New technologies are not passive — they are changing customer expectations, causing reallocations of resources, creating power shifts in organizations, and changing the responsibilities of agents and managers. The best contact centers identify the technologies that further the mission of the organization, and they implement them with the necessary foresight, planning and training.

They also recognize that an important (according to the late Peter Drucker, the most important) impact of technology is not the capabilities of the technologies themselves, but that they require you to organize your processes and information more logically. Their systems are supported by processes that ensure that information on customers, products, processes and services is current and accurate.

For example, their knowledge management systems work because they make entering and updating knowledge a priority at the point of contact. Their quality monitoring systems are valuable because they have clearly defined quality and what needs to happen to support the organization’s highest-level objectives. Their reporting systems provide essential support for making sound business decisions because they produce accurate information on the right things, delivered to the right people at the right times. Their workforce management systems work well for them because they understand and apply sound underlying principles of planning and management.

In short, they respect what technology can do but they know that it’s of little use without supporting processes and a clear direction. Some have the latest capabilities, others don’t — but what they have, they use to support their mission and most important objectives.

Excerpt from Call Center Management on Fast Forward, Brad Cleveland.