'The Agile Transformation of a Contact Centre'

1. THE AGILE TRANSFORMATION OF A
CONTACT CENTRE
Eduardo Nofuentes
The Agile Contact Centre

2. 2
Unlimited IVR!
options!
Endless Internal!
transfers!
Long waiting !
periods!
WE ALL HAVE SUFFERED FROM TRADITIONAL CONTACT CENTRES

3. 3
Low Customer!
Satisfaction!
Isolated from!
Organisation!
Low Employee!
Engagement!
USUALLY THOSE CONTACT CENTRES SUFFER FROM…

4. 4
Team not meeting!
basic service levels!
Complaining about !
change!
Disengaged Team!
WHAT WE FOUND AT REA…

5. 5
Agile alone will not solve all the problems!
Systems Thinking!
Approach!
Agile Practices! Lean Principles!
THE FOUR TECHNIQUES WE USED

6. 6
Systems Thinking!
Approach!
TECHNIQUE ONE – A SYSTEMS THINKING APPROACH

7. 7
The Vanguard Guide to Transforming Contact Centres !
A VANGUARD VIEW OF CONTACT CENTRES

8. 8
Is your customer demand Value Demand – What the call centre exists to do for
customers, or Failure Demand – Demand caused by a failure within the organisation?!
Are customers
contacting us because
we failed to do
something right?!
UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER DEMAND & PREDICTABILITY

9. 9
Some failure is created by the contact centre, some by other parts of the
organisation, none is created by the customer.!
Understanding the
system is the prerequisite
to improving the system!
UNDERSTANDING WHY IT WENT WRONG

10. 10
Embed a culture of continuous improvement based on eliminating failure demand. !
Use empirical
data to remove
waste and affect
change !
ELIMINATING THE WRONGNESS

11. 11
The leader nurtures an environment that enables the people in the team make
decisions from a customers perspective.!
Let the people who
do the work take
control of the work !
DESIGN A HUMAN SYSTEM THAT WORKS

12. 12
Agile Practices!
TECHNIQUE TWO – AGILE PRACTICES

13. 13
“At the end of the day, stuff gets done when people care to do it. I know of no plan,
method, incantation that changes that equation.” H. Owen!
A shared purpose
drives collaboration!
AGILE PRACTICES: START WITH THE PURPOSE

14. 14
Taking people off the phones to attend stand ups was a short term risk that we took
for the long term success of the team.!
Encourage face to face
communication and
collaboration!
AGILE PRACTICES: DAILY STAND UPS

15. 15
The team worked on fortnightly sprint cycles on projects chosen every 90 days.!
Promote transparency
and accountability by
having all projects on the
wall!
AGILE PRACTICES: SPRINT WALL

16. 16
We used to keep endless spreadsheets and internal documents with information that
now is visible and easily accessible to everyone.!
Try to find ways to
visualise the work and
data that is important to
the team!
AGILE PRACTICES: VISUALISATION OF WORK

17. 17
Using retrospectives we uncovered the main problems for our customers and staff
and it helped us with the prioritisation of work!
Listen to the people that
do the work. They know
your customers’ problems
and usually the answers!
AGILE PRACTICES: RETROSPRECTIVES

18. 18
Lean Principles!
TECHNIQUE THREE – LEAN PRINCIPLES

19. 19
We launched a new
channel without having to
go through our internal IT
department and spending
$300 in licences.!
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Edison!
LEAN PRINCIPLES: RAPID EXPERIMENTATION

20. 20
Remove IVR’s when
they don’t add value to
customers!
Understanding customer demand and predictability will show that you don’t need
specialised teams!
LEAN PRINCIPLES: REMOVE BARRIERS FOR CUSTOMERS

21. 21
Measure what matters
to customers and let the
team set their own goals
and targets!
“If you give a manager a numerical target, he'll make it even if he has to destroy the
company in the process." - Deming!
LEAN PRINCIPLES: REMOVE METRICS THAT DON’T MATTER

22. 22
Brave !
Leadership!
Brave Leadership!
THE FOURTH TECHNIQUE – BRAVE LEADERSHIP

23. 23
Brave Leaders believe
everyone is already doing
their best and are willing to
do things that are
unexpected or against the
norm!
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit” Henry
Truman!
BRAVE LEADERSHIP: THE SERVANT MINDSET

24. 24
Brave Leaders cultivate
a culture of trust and
develop other leaders!
Adopt and institute leadership aimed at helping people to do a better job!
BRAVE LEADERSHIP: THE COACH MINDSET

25. 25
Brave leaders take
imperfect action and are
not afraid of admitting they
don’t know the answer. !
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't
always comfortable, but they're never weakness.” Brene Brown!
BRAVE LEADERSHIP: THE VULNERABILITY MINDSET

26. 26
Improved customer!
satisfaction - 8.9!
Customer led - !
18% failure !
demand!
Engaged!
team - 88%!
THE RESULTS

27. 2
7

28. ▫ Does your team or company understand your customers’ demand?!
▫ What percentage of failure and value demand do you have in your organisation?!
!
▫ Do you know the cost to your organisation of all of the failure demand?!
!
▫ Is your system designed from an inside-out view or from a customer view?!
!
▫ How can you apply Agile Practices and Lean Principles to your non software
development teams?!
▫ How brave are you as a leader? How brave is the leader in your team / organisation?!
28
ASK YOURSELF…

29. Thanks for listening…
Eduardo Nofuentes
The Agile Contact Centre
www.theagilecontactcentre.com.au
eduardo@theagilecontactcentre.com.au
+61407 450 640