Last week I shared a beautiful insight into how employee engagement moderated the relationship between customer service experience results and an organisation’s revenue performance. Lovely. So whilst I am in a service industry HR frenzy I wanted to share some more detailed HR stats from the Australian industry from 2010 (2011 study is in field now, click here to participate):

• The majority of agents are employed on a full-time basis (72%) and part-time agents account for 28% of all staff in the contact centre industry.
• On average, full-time agent wages were on average AU$44,967 (base wage).
• The average hourly rate paid to part-time agents was AU$23.32.
• On average, full-time contact centre supervisors were paid an average annual base salary of AU$59,923.
• The average annual salary for contact centre managers was $96,180.
• The average number of sick days taken by agents was 10 days per annum. In contact centres with 100+ seats, the average number of sick days taken by staff in 2010 was 13 days per annum.
• 37% of agents in Australia regard their contact centre job as a career
• 22% of agents in Australia regard their contact centre job as a part time job only
• 23% of agents in Australia regard their contact centre job as a gateway to other jobs in the organisation
• 15% of agents in Australia regard their contact centre job as a transitional job whilst they wait for a different job

All so fascinating.

Almost as fascinating as the webinar we are hosting next week, where I will be talking with Chris Borg, from Club Houze as he shares his story of how he needed to rapidly ramp up a contact centre (with integrated CRM ) in order to meet a seven-fold increase in agents and a ten-fold increase in revenue within a 3 month period. Join us to hear how Chris did this and what he learned. It will be cool. Click here to register.

Earlier this year Fifth Quadrant in company with IBM researched and produced a cracker of a Whitepaper, titled Service Strategy Maturity: A Model for Business Performance. This was a study of over 100 Australian based organisations, the maturity of their service strategy and their business performance (efficiency, customer experience, employee engagement and revenue performance).

One of the key findings is noted below:

Employee Engagement and Operational Efficiency performance moderate the relationship between Customer Experience / Satisfaction performance and overall business performance.

Organisations that rate above average in terms of Customer Experience / Satisfaction performance are statistically significantly more likely to have above average Employee Engagement and Operational Efficiency performance. These two variables have a positive and significant relationship with Revenue Generation performance ratings.

This means that the study did not find a direct relationship between customer service and revenue rather an indirect relationship that was affected by employee engagement levels and efficiency and productivity levels.

This, ladies and gentlemen, straight and gay people, is very interesting.

We have long talked about happy employees meaning happy customers, a slogan which makes me want to vomit a little, but in fact now we have empirical evidence to prove that these two variables, employees and customers are intrinsically linked, cannot nor should not be untwined, and are highly dependent on each other. Only when this relationship is understood will organisations be able to optimise revenue performance.

This is so deep that I cannot write any more.

I am in a Zen state of reflection and wonder.

If you would like any more info on this please contact Chris at ckirby@fifthquadrant.com.au

He is not in a Zen state. He is in a Researcher state. Different.

He does not hear the sound of one headphone screeching in the forest as I do.

I will stop now.

Also please be sure to register for our upcoming webinar…

On the eve of Fifth Quadrant releasing its 2011 NZ Contact Centre Industry Market Report survey into field, I did want to remind you of the years that were NZ 2009 and 2010...

For the contact centre industry in New Zealand, 2009 was a difficult year with a 1% decrease in seat size. During 2009 contact centre managers predicted a 1% increase in seat size for 2010. This optimism was not fully borne out with a 2% decrease in seats in 2010. The low confidence in the New Zealand contact centre industry in 2010 looked set to continue with a further decrease of 1% predicted for 2011, along with a decrease in technology spend.

During 2010, overall for the NZ industry the key strategic goals were predicted to be 1) improving consistency of agent performance, 2) new and improved reporting/measurement and processes and 3) agent training and development.

Specifically for customer experience, contact centres in New Zealand in 2010 stated that they will focus on improving overall customer satisfaction.

With regard to revenue generation in the NZ contact centre the industry stated in 2010 that they will attempt to increase up selling and cross selling skills, improve agent training and education around products and grow their client base.

HR strategies were to centre on providing agent training, improving agent engagement and recruiting quality candidates.

Key IT strategies were to be the implementation of new technology, upgrading technology and reviewing future IT requirements.

So what do these strategies tell us about the Contact Centre industry in New Zealand in 2010 and their intentions for the 2010-2011 year? The results strongly suggest the industry was to have a renewed focus on the customer experience as the primary driver of growth and profitability. This focus was then to be enabled by considerable investment in recruiting the right people and training them on product and performance. This people focus was to be supplemented by strong investment in IT enablement of the contact centre with investment in customer related technologies: CRM; efficiency related technology: Workforce planning and quality related technology: call recording.

Have these predictions for the NZ industry come true? Will the Kiwis continue to put sheep's placenta in their face cream? Will they smash the rest of the world in Rugby? Do New Zealanders really use possum hair to make socks? What on earth does Royal Jelly actually do?

All these answers and more if you are able to participate in the 2011 NZ Contact Centre Industry survey...
f you would like to participate click here, otherwise email Susan at skealy@fifthquadrant.com.au

Rigtho, please everyone pencil in time to attend our next Webinar (no cost, as the lovely Citrix sponsor this) on 4 November, when I will speak with social media guru, Dave Carroll, who wrote the legendary song United Breaks Guitars Please don’t miss this as Dave is brilliant. We will send out an announcement soon!

