Workforce Optimization Solutions

We know workforce optimization solutions can help in creating a more efficient process when dealing with workloads and scheduling, but what exactly constitutes workforce optimizations?

Workforce optimization is getting the best out of the available resources taking into account all parameters (labor regulations, staff flexibility, incoming workload, call load patterns, outbound volumes, customer expectations etc.) and this on an easy, flexible and manageable way with the usage of different technologies. Contact center workforce optimization (WFO) combines technologies from many previously sifted functional domains, such as workforce management, call recording, quality and performance management. It can be extended to include capabilities such as IVR based call surveys, together with e-learning and coaching applications. Managing the staff scheduling to the anticipated demand in the most cost effective way, to maximize profit/customer service, at an affordable price and with schedules that are attractive enough to employees.

 

At one time optimization was considered synonymous with efficient call routing. That the customer was efficiently linked to the right agent was enough. But times have changed optimization means much more than connectivity. In my view the goal of workforce optimization must be to instill “pride in workmanship” and “pride in colleagues’ workmanship” so that the customer consistently gets the best possible service . It follows that so-called optimization systems which are based upon monitoring individual performance and hitting targets have to be replaced with those that achieve improved customer satisfaction. Measuring such satisfaction is difficult but customer opinions provide the only valid basis for deciding if an intervention has improved, and so helped optimize, a system.

 

 

Taking your resources and making them as fully perfect, functional or effective as possible – if you are to take the dictionary stance on what optimization means. This, to our organization, means looking at our culture, tools, processes and people and making them work together efficiently. This is done by setting up our processes first, taking a look at what is broken, fixing it and then implementing technology around it. Technology does not drive efficiency, people and processes do. In order to have an optimized workforce, you need buy in from the very resources that are going to be using your processes and tools along with well explained expectations and information on how you are going to measure each process is successful. Without these in place, you have chaos.

 

Workforce optimization (WFO) is a unified suite of solutions for addressing critical customer service functions across the enterprise, including quality monitoring and recording, speech analytics and data analytics, customer feedback surveys, workforce management and strategic planning, performance management, e-Learning and coaching. With WFO, organizations can open new windows into customer intelligence, workforce performance and root cause analytics to gain visibility across the customer service delivery chain. In addition, it helps place focus on the three key areas of performance, efficiency and quality.

By delivering greater insight into customer interactions and processes, WFO provides a closed-loop system for continuous, enterprise performance improvement and long-term ROI. It helps drive service improvement, productivity gains, cost reduction, revenue generation, quality assurance and compliance, customer retention, performance enhancement, competitive advantage and customer satisfaction, which can have a direct impact on the bottom line of any organization.

Winning Back Customers

Winning back customers is not a direct task, especially in today’s world of consumer choice. The starting point should always be to actually know which lapsed customers are actually worth seeking to win back.

The Actual Data
The key is to take all available customer data, to fully understand the individual behavior and then apply that information to inform the targeting, the message and the offer in the communications. And the appropriate data to enable this is a transactional data, which can indicate when buying patterns are changing. Other data, such as customer satisfaction data, can be used, but it is not the most credible or reliable information to use. It is necessary to have a full view that takes in all of the knowledge a company has about the customer to really understand a customer’s behavior and relationship with a product or a supplier. The best way to achieve this is by setting up a Single Customer View (SCV) database that brings together data from all departments including orders, marketing, deliveries, customer services, CRM, etc, and holding it in one place.

Single Customer View
This ensures marketers are operating with current information and are not sending conflicting messages from different parts of the company. For instance, without an SCV database, one part of an organization might contact an ex-customer that it wants to win back and treat them like a new customer, rather than acknowledging the fact they used to be a customer. Instead an SCV can help inform a fresh approach to get the customer to come back.

