By: Colin Doggett On: December 01, 2016 In: Contact Center Comments: 0

Today, call centers all over the world use CRM’s, spreadsheets and databases of every make and model to collect data. I am sure you can relate. There are as many options as there are car brands. At a basic level, these tools serve the same purpose – Data! This ever-increasing need for data continues to grow and evolve at a rapid pace.

The primary focus is on big data, understanding the customer, lowering cost per interaction and driving the ever-improving customer experience. The world within a call center is one that evolves quickly and continuously. As a call center evolves, I have noticed a trend that can start to appear that will grow into a few different monsters if not controlled.

What are the Monsters?

Collecting data elements that represented high value in the past but low value now

It is easy to fall into a trap of adding more and more fields of information for Agents to gather, fill in, and remember to ask for. My suggestion, constantly evaluate what information is being collected and the value it serves. Furthermore, regularly engaging with your Agents can be very enlightening. They can offer critical insight into why data elements are easy or difficult to gather.

Compromise to an efficient system design

So many times I hear “just add another field, drop down or element” to a CRM or tracking system. Consider the overall impact to the design of your system. Evaluating the impact to Speed of Service over a sample size can garner some surprising results. Plus keep in mind, effective communication of changes is critical to Agent adoption.

Breakdown of data integrity

Consider the total impact to your call center data when changing dispositioning. A couple important questions to ask:

  1. Will my changes invalidate my historical data in the process of improving my dispositioning/categorization?
  2. Timing the Change: How will I remember 1, 2 or 3 years from now what was changed?

We all desire to do the right thing – to provide a good answer and to improve our call centers. Having a well-thought-out change management process and structure can help keep these, and other, data monsters at bay.

Do you have data monsters in your call center? How have you learned to keep them under control? We’d like to hear from you. Please share in the comments below or drop us an email with your thoughts.