Agent Empowerment

[ctaylor]

I am presently working with a client and we want give the agents more empowerment to act in the customers best interest, however there are concerns that it will be difficult to track when and where the agent is empowered to 'go the extra mile'.

I would be interested in hearing from others on how you have addressed the same question. How have you dealt with empowering your agents and how have you controlled this process to keep it from getting out of control.

Colin

[NBosch]

Dear Colin,

Agent empowerment is a good thing but depends heavily on 2 factors; the level of the agents and control.
Also the branch that the CC is working for, has influence on the level of empowerment.

Based on my experience, I can best speak for a technical CC ( allthough I think that this is a financial institute ).
All my CSR's in 2nd and 3rd level, have total freedom of decision when it comes to necesary actions to guarantee customer satisfaction, on product level.
This not only goes for in warranty repairs, but also for cost calculations when a product has to be replaced or repaired out of warranty. Within the multimedia branch, this is not uncommon, allthough I think not many companies let their CSR's decide on a swap transaction for a notebook (which I don't have a problem with).
However, they do not have any say in logistical solutions ( courier, 4 hours delivery services etc. ). This is the role of 2 escalation teams ( B2B and End User) who got total freedom of decision on every level.

All data is weekly monitored on an individual level ( this is a relative small CC with approx 80 seats and 120 FTE ) and in the case of extremities, I can track it to the person responsible.

I forgot to mention one important aspect; I have a very dedicated team ( monthly attrition below 1%, illness arround 2% ) who value this trust in them very highly.
Over the past 2.5 years, we had only 1 (!) documented case of abuse of freedom.

[ExplosiveScriptsMan]

It usually depends on the size of the operation. Smaller operations tend to be easier to monitor and this "empowerment" of the rep will tend to be more controlable. I would reccomend a plan of action that would include the following

-System for monitoring calls for abuse
-Tracking system for detecting abuse
-Setting a goal for target use
-Proper training of reps on this new empowerment and how to properly use it.

If you would like more help with this feel free to contact me at chris@explosivescripts.com