Ameritas Contact Center Achieves Its Sixth Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

The dental, vision and hearing contact center at Ameritas Group, a division of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Contact centers that achieve certification are remarkable in their ability to balance a commitment to service excellence with cost effective service strategies.”

To achieve certification as a Center of Excellence, a company must undergo a rigorous benchmarking process, which compares the organization’s operational metrics to those of its peers, using the world's largest database of contact center metrics. During this process, BenchmarkPortal experts audit and verify key data from the contact center applying for certification.

Factors (called key performance indicators) such as first call resolution, cost per call, call waiting time, customer satisfaction, agent satisfaction and utilization of human resources are taken into account. BenchmarkPortal is able to scientifically gauge how the contact center being studied compares to other centers in the same industry, and if the performance of the contact center is superior. Customer satisfaction, which relates to customer loyalty and business growth, is the goal, balanced by financial metrics which show that the center is being operated efficiently.

“Center of Excellence certification indicates that the contact center delivers superior customer service within a responsible cost structure,” said Belfiore. "A great contact center operation reflects its management's passion for balancing the demands of high quality and low costs. Ameritas has shown its ability to achieve that balance through its objective performance metrics. We have validated its metrics and have certified that Ameritas is, indeed, among the best in its industry. I congratulate Ameritas on a job well done.”

“Benchmarking delivers a crackerjack profile of a contact center’s operations that can inspire management to move forward aggressively, even in a less-than-robust economy,” added Belfiore, who has been with the company since 2000.

About Ameritas
Ameritas Group, a division of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., has served customers since 1959 and today provides dental, vision and hearing care products and services for nearly 110,000 employer groups, insuring or administering benefits for more than 5.4 million people nationwide. Ameritas has one of the largest dental networks in the country with more than 235,000 access points, and its contact center has earned BenchmarkPortal's Center of Excellence certification since 2007 and was named fourth in BenchmarkPortal’s Top 100 contest in 2011. In New York, products are offered through Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York.

New Show on Calltalk Discussing WFM - Where Workforce Management Meets Workforce Morale: Lessons You Can Use

BenchmarkPortal will air a new online radio show on CallTalk discussing workforce management. Scheduling in a Call Center is very complex. Guest host Ed Poorbaugh, Manager Support Center Operations and Supplier Support, Sysco Business Services will share best practices on how to staff for OT and those undesirable shifts, as well as great ideas on ways to motivate the Representatives. Representatives are more than a resource to handle the work, they are an asset, and Ed will share ways to show them they are genuinely appreciated.

The host for this show is Bruce Belfiore, CEO at BenchmarkPortal. The guest speaker is Ed Poorbaugh, Manager Support Center Operations and Supplier Support, Sysco Business Services
The free online radio show will is now archived. Click here to listen to CallTalk, (http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/calltalk-online-radio-show/calltalk-archive/workforce-management-morale)

About CallTalk
A fun and exciting online program for education and learning, for the customer service industry. Once a month, broadcast directly over the Internet to your desktop, covers informative and educational topics that impact the contact center and customer service today.

Managing Gen Y in the Contact Center

By Greg Van Zandt, Senior Consultant, BenchmarkPortal

Gen Y, which represents 58% of the contact center work force, has different work/life expectations and interests than previous generations.  On average, by the time a Gen Y has reached the age of 26, they will have had 6 to 7 jobs.  In today’s economy, 53% of people between the ages of 16 to 24 are unemployed, the highest level since 1948.  Additionally, 77% believe they will make a job change within 2 years.

All of these factors contribute to agent churn, and as a result, management disappointment in the contact center. The question is: How do Contact Center Managers reduce turnover and keep these bright and technology-savvy resources motivated and productive?

Understanding Gen Y’s interests and what motivates them can help supervisors manage this group in a manner that benefits everyone.

Understanding these needs will help Contact Center Managers and Supervisors effectively communicate and work with their Gen Y resources:

Four significant “life needs” that are associated with Gen Y have been identified.

1. Communication (Transition from Managing resources to Mentoring)
   • Gen Y resources like to understand the details – they like to understand the "why" behind requests.
   • They like to frequently update their managers on how and what they are doing as well as learn how to work more efficiently and effectively.
2. Feedback and Coaching (Gen Y appreciates frequent feedback and coaching.)
   • Frequent “One Minute Manager” communications are appreciated – resources appreciate managers who frequently appraise their work.
   • Leverage technology for Gen Y to obtain constructive feedback – they want to be more productive and efficient and they like to use automated channels to both receive direction and express their feedback.
3. Work/Life. Balance (Gen Y desires a schedule with frequent breaks.)
   • Develop multiple part-time schedules throughout the work day – this allows resources to have diversity in their day versus a 8-to-5 type of schedule.
   • Once trained and skilled, Gen Y resources are great candidates for remote agent work that has multiple part-time schedules through the day.
4. Development & Growth (Gen Y wants to reinvent themselves.)
   • Leverage Gen Y for out-of-the-box problem solving, especially when problem involves technology. Get them involved with projects.
   • They appreciate being able to access real-time data so that they can monitor their own performance, identify areas for improvement, and be recognized for their achievements.

In conclusion, while Gen Y can represent a challenge to Contact Center Managers, by understanding their life needs, by utilizing flexible scheduling, by adding detail to communications and by providing frequent performance feedback, you may find that these resources may become among your most productive team members.

Note: This information was featured in a recent episode of CallTalk (October 17, 2012).  Kevin Childs was interviewed by host Bruce Belfiore.

BenchmarkPortal can help evaluate inbound customer service, inbound sales, outbound sales, collections, email, chat and social media operations.  For more information about BenchmarkPortal, visit benchmarkportal.com

BenchmarkPortal Announces: Panasonic’s North American Customer Call Center Achieves its Fourth Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

Panasonic Corporation of North America has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry.”    

“The quality of Panasonic products is a top priority for us as a company, but an equally important priority is the manner in which we engage with customers and solve their problems,” said Don Szczepaniak, Vice President, Panasonic Customer Experience Group. “The Center of Excellence Certification is validation for us that Panasonic is doing it’s job to reduce customer effort, and further enhance peace of mind with the purchase of Panasonic products.”

To achieve certification as a Center of Excellence, a company must undergo a rigorous benchmarking process, which compares the organization’s operational metrics to those of its peers, using the world's largest database of contact center metrics. During this process, BenchmarkPortal experts audit and verify key data from the contact center applying for certification.

Factors (called key performance indicators) such as first call resolution, cost per call, call waiting time,customer satisfaction, agent satisfaction and utilization of human resources are taken into account. BenchmarkPortal is able to scientifically gauge how the contact center being studied compares to other centers in the same industry, and if the performance of the contact center is superior. Customer satisfaction, which relates to customer loyalty and business growth, is the goal, balanced by financial metrics which show that the center is being operated efficiently.

“Center of Excellence certification indicates that the contact center delivers superior customer service within a responsible cost structure,” said Belfiore. "A great contact center operation reflects its management's passion for balancing the demands of high quality and low costs. Panasonic has shown its ability to achieve that balance through its objective performance metrics. We have validated its metrics and have certified that Panasonic is, indeed, among the very best in its industry. I congratulate Panasonic on a job well done.”

“Contact centers that achieve certification are remarkable in their ability to balance a commitment to service excellence with cost effective service strategies,” added Belfiore, who has been with the company since 2000.

This marks the fourth year in a row that Panasonic’s Customer Call Center has received recognition as a Certified Customer Call Center from BenchmarkPortal. The company strives to provide consumers with a world-class customer service experience, focusing on a “Customer First” approach to ensure issues are handled with quality and care.