Of all the tools in the contact centre manager’s toolbox, proactive self-management capability among agents must surely rank as one of the most valuable.
I’m talking about agents who can track their own performance against agreed targets in real time. By using a handy mobile app, they are likely to adjust their own performance — and need less management as a result.
The concept turns reactive management on its head — but the market needs business process optimisation (BPO) embedded into innovative technology applications to make it happen.
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Traditional performance management: reactive and laborious
Most contact centre systems are federated, making it difficult to feed agents real-time consolidated data from potentially disparate systems. Contact centre managers traditionally have to wait for the data. They then consolidate it retrospectively and give individual statistical performance feedback to agents after performance has already dipped. But it gets worse.
Managers have to spend time (that could be focused on important tasks) on consolidating Excel spreadsheets manually extracted from multiple systems and sent via e-mail. An app that automates the aggregation of data from multiple internal systems could give feedback directly to agents in real time.
Dual benefits — proactive performance management, better use of time
Such a capability would likely prevent the performance dip in the first place. Contact centre agents would see their own work rates dropping and adjust to ensure they meet their targets and avoid any negative consequences.
Their managers, instead of spending time on manual spreadsheets, could monitor the numbers automatically gathered – daily. Less manual work for managers means more time spent optimising contact centre performance in other areas.
Addressing the challenge
Apptechnix has developed an Android/iOS mobile app to address precisely this challenge for contact centre environments. The consolidated view provided by BPO Dynamics at the agents’ fingertips means no spreadsheets and no e-mails — it automates ongoing reporting and sends a push notification to agents every morning, with automatic flags for managers and agents themselves if there are performance highlights (or “lowlights”).
The Amazon Web Services-based mobile app is adaptable, configurable and scalable for easy deployment into target-driven roles like sales reps, call centre agents, production and manufacturing staff. These are probably the most numerical, target-driven workforces, and high-performance outcomes really require self-service/management technology.
How it works
Employees log into a secure platform using existing employee credentials. Once loaded, the app does the heavy lifting by interfacing with federated systems to bring agents and managers the data they need in real time, right at their fingertips.
Users can search the centralised data using default date ranges to see how well they are doing. They can search by day, week or month to track ongoing performance. Managers no longer need to do manually intensive work to figure out whether a team has reached its targets. It all happens automatically before the weekly performance meeting. The app also allows for additional metrics to be added as needed. Comparative analyses provide a single view of how individuals in our team compare and make it much simpler to initiate both incentivisation and intervention for underperformance.
New services or products can be shared with agents quickly and easily using push notification functionality. Managers can share coaching tips using a document or a photo, and agents can access it at any time in a coaching tips menu for ease of reference.
Who should use the app?
Businesses with agents or other employees in target-driven work can use this technology to manage employees who work from home or in an office. The transparency in performance measurement makes it easy to pinpoint problem areas without having to wait for reporting.
The app eliminates any doubt around performance contract disputes because every facet of the agent’s performance is seamlessly and automatically tracked and captured for easy viewing. In the end, though, it’s likely that your most effective managers will be agents themselves, because they will be faced with the good (or bad) reality of their own performance every morning.
Apptechnix welcomes interested businesses to make contact via its website for a risk-free consultation.
About Apptechnix
Apptechnix was established in 2016 and is a full-service technology company specialising in developing innovative, engaging and cost-effective mobile apps. It provides data analytics and consulting services to establish digital transformation strategies. We are skilled and disciplined in our engineering practices, aiming to empower African businesses grow market share by enabling them with mobile application capabilities and data analytics.
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