It can also help marketers avoid viewing customer behavior in isolation. Taking home shopping as an example, viewing a customer purely as a catalog customer and not viewing all interactions the customer has with the organization could result in the customer’s online activity being ignored. As a result, marketers could fail to communicate with the customer in the best possible way that maximizes ROI. For instance, a customer might be very happy ordering through a catalog or over the phone, but finds online ordering not very user friendly. Viewed purely as an online customer a marketer might ignore them as being of little value but by viewing the customer’s entire interactions with the firm it might be discovered that, with a little help and encouragement, they could turn into a very profitable online customer.

An SCV database can also aid organizations to avoid making assumptions about customers and, instead, provide a detailed picture of every customer. It is too easy for marketers to make expectations about customer behavior based on demographic profiles – something that was highlighted in our recently published Online Retail Index report, which showed that typically loyal middle-aged home shoppers who tend to be very loyal to their catalogs are actually more promiscuous when they shop online. Since the greatest growth in online shopping activity was found to be coming from 35 to 54-year olds this sort of information is invaluable in informing marketing strategies. Having a single and secure database also makes data safer and easier to manage, with a team overseeing what data can be used and what cannot.

When to Start a Win-Back Activity
Aside from identifying customers for win-back operation it is also essential to establish the point at which win-back activity should be initiated. Data on recency and frequency of purchase is crucial for managing retention and switching customers to win-back. If a customer is on a contract that is coming to an end changes in their behavior can highlight a risk of churn. Repeat transactions is needed start to look different. Some firms still tally customers in their customer base even if they haven’t made a purchase for three years. Mainly because of the impact it would have on internal reporting – classing a customer as lapsed or churned would reduce the volume of the customer base and not make a good impression on the board.

Instead, firms should start a 6-month pending lapsed stream to account for customers whose change in behavior suggests they might be about to jump ship. These customers can then be aimed with communications and offers designed to keep them spending rather than looking for better deals elsewhere.

The Pre-emptive Strike
Associate analysis can help identify points in the customer journey where pre-emptive action can be initiated. By taking customers who have joined in the last week and comparing them to customer who joined in another week, the customer journey can be mapped to provide a view of what is likely to happen 2, 3 or 6 months on. For example, a telecoms provider has invited people to switch to them. Analysis of the customer journey shows that some get cold feet after they receive the welcome pack, regret the decision to switch and cancel the contract. Others cancel after receiving the first bill when it transpires they aren’t getting exactly what was promised. As churn or a drop in activity is shown to occur at particular times the telecoms provider can pinpoint steps in the customer journey that need attention.

The most important thing for firms to remember when embarking upon win-back campaigns is to carefully analyze customer data and look beyond top-line conclusions in order to be able to communicate with ex-customers, or those who look likely to lapse, in a personalized and targeted fashion based on purchasing histories and other available data.

SEO Team Focusing on Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the efficient systems to bring visitors to websites, and has become one of the best methods for online marketing as it gives wonderful results. It is already playing a key role in online marketing and will play an even greater role in the future. With video marketing we can get our message out to thousands of people worldwide, to promote our company and services. Online marketers are utilizing the effectiveness of video marketing as an outstanding tool to introduce different products, services or promotions to potential customers, and also to build a solid relationship with clients.

It is an impressive and effective way to make your business known by your targeted audiences, furthermore, this mode of online marketing can give true results. By creating business videos with attractive and effective content, combining a video with subtitles or a detailed article about the subject of the video will make a more successful campaign. This shows how you can enhance other marketing tools by adding business video marketing to them and get better results.

Business video marketing is a very cost effective approach. The only thing you need to invest is sufficient time to make efforts of making your video visible on the internet. Mostly, this type of marketing involves business owners using videos to enlarge their customer base, particularly in their metropolitan areas. We all know that one picture can say far more than a thousand words; therefore, using this advertising tool to get your message across is certainly more potent than content based messages/articles.

