SESSION 304 Monday, November 2, 3:00pm - 4:00pm

Track: Expert Focus

Lean Methods for Contact Centers: A Case Study

Mohan Nair Senior Consultant, NAIR CONSULTING GROUP moenair@gmail.com

Session Description

Innovative process re-engineering programs like Lean Six Sigma have improved organizations ability to capitalize on the value of the their assets. By applying Lean Six Sigma methods to the current contact center, quality assurance, and training programs, managers have a tremendous opportunity to transform the contact center into a profit center that serves as the pivot for all customer interactions within the organization. In this session, attendees will explore many of the misunderstood elements of Lean Six Sigma, a model that capable of meeting the expectations of stakeholders and customers alike. (Experience Level: Expert)

Speaker Background Mohan Nair has been involved in the services industry for the past fifteen years, working with cutting-edge and innovative companies like Microsoft and Lenovo. Prior to that, he was VP of operations for HSBC Resourcing. Mohan received his MBA from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, and is also a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He’s passionate about using technology and human capital to delight staff and customers.

Lean Methods for Contact Centers (A Case Study for Senior Managers)

Mohan Nair, MBA

Nair Consulting Group

E-Mail: moenair@gmail.com

Definition and Purpose of Contact Center Management

Contact Centre Management is the art and science of having

the right number of people and the supporting resources in

place at the right times that are able to handle an accurately

forecasted workload within service levels and quality”

Source: ICMI – Call Center Management on Fast Forward

Symptoms

• Long Cycle Times

• Billing errors

• Complaints

ROOT CAUSE

•Quality Control

•Process Improvement

•Ownership, Accountability

Rule# 1 - Solve Root Cause not Symptoms

Why Lean Six Sigma?

Helps the Organization and leaders to develop the ability:

• To understand that waste simply:

Raises cost and loss of revenue

Produces no corresponding benefit

Threatens future well being of the centre

• To recognize and identify waste

• To have the courage to call it waste

• To have the desire to eliminate waste

• To apply tools/techniques to eliminate waste

• To understand the benefits of eliminating waste

External (customer satisfaction, shareholder value)

Internal (employee satisfaction, financial improvement)

The Seven Transactional Wastes

1. Waste of Overproduction – Preparing unneeded ineffective, reports, reports not read or acted on multiple times

2. Waste of Time (Idle) – Batch processing, batch uploads, i.e., monthly closings, weekly billing, monthly reports

3. Waste in Transportation – Unneeded steps in the process, document and data travel distance between stations

4. Waste of Processing (Too Fast) – Excessive sign-offs needed

5. Waste of Stock on Hand (Inventory) – Transactions waiting to be processed

6. Waste of Movement (Worker) – Unneeded data entry, extra steps in the call

7. Waste of Making Defective Products – Incorrect , inaccurate data entry

Recommended Methodology

• Define the problems, issue or

customer concerns impacting

productivity or customer sat

• Measure, map out the current

process using BI, analytics, data

and customer insights

• Analyze and identify root cause

using tools and subject matter

experts from the team

• Improve areas of concern,

bottlenecks and defects by

adoption and implementation

• Control gains made, maintain the

solutions and success

Recommended Methodology – Possible Outcomes

• Reduce processing times

• Reduce multiple hand offs

• Reduce errors and defects

• Improved throughput yields

• Enhanced staff engagement and

satisfaction within business units

• Enhance customer satisfaction

• Maximize revenue on collection

calls and reducing write-offs for

delinquency accounts

• Establishing standard processes

within Finance department

The Challenge

• Approach to Change Management and Performance Optimization was fragmented across multiple business units

• Gaps in capability to drive sustainable transformation to deliver CEO’s strategy became frustrating for leadership team

• Organization had to change quickly to rapidly meet business and client demand. Competitors had similar success strategies

• The only differentiator would be disciplined execution of Lean Methods across the enterprise with stakeholder sponsorship

• Getting leadership buy-in, employee acceptance to change, clients endorsement on the continuous improvement journey

The Solution

• Accelerated enterprise-wide training on service delivery, key performance indicators, balanced scorecard metrics in Q1 Q2