Next week we will be launching the 2011 Contact Centre Industry Benchmarking survey (Aust and NZ) and I would love you all to be involved, so please look out for it hitting your inbox.

In preparation for learning about all that is contact centre 2011-2012, I thought it might be good to revisit the year that was 2010 -2011.

Key stuff included:

For 2010-2011 the Australian Contact Centre industry’s key strategic goals included:

1. Improving customer service
2. Upgrading technology
3. Instituting a cultural change in the contact centre.

Specifically for customer experience Australian contact centres focussed on:

1. Improving agent training and coaching
2. Quality monitoring 
3. Providing an overall better level of customer experience.

With regard to revenue generation in the contact centre industry we saw organisations attempt to 

1. Increase up selling and cross selling skills
2. Improve agent training and education around products 
3. Grow their client base.

Key HR strategies centred on:

1. Providing agent training
2. Improving agent engagement
3. Recruiting quality candidates.

Key IT strategies included 

1. The implementation of new technology
2. Upgrading technology
3. Reviewing future IT requirements.

Strategies for performance management in Australian contact centres included 

1. Investment in agent training and development around KPIs, 
2. Reviewing KPIs and targets and 
3. Focusing on obtaining consistency in agent performance against KPIs.

What do these strategies tell us about the Australian Contact Centre industry? These results strongly suggest the industry has had a renewed focus on the customer experience as the primary driver of growth and profitability. This planned focus was to be enabled by considerable investment in recruiting the right people and training them on product and performance. This people focus was to be supplemented by strong investment in IT enablement of the contact centre with investment in customer related technologies: CRM; efficiency related technology: Workforce planning and quality related technology: call recording.

The key themes we Analysts talked about in the industry included the coming of the multi-channel contact centre, the rise of social media in customer interactions and the importance of workforce optimisation.

But has all this happened as planned by the industry? Stay tuned and we will let you know very soon.

If you are dead keen, Aussies and Kiwis, to participate in the 2011 Contact Centre Industry Market Report study please let Susan know at skealy@fifthquadrant.com.au 

Other important facts to note for the 2010-2011 year has been the dominance of nudes and camels.

These are colours, not some weird animal cult. This is the fashion section of the blog. For the coming season there will be return to Liberace inspired extremely bright orange, coral, greens and purples. Be sure to wear these colours together in your service centre. It may encourage agents to finish their work more efficiently so they can stop looking at you. Again please note that our Fifth Quadrant fashion advice is really a service we provide for middle aged men, not the cool ladies or the immaculately dressed gay community….;)

I love New Zealanders. 

But not their sheep placenta face cream.

Each year I am invited to speak at the Contact Centre Institute of New Zealand's annual conference which was held in Auckland just over a week ago.

The CCiNZ has been established for about 3 years. The creation of CCiNZ resulted from the lack of effectiveness the broader industry association, TUANZ (Telecommunication Users Association of New Zealand) had in the contact centre industry. From my perspective, having struggled to deal with TUANZ over many years, the CCiNZ has been an amazing breath of fresh air for the NZ industry. 

Here is how a typical conversation with TUANZ under its previous leadership would go...

Me: "Hi TUANZ. We have a survey we would like you to let your members know about and then they can get a free $1500 survey just for being part of it. Can you please assist?"

TUANZ: "No"

Me: "Just one email broadcast to your subscribers?"

TUANZ: "No."

Me: "Seriously, we are about the only place they can get industry information from. Can you reconsider?”

TUANZ: "We said No."

Me: "Ok, how about you let your audience know they can come to a free breakfast seminar and I will educate them about the state of the NZ industry. For free. Surely?"

TUANZ: "No."

Me: "How about you come and do an opening speech at the event even though you are not helping us promote it?”

TUANZ: "Yes"

Me: "Ok we will confirm the day before."

Me: Confirmed the day before

TUANZ: Did not come to event

Me: After the event: "Um, were you involved in a nasty car accident or something terrible that meant that you couldn’t make it to the event to do the opening speech and not let us know?"

TUANZ: "No, we forgot to come"

Brilliant.

Anyway, that story was shared as a result of TUANZ now planning to re-enter the contact centre industry, but under new leadership of Paul Brislen who seems very nice and keen to re-establish relationships with our industry.

We however will stay firmly in support of CCiNZ who we think do an amazing job. The strong leaders of CCiNZ, Katherine, Nadine, Kaye, Angela, and many others do an outstanding job. For more info on CCiNZ and how you can be part of it please go to www.ccinz.org.nz

We are about launch our Australian and NZ contact centre industry benchmarking programme, so please let Susan know if you are keen to participate skealy@fifthquadrant.com.au

Here are some early stats we have on the NZ contact centre market and also the Aussie market...

New Zealand

Seat growth  2010-2011 4.9% 

Seats 29,580

Predicted growth 2011-2012 2.3% 

Seats 30,260 

Australia

Seat growth 2010-2011 6.2% 

Seats 211,460 

Predicted growth 2011-2012 4.1% 

Seats 220,200

Gold.

OK, so I bought some face cream from Auckland airport, just because it said, "Made with Sheep's Placenta"
Seriously, what was I thinking?

Seriously, Kiwis what are you thinking?

Only because, alongside the Canadians, Kiwis are the nicest people in the world, do I forgive you for making me spread afterbirth on my face...;) C x