Philippines Call Center Employment Growth

The Philippines Contact Center for the past two years is practically recession-proof industry and is emerging as one of the most important contributors to its economy. In 2008, output of the outsourcing industry increased to S$ 6.1 billion from US$ 4.5 billion in the preceding year. Overall, the BPO sector accounted for 3.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2008, while the Philippine economy almost came to economic slowdown, the BPO sector actually grew by 25 percent in 2009. The industry generated revenues increases by 19 percent annually. This makes the Philippines the biggest BPO destination in the Asia Pacific.  The Philippines call center BPO revenues of the industry’s total take of 69 percent, which still account to be the largest portion.

The BPO industry has been continuously opening up job opportunities. Employments in Philippines contact center have sprouted all over the country in the past few years providing jobs to thousands of young graduates. The BPO industry saw an 18 percent growth in employment, in 2009, which total hires reached to 400,000 with 280,000 of those working as call center agents in the Philippines. The BPO sector is not showing any signs of slowing down when it come to creating new jobs. In February 2010 alone, 72 percent of the 25,700 new BPO jobs in the world went to the Philippines, according to a recruitment, and training outfit for call center agents. This is still far from the industry’s employment saturation point.

The CCAP Annual Call Center Conference & Expo is the flagship event of the contact center industry, which attracts around 6,000 executives, managers, supervisors and agents of outsource and in-house contact centers. Now on its sixth run, the exhibit and job fair features more panel discussions with CEOs, analysts, economists, support sectors and call center agents; 32 new conference topics on operations, HR, technology and career development; a new conference track for call center startups called Call Center 101 Plus; more booths at the expo with the latest products and services and a bigger job fair with more job openings.

The employments are really ramping up, with left and right recruitments – seeing to an absolute recovery in the first half. Although this demand for BPO workers is expected to taper off by 2011, but still the industry has the capacity to employ one million Filipinos within the next five years. As the global economy recovers, Philippines contact center is set to increase employment and investment in the country with new demands for outsourcing services.  The contact center industry is already expanding operations and all set to hire thousands of new personnel this year in anticipation of the surge of business growth.

Analysts predict that 2010 will be another banner year for the BPO industry.  Contact center Philippines and other sectors of the industry could rake in between US$11billion to US$13 billion and open up 900,000 additional jobs. The industry is expected growth in the near future is so strong some experts say contact center Philippines is within striking distance of outpacing India as outsourcing’s global capitol. The spike in the BPO industry is spilling over to other industries in the Philippines. The expansion of contact center Philippines operations is projected to absorb the current oversupply in office space.

While contact center Philippines continue to dominate the BPO sector, industry the sector is also evolving beyond voice and leaning, said Virata.  It is moving toward higher-value services and Philippines is now in a position to take on higher-value jobs, after proving its worth as a premier destination for call center services, Richard Mills, director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said.

RP Call Centers Shifting to High-Value Services

The Business Process Outsourcing industry is set to shift its resource calls toward higher-value services next year as the global financial crisis takes its toll on traditional markets. According to the results of a recent survey, the BPO sector sees “good to outstanding” prospects for  non-voice services. The survey was conducted by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) and managed by strategic marketing operations firm TeamAsia. The survey results come amid fears of a sharp downturn in the industry on which the government is banking to keep the unemployment rate at manageable levels. The survey results confirm that despite the impact of the global financial crisis on business activity in major markets, providers of non-voice outsourced business process services are optimistic that their businesses will continue to grow next year.

The Sydney-based online publishing firm recently came out with industry forecasts for the Asia Pacific region. Its study covered nearly 2,500 companies with call center operations across Singapore, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Filipino call center agents must improve their sales techniques to compete more strongly with outsourcing giant India, according to an industry observer. However, they acknowledged that the Philippines’ strength lies in customer support, which makes up the bulk of the contact center industry in the country. Results of the said study showed that call centers are now in a period of transition from providing traditional services and support to revenue-generation. Among Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines is leading the way in this transition from the initial model of call centers as cost center.

