Using Balanced Scorecards to Motivate Agents and Achieve Enterprise Goals

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1 Using Balanced Scorecards to Motivate Agents May 2012 Sponsored by: - i DMG Consulting LLC

2 Table of Contents Balanced Scorecard Report Card... 1 Creating a Balanced Scorecard: Key Operational Requirements... 1 Automating the Balanced Scorecard Process... 3 Converting Scorecards to Action... 4 The Benefits of Scorecards... 5 Final Thoughts... 7 About KnoahSoft... 8 About DMG Consulting i DMG Consulting LLC

3 Balanced Scorecard Report Card Agents want feedback about their performance; they want to know what they do well and how to do a better job. Many contact centers invest a great deal of time and effort in providing agents with timely feedback about how well they meet department standards for number of calls, average handle time (AHT), schedule adherence and quality assurance. The feedback is often delivered in a document or dashboard that look s like a report card. While this is a positive step in that agents are receiving frequent feedback, it often motivates the wrong behavior by emphasizing individual metrics instead of corporate goals, including the overall customer experience. Balanced scorecards are intended to give agents and departments a broad, objective and realistic view of performance from the perspective of the enterprise and its customers. These essential management tools can shift the focus of a contact center from measuring a series of discrete key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluating how well each agent is helping the enterprise and contact center achieve their goals. The difference between reporting KPIs and delivering balanced scorecards may seem subtle, but is a strategic differentiator for contact centers that have institutionalized this best practice. A balanced scorecard approach is highly motivating for agents because it shows the effect of their performance on the contact center, customers and the company s bottom line. Creating a Balanced Scorecard: Key Operational Requirements Implementing a balanced scorecard culture produces a positive impact on many aspects of the contact center. However, it requires managers to rethink and enhance many of their activities, including reporting, quality assurance, coaching, training, workforce management and the annual review process. It s essential for all department activities to be aligned and measured in one form or another by the balanced scorecard. Below are the steps for building a balanced scorecard and successfully rolling it out to the contact center; see Figure Put together a balanced scorecard team consisting of managers, supervisors, agents, trainers and quality assurance (QA) specialists 2. On an annual basis, obtain corporate objectives; use these objectives to develop contact center goals 3. Identify a combination of customer experience, revenue, customer retention, productivity/effectiveness and operating expense metrics and KPIs DMG Consulting LLC

4 4. Weight each of the categories so that agents can readily see how they have performed relative to both contact center and enterprise goals 5. Locate the primary source system for each of these metrics and KPIs, i.e., automatic call distributor (ACD), recording, QA, surveying/voice of the customer, workforce management (WFM), customer relationship management (CRM), speech analytics, desktop analytics, social media, human resources (HR) 6. Create a balanced scorecard format that captures, measures and reports the desired agent behaviors 7. Include the overall contact center and team performance in the balanced scorecard as well, so that agents can see how they rank 8. Get buy-in from the corporate human resources group, if necessary 9. Train the staff on the new balanced scorecard approach and explain how it impacts their annual performance reviews and raises Figure 1: The Balanced Scorecard Process Source: DMG Consulting LLC, May DMG Consulting LLC

5 Managers need to appreciate that this is going to be an iterative process, as balanced scorecards have to be enhanced periodically throughout the year to keep the contact center in sync with corporate goals. Automating the Balanced Scorecard Process The power of scorecards is that they pull in data from multiple systems and sources and present it in a manner that is easy for agents, supervisors and managers to appreciate. Because a vast amount of system data is generated by contact centers, the only effective way to create scorecards and deliver them on a timely basis is to automate the process. Figure 2 shows how this works. Managers need to identify the information that they want the scorecard to collect from both contact center and enterprise systems. While the specifics vary based upon the needs of each organization, it is common practice to collect the following data from each of these operating systems: 1. ACD: # of interactions (calls, s, chats, SMS social media) received and handled, average talk time, average work time, average handle time, number of transfers, number of calls placed on hold 2. QA: QA scores 3. VOC/surveying: customer satisfaction ratings 4. WFM: occupancy rate, schedule adherence 5. Speech analytics: first contact resolution (FCR) rates, complaints, call trends 6. CRM: sales, customer retention 7. Human resources (HR): agent attendance and attrition rates It s essential to gather information for agents, teams, sites and the overall contact center, so that balanced scorecards can be created for each of these constituents. While it s important to evaluate each person on their own merits, it s also critical to have a mechanism for comparing each individual and team to overall department averages. This is another important benefit of balanced scorecards DMG Consulting LLC

