BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - July 11, 2007) - Companies are constantly searching for
innovative ways to maximize the efficiency of their call centers while at
the same time reducing overall costs. In a recent survey conducted by
Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (
NYSE:
HHS), over a third of Best-in-Class
(BIC) survey respondents (35%) have seen greater than a 10% improvement in
customer satisfaction upon the implementation of a distributed agent
strategy. In fact, over half of all survey respondents identify
distributed agents, those who work outside the centralized call center
office and connect through the internet, as an upgrade they plan to
implement within the next 24 months.
The pressure of increasing call center efficiency while reducing costs was
identified by a majority of survey respondents as the top reason for
implementing a distributed agent strategy with 55% of BIC companies citing
this as the top reason for utilizing distributed agents. The need to
support a distributed workforce was identified by 45% of BIC companies as
the second pressure causing them to consider implementing distributed
agents. On the other hand, average companies cited supporting customers
across different time zones as the number two pressure, with 28% indicating
this on the survey.
BIC companies are addressing these pressures in a number of ways. They are
utilizing call routing and issue routing technologies as a way of guiding
customers to the appropriate support agent, as well as providing training
to their distributed agents and monitoring them through online management
and eLearning tools. A majority of Industry Average and BIC companies are
also monitoring call quality as a way to assess the performance of their
call centers, 65% and 81% respectively.
"The key components to successfully implement a distributed agent strategy
are the ability to measure, monitor and manage the performance of all
agents equally," says Alan Hubbard, SVP Customer Management Technologies
Group at Aberdeen. "Shift scheduling, call monitoring and workforce
management tools allow call center managers to achieve these objectives."
The research, underwritten by Aspect Software, CosmoCom and Transera Inc.,
shows readers that implementing a distributed agent strategy for call
centers results in higher levels of operational efficiency and customer
satisfaction. It also provides the results that BIC companies have seen
across key metrics after employing distributed agents and compares these
companies to the Industry Average and Laggards who have not yet pursued a
similar strategy.
To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4092
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
260 Franklin Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617)723-7890
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Alan Hubbard
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5301
Alan.hubbard@aberdeen.com