The results strongly suggest that the industry has recognized further opportunities and is on top of developing trends, and the contact center is fast becoming an organization’s most valuable revenue generating asset. The industry, however, must continue to address human resource challenges such as agent attrition. The search for the people with the right skills still remains a major concern for Philippine-based call centers and that training schools geared towards contact center careers focus more on sales techniques, not only on customer service or language skills.

Strategic Business Planning for Outsourcers

Outsourcers must have plans of business strategies to maintain their business growth in times of global economic predicament. The estimated proceeds of The Asia Pacific contact center in 2009 was US$13.7 Billion. Most of the profits came from the markets of Philippines, India, Malaysia and China, which contributes more than 54% of the total market revenues. Although outsourcers in countries like Philippines, Malaysia and China have achieved momentous grip for off shoring. American Corporations consistently preferred the Philippine outsourcing firms in establishing BPO industry over the years. In a short term the relationship with United States will harm the enlargement in the Filipino market. Nevertheless, a reliable and well-established spot like Philippines and India will attract the offshoring business to these locations that represents less risk to enterprises when compared to the newer emerging markets in Indonesia or Vietnam.

Frost & Sullivan said that among the growth markets, India and Philippines has the better bearing in moving up the progression. Outsourcers must developed strategy to shift their focus in offering more data services to foreign clientele. Rather compete, various Indian and Philippine outsourcing communities work together to provide an entire solution to foreign clientele. The arrangement is like this, the Philippine outsourcer will be responsible for the voice services. On the contrary, the Indian counterpart will oversee data services. Larger outsourcers have successfully separated the different services consequently. Over the past few years, with the aid of the respective call center associations, the local players in both countries have been working together to put up a partnership in order to have a capital on the increasing demand of BPO for a rationalized solution.

There will be few short term growth chances for outsourcers in Asia Pacific, in spite of economic downturn. Based in company report, existing contracts are unlikely to be in risk. Outsourcers must try to research existing accounts and control current relationships to take advantage of contract value. To boom continuously in complicated times, outsourcers must soar the process value chain and increase their offerings to take in expert knowledge processes like patent and copyright related services and business intelligence and analytics. To expand, outsourcers must look for domestic markets. If will be given high degree of investment in contact center technology and infrastructure, outsourcers can potentially look at introducing hosted contact center services to focus with their active customers who have internal contact centers as well as the small and medium domestic business market opportunity, especially in India, Australia, and the Philippines.

The Wordwide Call Center Project

In spite of globalization, working conditions in call center around the world are still governed by national regulations. That was the result of a major study supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, which looked at 2,400 call centres in 17 countries. As a follow-up to this study, the FWF is now funding further international analyses and case studies that will compare conditions in Austrian call centres with those in other countries. Throughout the world, the number of call centres is growing. These facilities offer companies aiming to achieve effective forms of customer care a great deal of flexibility. Working conditions are often atypical with staff being employed on a temporary or freelance basis, for example, and cutting-edge technologies mean that operations can easily be outsourced to other locations, at home or abroad.

The employment conditions in call centres throughout the world have now been investigated as part of the Global Call Center Industry Project. This international project set out to analyse whether the global spread of call centres is being accompanied by a growing convergence in working conditions. Or whether the opposite is the case, i.e. whether working conditions at these call centres continue to be shaped by national standards and rules. The study has found that call centres are perhaps not as global as one might assume. For example, working conditions at call centres in coordinated market economies such as Austria, Germany and Denmark are significantly better than in liberal market economies such as the UK and USA. The Global Call Center Project is a collaborative network of over 40 academic researchers in 20 countries.  The focus of the project is to assess the development of the emerging call center sector in each country and to compare the management strategies and employment systems and outcomes of these enterprises within and across countries.

