Posted by Kerry Engle on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 @ 09:51 AM
Many of my recent entries have been about how operations can save money or reduce costs in the call center. I recently read an article by Cyrus Golkar entitled, "The Cloud Computing Tsunami, Gartner Predictions - Efficiency and Cost Control will Transform the IT Industry." (http://tinyurl.com/kw8qhc)
A key takeaway for me was how "cloud-based" software or "on-demand" software, can help call centers significantly reduce their IT costs. The savings you gain come from such areas as hardware costs, data center costs (power, cooling, and management), installation costs, maintenance costs, etc.
If you add to the "on-demand" model the "pay as you go" license model you are considerably reducing your costs - whether or not you are replacing existing applications or looking to purchase new ones. No longer are you required to outlay a large sum of money to purchase and own software. It is more like you rent it. And it is always the most current version available!
I came across a survey poll by Matt McConnell that I thought resonated with the tone of this entry. He is asking what role people believe IT will play in the "Cloud/SaaS" world. Below is the link and I encourage you to go to it and vote.
http://polls.linkedin.com/
Posted by Kerry Engle on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 @ 05:34 PM
Do more with Less...this has been the mantra for most of my clients this year. They say they are being asked to continue to cut costs while maintaining the same "metrics" they have always had - Customer Satisfaction, First Call Resolution, AHT, etc.
Five of the most common cost reduction methods that have surfaced again and again in the call center press, the blogoshere, newsletters, vendor solicitations, etc. are (no particular order):
- More distributed agents: at-home and outsourced
- Decreased headcount
- Increased self-service
- Turnover Reduction
- Reduced Technology Costs
When we asked folks to rank specific cost cutting methods according to their potential NEGATIVE impact to customer satisfaction goals here's what we found (a ranking of 1 is most likely to have a negative effect.)
- Reducing agent headcount
- Reducing supervisor headcount
- Using outsourced agents
- Reducing support services headcount
- Reducing technology costs
- Self-service
- Using part-time agents
- Using at-home agents
- Reducing agent attrition
I would be interested in finding out what others are doing to cut costs and what metrics they think are at risk due to the cuts?