ICMI's Customer Management Insight - January 2008 - (Page 8)

contact center spotlight Vodacom finds that moving agent training out of the classroom and onto the floor engages new-hires and enhances performance. Vodacom Business Solutions BY GREG LEVIN A few years ago, managers within the corporate contact center at Vodacom — the leading cellular network in South Africa — decided to start focusing sharply on improving first-contact resolution in the contact center. It didn’t take long for them to realize that, to increase FCR, training and coaching in the center had to shape up. “Discussions to shift from the traditional training mindset began in 2005, when we realized that, despite investing heavily in training initiatives, we were not gaining long-term knowledge retention, recalls Shanitha ” Selvarajalu, executive head of Vodacom Business Solutions. “We needed to consider how we could impart new information quickly, while ensuring as much knowledge retention as possible. ” Vodacom was able to do this by taking much of training out of the classroom and focusing more on tactical, on-the-job training delivered via various methods — thus engaging agents and instilling in them a desire for knowledge. The revamped training approach also involved turning the center’s supervisors into “super coaches, with their job role no longer being to mere” ly oversee and manage staff, but rather to create a culture of cooperation, teamwork and continuous development. SHRINKING CLASSROOMS, EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE Today, in Vodacom’s corporate contact center, only about 40 percent of training takes place in a traditional classroom setting. As part of the center’s FCR initiative, management enhanced classroom training by dividing it into three categories: 1) basic, 2) intermediate, and 3) advanced. “This way, explains ” Selvarajalu, “we can blend new and experienced staff and put staff into training programs that focus VODACOM AT A GLANCE on where they are. We really try to LOCATION: Midrand, Johannesburg (South Africa) steer away from the ‘one-shoe-fitsall’ mentality. ” HOURS OF OPERATION: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday – Friday; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Decisions about who should Saturday. In addition, standby is offered Monday – Friday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. attend what training are based on the scores that agents attain durFTEs: 50 ing assessments (e.g., quality monitoring sessions and mystery SERVICES PROVIDED: Provide customer support to the Strategic Accounts, shopper calls), as well as on the Corporate, Business and SMME customer base for Vodacom Business on a nature of the product or process national basis. The center is responsible for resolving all mobile and data related requests and inquiries, upselling and cross-selling of value-added services, and that needs to be covered. renewal and account management. The rest of training — about 60 percent — takes place outside the CHANNELS HANDLED: Phone (live agent and IVR), email, fax and face to face classroom, primarily via formal and informal coaching, peer menNUMBER OF CONTACTS HANDLED: On a monthly basis: Phone, 40,000; Fax, toring and e-learning modules, 25,000; Email: 15,000 which are efficiently delivered to NOTABLE: Vastly improved agent performance and first-contact resolution by the agent desktop and completed moving from a static, traditional training environment to one featuring dynamic by the agent during downtimes. In on-the-job training and continuous learning. addition, senior agents often lead workshops within their team as a icmi’s insight www.icmi.com | JANUARY 2008 M 8 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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