Venus, Mars and the Contact Centre

I think it goes without saying that there is often a tangible communications disconnect between the contact centre and the rest of the business. While the goals of the enterprise are well understood by all (i.e., keep customers happy, earn profits and please the shareholders), how those goals are reached is interpreted in different ways by the various functions of the business. For example, marketing people may look at attainment of goals in terms of imprints and leads while the contact centre people may look at success in terms of performance metrics such as first call resolution (FCR) and customer effort score (CES). It’s almost as if the different departments are speaking different languages.

This communications challenge between enterprise functions reminded me of a book that was written in the 1990s called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. In the book,  author John Gray, PhD, discusses the relationship problems that occur between men and women as a result of fundamental differences between the genders. He contends that given the communications gap, it’s almost as if men and women come from different planets. The book sold over 50 million copies when it was first published so I think Dr. Gray was on to something. The thought struck me that perhaps a similar type of relationship problem may be the cause of the frequent communications disconnect between the contact centre and other enterprise functions.

I recently wrote an article that addresses this very same thought in my monthly Contact Centre Pipeline magazine column. In the column I introduce the idea of analytics as the solution to the communications dilemma in the enterprise. Analytics and the interpretation of data are making it possible for every function of the enterprise to understand the other.

No one makes analytics more accessible to everyone in the enterprise than Calabrio, so I invited Calabrio’s Matt Matsui to join in the discussion. Matt lays out in plain language how analytics is changing the dynamics of the enterprise/contact centre relationship. Click here to read Matt’s comments and my final suggestion for improving communications between the contact centre and the rest of the enterprise. Hint: it involves salad dressing.

Paul Stockford, Guest Contributor