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System increases efficacy of call centre operations

3rd May 2013

By: Ilan Solomons

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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The widening skills and knowledge gap between experienced and inexperienced staff continues to limit call centre performance, hosted software-as-a-service business Clevva cofounder Ryan Falkenberg tells Engineering News.

“There is a lot a new person needs to know before the person can become an asset to a contact centre and the pressure is always increasing to find cost-effective methods to speed up processes,” he says.

Falkenberg highlights that the more traditional training methods are out of sync with the fast pace at which change takes place in today’s world.

Therefore, Clevva has, in the past two years, introduced a new software service offering that is helping empower call centre agents with expert knowledge.

The system eliminates the need for call centre agents to attend arduous and lengthy training sessions to become work ready.

Falkenberg describes the system as all encompassing and says it handles all matters relating to products and processing and the technical details that allow staff to operate at their most efficient levels, with minimal training and support being required.

“This home-grown technology is the first of its kind and leverages the strength of people and technology to create a simple and easy-to-use platform that is suitable for a variety of different applications, ranging from call centres to mobile sales and service providers,” Falkenberg tells Enginering News, adding that the Clevva system is designed to offer clients self-service query resolution through the company’s websites, in-store kiosks and Clevva contact centres.

“Processes, products and technologies are constantly changing and the human mind cannot keep pace with these rapid changes. Teaching static content in a multivariable environment, which has so many intricate nuances, is not helpful,” he adds.

“Agents learn best when they do something that they want to, and this system does this by providing them with the most effective forms of support and helps agents to better perform their required activities, while also offering them insight into problems along the way,” says Falkenberg, who adds that to be effective, support must take place in real time.

The Clevva system acts like an online expert, giving the operator instant access to a range of diagnostic possibilities; the operators can then insert various prompts based on preset questions to provide a client with multiple answers, a product or solution, to solve any query.

“The Clevva system will recommend the product or solution that will best help the customer and also offer relevant information, such as digital content, video, graphics and stock levels. “Doing so assists the agent in educating the client about the various options available so they can make an informed choice about the service or product being offered. Finally, the system indicates additional products or solutions which may be of use to the client,” says Falkenberg.

The entire conversation logic is tracked by the Clevva system, which provides the management team with access to the variables considered in every call and the resulting solutions offered.

Falkenberg says this data is invaluable when improving the efficiency of the solutions offered based on specific client requirements, adding that the records are also useful for industry compliance purposes. He adds that the system also automatically records the call notes in detail, which can be analysed and reported on by supervisors.

“If agents are offered real-time expert decision support, they will not only perform more effectively but also learn more effectively. “This is what agents and organisations desire and need,” says Falkenberg.

In November last year, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, in the Western Cape, Clevva received the Industry Award for Best Innovation for 2012 from the national association for companies that operate in the business process service and outsourcing market, Business Process enabling South Africa (BPeSA), which was presented by Western Cape Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Minister Alan Winde.

BPeSA was especially impressed by the ease with which business expertise can be captured and shared using the Clevva system, as they believe that the platform offers contact centres greater staff flexibility.

The company was also one of four finalists in the South African round of the IBM Start-Up Awards, which took place in Johannesburg in December last year.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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