Please take part in a small experiment. For a moment, imagine what the concept of quality control in a call center might mean. Presented? Well done. Surely you have conjured up the image of a supervisor who monitors the process of processing calls by operators, and then makes them the necessary corrective remarks.
While call monitoring seems to be a mandatory aspect of quality management in every call center, there is a more meaningful, more systematic way to take care of it – a standardized quality management program.
It is important to note that a quality management program is an expensive thing. If you’ve already implemented Six Sigma or some other quality management system in your call center, it was most likely part of a larger corporate program. But, even if you do not plan such projects, if only because of the lack of sufficient resources, in your daily practice there will still be a place to implement the learned fundamental principles of this methodology and the newfound style of thinking. Let’s start with a general overview of several of the most well-known methods of formal quality management. And then let’s dive into the study of the most fashionable direction in the quality control strategy – Six Sigma.
Basic elements of the Call center Quality system
Quality management programs are not directly related to improving the quality of products or services. They aim to improve business processes. The end result may be a more reliable product, a more satisfied customer, a more satisfied employee, a reduction in operating costs, or all of the above at the same time.
Statistical Quality Control (SQC)
The SQC approach is based on two main ideas. First, what can be measure can be control. Analysis of product samples at each stage of the manufacturing process makes it possible to assess the quality at each of them and take corrective actions where necessary. SQC shifts its focus from inspecting and correcting defects in products to improving the process by which these defects occur. Those who have applied SQC in their practice have developed a range of analytical methods and ways to graphically represent quality data.
The second idea is that process improvement requires an appropriate management system. The developer of the SQC approach, Walter Schewort, suggested that managers support a cycle of four stages: Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDCA). In the Plan phase, the team considers possible ideas for improving the process, in the Do phase it launches a pilot program to validate these ideas, in the Study phase it evaluates the results of the pilot program, and in the Act phase it implements proven methods for improving the process. The team then returns to planning further improvements, repeating the same cycle.
An example of a call center SQC implementation is call monitoring, but this method is also applicable to information technology, training, recruitment and retention of personnel, and any other processes whose results are measurable.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Adopting the SQC statistical method, the TQM approach prioritizes employee motivation and other human factors in any manufacturing process. In its purest form, TQM instructs companies to avoid the traditional command style of leadership by issuing orders and monitoring their execution in favor of leadership based on corporate perceptions and shared values that will guide employees in the performance of their duties.
TQM theorists argue that its successful practical implementation requires a deep commitment to this approach on the part of all employees of the organization. In addition, TQM requires managers to be confident that their subordinates are willing and able to propose and implement improvements to the production process. So this approach may not be applicable in call centers with high staff turnover.
Reengineering
The term “reengineering” in the 80s was widely used in corporate slang when it came to the reduction of employees, in fact it means “start with a clean slate”, “reorganize the production process”. In call centers, reengineering often serves as a valuable addition to the implementation of new technology – for example, when upgrading CRM systems.
Quality System Certification
Certification (e.g. compliance with international standards ISO 9001 and COPC-2000 in the field of management and service delivery) begins with a detailed documentation of production and management procedures. The application for the certificate is subject to a rigorous, periodically repetitive inspection to ensure that all production procedures meet the basic requirements of the quality standard.
Certification is an expensive undertaking both financially and in terms of time. Outsourcing service providers often seek certification to either meet their customers’ requirements or use it as a marketing tool. Most enterprise call centers do this in the context of a broader corporate quality certification program.
Fundamental Principles of Six Sigma
The first Six Sigma system was introduced by Motorola in the mid-80s, initially with the aim of setting new SQC standards to reduce the number of defects in its manufacturing process. Quite quickly, its specialists discovered that these methods have a wider application. After the system was implemented by General Electric, the Six Sigma methodology began to attract a lot of attention. Of course, the implementation of it differs from company to company, but the following common features are inherent in all of them.
Focusing on the specific proportion of defects
Traditional quality monitoring has always focused on such a parameter as the percentage of serviceable products at the output. The Six Sigma approach turn everything upside down, making the percentage of deviations from the norm and how it can be reduced the main indicator. A level measured in sigma (e.g., 1 to 6) is a measure of the reliability of a process. So, working at the level of six sigma means that the process allows only 3.4 defects per million units (Defects per Million Opportunities – DPMO).
Despite its name and the statements of some adherents of the Six Sigma approach, it does not aim to raise the quality standard indefinitely. The main thing in this methodology is the systematic detection and elimination of the causes of defects. The optimal level of DPMO (and therefore the best level of sigma) for any process is determined by the balance between the losses from defects and the cost of improving the processes that lead to these defects.
Quantitative analysis
The Six Sigma methodology is based on the quantitative methods proposed by sqC. Six Sigma in Merrill Lynch’s customer service division and several call centers claim that the methodology uses evidence-based benchmarks that provide a complete overview of business processes, and once implement. The company’s management can make decisions base on factual information rather than assumptions.
According to experts in the field of quality control in call centers. The Six Sigma methodology is quite suitable for use in them, since a lot of data is collected there. The fact that the described methodology relies on quantitative measurement methods gives you the opportunity to demonstrate to management what you have achieved.
Critical Quality Characteristics: Call Center Quality
A significant portion of many Six Sigma implementation projects have focused on identifying aspects of the process that are critical to quality. The Six Sigma methodology provides several powerful tools to help the team working on a project. Make sure that their sample data is correct and really identify the factors that have the greatest impact on the production result.
