ICMI's Customer Management Insight - January 2008 - (Page 38)

EXPERT’S ANGLE The Key to Innovation Is Maintaining Your Strengths BY JAY MINNUCCI Business continuity plans are critical to protect your A few months ago, I ran into a former client of mine who used to run a fairly large and pretty successful contact center. Although she has since moved on to other work, she still stays in close touch with the center. I was surprised to learn from her that things at the center weren’t going too well in a few different areas, the most visible of which was service level. In fact, they hadn’t met their goal in many months. Since this used to be one of the center’s strengths, I asked a few questions to find out what had happened. I learned that, over the past few years, the systems had changed, analysts had been moved into different positions, reporting metrics had been revised, and training had been pretty much eliminated. The center still had the desire to generate great service levels, but the ability to do it consistently had slowly eroded away. Getting it back would be a long battle. The conversation called to mind a concept that we discuss in one of our leadership classes at ICMI: innovation. For me, the topic usually conjures up an image of offsite meetings in exotic locales, team-building exercises and stale pastry, with a goal of “outside-the-box” thinking that produces windfall ideas. There’s nothing wrong with reaching for an occasional homerun idea. But beyond the exotic officmi’s insight operation from extended service disruptions, but they do little to safeguard your center from performance erosion. site meeting, there is a more mundane, process-intensive first step to innovation that is often forgotten. If you truly want to move ahead, you have to start making sure that you don’t fall behind. That may not sound exciting, and it doesn’t elicit “one step forward, two steps back” scenario. KEY PLANNING ACTIVITIES From a planning perspective, this concept of not falling behind should be a key role for the leadership team. At the higher level, there are three critical functions that require your attention, which most managers are familiar with: > BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING. Reducing the like- lihood of a disaster (think antilock breaks in an automobile). > DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING. Limiting the nega- tive impact of a disaster should one occur (think airbags in an automobile). > SUCCESSION PLANNING. the kind of quantum leaps that build fortunes, but if you overlook this basic concept, you run the risk of having any potential innovations overshadowed by new problems, issues and challenges — the classic Identifying key roles in the organization and making sure that successors are groomed for each position (think designated driver!). Clearly, getting these three planning activities nailed down will help you to survive most types of disasters — from the physical ones, like a fire or flood, to the loss of key personnel. That’s an important element of not falling behind, but it’s not everything. As my colleague’s experience demonstrated, we are not only at risk from these “quick-strike” | JANUARY 2008 www.icmi.com 38 http://www.icmi.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ICMI's Customer Management Insight - January 2008

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - January 2008 Contents Customer Care Technologies Ad Index Editor's Page Contact Center Spotlight People: Prehire Tests In The Center Strategy: Video Contact Centers Show Preview Operations: Knowledge Management Industry Research Contact Centers Face Today's Realities: A Case for Consolidation 2.0 Is Your Agent Training Process Evolving with the Role? The Key to Innovation Is Maintaining Your Strengths Becoming Strategic: Using Customer Contact Analytics to Empower the Contact Center's Role

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - January 2008

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