How Do Call Centers Transform Into Sucessful Transaction Centers?
BOSTON, MA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- April 18, 2007 -- A new report by the Aberdeen Group, a
Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), finds that 58% of companies have adopted
revenue generating capabilities by leveraging their call-centers as
transaction hubs. No longer must call-centers limit their functions to
customer support, many act as the first line of up-sales and cross-sales
generation for their organizations.
The benchmark report, Call Center: Customer Experience vs Transaction Hub,
finds that companies tapping their call-centers for revenue generation and
customer retention must ensure that they enter the foray well-equipped. The
report's author, Alan Hubbard, writes: "Implementing a transaction hub is a
fairly dramatic change within the call center. Call center agents need to
evolve from information centers to profit centers. This requires new
skills, training, processes and software." A call-center as a transaction
hub is more diverse and complex than one only suited for customer support.
Firms must establish training and processes to meet success, and implement
effective data and customer management processes, perhaps through pilot
programs.
Aberdeen Group's survey found that the pressure to retain customers served
as the primary driver in firms leveraging their call-centers as transaction
hubs. Indicators that distinguished Best-In-Class firms included customer
retention, customer satisfaction and total cost of customer support.
Sixty-three percent of Best-In-Class companies saw improvements in Total
Cost of Customer Support and a 10% improvement in customer retention over
other firms. Overall, firms that leveraged their call-centers as
transaction hubs saw improvements in customer satisfaction and customer
retention when compared to companies that did not.
The research, underwritten in part by Aspect Software and Onyx, is an
important study of best practices and success indicators for turning
call-centers into transaction hubs.
To download a complimentary copy of the report for a limited time, please
visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=3957
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market
intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more
than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely
positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating
demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment
analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets,
corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more
about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.