Issue 35, February 2008
2008 Annual Conference: Dynamic Programs
Planned!
If
you
haven't given any thought to attending the 2008 Annual Conference, you
should do that now! This year's conference promises to be one of
the most dynamic, informative conferences on record. The
Conference Committee has been working very hard to present sessions on
topics you really need to hear. Every session will provide focus
and clarity to some aspect of your work within the Call Center industry.
Plan to take advantage of industry experts' knowledge of winning
customers, creating profit, PCI Compliance, Home Agent Programs, Hiring
and Retention Best Practices, Benchmarking, and the essential Call
Center Forums. Join your colleagues in sunny San Diego for some
learning and networking and the best return on your professional
development dollars!
Click here for more
information and to register
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Accor’s
New Outlook on Quality
Submitted by Jenifer Gibson, Director of Operations, Accor
North America, Columbus, Ohio
Thinking about re-vamping your Quality Program? Accor did just that. At
the semiannual Global Accor meeting, each individual contact center was
tasked with building a program that centered on the cultural differences
of the guests that call our contact centers worldwide.
Once the global direction was established, each contact center set about
implementation. In North America, a focus group was assembled with
representation of every level of contact center employee. The focus
group was tasked with not only revamping the Quality Assurance form, but
developing a theme and symbolic terminology. The freedom found in
building a new form was recognizing the ability to turn a semi-scripted
call process into a free flowing exchange with the guest.
Destination: Miles of Smiles was launched in January at the Accor
North America Contact Center. The program's focus is on empowering
agents and allowing the quality assurance coordinators to evaluate based
on the impact of the call.
With a new
outlook on quality, the Accor North America Contact Center hopes to
foster a happier, more customer-focused agent who will create happy,
repeat customers.
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A Unique Approach to
Developing Managers
Submitted by Denise
Pullen, Assistant Director of Operations, Hyatt Reservation
Center, Omaha, Neb.
Hyatt has taken a unique approach to
developing its management team members. In September 2007, the Hyatt
Voice Operations supervisors and managers were each given the challenge
to complete a thesis paper on the subject of mentoring. Timelines and
due dates were provided similar to a college course. Each person was to
create a thesis statement and conduct research to support their
statement. As you might imagine, anxious thoughts and fears from
school days of writing
papers flooded back to the minds of many. Anxiety
aside, the end result was a significant growth in management and
mentoring theory that continues to have a positive impact on Hyatt’s
call center environment. The following is an excerpt from one of the
papers, completed by Derrell Chastain, Reservations Manager.
“Mentoring is an art form. There are numerous different styles and
techniques that have been used throughout history. In today’s business
world, how we coach and counsel our employees to respond to ever
changing conditions is critical to their success and survival. The
mentoring styles in previous years have been the micro-managing type.
This style can stifle creativity and limit the successes that the
company can achieve. What is required of present day managers is quite
different. Managers are required to be mentors. Not only do they play a
part in the development and growth of the company, they play an integral
part in the growth of employee’s careers. They are creating a future
generation of mentors.
The
goal of any successful mentor should be to create a self-reliant team.
The self-reliant team is one that can sustain itself and be successful
in the absence of the mentor. Once this has been accomplished, you will
know that you have become an effective mentor.” (Thesis Paper excerpt,
The Art of Mentoring, Chastain)
In future newsletters, Hyatt
will share more information regarding this creative management
development process and will also be available at the 23rd
Annual IARE Conference, April 19-23, 2008, to address any questions.
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IARE 2007 Conference Review
Submitted by Marieme Sy, Manager, Accor North America, Columbus, Ohio
I participated in the 2007 IARE conference in Tampa Bay. It was my first
time attending the conference. I had heard of it, but had never
attended. Our Director, Leesa Williams, explained to me that it would
be fun, I would not be bored and that it would be educational.
Regardless, I was still apprehensive.