• Combination of best practices in BPO, DEVOPS, ITIL, LSS underpinned by the PMI’s Project Management framework

• Certifying and training business units on KAIZEN Coaching, Performance Management and Customer Service Excellence

• Implementing technology within HRIS, Operations and Finance to leverage existing or new technology with suppliers

• Regular communication from CEO, Business Units on key performance indicators, financials and overall performance

The Impact and Results • Reduction of 37% in customer complaints and escalations

from internal customers, clients and 3rd party providers

• Helped increase Baseline Sales Revenue in Year 1 from 3MM USD to 4.3MM USD in Year 2 and 5.7Mm USD in Year 3

• Reduced attrition within the organization from 77 % in Year 1 to 64 % in Year 2 and 41 % in Year 3 with annualized savings

• Increased productivity, throughput of agents with desktop technology, single sign-on by 15% in Year 1 and 29% in Year 2

• Stabilized performance and pricing terms from suppliers and 3rd party vendors, suppliers within supply chain with no increase in pricing terms thereby saving more than 725K USD

Transformation Roadmap

Knowledge Transfer

Current State Assessment

Training Ramp Up Improvement Initiatives

Future State Definition

Program Management & Organization Change Management Process Deployed Globally

Due Diligence Transition Analysis

Proven methods – Project Management, Change Management

Structured approach – Process Mapping, Project Management

Optimize Technology - Integrating, Automating manual process flows

Change Management and Transition Plans

QA Leader

QA Project Role

Team Composition

Team Involvement

TL’s—Role

Ops Leader

Operations Plans

Project Milestones

QA & TL Involvement

SOP Documentation Audits

Provide information around process, people. technology

Validate assessment sign off

Share learning’s from experience and guidelines

Validate inputs and outputs from Due Diligence exercise and Audits

Operations Manager (25%)

Experts and TL’s (50%)

Technology Manager (25%)

Quality Plans

Scope definition

Resource allocation

Escalation resolution

QA assessment , validation of SOP training requirements

Interviews with process owners UAT, Specifications

QA Process Documentation

Controls id definitions

Tools Technologies blueprint

Risk assessment SWOT chart

Domain Experts – 100%

QAR and Ops team – 100%

Quality Manager - 50%

Technology Manager – 50%

People, Process and Technology in Action

People, Process and Technology in Action

1) Hire Phase – once the hires are assigned to operations they go into Training, in the training stage – they are evaluated regularly

2) Training is done concurrently in training and in A-Bay for skills, communication and sales proficiency – usually takes 15-30 days

3) Once certified and pass achieved, they are now in Operations where daily training, coaching, regular feedback continues within the team

Training Roadmap for Operations

Sourcing & Recruitment

- Identifying high potential candidates for campaigns

- Meeting basic sales and customer service skills

Learning & Development

- Enhanced Training Modules

- 5 weeks classroom, floor training

- Written Training Assessment

- Assessment by TQM on soft skills

- Agents Aptitude Assessment 2 wk

- Re-training for trainees; require additional attention and coaching

- Handover to Academy Bay after successful certification, sign-offs

Academy Bay

- 8 wks Boot Camp for new hires

- Intense coaching; 2 dedicated TL and QA 2 hrs per agent daily

- Revised weekly & monthly scorecard based on average last 3 months overall Q performance

- 2nd assessment by TL, QA and L&D before live on floor

Live on Floor

Enterprise Attrition

Year Annualized Headcount

Annualized Turnover (-

25%)

Annualized Attrition % Aggregated

Average 2012 2928 269 77% 2013 3408 260 64%

2014( Jan - Oct) 2000 105 44%

77%

64%

44%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

2012 2013 2014( Jan-Oct)

Att

riti

on

%

Annualized Attrition %

17

2038

70

92

1586

1653

1736

2393

77

80

2067

1647

1855

2224

82

77

1895

2162

2288

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

Missing-Data Charge Missing-ECP&MCP Network Expired Number SIM Replacement

Inte

ract

ion

s

Call Type

Jun-14

Jul-14

Aug-14

Root Cause Analysis - 5 Most Painful Call Types

Client 1 – Major Telco Provider

73%

75%

80%

77%

78% 79%

68%

70%

72%

74%

76%

78%

80%

82%

Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15

CSI 73% 75% 80%

FCR 77% 78% 79%

Customer Satisfaction Index and First Contact Resolution

DAY MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU

DATE 25-Aug 26-Aug 27-Aug 28-Aug 29-Aug 30-Aug 31-Aug 1-Sep 2-Sep 3-Sep 4-Sep 5-Sep 6-Sep 7-Sep 8-Sep 9-Sep 10-Sep 11-Sep

