Understanding Contact Center Fundamentals
2-day instructor-led training course - $1,795
On-site delivery available
RCCSP
  Professional
    Education
       Alliance

What You Will Learn:

Participants will learn to:

  • The overall structure of a call center
  • The different types of call centers
  • Call center trends
  • How a call center delivers service
  • How to manage customer expectations
  • Call center functions and job roles
  • How technology works in a call center
  • The functional areas of a call center
  • How call centers are evaluated
  • The top 6 measures of call center performance
  • The most commonly utilized metrics in a call center
  • How to use a balanced scorecard approach to reporting agent or overall call center performance
  • Call delivery: How calls are received and routed to agents
  • Call processing: The life of a customer contact from greeting to closure
  • Call diagnostics: How the call handling process is tracked and measured
  • Call center performance factors: Where to look when things go right and when things go wrong

Overview

A call center is the area of office space where people addressing customer concerns by phone sit together, right?

Well, no. Your call center is a full-fledged organizational function. Like sales, accounting, manufacturing, or office administration, call centers have specific human resource needs, specialized technologies, cost or profit targets, throughput requirements, and strategic impact. With caller demands, call processing capabilities, and customers to satisfy with a service product, call centers can be as complex as small companies, complete with pyramidal reporting structures and internal business functions. Or, they can be a simple as an organized, focused handful of skilled people consistently delivering high-quality service.

If you are new to the call center industry, you are about to embark upon an exciting phase of your career. Equally driven by intuition and experience as by science, and with an impact powerful enough to break a company or drive it to stratospheric achievements, the call center will provide real opportunities for you to personally impact an organization's success.

This course was designed specifically for the business person entering or transferring to a call center, and others responsible for interfacing with call center professionals. Introduction to Call Centers presents the 'big picture", and introduces attendees to the component parts, job roles, and performance factors that make up today's world-class call center. You'll learn how calls flow into and through the center, and how your call center's service product affects customers. After attending this course you will be able to "talk the talk". More importantly, you will have a renewed vision for the future of your call center and how to get there.

Course Chapters

  • Chapter 1 - Call Center Fundamentals
  • Chapter 2 - Call Center Structure
  • Chapter 3 - Evaluating Call Center Performance
  • Chapter 4 - Call Center Technology
  • Chapter 5 - Call Processing: The Life Cycle of a Customer Contact
  • Chapter 6 - How Call Handling is Tracked and Measured
  • Chapter 7 - How Agent Utilization, Efficiency, and Effectiveness are Tracked and Measured
  • Chapter 8 - Call Center Performance Factors: When Things Go Right and When Things Go Wrong

Who Should Participate

The Understanding Contact Center Fundamentals training course is ideal for:

  • IT, human resources, marketing, and other professionals that support or interface with the company call center or help desk
  • Consultants and sales professionals with call center clients and prospects
  • Newcomers to the call center profession
  • Managers and executives with call center oversight
  • Leaders charged with forming a call center department or business
  • Recently promoted agents and team leads and those with expanding responsibilities

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this introductory course.

Agenda

Day 1

The Call Center Business

Introduction

  • Overview of the Introduction to Call Centers course
  • Goals and learning objectives for the Introduction to Call Centers course

Chapter 1 - Call Center Fundamentals

  • Definition of the call center industry
  • Call center industry statistics and the industry's overall role in the global economy
  • The different types of call centers
  • Types of contact center services
  • Management goals and objectives for call center performance
  • Customer expectations and objectives and how they are managed
  • Trends for the 21st Century Call Center

Chapter 2 - Call Center Structure

  • How call centers are organized
  • Business functions and roles within a call center
    • Infrastructure
    • Agents
    • Supervision
    • Quality Assurance
    • Human Resource Development
    • Operations
    • Training
    • Marketing
    • Information Technology
    • Strategic Leadership
    • Internal (intra-company) Support Functions and Roles
    • External Support Functions and Roles
  • Call center "stakeholders" and their role in the success of the center

Chapter 3 - Evaluating Call Center Performance

  • The differences between a cost center and a profit center
  • Internal vs. external call center support
  • The meaning of "service level" and how service level impacts the call center
  • The call center Cost/Satisfaction/Value equation
  • The components of call center performance
  • The top six key performance indicators of call center success
  • The balanced scorecard concept and how it applies to individual and departmental performance management

Day 2

Call Center Anatomy, Processes and Terminology

Chapter 4 - Call Center Technology

  • How a call is delivered to a call center using:
    • Public Switched Telephone Network
    • Private Branch Exchange
    • Voice over Internet Protocol
    • Automatic Call Distribution: Skills Based Routing and Priority Based Routing
    • Interactive Voice Response: prompts, scripting and dialogue design
    • Computer Telephony Integration
  • Understand how and when technology can impact calls
    • Blocked contacts
    • Extended wait times
    • Abandoned calls
    • Self-service
  • Call flow dynamics
    • The queue
    • Fluctuating demand
    • Service level
    • ASA- Average Speed of Answer

Chapter 5 - Call Processing: The Life Cycle of a Customer Contact

  • Stages of the customer contact process
    • Scripts
    • Customer greeting
    • Issue discovery
    • Customer hold process
    • Customer transfer process
    • Customer escalation process
    • Issue resolution
    • Call wrap-up and closure
    • After call work
    • Customer satisfaction
    • Customer Follow-up

Chapter 6 - How Call Handling is Tracked and Measured

  • Key call center metrics and their importance to the call center
    • AHT- Average Handle Time
    • ATT- Average Talk Time
    • Error Rates
    • FCR- First Contact Resolution
    • Hold Time
    • Transfer Rate
    • ACW - After Contact Work

Chapter 7 - How Agent Utilization, Efficiency, and Effectiveness are Tracked and Measured Key call center metrics and their importance to the call center

