Presentation given at Dti BPO Strategy Conference - 20 November 2009 at Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Presentation duration: 60 minutes + Questions For more information rod.jones@c3africa.com

1. BPO Week Conference 20 November 2009 Standards, Baselines &Benchmarking Rod Jones Marketing Director: Ascentys-C3Africa Group

2. VoiceEUROPE ConferenceAmsterdam – May 1998 Presentation Title: ‘Digging for Call Centre Gold in South Africa SIZE OF THE SA INDUSTRYUsing the selection criteria “Using an ACD and 20 or more agents” reveals an estimated count of between 200 and 300 ‘formal’ call centres having a total of some 8,000 - 10,000 agents. INDUSTRY PROBLEMS .Probably the most significant challenge facing the call centre industry is the critical lack of trained and experienced call centre professionals. We need strategic planning specialists with the necessary know-how to effectively manage large customer databases; to devise, develop and implement cohesive, integrated marketing programmes; to ensure that the telephone channel is offered and promoted to the public. We need trained and experienced call centre supervisors to develop, implement and carry through well-proven techniques and the development of “world class” call centre culture. And above all, we need vast numbers of well-trained, career-orientated agents.

3. INDUSTRY GROWTH PROJECTIONS Whilst some may view the industry’s inherent problems as insurmountable obstacles, the astute will be quick to recognise the fact that herein lie a myriad opportunities. Observed current trends supported by the recently released BMI-TeckKnowledge Call Centre and CTI industry survey reports clearly indicate that during the next two to four years, the South African ‘formal’ call centre industry will grow by up to 10,000 seats. This, in turn, will demand an in-flow of between 20,000 and 30,000 new agents and other call centre positions CALL CENTRE OPERATIONS & OUTSOURCING Several leading experts, including internationally acclaimed Philip Cohen who will be speaking at this conference, predict that within the next five years, as much as 20% of corporate call centre operations will be outsourced to specialist bureau operators. The manifestations of this prediction are already being seen in north America, Europe, Pacific rim and Australia. But what about South Africa? We need international experience and expertise. We need to build between 20,000 and 30,000 call centre seats during the next 3-5 years. We need to train literally hundreds of call centre managers, thousands of supervisors and tens of thousands of agents.

4. Back to the NOW!

5. Insight #1: Global Trends October 2009 53% Source: NICE Technologies “Preparing for the Upturn” Oct 09

6. Insight #2: Global Trends October 2009 26% Source: NICE Technologies “Preparing for the Upturn” Oct 09

7. KEY STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES FOR CONTACT CENTRES IN 2009/10 Increase Customer Satisfaction Increase Efficiencies Increase Revenue Reduce Risk Reduce Costof Operations Deliver ‘World Class’ Services Do a whole lot more … With far less … Without compromising Quality … And deliver high levels of Customer Satisfaction

8. BENCHMARKING Where are we? Where are we going ? Why ? Effective Operations and Service Delivery is all Governed by the Metrics

10. Essentially, benchmarking provides a snapshot of the performance of your business and helps you understand where you are in relation to a particular standard. The result is often a business case and "Burning Platform" for making changes in order to make improvements.

12. South African Contact Centre and BPO Standards Important Copyright Notices The C3Africa Contact Centre Standards Toolkit makes use of extracts from SANS 990-1, SANS 990-2, and SANS 990-3 and these appear in accordance with permission granted by the SABS. Contact the SABS (tel 012 428-6666, e-mail info@sabs.co.za) for further clarity on SABS copyright rules. The C3Africa Contact Centre Standards Toolkit and the consultation and support services provided by C3Africa and its associates have been created based on C3Africa’s professional interpretation of the SABS Standards and in no way whatsoever have these been endorsed by the SABS. The South African Bureau of Standards accepts no liability for any damage whatsoever that may result from the use of the said Standards or the information contained therein, irrespective of the cause and quantum thereof.

13. Background 2005 Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) BPO&O Sector Support Facility Programme (BPO&O SSF) Primary Purpose: To create a Unique Selling Proposition and Assuring and underpinning South Africa’s ‘Quality’ offering as a preferred BPO&O location.

