As most customer-interfacing businesses know, having an efficiently managed and well-functioning call center is critically important to business success. Whether the organization is large or small, a contact or call center is the hub in which the majority of all customer interactions take place. It also happens to be the part of the organization where mismanagement can arguably lead to the most costly mistakes. After all, there’s no better way to turn a new customer off on a company than by long call times or by volleying a customer from one representative to another – mistakes that can and do happen all too frequently in mismanaged call centers.

1. Technology Isn’t the Answer: Trindent Consulting Discusses Call Center Performance
As most customer-interfacing businesses know, having an efficiently managed and
well-functioning call center is critically important to business success. Whether the
organization is large or small, a contact or call center is the hub in which the
majority of all customer interactions take place. It also happens to be the part of the
organization where mismanagement can arguably lead to the most costly mistakes.
After all, there’s no better way to turn a new customer off on a company than by
long call times or by volleying a customer from one representative to another –
mistakes that can and do happen all too frequently in mismanaged call centers.
The good thing is that most companies understand just how significant their call
centers are to their business, and ultimately, to their bottom line. That’s why many
choose at one point in time or another to employ the help of a consulting firm to
improve the performance of their customer contact points.
There’s certainly no lack of consulting firms to choose from. But, the question is –
what kind of tools do these consultants bring to the table? And what kind of
methodology do they use to heighten the performance of their client’s call centers?
There’s no doubt that different consultants apply different methodologies,
unfortunately with varying degrees of success. Therefore, when businesses decide
to bring in a consultant to review or change their customer contact points, it’s
essential that the business understands how the consultant will go about effecting
that change.
Trindent Consulting is a Toronto-based consulting firm with an international client
base that includes recognizable brand names such as Reebok, Nestle and SunLife
Financial. With over 300 projects to its credit, Trindent Consulting focuses on
working collaboratively and ‘in the trenches’ with its clients to provide solutions
that truly meet its client’s needs. Having undertaken many consulting projects
centered around company call centers, Trindent is well versed in what it takes to
improve this area of business, as well as the industry trends related to call center
consultation.
As Trindent remarks, over the past decade or so, there’s been a trend in the
consulting field, especially when it comes to call center workflow, toward focusing
on improved call center technology. Although Trindent Consulting is quick to
acknowledge that advancements made in customer management system (CMS)
technology certainly have helped call centers handle higher volumes of calls and
execute smoother call transitions, the firm also highlights that technology can never
replace the importance of implementing solid call center management.
Technology, in short, cannot be a shortcut or panacea for a lack of an improvement
in or implementation of basic call center optimization tools, such as measuring
characteristics of inbound calls and implementing effective cross-training programs.

2. Several years ago, Trindent Consulting demonstrated that the performance of a
complex call center can be dramatically improved without the reliance on costly
new CMS technology in their work with CardioNet. CardioNet’s call centers were
facing a two-prong issue revolving around low agent productivity and high rework
rates. As a result, in a collaborative approach, Trindent’s consultants embarked on
an extensive cross-training program, implemented improved customer literature to
lessen the CardioNet’s call volume load, and among other changes, redesigned their
client’s call forecasting tools to allow for more accurate call center staffing. In the
end, without forcing CardioNet to invest in expensive new technology, Trindent
Consulting reduced CardioNet’s customer care labor and expenses by over
$3,000,000, in a project that lasted only 25 weeks (which is considered quite short
for a project of that size).
Indeed, the strong results of Trindent’s work with CardioNet is not an outlier –
grounding their consulting work in improved call center management, as opposed
to a dependence on new technology, has allowed Trindent Consulting to help many
more customer-interfacing businesses, including Sun Life Financial, MetLife, and
Crawford & Company. In a time in which businesses are still wary about taking
money out of their coffers and making large investments, many businesses are
finding it relieving that they can improve their customer facing areas through a
more back-to-basics initiative.