Well, here we are once again: Hogmanay. 31st December to all of those of a non-Celtic persuasion. It’s been a fun year and I’m pleased to see our numbers in the main community growing to over 7000. We’ve seen some great discussion and welcomed a good many new ‘faces’ to the community.

I’m hoping that 2005 will be a year of tremendous development within our community; we’ll be changing things around a bit based on the past year’s feedback, and adding some new features. With some luck we’ll be able to build bridges to other industry resources and try to improve what we have already created so that it’s more useful to you all.

Personally, 2005 represents a great challenge. I’m hoping that I can rise to it and bring this site to more people and secure its long term survival. I’m also hoping that it continues to be as useful and relevant to each member’s daily activities as it seems to have been.

To do this, however, we need your support: tell people if you like what we do; spread the word far and wide, and keep coming back. As I’ve said time and again, a community is only as strong as those people who use it, and so we need you all to get involved. Perhaps you haven’t posted before - well, don’t be shy and go ahead - everyone is welcome!

Of course, it goes without saying that we wish all of our members a happy, safe and prosperous new year. Enjoy yourself, and come back soon and tell us all about it!

Best wishes,

John

A week and more has passed since my last entry - I’ve neglected my duties to bring you my rants and raves but as it was Christmas, my time was dedicated to family and friends instead of the log. I’m sure you’ll all understand.

Like most people, I was very saddened to see the events unfolding over the last few days in and around the Indian Ocean. I’m sure I speak for everyone here in saying that my thoughts are with the countless thousands whose lives have ended or will be irrevocably scarred by the tsunami disaster. I’ve not yet established whether any CallCentreGurus readers have been directly affected but I am hoping that we are all safe and accounted for.

I think it is prudent to urge each and every member to help in any way that they can; my wife and I have donated via Oxfam, and if you haven’t already donated, please do so by clicking on the link and giving what you can.

It is at times like these that we as human beings are humbled by the sheer power and authority that nature can exert. It is awe-inspiring yet scary, and it is a small blessing that such catastrophies are few enough that we feel we can let down our guards. However, nature, as demonstrated by volcanos, tornados, climate systems and of course earthquakes, must not be under-estimated.

So, though there’s nothing I can say nor do which will help (other than perhaps convincing the odd reader to donate), I just wanted to say a few words to express my sadness and concern for those affected.

John

My car’s got a flat tyre.

And it doesn’t have a spare wheel (BMW decided we didn’t need them).

This is going to be interesting…

My background is computers. I’ve been noodling on them since I was a lad, back in around 1984. So that’s twenty years, give or take. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was a veteran, but I can remember many of the computers of that time, and the feeling of excitement as I took my first tentative steps on the new frontier.

That was then and this is now; twenty years gone past and many if not all of the computer and software houses of 1984 are now no more. With a few notable (and very successful exceptions) we have lost a lot of the colour and competition which used to typify the industry.

I recall reading about a revolutionary new, single box computer with a thing called a mouse and sophisticated graphics and a new way of doing things. I recall it was called Macintosh, and as a young lad I wanted one. It did, however, take twenty years of working my way via a convoluted route to finally own one of these Macintoshes. Twenty years of grief, frustration and exasperation. Mainly condensed into the latter fifteen years of this period when I backed the IBM PC.

Retrospect being a cruel mistress, it is only now I realise how much of my life has been wasted using poorly designed computers running inadequate, unreliable operating systems. Yes, stand up Microsoft, that’s you to whom I refer. You see, it was only earlier this year that I finally found the planets in alignment and the circumstances right to acquire my first Mac.

The John of 1984 would, of course, have been astonished at the compact wonder that is the Powerbook 12. Since selling my hulking Dell Inspiron 8000 back in July, I’ve been almost 100% Apple, and generally not looking back. The elegance and thought that has gone into this little device is somewhat special; the Dell just could never compete.