15. The commercial American suite of standards, Customer Operations Performance Center(COPC);

16. The United Kingdom's Call Centre Association (CCA) standard;

17. The ISO/IEC 20000:2000 standard for information technology (IT)service management);

18. The ISO/IEC 27001:2005 standard for information management security systems, and

19. The Call Centre Charter developed by the Italian national standards body, UNI

20. Other influential bodies of work that were studied included:

21. The Six Sigma quality approach

22. Merchants' Global Benchmarking reports;

23. The USA's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards

24. Call centre operations and establishment guidelines developed in Australia and Canada

25. The UK Government Benchmarking Project carried out in Scotland.ALSO …. Code of Practice and Best Practice Guidelines developed by SA DMA TeleBusines Forum (1995-2000) and the CCNG (SA) 2004-2008)

27. Four distinct workstreams

28. 70 Volunteer SA and International Consultants & Major Contact Centre & BPO Operators

29. Extensive workshopping and discussions forums

30. Extensive interface with contact centre & BPO industry

31. Project management by three major consulting groups

32. Standards crafted in line with International and SABS formats and requirements

33. SABS ‘adopted’ the Standards under Technical Committee 99 (TC99)

34. Aligned with the requirements of South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) and South African Association of Certificate Bodies (SAACB).

35. June 2008. Standards were published by SABS

36. South Africa became the first country in the world to publish National Standards for Contact Centres and BPO Operations

39. Operational Management Practices

40. Human Resource Management Practices

42. Typical Issues Covered by The Standards

43. Clear and Concise (Standardised) Definitions

44. Examples of Standards

46. R193.23 R217.74 R193.23 www.sabs.co.za www.contactindustryhub.co.za “Resources” Tab

47. Use a Disciplined Approach Section being audited Defined Standard Group Reference to Evidence Compliance Ratings Action by Whom Required Evidence Auditor’s Observations Action by Date / Deadline Recommendations to achieve compliance COPYRIGHT NOTICE The C3Africa Contact Centre Standards Toolkit and the consultation and support services provided by C3Africa and its associates have been created based on C3Africa’s professional interpretation of the SABS Standards and in no way whatsoever have these been endorsed by the SABS.

48. Re-Cap…Why Implement The SABS Contact Centre & BPO Standards? Best Practice Processes & Procedures Rapid, Dramatic improvements in Efficiencies and Effectiveness Powerful Competitive Advantage Minimise or Mitigate Business Risks International Recognition

49. Contact Centre Operational Assessment and Benchmarking You can only manage it … If you can measure it.

50. Why Baseline and Benchmark? Provides basis for aligning contact centre operations with defined corporate business strategies Aids development planning Identify opportunities for cost reduction or revenue generation Clearly identify areas of weakness & strengths Measures Contact Centre performance against international and national Best Practices Benchmark against competitors Disciplined and Structured approach

51. Why Assess or Audit Your Contact Centre? Because only Knowledge-based decisions count ! Why is the contact centre performing the way that it is? (Good or Bad) What is driving your performance? (Up or Down) Who is responsible for your current levels of performance? What are your core issues? How fixable are these? Is your operation ‘Compliant’ (e.g. SABS Standards) What are the real and potential risks to your business? What needs to be done? Who is going to do it? What are your opportunities? How can you increase profit? How can you cut or cap costs? How can these be capitalised? What resources will be required?

52. What To Baseline and Benchmark Culture Performance Strategy Competency Organisation Facilities & Layout Process Application Equipment Delivery vehicle

54. Ergonomics

55. Energy Efficiency Etc.

56. Contact Centre Development Matrix Example: 18 Month Goal Operational Efficiency or Maturity Example: 1st Audit Score Degree of Integration: Strategies, Operations and Technologies © Copyright reserved. C3Africa (Pty)Ltd 2008

58. Include the appropriate SABS Contact Centre Standards

60. Definitions & Scoring Examples Customer Experience World Class Foundational Fundamental Developing Mature Measurement of customer experience focused on internal operational metrics. Limited customer research and recording provide basis for measurement. Objectives set and clear measurement of customer experience across channels and functions. Business managed to maximize customer experience with focus on continual improvement. Customer experience management based on and aligned to world class and South African Call Centre Standards. Focus is on measurementand improvement of customer experience

