1to1 charts the growth of old school call centers into high-tech customer interaction centers… Despite their significant investment in technology, operations managers say well-trained employees are the most critical factor to the call center's success…Despite all the sizzle, the most critical component is the right people, reps with the right skills.

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With the wide acceptance of Ask Jeeves and scores of other dynamic, intuitive help applications, customer service on the Web has reached, well, adolescence. Across industries, U.S. call centers are gradually evolving into customer interaction centers (CICs), as operations managers review the many ways customers desire to interact with the company, to have their questions answered, products ordered, service changed or problems resolved.

1to1 spoke with a bunch of call center managers and discovered the conservative statistics appear correct: Despite the dozens of e-business software salespeople calling on these managers, traditional call centers are evolving into CICs at a deliberate pace, a cautious step behind e-commerce interaction centers. In this special focus, 1to1 looks at how some traditional companies are adapting their call centers to take advantage of e-mail and the Web, and empowering these centers with powerful new technology.

Some trends in the evolution

The Network Connection Call centers are taking advantage of shared networks, from LANs to the Internet, to allow customer service reps and their customers to share files on a computer (if not to share the whole computer). The Container Store and its customers design closet organizers together through a shared Web page; Travelocity.com's "Shop With An Agent" feature allows reps and customers to see the same Web browser, so the rep can guide the customer through the online shopping experience; IT phone reps at PSE&G, New Jersey's electric and gas utility provider, can take over a client's remote computer and maintain and repair it, an important function as the company acquires new companies beyond New Jersey. "How do we support remote offices so those folks get seamless support?" asks Jim Yarussi, the company's manager of IT client services. "Automated products let me use the network to take over their machines."

Here Comes Text Chat

At a fast pace, companies are implementing text chat functions between rep and customer, especially when dealing with valuable or upscale customers and high-margin products. "Our live Web agents are eight times more productive than typical phone agents because they can service from five to eight customers at one time," says Peter Sontag of Lowairfare.com, where text chat is a primary feature, differentiating it from competitors.

A year from now, text chat promises to be as important as e-mail in online customer service. American Airlines, Travelocity.com and Alaska Airlines are launching text chat in the first quarter of this year.

Fear of the 'C' Word

Customer service operations managers are working to correctly position their various information channels-Web sites, e-mail, interactive voice response, phone representatives-in the most cost-efficient and customer-friendly way. PSE&G's IT client services department and Expedia.com are among the companies analyzing the positioning of their various information channels. Expedia.com's CRM director Tony Gonchar says, "As we get better at this business, we can assess where [an automated e-mail response] is appropriate." Fearing the term "cost center," managers are challenged to handle the most commonly asked questions and the least-profitable customers in the least-expensive way-by posting information to the Web site and directing customers there.

Voice Still Reigns, in Places Despite its cost, voice over telephone communication is still being made accessible to customers by many companies, such as those in retail as well as, obviously, in the telephone industry. "The majority are still calling in," says Clay Weekes, director of retention at SBC Communication, a national provider of residential phone service and related products. "They want the personal touch going over their bill. There's no way electronically you can show them a picture, go to page three of their bill, go line by line so you can explain it."

Powerful Applications Empower Service

For such telecomm clients as SBC Communications and SNET Wireless, CIC vendor CustomerLinx uses Quadstone's analytical software to evaluate outbound sales calls on a daily basis, and improve the effectiveness of the calls as each day passes.

TRX is a reservation and customer support provider for a number of airlines and travel agencies, and its proprietary technology automates the quality control process in travel reservations to ensure the ticket is issued correctly and the customer's preferences are filled.

The company has automated 97% to 98% of quality control in the ticketing process, compared with a traditional reservation where an agent has to key in 50% of the necessary data.

Applications Must Integrate Operations managers are requiring that new CIC applications integrate with other technologies used within the centers, for example, to be open and adaptable enough to integrate with product databases, customer databases, e-mail management, personalization engines and data mining tools. For one, home care and cleaning manufacturer Bissell found it a challenge to integrate its product and customer databases. Brian Verlinde, Bissell's manager of e-commerce and CRM, says, "It has been somewhat of an implementation, having our Onyx customer database talk to our back-end database showing product availability [for when] a customer calls and wants to know where their order stands, or if this product available." He adds the call center worked out the problem before they went live with Onyx.

Separation of Offline and Online Service

A good one-third to one-half of clicks-and-mortar companies are outsourcing their e-commerce customer service or launching separate call centers to handle online customers. Why? "It's too expensive to overhaul traditional call centers and replace legacy systems." "Online shoppers have their own unique needs and means of communication." "To bypass the union."

Employees Most Critical to Success

Despite their significant investment in technology, operations managers say well-trained employees are the most critical factor to the call center's success.

Formerly called customer service representatives but now known by a range of monikers such as customer solutions reps, e-specialists and technical reps, these front-line employees are undergoing continual training on new hardware and software to boost their skill sets. "Despite all the sizzle, the most critical component is the right people, reps with the right skills," says Jeff McDermott, CEO of CustomerLinx, which operates three CIC facilities staffing 1,000 "Linx Reps." Seconds Yarussi, "It comes back to hiring and recruitment. Our people are willing to take on additional responsibilities, to share knowledge with each other and to accept change." Of course, technology vendors say technology is equally important as employees to a call center's success; at least they're right in claiming the right technology gives a competitive advantage.

E-commerce Sites Experiment With E-service

E-commerce companies are at the forefront of implementing the most state-of-the-art online service technologies. Forward-looking applications include: live video and audio interaction between rep and customer, such as eLive!'s product; virtual sales agents that guide the shopper through to purchase, as in Finali's NetSages; voice over Internet, from Net2Phone and others; and animated voice navigators, such as the IVAN product from OneVoice Technologies. But these technologies have a long way to go to prove their usefulness in the market. In the meantime, managers are being challenged to deliver quality personal service to differentiate themselves from competitors and to satisfy the demands of customers. Says TRX president Trip Davis, "It's a period of transition and implementation."