Tips to create Call Quality Monitoring Program

Recent survey shows that there is very little correlation between call quality monitoring ratings and first call resolution (FCR) and customer satisfaction (Csat) ratings. Given that call quality monitoring is very expensive, it is essential that you evaluate your call quality monitoring program to periodically assess what impact your call quality monitoring program has on FCR and Csat and to continually improve your call quality monitoring practicesGuide to Creating a Quality Monitoring ProcessThe primary objective of quality monitoring is to improve the performance of the call center. It is not intended to provide an accurate indication of individual agent performance. Step 1: Define Key Success FactorsIdentify goals, define intended outcomes, and assign tasks to individuals to achieve results.Clarifying objectives, expected results, and metrics at this point influences all subsequent work and ensures understanding across the task force.Step 2 : Get the Agents’ SupportWhen installing call recordingsystem for the first time, you should anticipate resistance from agents. You should prepare your agents by stressing the benefits to them.Step 3 : How to Select Calls for Monitoring ? Random selection of calls will result in majority of basic query-response interaction that offer little insight into quality issues. Look for the non-routine calls such as these:

• Calls much longer or shorter than the norm for talk time or handle time
• Calls  involving multiple transfers
• Calls  originating from specific customers or geographies
• Calls  involving specific screen activity on agent’s PC, such as closing an account

Step 4: Define Interaction Structure  Outline the structure of a successful interaction by defining the elements in a call. All calls will, at minimum, have three phases: a greeting, the problem-solving or request-handling step, and a closure. Within that structure, define the behaviors, or elements, that create desired outcomes with customers. Create a flow diagram of a typical interaction.  Step 5: Create a Call Evaluation Form, and Agent ScorecardThe primary output of quality monitoring is the agent evaluation. The intent is to gather the information required to evaluate agent performance on “soft” skills. The monthly quality audit examines skills and qualities like listening, voice clarity, accuracy, empathy, courtesy, call control, product knowledge, and adherence to procedures.  The evaluation form needs to reflect the unified goals of the enterprise and the contact center. Therefore, you must know and understand your organization’s business, and the goals of the organization. Quality monitoring forms (usually called “scorecards”) are organized by categories, depending on type of the organization. Service-centric firms will have more rating questions relating to customer care than revenue generation, or data-gathering. The number of attributes is typically 10-15. Points are awarded based on a rating scale.Some elements you might want to include on the evaluation form are:•    Was the process’s standard greeting used?•    Was the problem diagnosed ?•    Was the customer listened to patiently?•    Are questioning skills to resolve the call effective?•    Were available resources used effectively to resolve the call•    Was the follow-up action to be taken after the call conveyed properly?•    Were call closure guidelines adhered to?Step 6: Create Quality Monitoring Process MapCreate the process map for your quality monitoring program. The documents describes roles and responsibilities of people, and what tools and techniques will be used. Recording calls is an important step in the quality monitoring process. The supervisor should be  able to replay a call. It is important for the agent to listen to their own calls subsequently for self-assessment.  Invest in and implement a enterprise-class call recording solution that works with your phone systems, whether Analog, Digital or IP Phones.Create a document that outlines the quality monitoring process. It helps to outline the tasks in a weekly, monthly, and yearly formatHow to Select a Call Recording and Quality Monitoring SolutionFollowing are a few important factors for evaluation :. Record all interactions  Select a full recoding system that can do quality monitoring; i.e., select a sample of calls for evaluation.  Best-in-class call centers record all interactions. Integration Costs   Recording systems must integrate with the ACD and other applications. The vendor should be a certified developer for the ACD manufacturer. In that case they will already have pre-configured and vendor-certified “integration hooks” with your ACD, and thus avoid excessive integration costs and system delays. Ease of useCall Recording solution should be easy to administer and easy to use. Users should have the ability to build their own evaluation forms around embedded templates when they think it is advisable. Recordings should be as easy to select from the workstation views. You should be able to forward compressed voice files easily.Technology The application should be capable of migrating to Voice over the Internet protocol (VoIP). The biggest advantage for VoIP-enabled recorders is the ability to extend recording to remote agents. Reliability Contact centers cannot afford wants downtime due to system failures. Check for vendors support organization, systems alerts, self-healing, and remote diagnostics. ConclusionSize of your contact center need not be a limitation for achieving best-in-class quality. The person on the other end of the line does not know if your contact center is small or large. A quality monitoring process should be reviewed and improved periodically via feedback loops within the support center. The process of creating a new quality program is a continuous cycle.