However, no matter how good the hardware, what matters is the quality of the software that you choose to run on it, and in this regard the Apple is so far removed from the world of Windows that I’ve coined it a ‘colour TV moment’. Think about the day you finally got a colour TV, with push-button channel presets. Think about how much better it was to use and how reluctant you were to go back to the old B&W set. That’s it: Apple OSX is colour TV with remote to Windows’ black and white with dial and sticky tape holding the power switch on lest it accidentally switch itself off or lose the channel. You know, this analogy is good!

My path in computers took me to uni and into developing an interest in the way we work with computer systems from a usability and human factors point of view. It is in this single area that the Apple has cleared up and won all the gongs. For instance, one of the really frustrating things about Windows is finding the correct window. The status bar is a bit useless beyond a certain point, and it’s easy to lose things. Compare this to the Apple; we have the dock, which works (and can be set to get out of the way when we’re not using it) and Expose. This last feature is my favourite of all. Whatever you’re doing, hit F9 and all the windows magically shrink and arrange themselves so you can find the one you’re after. Or hit F10 and only windows from your current application do this. Or F11 and everything hides and clears the desktop, with another press restoring it. Doesn’t sound too important, but believe me it becomes a staple of productive use and for me that’s vital.

You know, I could go on about my discovery of the Apple. Like a girl you distantly knew at school, forget about and then bump into one evening and fall madly, passionately in love with, you start to question what life would have been like if we’d hooked up earlier, where we would have gone, how things might be different… but I’ll spare you all of that.

All I can say is that unless you absolutely must use a PC at work or home, saving a couple of hundred quid on a Dell is a false economy and 90% of people would have a far better time with a Mac. No bull, just the way it is.

John

Good morning all.

I was going to write a round-up of a few different things today; the iPod Photo, exchanging banknotes, airports, the evil that is Macromedia Flash. You know the sort of thing. However, that was the plan and the reality is that as I write this, I’m nursing a real humdinger of a hangover.

Now, unless you don’t drink, you’ll probably know exactly where I’m coming from; a particularly evil hangover basically takes away the will to do anything. Which is pretty much the case. That said, I’ve been away from the blog for the best part of a week and a half (yesterday’s entry notwithstanding) so I must make the sacrifice to bring this to you.

I’m sure many of you will at some point over-indulge over the next few weeks. It’s easily done and great fun at the time, though the price must be paid. In my own sad case it was a team Christmas meal; the fact that we started at around 1pm and continued well into the night made for a lot of alcohol and not a lot of sleep. Still, admire my self-sacrifice in making it in to bring you this short entry. Never let it be said that we don’t move mountains to keep y’all entertained!

In my neck of the woods, the traditional hangover cure is an Irn Bru and a filled roll. Perhaps augmented with a timely Nurofen. I’ve done all of this and I’m now waiting for results…

So, this is a rally for sympathy. My nearest and dearest is to sympathy what Bin Laden is to world peace, so I could do with some. Go on, spread a little ray of sunshine into my hungover darkness!

John

PS. We’re still waiting to hear your stories about Christmas in the call centre, or your thoughts on canned festive muzak, so please do surf on over and add your comment.

In the meantime, I shall attempt to find a dark place and lie down…

Greetings once again. I am now back from my little trip to Prague and have much to tell. However, I’ll split it up over a few days for everyone’s sake, and once I get some of the photos back.

Where did I put my Scrooge hat?

Now that we’re well into the festive season, it’s nice to see the efforts that people make in offices around the land. Often sober, drab places spring into life with a definite mood swing, a bit of colour and that certain something which typifies Christmas.

People who barely acknowledge one another throughout the rest of the year seem to start talking, and the banter increases. It’s a pity in some ways that people can’t keep this mood going throughout the full year but if doing so would mean having to hear another minute of piped Christmas music then I for one would be happy to doff the Scrooge hat and say “Humbug!".

You see, that’s one of my pet hates: Christmas songs. Not carols, which although I’m not a religious person, I can associate with the true meaning of Christmas. No, I mean the inane rubbish that crops up all over the place. At first I am oblivious to it - even if it does start to appear in late October - but after a while, like a chilling damp, it’s difficult to ignore.

