This post has been written by guest author Paul Stockford of Saddletree Research.
What is the “quality management renaissance”?
When I think of the word “renaissance” the first thing that comes to mind is the Renaissance period in European history, which lasted from the 14th century to the 17th century and is considered the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. I’ve also heard the term “renaissance man” tossed about in reference to someone who has wide interests and is expert in several areas.
Lately, the term “quality management renaissance” is one that I’ve been using to describe the state of the quality management segment of the global contact center market. “Renaissance” is defined as a revival or renewed interest in something. There is undoubtedly a renewed interest in quality management as validated by recent research conducted by Saddletree Research in conjunction with the National Association of Call Centers (NACC) at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).
As I highlighted in a recent webinar, Saddletree Research surveyed 143 contact center professionals in the second half of 2017, gauging their interest in/attitudes toward a number of contact center industry trends and issues. The research is representative of the industry with a 95 percent confidence level and a margin of error of 3.6 percent. What we discovered, among many other things, was a strong correlation between the state of the quality management market segment today and the industry’s commitment to employee engagement.
Quality management boasts the highest degree of penetration in the North American market today with 92 percent of all contact centers currently using quality management. The remaining 8 percent stated their intention to evaluate quality management for purchase in 2018. Of those currently using quality management, 12 percent stated their intention to upgrade or replace their current solution in 2018. That adds up to 20 percent of the market, or approximately 14,600 contact centers, that will replace their quality management solution this year.
We believe this strong interest in upgrading or acquiring quality management is being driven by the influence of the next generation of contact center professionals – the Millennial generation. These next-gen workers demand, among other things, an open and honest relationship with management, management transparency, a collaborative approach to work, and a clearly defined path for attaining career goals.
The importance of employee engagement
During our survey research we also discovered an unprecedented interest among respondents in employee engagement. Beyond simple employee relations, employee engagement means management must work to ensure the employee feels connected to the company and enthusiastic about his or her work. While the employee is motivated to further the organization’s interests, they also experience job or career fulfillment leading to employees who are proving to be more productive. The chart below illustrates the survey responses to the question we posed regarding attitudes toward employee engagement.
This data, combined with what we know about Millennial workers’ preferences, leads us to conclude that traditional quality management techniques, such as monitoring a small percentage of calls each month and coaching with a focus on interactions that include specific words and phrases, are becoming obsolete in the new era of customer experience management and employee engagement. Today’s quality management demands an analytics-driven approach that reviews all of an agent’s calls in any given period, assessing a comprehensive portfolio of key performance indicators that provide a true measure of the agent’s abilities as well as the customer experience.
I recently participated in a webinar with Matthew Storm, Product Marketing Director for OpenText™ Qfiniti, that discusses this topic. The session is available for playback and the on-demand webinar covers:
- The renaissance of quality management
- Employee engagement best practices
- OpenText Qfiniti innovations in automated quality management and coaching
- OpenText Qfiniti Demonstration
- Q&A session on incorporating customer feedback and historical data
I encourage readers to watch the webinar today and get the full picture of how quality management strategies must change to meet the needs of today’s customer service professionals.