6 Figure 2: Creating Balanced Scorecards Source: DMG Consulting LLC, May 2012 Converting Scorecards to Action It s one thing to gather data, and another to apply it. Well designed scorecards give managers and supervisors information to identify the immediate and long-term needs of the department. Companies that successfully use their scorecards have created a change management culture that enables them to rapidly identify and address opportunities. Actions that commonly result from scorecards are: Agent and supervisor coaching and training Scorecards rapidly identify areas where agents are struggling and need additional support from their supervisors. They also identify supervisors who are ineffective in delivering guidance and feedback to their staff DMG Consulting LLC

7 Agent and team rewards and recognition Scorecards are a quantifiable and fact-based approach for identifying outstanding agent performance and eliminating complaints about favoritism. Pay-for-performance incentives Scorecards enable managers to rapidly identify and reward outstanding performance; this encourages and motives both the recognized employees and their peers. Improved policies and procedures Scorecards can function as an early warning system to identify company and department processes and policies that do not work or that customers dislike. Schedule changes Scorecards show managers and supervisors which agents are struggling to comply with their occupancy and adherence goals. Since they take a balanced approach and look at other KPIs as well, scorecards also identify agents who should be recognized for sacrificing personal time on behalf of the company and agents who require coaching on complying with their schedules. In addition, they identify where schedules are not working for agents and should be changed. The Benefits of Scorecards The top goals of most contact centers today are: 1. Providing an outstanding customer experience 2. Generating revenue 3. Retaining customers 4. Improving productivity 5. Reducing operating costs While the priorities among these goals vary by organization, most contact centers are highly committed to cost effectively delivering an outstanding customer experience. Scorecards are helpful because they are practical tools that help managers achieve the strategic goals of their enterprise and the tactical goals of the contact center. Figure 3 below shows the benefits and contributions that scorecards make to the enterprise, contact center, agents and customers DMG Consulting LLC

8 Figure 3: The Benefits of Contact Center Scorecards Enterprise Contact Center Agents Customers Providing Outstanding Customer Experience Improves agent quality Increases customer satisfaction Improves FCR Reduces transfers and hand-offs Decreases number of calls put on hold Increases agent satisfaction Enhances relationship with customers Generating Revenue Grows sales/up-sells/cross sells Increases sales closure rates Better identifies sales opportunities Improves effectiveness of each sales attempt Reduces cost of sales Retaining Customers Recognizes and rewards agents for retaining customers Identifies successful retention approaches and techniques Builds customer loyalty Improving Productivity / Effectiveness Motivates agents Identifies training opportunities Reduces agent attrition Reduces average handle time Identifies process that need to be changed Improves satisfaction of supervisors Identifies pay-for-performance opportunities Reducing Operating Expenses Reduces transaction handle time Reduces telecom costs Improves effectiveness of coaching and training Improves agent occupancy and adherence Streamlines reporting requirements Source: DMG Consulting LLC, May DMG Consulting LLC

9 Final Thoughts In contact centers, no single metric or KPI tells the whole story. Balanced scorecards enable managers to track the right metrics for the enterprise, contact center and agents, while prioritizing each KPI appropriately for the organization. These scorecards greatly improve agent satisfaction by replacing subjective interpretation of performance with quantifiable and fact-based metrics. This, in turn, improves supervisor effectiveness and the overall customer experience DMG Consulting LLC

10 About KnoahSoft KnoahSoft offers workforce optimization solutions that give contact centers enterprise-level interaction recording; quality, performance and workforce management; and analytics functionality at an affordable price. The Harmony suite is a secure web-based platform that is seamlessly integrated from end to end to give users the ultimate in flexibility, scalability and ease of use. With the invaluable insight into multichannel interactions gleaned from Harmony, users can increase productivity, enhance customer satisfaction, improve workflow and ensure compliance. Learn more at knoahsoft.com or call , option 1. About DMG Consulting DMG Consulting is the leading provider of contact center and analytics research, market analysis and consulting services. DMG s mission is to help end users build world-class, differentiated contact centers and assist vendors in developing high-value solutions for the market. DMG devotes more than 10,000 hours annually to researching various segments of the contact center market, including vendors, solutions, technologies, best practices, and the benefits and ROI for end users. DMG is an independent firm that provides information and consulting services to enterprise and contact center management, the financial and investment community, and vendors in the market. More information about DMG Consulting can be found at DMG Consulting LLC

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