A trip to the local supermarket can become torturous; the tinny screeching of Christmas hits of yesteryear played on an endless purgatorial loop. I pity the poor staff who have to put up with this each and every day during the festive period. It’s meant to be heavenly and uplifting music, but for those poor souls it must be hell!

Of course, there exists that rarest of things: a good Christmas song. Some are pretty decent, catchy tunes; others have commendable charitable intent. Nevertheless, I just have to ask myself “How do they cope?” when thinking about the folks subjected to the musical equivalent of Chinese water torture.

Secret Santa

Apart from the music, however, I’m generally pretty much in favour of Christmas in the workplace. I really like the way that teams pull together and do ‘inclusive’ things, such as the ‘Secret Santa‘. For those of you who haven’t heard of this, it’s a kind of arrangement whereby everyone puts their name into a hat, the names are mixed up and then everyone pulls a name out, the idea being that the name that the ‘drawer’ buys a Christmas present up to a certain value for the ‘drawee’. It can be humourous, useful, alcoholic, and hopefully all of the above. Apart from the fact that there’s usually someone who breaks the rules and overspends, it’s a great thing to encourage a bit of team-bonding.

Writing articles like this can feel a bit like ‘rant rant rant’ (and frequently is), but at times I like to hear what you lot have to say. So, I invite you all to tell me what festive fun is taking place in your call centre or office, or join me in the debate over Christmas music.

Look forward to it!

John

Humm,

Ok, 8:30 Saturday morning and it looks like my weekend off has just gone out of the window.
I’ve just had the can you lend a hand call…

Please someone tell me why you refit [1] your Bathroom at this time of year?

A weekend of sparking and bricklaying beckons

DaveA

[1] Full remodel back to brick nothing left but the toilet job

To quote JC: “…many people working in such systems who have sort of ‘fallen into it’ in some way.”

Isn’t this just the case - and it rings true in every job in the land. The most frustrating thing is that often these people, and John’s example is a good one, don’t understand what they don’t understand. If you’re with me?!

I had a similar problem. I was trying to show a guy how to average service level figures. The stats in question being number of calls answered within x seconds, as a pecentage of offered calls. What he couldn’t understand is that you need to “weight” the figures depending how many calls were recevied in each period.

His logic:

% from period a * % from period b / number of periods (in this case; 2 periods).

My logic:

(% from period a * number of calls from period a) * (% from period b * number of calls from period b) / (number of calls from period a + number of calls from period b).

Would he listen? Nope. His incorrect figures then went to the client - who couldn’t understand why they didn’t tally with the daily figures. Some bizarre explanation was issued and eventually he got the client so confused they gave up trying to understand. Blinded without science.

This was a professional call centre operation and they weren’t even releasing accurate figures to their clients. You’d assume that such an organistation should go out of business, but as with John’s story the practice is rife. The clients themselves don’t have the knowledge, or the time, to be able to be checking up on such things. It’s one of the reasons I decided to start my own company. I wanted to ensure that what I put my name next to was 100% correct.

There are a lot of good centres out there - but there’s an awful lot of bad ones too.

So is this morally wrong? You’re giving your client incorrect figures, and at the end of the day you don’t know how to do what you’re charging money for. Would you pay a mechanic who didn’t know how to change an oil filter? I appreciate that this isn’t malicious, it’s ignorance. But I still find it totally unacceptable.

This ignorance brings me round to my favourite topic of the moment: silent calls. We just can’t get away from it at the moment - mainly because there’s plenty of fuel for the argument and the press are more than willing to fan the flames.

The public’s getting quite angry with it - and if not controlled it’s going to turn quite nasty for the call centre industry. To my knowledge most companies keep within reasonable limits such as the DMA guidelines. However, it needs to be remembered that a lot of dialler users are not DMA members, and a lot of dialler users are not even in the marketing business. The implication in the press is that the DMA should answer for all silent calls, which isn’t correct.

But it only takes a few “Kitchen Directs” (1) to cause an awful lot of silent calls - usually multiples to the same people on the same day - and this causes the problems. These companies are ignorant to what they’re doing.

