In recent years, there has been a lot of attention on contact center “optimization.” To many, optimization is synonymous with driving costs out of the business — moving contacts to lower-cost channels (self- service, etc.), reducing human contact with the customer, and driving down handling times.

“This is all wrong,” says consultant Mary Murcott in her book, Driving Peak Sales Performance in Call Centers. “This is not optimization; this is driving a distorted view of efficiency even further down the current wayward road.”

According to Murcott, true optimization means optimizing business outcomes like customer loyalty and revenue. Significant performance improvement requires moving away from “ancillary measurements,” such as cost per call, and instead focusing on channel profitability and loyalty.

In an era when products and services quickly become commodities, customer contact services represent significant differentiation and value-add opportunities. Do you and the rest of your team realize the potential of your services?

Excerpt from Call Center Management on Fast Forward by Brad Cleveland