Nearly 5 percent. That’s a good savings in this economy, and that’s exactly what speech analytics can save a company annually in customer care costs.
Companies that leverage the wealth of information available through contact center call recording and speech analysis experience a .1 percent decrease in annual customer care costs compared with an annual increase of 4.5 percent for companies that do not leverage the technology, according to a study last year by the Aberdeen (News - Alert) Group. Taken together, that’s a difference of roughly 4.6 percent, a noticeable chunk of change for any business.
Not all companies use speech analytics equally, however. The best save more, the worst save less. A recent paper outlines four best practices that businesses can leverage to get the most out of their speech analytics platform:
Prioritize based on ROI. There is any number of initiatives that can be developed from the insight of speech analytics, but not all initiatives are created equal. That’s why it is incumbent that leadership focuses on ROI as a litmus test that determines which initiatives should be pursued first. Focusing on two to three targeted objectives with a clearly defined ROI for the initial implementation helps companies maintain tight control over changes during the implementation process, too, and many organizations have successfully targeted both cost reductions and revenue enhancements simultaneously after prioritizing based on ROI.
Follow all the steps in the improvement cycle. Analytics solutions now support the full performance management lifecycle -- problem identification, root cause analysis, performance improvement and monitoring. Make sure to avoid skipping steps in the cycle.
Hone in on root causes and actionable insights. Speech analysis generates a lot of data, and it is important to quickly shift from data collection to analysis. Automated root cause analysis solutions help limit the need to manually review interactions, and focusing on actionable insights keeps initiatives focused.
Match quality monitoring processes with business initiatives. Aligning quality monitoring functions with strategic business objectives delivers a powerful business optimization solution. Instead of randomly selecting calls for evaluation, the quality monitoring team is presented with calls based on their impact on KPIs that are relevant to overall business performance.
If these best practices are put into place, businesses can help ensure that they are among those seeing the largest reduction in customer service costs.