Customer Relationship Management System (CRM) and Call Center
Avaya China Technical Manager Shen Xiaohui 2001/08/22
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can refer to various technical platforms that receive and maintain user groups that can bring business income. With the increasingly fierce market competition, companies urgently need such technical platforms to win loyal users with better service and support (not just product characteristics).
Almost all companies need customer relationship management systems. Therefore, when the concept of CRM is officially proposed, various solutions of different nature of different properties have been crowned in the name of CRM. The company has fallen into a fascia: I have built all these systems, it is too complicated; starting from a system, I am worried that I will not apply in the future.
In fact, in modern business, customer relationship management is often starting from development and management communication and various relationships. The technical platform required by most countries in most countries in the world is the call center. This article tries to explain how companies start from construction and optimization call centers and gradually move towards improved customer relationship management.
What is a call center?
The call center is a set of agent or company's business representatives to perform a specialized system in which the call is handled and issued. Generally speaking, when the system has more than 3 personnel who specializes in such traffic, it is considered to be a call center.
Typically, the staff of the call center is referred to as a business representative, and a group consisting of a business representative is called a business group (agent group). A call center can be composed of hundreds or even thousands of business representatives, while small departments of small businesses and large companies can also establish a small call center with only several business representatives as needed.
When a company's gains can be obtained through the telephone system, you need to create a call center to make full use of the economic and convenient flexibility of the telephone system, and increase your income by improving the satisfaction of telephone users and employee work efficiency. The call center provides a powerful information processing tool for employees of the enterprise, making their work more efficient and income.
The call center must have basic three components:
1. User Access System with Automatic Call Assignment (ACD) capabilities
The ACD automatically assigns the idle service representative ACD processing call in the business group, no attendant involvement
2. Collect call center data and generate call management systems (CMS) on call center conditions and active reports. Managers can effectively manage through these data and reports.
3. Call center business representative (agent) and managers.
In addition to the above three basic components, there is also the following related systems and devices:
Interactive Voice Answer System (IV) Computer Telephone Integration (CTI), etc. ......
Regardless of the application of the company's call center, as long as the company regards it as a strategic corporate department that can directly or indirectly improve the profitability, the enterprise will emphasize the management and management of the call center, the company will Drop the management of customer relationship management, value-added.
The studies made by many companies have shown that if companies are better than customers' relationships (or more intimate), these customers will be better than being loyal to the company, and will buy more goods from that company, even if the price difference is not satisfied Even. In addition, these researchers have also found profits increase with loyalty. In general, the more complex the application of the call center, the higher the relationship between the call center and the customer, and its technology must also be more advanced and more complicated.
Regardless of the application of the company's call center, as long as the company regards it as a strategic corporate department that can directly or indirectly improve the profitability, the enterprise will emphasize the management and management of the call center, the company will Drop the management of customer relationship management, value-added. The studies made by many companies have shown that if companies are better than customers' relationships (or more intimate), these customers will be better than being loyal to the company, and will buy more goods from that company, even if the price difference is not satisfied Even. In addition, these researchers have also found profits increase with loyalty. In general, the more complex the application of the call center, the higher the relationship between the call center and the customer, and its technology must also be more advanced and more complicated.
Call center evolution
To understand how the call center can contact the important part of developing into corporate relationship management from a simple customer, you can start from the formation and evolution of the call center.
Before the call center is generated, the store sales is the basic way of transactions. Whether it is a retail store or a service provider, customers need to be in person, and complete purchase, question, browse products or bookings opposite the company or company sales representation. Communication is real-time and face-to-face.
As customers become more busy, catalog sales began to be favored by people. This makes the customer can use mail order, or if their needs are more urgent, you can order your long-distance calls. The launch of the free phone number, such as the 800 number, making the customer to complete the transaction and make the economy and effective, so that the phone has become a new "store".
Marketing staff in all industries have gradually realized the superiority of order, sales and providing customer service through calling centers, and seeing it as a way to increase income. The management personnel of concern have found that some work can be completed more efficiently, and the lowest salary will be used, thereby eliminating or reducing travel costs and related costs, or eliminating or reducing the "middleman" link in the sales chain. Marketing staff began to view the call center as a way to track and display advertising effects, and advertising has cleared from "Creating a picture" to encourage customers to call.
In the past few years, as customers have become increasingly demanding, the company has further sought the increase in profits, each company aware of the urgency of adding transactions through telephone communication, such as handling orders, providing customer service, providing sales support, providing customers Management, etc.