SL 80% 75% 77% 72% 74% 71% 80% 81% 80% 82% 82% 85% 80% 83% 82% 81% 81% 82%

Variance 20% 26% 27% 25% 30% 47% 52% 17% 10% 10% 12% 21% 7% 13% 9% 16% 15% 14%

80%

75% 77% 72% 74% 71%

80% 81% 80% 82% 82%

85%

80% 83% 82% 81% 81% 82%

20%

26% 27% 25%

30%

47%

52%

17%

10% 10% 12%

21%

7%

13% 9%

16% 15% 14%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Per

cen

tage

%

Date

Client #1: Service Level vs. Calls Received Variance

SL

Variance

Client 2 – Major Insurance Carrier

68%

74%

84% 85%

81%

79%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15

CSI 68% 74% 84%

FCR 85% 81% 79%

Customer Satisfaction Index and First Contact Resolution

84%

73%

85%

65% 76%

87% 93% 88% 84% 83%

92% 92% 88% 88% 85% 85% 83% 82%

6% 13%

18% 19%

10%

-3%

-24% -21%

22% 17%

11%

-2%

-31% -29%

-2% 2%

16%

2%

-40%

-20%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Per

cen

tage

%

Date

Client #2: SVL vs. Calls Handled Variance

SL

Variance

DAY MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU

DATE 25-Aug 26-Aug 27-Aug 28-Aug 29-Aug 30-Aug 31-Aug 1-Sep 2-Sep 3-Sep 4-Sep 5-Sep 6-Sep 7-Sep 8-Sep 9-Sep 10-Sep 11-Sep

SL 84% 73% 85% 65% 76% 87% 93% 88% 84% 83% 92% 92% 88% 88% 85% 85% 83% 82%

Variance 6% 13% 18% 19% 10% -3% -24% -21% 22% 17% 11% -2% -31% -29% -2% 2% 16% 2%

1,218,312

1,749,432

2,088,456 2,200,464

-

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

JULY'14 AUG'14 SEP'14 OCT'14

SALES PERFORMANCE - JULY'14 - OCT'14

ACTUAL TARP

Linear (ACTUAL TARP)

MONTH JULY'14 AUG'14 SEP'14 OCT'14

ACTUAL SALES 1,218,312 1,749,432 2,088,456 2,200,464

SALES TARGET 2,889,472 2,051,609 2,585,749 2,911,830

Achievement % 42% 85% 81% 76%

RR 1 % 2.01% 2.89% 3.10% 3.03%

RR 2 % 3.01% 4.26% 4.73% 4.77%

Recovery % 37% 26% 27% 23%

TOTAL SICK DAYS 68 53 62 55

TOTAL VACATION DAYS 182 116 140 111

TOTAL NO CALL NO SHOWS 31 70 8 15

Resignation/Terminated 8 20 7 14

Abseentism % 12% 10% 9% 7%

Client 3: Insurance Provider – Outbound Telesales

Lessons Learned and Emerging Trends

Lessons Learned and Emerging Trends

• Recognize SWOT analysis prior to embarking on LSS Journey,

without diluting the brand promise to your target (loyal) customers

• Millenials, Gen X, Gen Y, Boomers within your workplace can impact

results with a scalable effective innovative HRIS and PM program

• Identifying key customer facing processes that impact the overall

customer experience and regularly monitoring the VOC through all

channels including social media, complaints tools and your agents

• Implementing technology with certified partners who can provide

meaningful and practical solutions in Operations, QA and WFM

• Paying for team (and individual) performance, rewarding high

performers, attracting customer centric employees to your teams

thereby reducing complaints, agent attrition and/or agent defections

• Cloud computing, tele-commute, video-conference, outsourcing non-

client facing or core processes, focus on teams core competencies

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