Call Centers
A Lean Approach to Improving Service Call Center Performance
By using Lean tools, service call centers can transform themselves from a cost center into a profit center, as well as increase market share and enhance the customer experience in a competitive global economy.
A Six Sigma Case Study- Tutorial for IT Call Center – Part 2 of 6
This combination case study and tutorial illustrates Six Sigma use in an IT call center. It tracks a DMAIC project from inception through its five phases. Second in six-part series.
Calculating Call Center Interarrival and Service Times
Two Six Sigma professionals recently posed questions in the iSixSigma Discussion Forum relating to queuing theory in a call center.
Call Center Quality: Satisfaction Over Quantity
At many call centers, the measurement of quality is the number of calls handled per representative, per month. Feedback on individual performance is recorded and a score is computed from this data for use in evaluating each representative’s performance.
Call vs. Online Chat: Switching Volume from One Channel to Another
A iSixSigma Discussion Forum exchange involved the manager of a call center who was interested in eliminating her organization’s “online chat” channel of communication and have all contact flow through the phones instead.
Delight Customers: Reduce Defects in Service Delivery
Recently, a VOC survey revealed that operator response at a company was poor and customer satisfaction was low. The resulting improvement efforts serve as an example of how a service process can be turned around using the principles of Six Sigma.
Done in One: The Importance of First-call Resolution
One method of measurement can be a standard question that agents can ask the customer at the close of a call: “Is there anything else I can do?” or “Is this what you wanted?”
Error-Proofing Strategies for Managing Call Center Fraud
To reduce the amount of both consumer and agent fraud at call centers, error-proofing strategies can help Black Belts prevent such losses from ever taking place.
Fixing Between-agent Variation Can Make All the Difference
By Dennis Adsit, Ph.D. Here is the good news: To help their call centers improve, managers need to solve just one problem – between-agent variation. That’s right. Fixing that problem can take a call center to a new standard of…
How Billing Delays Can Correlate with Call Volumes
By taking an unconventional approach to a call center problem, an organizational improvement specialist was able to find correlation between call volumes and bill mailings.
How Do You Improve Call Center Forecast Accuracy with Six Sigma?
In an exchange on the iSixSigma Discussion Forums, a representative from a telecommunications firm was interested in learning about what methods are best to improve forecast accuracy at the company’s call center. After some discussion about defining the goals of…
How to Do Call Volume Forecasting for Service Desks
Setting appropriate staffing levels for a service desk requires a way to forecast call volumes. While there are many forecasting techniques, one that is simple, easy to implement and can be applied to any size service desk is the best place to start.
Integrate Values into Business Processes
By expanding the definition of business process effectiveness to include the expectation that the business process design reflects an organization’s values, the emergence of the new culture is supported.
Reducing Misdirected Calls in Automated Payment Systems
A DMAIC project at a telecommunications firm reveals the root causes behind the problem of having too many customer calls being misdirected from the automated payment system to call center agents.
The Customer Talks Back: Musings on Call Center Efficiency
Speaking from a customer perspective, a Lean Six Sigma manufacturing expert provides reminders about what the critical-to-quality characteristics are for call centers.
The Final Tollgate: Age Verification Cycle Time
This project, completed by online betting organization Betfair, was a finalist in the Largest-breakthrough Improvement Projects for the 2010 iSixSigma Live! Awards.
The Futility of Call Center Coaching
Although it has become an industry standard, one-on-one coaching is less valuable than many believe. Through the use of mathematical modeling, it is possible to see that coaching, even in moderate turnover environments, is a fool’s errand.
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