If you use a dialler, review your practice. Even if you’re convinced that you’re compliant. Make sure you stay within the DMA’s guidelines, even if you’re not a member or your calls are not for marketing purposes. Don’t let youself be one of these people that were ignorant to the diallers misuse.

Regards,
DB

(1) : OFCOM website: MKD Holdings case

One of the frustrating things about running a website these days is that there are so many other websites out there. I mean, no matter the subject, the chances are that you will be competing for your readers’ attention with a vast number of other sites.

So it is with this site. Whilst I stand firm in my belief that we are unique in what we do and our philosophy (at least as applied to our industry) it’s fair to say that we are not the only choice. There are other sites. Which means that we need to be prominent in the search engines as word-of-mouth recommendations can only go so far.

Google is the current market leader in search engine technology. It is important to be listed in the Google listings, though these days it’s not always a question of merit or relevancy but one of how much money you’re willing to pay Google. This creates a bit of an unlevel playing field, especially when a non-commercial site such as this must compete against big sites with sizeable advertising budgets.

Whether Google is just in breaking away from relevancy- and meritocratic-based search results is a subject I’ll mentally file away for a future discussion, but the fact remains that we must be as clever as we can be to ensure a clean and consistent match between search terms and our site.

I discovered recently that Google no longer guarantees to spider (and hence catalogue) sites with a lot of dynamic content. This basically applies to the custom-written community software that we use. Apparently, Google will skip dynamic pages and this means that much of our valuable content isn’t ‘visible’ to the world at large (who use the Google-based search).

This is a shame as it is this very content that might make all the difference to how someone in (say) Boston goes about running her call centre. If our extremely relevant topic doesn’t appear in the Google search results, she will not be able to find what we’ve got to offer. This is A Bad Situation.

So, it was with some trepidation and a degree of Geek Kudos that I set about creating an alias-system for dynamic web pages such as we use here. Basically, a way of handling static-like URLs and extracting from them the bits we need to deliver dynamic content. For the technically minded, I created an ISAPI URL Rewriter filter in Visual C++ which looks for particular ‘virtual’ urls and does the hard work, translating from seemingly static URLs (e.g. vtopic_4739.htm) to (hidden) dynamic URLs (e.g. topic.asp?threadid=4739).

Now, with this in place, you might find that the urls of topics appear a bit different in places. Don’t worry, the old dynamic way of addressing content remains, but now we have a way to present our discussion content to search engines in a way that they will be ready, able and willing to spider.

End result? Hopefully better Google visibility resulting in more new members bringing fresh ideas. Can’t be bad, can it?

John

PS. As I write this, I’ve modified a number of the listings’ pages (e.g. latest posts, unified view, etc.) to use this new static shorthand. However, for latest posts, I have still got some work to do to ensure that it all falls more neatly into place. Hopefully once I get back from Prague, I’ll get this done.

This is my last serious entry before I head off for my week in Prague, so I thought I’d touch on something of which I have direct experience and which I believe can be extremely unfair to those who fall under its gaze.

That topic is Management Information (MI). When applied to the contact centre, we’re talking fine-grained, fairly complex statistical analysis of Key Performance Indicators and an often obsessive worship of numbers.

The problem, I believe, is that quite often the kinds of people setting up these measurement systems are not always the sorts of people who understand statistics or workflow. For instance, once upon a time I worked with a manager who was in charge of identifying skills utilisation. She firmly believed that one could add fractions by adding the numerators together, the denominators together, and dividing the two. In other words:

Her Logic: 1/2 + 1/4 == (1+1)/(2+4) == 2/6 == 1/3
Correctly: 1/2 + 1/4 == 2/4 + 1/4 == (2+1)/4 == 3/4

You can see where this is leading. This otherwise seemingly intelligent individual was in charge of defining MI for the competency analysis wing of a large accountancy. Peoples jobs, their futures, would be subject to the relentless implications of a single person’s lack of understanding.

Of course, being the smart-arse that I was (young geek punk, heh heh) I spotted the flaw immediately. Being a contract developer at the time, my (justified) criticism was constructive and relayed in a friendly and helpful fashion. You know what? She didn’t listen. Despite protestations, said package was completed, and launched to an innocent world.

