Joe Heinen
VP, Product Mktg E-Business
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories
jheinen@genesyslab.com
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The Universal Queue: Enabling Consistent and Personalized Service
"Enterprises struggling to handle the influx of web and Internet transactions are overwhelmed, first by the sheer volume of these transactions, and then by the need to integrate these channels into a universal queue. A universal queue is a process (and technology) whereby all contact channels/media (e.g., phone, IVR, fax, web and e-mail) are integrated into the same queue to standardize processing and handling."
(Sources: ContactBabel; " Internet-Based Customer Service: Miracle or Migraine?" Gartner, 28 Sep 1999)
Being able to move telephone calls from the public to an available agent is no longer enough in many modern businesses. Customers are demanding consistent, high-quality and personalized service across every channel. The twin spurs of CRM and the Internet mean that standard telephony functionality is no longer enough; it must be expanded in order to meet and surpass
customers' heightened expectations for service. One answer is to implement a universal queue, where all contacts, no matter the channel, media or device, are dealt with in a consistent manner based upon your business rules.
About half of existing contact centers offer their customers at least one additional channel beyond traditional telephony, usually just e-mail. Most of these businesses believe that they are coping adequately, if not spectacularly, with the new media. However, the multimedia revolution is still in the very early stages. There is a mountain to climb before the quality of non-telephony-based customer service comes anywhere close to emulating what the humble ACD (automatic call distributor) has been helping to provide for years.
60% of multimedia contact center managers stated that the main reason for offering new channels was customer demand, not desired cost savings. (Source: Datamonitor, "The e-Services Survey, November 2000") This
rapid growth in new media and channels, and the need to support them effectively makes the universal queue the only viable strategy for customer-facing activities.
Only 5 years ago, the average customer would have been put on hold for five minutes, perhaps disconnected if they were unlucky, and ultimately routed to three or four different people to help them with their problem. Each time, they would have to repeat all their personal details, and if they were very fortunate, they would eventually have their issue solved. Back then, this was unpleasant, but it was accepted as a necessary evil of dealing with a call center. Today, this level of customer service is unacceptable. Customer expectations have been permanently raised, and generally, companies have responded by dealing more efficiently with telephone inquiries.
But the truth is there is more to running a successful contact center than routing calls. The advent of multimedia contact, and the necessity
of passing any contact to the right agent, the first time, means the universal queue has a place in the heart of any multimedia contact center. Quite apart from the obvious reduction in customer satisfaction that is brought about by being passed around the contact center, there are significant and measurable benefits from routing contacts to the right agent the first time:
- Lower call costs, as call durations are shorter. This is especially useful if you are offering a toll-free or low-cost number
- More motivated agents who feel that they are useful, rather than simply being an organic and ineffective version of the ACD
- Routing calls to agents who are experts in the area required increases the chances of total one-contact resolution, reducing the cost of follow-up contacts.
The universal queue model accepts contacts from all media supported by the enterprise. Interactions are distributed across the enterprise based on business rules, with relevant
customer information "attached" to provide employees the important context of the contact. Real-time reporting and management provides the feedback necessary to control and improve contact center performance.
An effective universal queue links into customer databases so that even before the customer talks to an agent, businesses improve the chances of a successful interaction. By choosing the correct resource to deal with the query and providing them with the information they need, and through making use of institutional knowledge of the customer held throughout the enterprise, businesses are best able to execute on opportunities to strengthen customer relationships and capture potential revenue.
In the near future, the main challenge for enterprises is to use the universal queue to provide the right level of service across all channels. If the multimedia contact center is strategic to the company's business, sooner or later, a universal queue model must be implemented.
Having multiple queues for e-mail, text chat and other contact types will become unmanageable once the customers get used to the idea of non-telephony contact and their expectations increase.
Having put the universal queue concept into practice, the chances of customers defecting because no one can help them will be greatly reduced. Whether it will be popular with non-contact center employees is of course another question. It will be important for the enterprise to support these experts without asking too much of them -- which is exactly what enlightened enterprises should be trying to achieve with their contact center staff today.
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