62. Regular measurement of customer behaviour and feedback with associated changes

63. Active participation from customers and staff in articulating and delivering customer experience

64. Involvement of marketing and branding teams in channel design

67. Specific contact centre recruitment processes

68. Salary structures based on contact centre requirements such as performance pay

69. Measurements and action plans regarding key statistics, such as retention, absenteeism and satisfaction

70. Training programmes that reinforces induction training through on the job training and development

71. Coaching programmes with individual agent assessments

74. Escalation processes within the contact centre defined

75. Out-of-hours and disaster planning processes in place

76. Interface processes within the broader organisation and third parties in place

77. Complaints processes documented and used

78. Provision of written prompts or contact guidelines

80. No documentation

81. Not in practice

82. Not observed

84. Insufficient evidence and/or ad hoc implementation

85. None or poor documentary evidence

86. Inconsistent

87. A factor of RiskDIMENSION FOCUS AREA EVIDENCE OBSERVATION & COMMENTS FOCUS AREA SCORE FOCUS AREA RISK INDEX FOCUS AREA RECOMMENDATIONS

89. Some evidence of ad hoc implementation

90. Poor or Out-of-Date documentation

91. Basic fundamentals in place

92. A factor of Risk DIMENSION FOCUS AREA EVIDENCE OBSERVATION & COMMENTS FOCUS AREA SCORE FOCUS AREA RISK INDEX FOCUS AREA RECOMMENDATIONS

94. Documentation requires up-dating

95. Not fully understood and/or applied across the operation

96. A factor of Risk IndexDIMENSION FOCUS AREA EVIDENCE OBSERVATION & COMMENTS FOCUS AREA SCORE FOCUS AREA RISK INDEX FOCUS AREA RECOMMENDATIONS

98. All strategies, policies, processes, procedures and reporting mechanisms well documented and driven by consistent continuous improvement initiatives

99. Making a positive contribution to operation’s continuous improvements

100. A factor of Risk Index DIMENSION FOCUS AREA EVIDENCE OBSERVATION & COMMENTS FOCUS AREA SCORE FOCUS AREA RISK INDEX FOCUS AREA RECOMMENDATIONS

102. Firmly imbedded into the operational culture and procedures

103. Visible signs of driving continuous improvement throughout all streams in the operation

104. A factor of Risk IndexDIMENSION FOCUS AREA EVIDENCE OBSERVATION & COMMENTS FOCUS AREA SCORE FOCUS AREA RISK INDEX FOCUS AREA RECOMMENDATIONS

106. ‘Risk’ is a factor of overall Business Risk and the Operational Risk associated with poor performance within the specific Focus Area.FOCUS AREA RISK INDEX FOCUS AREA RECOMMENDATIONS

107. Example of a Strand Report Dimension being audited Strand being audited Assessor’s Observations Focus Area Weighted Score 0-5 Documented Evidence Y/N Focus Area Risk Index 0-5 Remedial Recommendations

108. Example of Excel-Based Dashboards

109. Example of Post-Audit Performance Mapping & Prioritisation Model World Class Developed People WFM, MI & Reporting Fundamental Strategic Operations Technology Low Moderate High C3Africa Performance-Risk Model © C3Africa RISK - PERFORMANCE MODEL © 5.00 HIGH PERFORMANCE LOW RISK PERFORMANCE INDEX 3.00 LOW PERFORMANCE HIGH RISK 0.00 Processes 0.00 3.00 5.00 RISK INDEX

110. Example of Post-Audit Scores Showing overall performance improvement after 2nd audit Q1- 2009 3.25 Operational Efficiency or Maturity Q3- 2008 1.85 Degree of Integration: Strategies, Operations and Technologies

111. EXCESS ZONE DESIRABLE PERFORMANCE ZONE Better Than % calls answered < 20 seconds REQUIRES ATTENTION Assessed Performance Against Competitors Same As Assessed Performance Against Agreed Benchmarks % abandoned calls Average talk time Worse Than CRITICAL ACTION ZONE First call resolution Moderate Low High Customer Service Impact Example of Post-Audit Performance Mappingand Prioritisation Model = N.B. Examples only

112. KEY POINTSStandards, Baselines & Benchmarks You can only Manage it if you can Measure it Establish realistic, appropriate and measurable goals Pre-empt the need for ‘crisis-driven’ remedial interventions ‘Overkill’ is usually very costly Establish Baselines to start with Benchmarking is the key to maintaining defined Service Levels Do not confuse Benchmarking with Quality Assurance Compliance with Standards, Benchmarking and a Continuous Improvement ethos is the road to becoming a ‘World Class’ operation Start your SABS Standards Compliance Project now!

113. Discussion.Questions & Answers A copy of this presentation is available on request rod.jones@c3africa.com Or www.c3africa.com

114. For More Information… www.c3africa.com www.contactindustryhub.co.za www.ascentys.com Call Centres : Contact Centres : Customer Service Centres