As a manager who had just been promoted, my goal was to gather as much
useful information as possible. It was one of the most interesting
conferences I had ever attended. Not only I was able to learn a lot, I
was able to apply some of the information in my call center.
One of the participants in a workshop shared an incentive idea she had
used in her reservation office. I was able to adapt the idea and apply
it in my office. It was a real success! It improved morale as well as
revenue. It was also a lot of fun!
I am so excited to attend the 2008 IARE Conference. I am looking forward
to discovering more ideas and learning as much as I learned last year.
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Accor North America
is Going Home!
Submitted by Jenifer Gibson, Director of Operations, Accor
North America, Columbus, Ohio
We are proud to
announce that on October 30, 2007, we at the Accor North America Contact
Centers released two agents to work in their home. With the consolidation
of two centers into one by year end, the push was on to retain as much
skilled talent as possible and employ those agents in the @ home agent
program. With hard work and dedication from the IT, Legal, HR, and
operations department, there were 26 agents working in their home by the
close of the Springfield center on December 14, 2007. We are using
Voice over IP Technology (VOIP) to reduce the cost of a hard phone line
for the agent, Thin Clients to reduce the need for high level IT
support, and a variable staffing program to increase efficiencies for
call handling.
Agents are paid by
their phone time and are required to provide their own high speed
internet service. These agents are tele-conferencing for monthly team
meetings, and one on one performance discussions. The @ home agents are
participating in department projects, focus groups, property
presentations, and the Diversity Committee. Focus groups with these
agents have resulted in valuable feedback and best practice sharing.
Everyone realizes this is a work in progress and that changes to the
program are inevitable. All of the agents and supporting departments
have been really patient while working through the challenges and are
proud of the overall success of the program.
We are excited
about this new program and have since rolled 4 additional agents out
with plans for 30 more before the busy season hits in June. The @ home
program provides a lot of flexibility and the power to do several things
that are very important to us, one of which is employing people with
disabilities. There are many people in our community with limited
mobility that are more than capable of doing the work we provide. This
program affords us the means to create a win win situation for the
employee and for the company by allowing them to work in their home.
This
is a growing trend in our industry. We look forward to hearing about
your programs and sharing our experience with you at the IARE conference
this April in San Diego.
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IARE
Regional Meeting
Viewpoint
Submitted by Sandra McGovern,
Senior Supervisor, Hertz Corporation, Oklahoma City, Okla.
On September 25, 2007, I attended my
first IARE Regional Meeting. The meeting was held at Telvista in Dallas,
Texas. I was very impressed with the professionalism, courtesy, and
friendliness of all the attendees. I enjoyed meeting people from
different corporations and hearing their ideas, questions, and opinions.
I found the group to be very knowledgeable and open to feedback.
The meeting covered real-time action with customer feedback and how to
use the data once collected. The presentation was very informative. What
I thought to be an important point from the presentation was to make it
a priority to have quick follow up with my employees to ensure their
success and, in turn, the company’s success. There was also a suggestion
made to meet with each new employee to discuss what their expectations
are of their job duties and supervisor. This reminded me that all
employees are unique and each one requires a different management style.
In discussing how to use customer feedback, I was reminded to not only
listen to customer calls from our corporation’s perspective, but to also
listen to these calls from a customer’s perspective. One must not forget
that while measuring technical issues and legal standards, it's critical
to always keep the customer in mind! One more point I came away with
regarding measuring customer data is to only measure the data that will
be truly evaluated and utilized. To do this, ask only the questions to
which you truly want answers!
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New IARE Members
Welcome to the following new
IARE Members:
APAC Customer Services
Consistacom
National Park Reservations
Texas Digital
Wyndham
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Advertise on the IARE Web Site
Looking to reach
top decision-makers in the hospitality contact center industry? The IARE
web site
will now accept banner ads! The IARE web site is the place
where IARE Members go for industry information and is, of course,
accessible to thousands more
seeking information on this unique industry. Don't be left out,
click here to access a rate
sheet and order form.
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