Firms in manufacturing and service industries alike increasingly view these centers as their primary vehicle for interacting with customers. As a result, call centers have taken on a strategic importance: they manage the behavior of customers – setting expectations, shaping customer buying patterns, and ultimately influencing company revenues. This emerging sector poses challenges for managers as well as other stakeholders – consumers, governments, employees, and employee representatives. This holds true for recently industrialized countries as well as advanced economies where de-industrialization has left large pockets of unemployment in previously-prosperous regions.  Some governments have provided public resources to attract call center operators in the hopes of creating decent-paying jobs and revitalizing old economies. Many different constituencies share an interest in the development of this sector and how they can be managed successfully in the global economy.

PAL to Go Ahead With Outsourcing

Philippine Airlines (PAL) will reportedly go ahead with plans to outsource its contact center, despite a labour dispute that threatens to escalate into strike action. After running a 40-year old IT system, the country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines is outsourcing this function in what is seen a major move of the beleaguered legacy airline to bring its operation more cost efficient and globally competitive.

Employees in the airlines’ three departments – contact center operations, airport services and inflight catering – are expected to be absorbed by PAL’s partner service providers. By trimming its workforce to just over 4,000 from its current 7,000, the company expects to make major savings in monthly salary costs. Three hundred contact center workers – who handle reservations and bookings via phone, email, fax transmissions for all PAL flights will be outsourced. In a June 15 decision, the Department of Labour and Employment said that the intended closure of Philippine Airlines’ airport services, in-flight catering, and call center reservation operations, the employment severance of its workers, and the contracting out of these operations to the named service providers are based on lawful ground.

Philippine Airlines has asked government to rule on an appeal filed by workers who are contesting the company’s plan to outsource 2,600 jobs. This was announced by PAL president Jaime Bautista early evening of Thursday, four hours after it met with government mediators and representatives of the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) at the National Mediation and Conciliation Board (NCMB) office in Manila. PAL have asked DOLEt to decide on the merits of the case. And they are requesting that they make a decision based on submitted documents. Management…shall await the resolution of the Motion for Reconsideration, without prejudice to further consultation should any significant development arises or an offer from the union is communicated to management.

The union further said that it further manifests that PAL is in the better position to offer by scrapping the termination of the +/- 2,600 employees. Philippine Airlines (PAL) has no plan to rehire its retrenched workers, PAL President Jaime Bautista said in an interview, Thursday after its conciliation meeting organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Bautista made the statement amid the accusations of the Philippine Airline Employees Association (PALEA) that it is merely changing the status of its regular employees to contractual to avoid giving their due benefits. Bautista said that they are in a crisis, and need to retrench some of our workers in order for PAL to survive.

Mobile Express Contact Solutions

Mobile Express Contact Solutions (MECS) is a service-oriented call and contact solutions company based in the heart of Iloilo City, Philippines. We believe that each client is unique. As such, we provide a service that contours your exact specifications augmented by the skills of a college-level workforce.

Our services, workforce, and even technical facilities are definitely at par with players in the outsourcing industry. You can rest assured that your customer service, technical support, even search engine optimization and virtual assistance needs are in good hands. Outsource now and enjoy the MECS advantage!

Rewards on expenditure: A service that may be higher priced in the western world comes at a pretty reasonable rate at MECS. You get the same quality of work along with cost effectiveness.

Saving all the way: It all boils down to saving and making m oney.  With us, you save not only economically, but also on aspects such as infrastructure, time, manpower, effort and resources.

Abundance of Time: We give you extra time that you can invest in doing other tasks to be more productive and that much needed relaxation!

Advancing business: Increase your profits and give importance to each of your clients. Gain a tension free environment and overall increased output.

Reallocating resources: By outsourcing to us, you can now concentrate on the more useful and core performances of your business!

Competitive edge for the business: We hire people from all walks of life – giving you a unique advantage on your competitors.

A Premium on attitude: Our recruiters make sure that the people we hire can work amicably with each other, as well as serve our clients to the best of their ability, with a smile on the side.  Excellent service with a heart.