Systematization
The Six Sigma project, built on the basis of the PDCA cycle of the SQC methodology, usually goes through five stages:
- Formulation of common definitions: Base on the strategic plans of the organization, goals are define for actions to improve the process.
- Set watch parameters. Metrics are creating that characterize the performance of the process and data is collect.
- Statistical methods and other tools are used to identify the aspects of the process that lead to the occurrence of defects.
- Process improvement. Constructive ways to improve production procedures and increase their efficiency are being sought; ideas are tested and then put into practice.
- Improvements made to the process are documented; changes are made to budgets and management systems to ensure the safety of improvements.
Role distribution
The Six Sigma methodology does not consider quality control as a separate function, but assigns responsibility for it to ordinary employees (usually managers and technology specialists). Participants learn statistical methods and other quality control methods in order to then apply them in their production activities. Taking into account the fact that the level of qualification of specialists can vary greatly, six Sigma programs provide several levels of responsibility.
The Green Belt qualification is award to professionals who training for several days, have learning the basics of the Six Sigma methodology and have acquiring the skills necessary to lead the teams participating in the project. These professionals typically devote about 25% of their working time to Six Sigma project management.
Black Belt professionals are trained for a month or longer, and they typically devote all of their working time to the Six Sigma program. They train professionals with a “green belt” and often manage larger projects. A specialist marked as a “Black Belt Master” is a well-trained expert in quality management, a mentor of “green” and “black belts”. To receive a belt, participants must pass an exam and successfully implement the Six Sigma project.
The Six Sigma methodology also has an impact on the technologies used in call centers. For example, call recorder providers are beginning to embed Six Sigma functionality into call recording tools. For example, Mercom is embedding in its challenge monitoring systems that it intends to introduce to the market this year, a correlation technology based on the Six Sigma methodology and designed to identify quality-critical aspects of the production process.
Merrill Lynch Success Story: Call Center Quality
At Merrill Lynch, the organization of work in call-centers pays great attention. So, when we were inform that the Six Sigma program there had significantly improve the firm’s performance over the past four years. We really wanted to know more about it.
Merrill Lynch call centers have already implement hundreds of Six Sigma projects. The first projects began with elementary processes, such as the duration of calls and figuring out how much time is spent on each type of call. Subsequent projects have dealt with more complex processes. A good example of such projects is the Service Ownership Project.
It is an implementation of the Six Sigma program in Merrill Lynch’s call centers, which allowed operators to delegate more responsibility and at the same time provide more tools to guarantee a high quality of customer service.
Let’s list the steps that the Six Sigma team went through, developing and implementing just one element of the Service Ownership project:
Define benchmarks.
The team identified the underlying reasons on which customer satisfaction depends (i.e., what makes a customer satisfied or dissatisfied).
Team listened to the calls that received the lowest or highest score in terms of customer satisfaction and assigned ratings to the calls based on several criteria.
The team notice that if a customer’s voice sounds hesitant, they are likely to be dissatisfy.
The specialists who worked on the project, certified according to the Six Sigma methodology, noted that if you read the recording of the conversation on paper, you can conclude that the operator conducts the conversation quite successfully, but when you listen to his audio recording, you can draw a completely different conclusion from the tone of the client. The team confirmed their observations by conducting a quantitative analysis.
Process improvement.
The team conducted focus groups to develop ideas that would reduce the percentage of “indecisive” customers. Some suggestions were very simple – for example, asking operators to offer customers to transfer the call to the supervisor’s phone if the customer is not entirely satisfy with the operator’s response. The team ran and refined the ideas on small groups of operators, then proposed ideas to improve the process, and this led to an increase in the percentage of satisfied customers for all operators.
Merrill Lynch trained supervisors and operators in new procedures and incorporated new procedures into the control plan, which the group periodically returns to.
The changes made immediately gave the company a positive result and this trend continues to this day. But you need to be prepare for the fact that the full implementation of the Six Sigma program requires significant resources. For the successful implementation of such a program, it is not enough just a strong-willed decision – this requires a team and knowledge of the methodology itself.
For example, to support the Six Sigma system, there is a whole group of certified professionals in the Merrill Lynch call center operator group serving toll-free 800 numbers, including seven Black Belt holders and one Black Belt Master. The manager and supervisor of each sector here also have the qualification “Green Belt” or “Green Belt for Management” (Executive Greenbelt). Clearly, the resources spent on the Six Sigma programme in this area are significant, but the results are worth the money.
Let’s sum up!
Six Sigma and other quality control systems cannot be consider a necessary tool for any Call Center Quality. Implementation and maintenance of formal quality programs is expensive, and therefore they are simply not available to most call centers. Successful implementation of quality control programs requires responsibility, serious and long-term efforts.
Moreover, these programs have opponents. As arguments, they put forward claims that the introduction of new management methods is nothing more than a tribute to fashion or that this is only an excuse to dismiss some employees. In many cases, such accusations are well-founded. And yet we cannot ignore the fact that many managers are satisfying with the improvements in their work that come after the introduction of the quality control system.
We have some advice for those Call Center Quality managers who are interest in implementing a quality management program. But are afraid to throw themselves into it like a pool of heads. First, you can apply the ideas of a quality management program without using its entire apparatus. Since today there are already quite a few books that set out the basics of the quality system in sufficient detail. Second, the ideas of the Six Sigma methodology can be apply to your quality assurance programs.