In a survey carried out by call centre software provider Rostrvm Solutions, over 70% of contact centres relied on back office teams to complete customer transactions, yet nearly half were not measuring operational performance in the back office. Another key finding was that whilst the use of Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is increasing, over half of respondents still did not use CTI in their call operations, despite the benefits it offers such as intelligent call routing and improved call handling.

Ken Reid of Rostrvm Solutions said, “We asked 50 call centres in both the public and private sectors to complete a questionnaire to gain a ‘real world’ insight into IT complexity in the call centre and the supporting back office operations and our findings suggest that most organisations struggled in both areas.”

Firstly, measuring back office performance as well as that of the front office is crucial because, from the customer’s perspective, a call centre agent can perform superbly but it counts for nothing if the back office then fails to complete the transaction efficiently.

Call centres are used to recording and analysing data to assess performance: it helps managers to assess how long it takes to complete tasks, how efficiently staff are working, and how many staff are required to handle the workload, whilst delivering high-quality customer service. It makes sound business sense that the back office team should be included in that assessment.

rostrvm BackOffice supports back office staff through the task-handling process by delivering guides, prompts and data to the user in easy-to-follow steps, as well as monitoring activity. All information gathered is stored in a management information database allowing real-time management information to be accessed and historical reports to be run quickly and easily.

Another area where cost savings can be made is by improving call handling through use of Computer Telephony Integration.

Two out of three call centres surveyed by Rostrvm still use three or more applications at the agent desktop to process transactions. Desktop optimisation technology offers many advantages in call handling and back office environments; it integrates many of the applications which teams typically use to process a transaction providing a single interface, removing repetitive data handling, reducing errors and supporting business processes. By adopting this technology, organisations can reduce avoidable contact, workload and ultimately costs.

To learn more about the specific benefits that rostrvm can bring to your contact centre and back office operation please call Rostrvm Solutions on 0800 6122 192 or visit www.rostrvm.com

Full survey details are available at http://www.rostrvm.com/desktop_survey.php