The call center is not a complete customer relationship management system from the beginning, and it usually has evolved through several phases. It is very important to understand this development because your company may be in one of this. It must be clear, not all call centers will transcend the current level, and there is no ideal call center environment to apply to various business, each call center is a corporate philosophy, business, and marketing and providing customers. The product of the service method.
Formation stage
At this stage, the call center agent is usually arranged in different seaters in different seaters, followed by the functionality. According to the company's technical development level and call center application, there will be some degree of computer integration. Enterprises are allocated using the simplest and most basic principles for customers and agents. The information of call management is likely to be incomparable, and it is basically unavailable for allocation decisions, so companies are difficult to track fees and income with applications. The call center is considered "functionality" and is often seen as cost centers. Enterprises cannot minimize costs. In this development phase of the call center, usually the agent is only simple training, and has not been seen as a special occupation, and even the personnel of the phone have other work.
Optimization phase
As the number of visitors and the increase in the business, the optimization of the call center becomes necessary. Optimization works typically for the customer's complaints about service, employees are carried out for dissatisfaction with uneven work burden or have been determined. At this time, the call center is considered a creative collection center, and is an important part of the company's long-term planning. At this time, call center activities require special employment and training employees. Supervisor, productivity, and performance evaluation become more complicated and critical. Performance is usually measured according to a certain strategic task of the company, such as increasing customer retention. Higher levels of technical and technical integration begin to implement to improve the cost / income ratio and effectiveness of the center. Call management is greatly valued, and various angles of management are fully utilized in terms of customer and agent management. Advanced routing technology also makes this utilization possible. At the same time, the components of various call centers are truly closely combined, especially in the unified management and coordination of various contact media. The call center truly began to be a redemption of corporate managers management ideas, and these management ideas have been accurately implemented through advanced routing technologies and unified media. Through this unity, users can meet the needs of users, and their needs can be consistent.
Strategic stage
When the call center began to become the organic part of the entire business process, they are beginning to be "strategic". The call center has become so important for marketing, customer service, technical support, etc., it is widely believed that the company has no call center without a business. Based on the management experience of the call center and research on the business process, companies can automate and optimize the process of processing and optimize the process of intelligent workflow management. At this stage, the call center will be interconnected with the various application systems managed by the intelligent workflow, and the various information and tasks obtained by the call center will seamlessly pass to the background application system processing, and the processing results of each application system and the implementation of the company The task associated with the user communication will also be passed to the call center, which is processed. Effective Strategic Call Center maintains the continuous improvement of the process by implementing processes that sustainable monitoring and measurement of critical business activities. This helps enterprises to determine customer satisfaction and product quality and performance, find out the product requirements that are not yet satisfied (new product development clues) and competitors have share, and the improvements leading to help companies maintain competitiveness and healthy development .
Features Formation Stage Optimization Strategy Stage Call Center Management Manager focuses on "handling call", no more powerful management. Progress from the system structure and business processing flow, mature management is achieved by optimizing the route allocation. The call center information system is integrated with other resource integrations, management departments to develop a common implementation goal with other departments. Customer Service Concept Cost Center Profit Center Value Creation, Promote, Try to include various business reducing labor and network spending, resolving employee efficiency and increasing corporate income collections and sharing customer information and close interconnection with other applications of enterprises . Technical focus is based on voice telephone processing, can handle a large number of speech access, and some can also handle other media access, but these systems do not necessarily interconnect; including the necessary IVR, CMS, and CTI and other systems, but the application is more primitive . Customer handling is not consistent, and does not require efficient management of the agent. Implementation and make full use of management systems; complete integration of all customer contact management management and routing. From the moment from the user requesting arrival, the routing and management of them is from beginning to end. Intelligent call routing selection can make correct processing in accordance with any route point of each approach process. Get the various information required for the customer service and use it next time to contact and provide a variety of systems managed by intelligent workflow management next time. The call center finally became a powerful executive that strategic planning, market competition decision and determination of new business opportunities.
Background information:
Avaya is headquartered in New Jersey, New Jersey, USA, is a world-leading communication solutions and service providers, dedicated to helping manufacturers (which include more than 75% of wealth. " excellence. Avaya mainly provides CRM solutions, integrated communications solutions, managed solutions, multi-service network infrastructure, and fused voice and data networks (including "unrest discount" enterprise IP solutions - ECLIPS. Avaya is a global leader of integrated voice information processing, voice information processing, call center, and structured wiring, and ranking first in the US voice communication system solution and service. Avaya Contributed CTI Forum Editor