To date, I reckon this flawed logic has probably jiggered the performance and competency assessments of tens of thousands of people. All because of a rather blinkered and mathematically challenged manager who knew best.

You might think that this is a fairly exceptional case, but believe me, it isn’t. Most medium-to-large call centres use some kind of performance measurements as a basis to set targets, measure effectiveness and ultimately in many cases set bonuses for the ordinary men and women.

Yet, looking underneath the bonnet of many MI systems, statistical irrelevance, broken logic and data vagrancy* is rife. There are two many people working in such systems who have sort of ‘fallen into it’ in some way. Marketing types who don’t know what a standard deviation is, far less how to code one into a spreadsheet; fast-track types whose rapid ascendance belies no great competence at anything, you get the picture.

The basic problem is that so much of performance measurement has not been rigorously thought out. Not enough is done to ensure that the numbers are meaningful. Often, a small mathematical error may have enormous repercussions.

In short, it’s scary!

Nevertheless, companies treat the numbers as gospel. They don’t really want to go to the effort of really talking to their staff, seeing the real performance. Numbers are easy; they fit into corporate spreadsheets which make shiny pie-charts. They look complex enough to make middle management feel clever.

It’s a bad thing…

So, what can we do? I wish I had the answer. The problem is people, at the end of the day. To paraphrase Yourdon, “there are no silver bullets". In other words, there is no easy answer - it is a non-trivial task yet if we are to avoid making serious decisions on the back of spurious data, we must get the right people doing serious quality-analysis of the constituent parts which make up MI calculations.

Your comments would be more than welcome; please add them via the link below.

John

* Vagrant Data - old data which hangs about, isn’t really welcome and smells a bit funny. There’s a lot of Vagrant Data about, sadly.

Well an unusual day.

One of those where you get the feeling something’s about to go seriously wrong.
The ‘We’re doomed’ feeling.

I know what it is, I’ve a major interview tomorow and I think I’ve hit the point where I’ve done all I can think of and am certain there’s something (probably the size of a Blue Whale) I’ve missed. {1}

Oh well can’t have everything.

John and Darryl arguing amongst themselves over the headlight issue are missing the obvious one that 90% of drivers seem to be under the impression that indicators are optional after passing the Driving test. Or is my Highway code just out of date?

Anyway I’ll keep it short tonight, working on the brooding {2}

DaveA

{1} Our works party is tomorrow night. I did think the interview was Friday morning initially. Now that WOULD have been fun.

{2} Apparently I’ve got to be a ‘People Person’ tomorrow, at least until I’ve got the job

It used to be double glazing.

Then it was electric and gas supplies.

Now it’s call traffic.

How many calls do you get a day trying to sell you cheaper calls? It drives me mad. They always open with the same line as well - “We can save you x% on your calls".

Well no, you can’t. Because we’ve already switched, and we’re not interested in switching again just yet.

However annoying these calls are, it’s worth remembering a few things:
1) You do want to switch. It’s unlikely you want to stay with BT. Even if you’re on “commitment” it’s unlikely to be the cheapest option.
2) You want a 1st tier carrier, unless you want to sound like you’re calling from Mars.
3) You need to read the small print. A lot of cheap carriers sting you on “minimum call” or “call setup” charges (which are similar, but not the same thing).
4) You need to review regularly. 3 months max. Things change a lot around here.
5) Prices are usually volume related - the more calls you make the less you pay.

If you don’t know about this then there’s two ways to go: Least cost routing and carrier pre-select (which is technically a type of least cost routing). See my glossary for details.

So, it’s cheaper in bulk and you need to shop around regularly. I’m thinking that there’s lots of operations/call centre/telecoms managers who put time into this regularly. That’s when it occured to me we should get together and start a call traffic co-operative.

That way only one person needs to keep an eye on the market and move everyones’ lines when there is a better deal. Between all the CCV members we should have good spending power - and that’s got to mean a good deal. Especially for the smaller centres.

Comments, as usual, would be gratefully accepted!

DB

Will full respect John, you’re wrong. You just can’t get rid of full beams.

