Zeacom Desktop was built over 18 years ago, Desktop is a multi-functional telecommunications application.
The software's functionality is excellent and all encompassing, having extended over the years to cater for any and every installation requirement.
So, the day came and the decision made to overhaul Desktop, the codebase, and the look and feel.
Impossible to re-present such a huge application with such a varied user base in one shot, the business identified a min set of functionality based primarily on Sales requirements.
Call centre agents were identified as the target market that offered the best ROI.
Three of us visited call centres of various high traffic businesses including CourierPost, Yello, Mercury Energy, to sit with and observe an agent each for 90 minutes. We were armed with pages of questions carefully designed to identify an agents work flow, mindset, painpoints, objectives and the reasons behind them.
Observations bore the biggest revalations although the mindset of the agents varied greatly. After observing the agents we interviewed the manager for half an hour, to see if all the situations we witnessed were reflected by the managers expectations.
The first stand out observation was that the agents barely used Desktop, the software our company builds!
After initially accepting a call, all of the agents work was done in their company's CRM(s).
The first action though was to try and get the callers name and personalise the interaction.
All agents we saw, without exception, would wait pensively clutching pens, pencils with post it's, the backs of scraps of paper - anything, listening intently, waiting for the chance to gather the name of the caller.
That initial period with the caller was the most important part of the transaction. If the caller had been waiting for a long time they would likely not be in the best mood. (Try picking up a phone and waiting for 50 seconds, it feels like a very long time!)
it became obvious that a small footprint for the application was desirable in order to fit on screen with a CRM, browser window etc. Also that timely and pertinent information needed to be presented to a busy agent obviously but unobtrusively.
On presentation of a call offering the agent is delivered a pop up notification showing the callers number and name (if that caller is in the phonebook), and importantly, how long the call has been in the queue - the wait time.
With this information the agent can diffuse any possible friction with a suitable greeting. "Hi, sorry for the wait" will help to passify the most irritable caller.
Another real change was to set up a scratch pad for the agent. The Scratch pad sits in an info panel that shows which queue the call has arrived from, and any information/notes from previous interactions the caller has had with the company.
The scratch pad allows the agent to take call notes (i.e. a new callers name) directly into the app. Those notes can be ported to the CRM, cutting down wrap up time and improving accuracy of information in a time pressured environment.
The time pressured "chicken coop" agent this part of the application is aimed at is only one of a great many user types to be catered for.
The Console presented an entirely different challenge.