  • AUX - Auxiliary Time
  • Available Time
  • Contacts per Agent
  • Conversion Rates
  • FCR- First Contact Resolution
  • Idle Time
  • OCC - Occupancy
  • Schedule Adherence
  • Staff Shrinkage

Chapter 8 - Call Center Performance Factors: When Things Go Right and When Things Go Wrong

  • Forecasting and the critical success factors
  • Scheduling and the critical success factors
  • Understaffing and Overstaffing
  • Absenteeism
  • Burnout and stress
  • Turnover and agent churn
  • Common quality issues
  • Strategies for reporting and marketing call center successes including:
    • Customer satisfaction
    • Quality scores
    • Agent performance
    • Key Performance Indicators
    • Stakeholder objectives

Registration Fees

The per student registration fee for public training and certification program is $1,795 and includes:

  • 2-day instructor-led training
  • All training materials
  • Certificate of completion
  • Refreshments each day

Class begins at 9:00 AM and ends at 5:00 PM each day.

Register securely online with confidence or please call (708) 246-0320.

Seminar Schedule
Aug 23-24, '10 Chicago, IL Hyatt Lodge
Sept 20-21, '10 Seattle, WA Edgewater Hotel
Sept 13-14, '10 Dallas, TX The Adolphus
Oct 4-5, '10 Philadelphia, PA Penn's View Hotel
Oct 25-26, '10 Las Vegas, NV The Platinum Hotel
Dec 6-7, '10 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Location to be Assigned

Maximize Your Training Investment - Attend Courses Back-to-Back

Contact Center Foundations immediately precedes these courses in select locations:

In-House Training Option

In-house, on-site training offers the added benefits of facilitated team interaction; a confidential environment where plans, processes, and policies can be openly discussed; minimized travel costs; and little or no travel time.  For support centers with a number of managers, supervisors, and team leads, on-site training can maximize your training investment.

Pricing for an on-site course delivered at your location is determined based on a "base fee" for up to four attendees, and a per person fee for each attendee thereafter.  On-site fees are all inclusive:

  • Base fee for up to 4 participants - $7,200 includes:
    • 2-day instructor-led training course
    • All training materials and shipping
    • Certificate of completion
    • Instructor's travel and lodging expenses
  • Additional participants - $795 each

Additional travel surcharges will be charged for travel outside of the continental USA and for seminars scheduled within three weeks, or paid for within three weeks, of the onsite delivery date.

The customer site must provide suitable meeting space, any desired meals or refreshments, and the following presentation supplies:

  • Two easels with paper and markers
  • LCD projection unit and projection screen

Request In-House Training

Contact Center Foundations On-Site Training, up to 4 participants, $7,200
Additional Attendees, $795 each                            

More Training and Certification Courses

See the complete calendar of RCCSP Professional Education Alliance Contact Center Training dates and locations.

For more IT, technical and field support training course options, see the RCCSP Help Desk, ITIL, and Support Center Calendar.


Dates, Locations and Registration

What some past attendees say...

"This course was well worth the investment.  It was an excellent overview for both experienced, non experienced and newcomers to the call center environment.  The instructor was great. She kept you alert and interested" -- Nancy Robitaille, Operations Manager, Olympus NDT, Quebec

"Great foundations course.  All my questions were answered and I learned a lot of new material." -- Juliana Maldonado, Call Center Outsourcing Services

"The opportunity for individual attention was key to this learning experience, as well as the instructor's ability to understand our current environment and adapt conversations accordingly." -- Vice President Operations, Centris Group

"Good speakers, great instructors, very knowledgeable. Our organization expects to realize a return on this investment in education with better methods to handle support centers and uniformity amongst support centers." -- Partner Manager, ACT, Inc.

"It exceeded my expectations.  I would absolutely attend another RCCSP training or certification program." -- Director, Help Desk and Corporate Services, Centris Group

Learn From the Industry's Leading Authorities
Recommended Follow-on Courses:
Call Center Supervisor Certification

Call Center Management Certification

Fundamentals of Workforce Management
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Terms & Conditions

Seminar provider is not responsible for losses due to cancellation.  In all circumstances, seminar provider's liability shall be limited to fees received.

Seminar agenda and assigned instructors are subject to change.

Public Training Terms & Conditions

Payment is due prior to the seminar.

Public seminar cancellation policy.  Registrants may cancel up to fourteen days in advance of the seminar start date for a full refund.  Cancellations within fourteen days of the seminar start date will be subject to an administrative fee of $400.  Registrations may be transferred to another member of your organization at no additional charge.  As seminars can be cancelled for under-enrollment from time to time, we strongly recommend that registrants traveling by air purchase only refundable tickets.

In the unlikely event that a seminar must be cancelled by seminar provider due to unavoidable circumstances, you will be notified at least two weeks prior to the seminar date, and your payment will be refunded.  Seminar provider is not responsible for losses due to cancellation including losses on advanced purchase airfares.  We strongly recommend that attendees traveling by air to attend the seminar purchase only refundable tickets.

On-site Training Terms & Conditions

On-site training fees must be paid at least three weeks in advance to reserve a training date and instructor. Additional travel surcharges will be charged for travel to training locations outside of the continental USA and for training courses scheduled within three weeks, or paid for within three weeks, of the on-site delivery date.

On-site training cancellation policy.  Preparations for training delivery will commence upon the receipt of payment in full.  Organizations may cancel up to 21 days in advance of the seminar delivery date for a full refund, less administrative fees of 25% of the base fee. If for any reason you are unsatisfied with the training, please notify the instructor by the end of the first day. If you decide to cancel the remainder of the training program, the instructor will collect all training materials.  Fees paid, less a prorata one-day on-site training base fee plus any travel surcharges, will be refunded.
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