My Mini doesn’t have the Xenon lights as discussed, but that’s irrelevant. I just wanted to tell you that I had a Mini too - especially as we’re obviously car-name dropping!

I don’t think I’d be able to live without my full beams. Living in a rather rural area means that there’s a lack of street lights on most roads, and you just can’t see the corners coming at 60mph without your full beams. However, I also hate people who don’t turn them off - and it’s not just the old codgers. It’s the kiddies too. But the kiddies have another habit which is far more annoying than full beams, loud exhausts or Max Power stickers……….foglights.

It’s in the name. Can’t you tell? They’re lights for fog. They’re not called “nofoglights", so don’t turn them on when there’s no fog.

They don’t help you see any further - trust me I’ve tried. They don’t need to - you don’t drive fast in fog, it’s not possible. Come and see me in the peak district if you don’t believe me. Yet when the kids are tonking down the country lanes they love to put them on. I think it makes them feel mean……Arrgghh!!!

Of course the only law enforcers we have on the roads now (you know, the grey immobile things) can only ticket for speed - not lighting offences.

You shouldn’t have started me on motoring John….I’m thinking of writing about lane discipline now!

Drive safely all,
DB

As you know, we’re big fans of CallCentreVoice, the best of the online call centre discussion communities.

This is just some of my favourite topics there, and I figured some of you might be interested in reading them.

In a shameless drive to ensure we have some decent stuff to look at on the blog, I thought I’d trawl through CallCentreVoice and put some direct links into here as there is a lot of good info and discourse which perhaps new readers & members won’t have discovered.

So, here’s a selection from the CallCentreVoice archives:

• Dealing with bullying in the Call Centre
• If you think your call centre has a bad approach
• About how we’re perceived as an industry
• Bad call centre working conditions?
• Things to avoid in call centres
• Recruitment of Team
• What technology is your call centre using?
• IVR - What do YOUR customers really think?
• Is customer service delivery dying?
• Getting to know your customers
• ‘Banked Hours’ scheme

As you probably already know, sharing good operational knowledge is what CallCentreVoice is all about, and some of the things that crop up bear repeating, or at least emphasising.

Enjoy!

Due to the time of year and also the daft times that I usually have to set out on my daily travels (due in no part to traffic congestion, parking restrictions, draconian council policy and that innate sense of wanting to get home before it’s time to go to bed) I find myself invariably driving in the dark.

Now, nothing unusual there. However, is it me or are car headlights getting brighter these days? Sure, there are the blue-white style lights whose name escapes me (I should know as our recently-sold Mini Cooper S has some) and they are definitely, how shall we say, a different flavour as compared to common-or-garden car lights. However, they’re still in the minority yet despite all of this I reckon that I’m getting dazzled even more than ever.

Perhaps there’s another explanation; perhaps they’re making the dipped/dimmed lights dimmer. Or maybe my ‘auld e’en’ are getting more sensitive to bright lights. Whatever. It just seems to me that perhaps I should drive in shades at night.

Why am I waxing lyrical about this small matter, seeing as it’s almost certainly the least of most of our worries; there is unrest in the world, whole countries are starving and music is going down the pan. Real Serious Issues, and no mistake. However, none of this is going to matter when Ravnikov ploughs at full-tilt off the road and into a nearby herbivore.

So, why do we even need to have ‘full beam’ settings on our cars? Is it really necessary? Well, I generally drive ‘dipped’ and I reckon if everyone else did too, we could do away with full-beam. It’s normally overkill and old Mr Jenkins (rtd.) probably have no clue as to whether they’re dipped, full-beam or no-beam. I come across these guys all the time - 40mph out of town, no signals, oblivious to the rest of the world. Hit the 30 limit in town, still doing 40 and in a wee world of their own.

I put it to you: Do Away With Full-Beam, It’s Not The Answer.

Thus concludes this afternoon’s rant. Brought to you in association with the letters T and X and the number 12. One of these days I’ll surprise you all with a cunning segueway into a call-centre-related analogy and explode in a puff of symbolic logic. Just you see…