments
(from both parties) are not lost and
forgotten.
 Document client approvals and joint
agreements formally using documents (that
are filed and accessible) rather than e-mails.
IX TRUST

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Rome was not built overnight. It takes time for a
project to settle down with the project in hand.
During the first few weeks, large scale knowledge
transfer takes place on each level (like operations,
HR, etc.). The provider/vendor needs to make sure
that key roles are assigned to the most eligible
employees. The functions require careful design
and assignment of individuals to roles.
There should be a robust process of selecting key
personnel from the clients. This requires not only
individuals with the required knowledge but also
people with positive attitude and commitment.
Patience is very important for both the client as
well as the vendor end to facilitate a smooth
transition. The questions asked should be
answered immediately and in a palatable manner
to ensure that process updates are in place.
X PATIENCE

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This only grabs the pith and substance of a
successful offshore transition. There are some
additional aspects to focus on and there are still a
lot of things that are difficult to describe in a
transition method. For instance, respectful
behavior between the two parties is always
personal and situation-dependent. But what we
have provided here are transition keys and
directives to organize a smooth transition and to
mitigate the main issues that may arise.
During the entire transition and operation, both
parties should work together based on the
principles of partnership. Of course, it is all about
business, but to achieve a transfer of a lot of
knowledge in a short period of time and to run a
project efficiently, it is necessary to work very
closely together and to be able to trust each other.
It therefore, would not be trite to say on a
concluding note that the key to transition lies in
the amalgamation of technical systems and
interpersonal dynamics.
CONCLUSION

White Paper: "Keys to a Successful Call Center Transition" (31West Knowledge Series)

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White Paper: "Keys to a Successful Call Center Transition" (31West Knowledge Series)