Making Sense of Contact Center Data to Drive Business Results


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - November 6, 2007) - According to a recent Aberdeen study, "Contact Center Analytics," Best-in-Class firms are more likely than Laggard companies to not only act on performance data (57% versus 36%), but also implement performance monitoring (43% versus 24%) to measure the success and failures of their actions. This announcement by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks company (NYSE: HHS), demonstrates, in part, why Best-in-Class firms are more effective at improving key performance indicators such as customer satisfaction. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Best-in-Class organizations have seen an improvement in this area compared to six percent (6%) of Laggard firms.

The report also iterates that Best-in-Class organizations share several common characteristics such as installing quality monitoring and providing training for their agents. It is Aberdeen's conclusion that quality monitoring directly impacts customer satisfaction levels as well as reduces costs. It does this by identifying areas for current process improvement and agent training as well as unveiling potential issues that might unnecessarily arise without constant monitoring.

Being efficient and effective should be at the top of any company's to do list. In the case of Best-in-Class companies, they do this by aligning contact center goals with corporate goals. "If a contact center doesn't correctly align these goals, then the likelihood of gathering the right performance data decreases and efficiency goes out the window, thus increasing costs," says Alan Hubbard, SVP Customer Management Technologies Group at Aberdeen Group. Furthermore, opportunities are lost by companies when they gather data, but don't use it. Our survey indicates that sixty-five percent (65%) of Best-in-Class have call recording, but only five percent (5%) have speech analytics in place. "This is clearly a lost opportunity; and we believe that in order to maintain, or ultimately achieve, Best-in-Class status, firms need to look toward speech analytics," says Hubbard.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Aspect, Autonomy etalk and Nuance. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4152.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2007 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Telephone: (617) 723-7890
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www.aberdeen.com

Contact Information: Media Contact: Alan Hubbard Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5301 alan.hubbard@aberdeen.com