What Is The Unified Desktop

Within the contact center world, there is a lot of talk/discussion and numerous white papers on the unified desktop.

But what exactly is the unified desktop?  Is it just a grouping of programs that can be easily accessed?  Is there more to the unified desktop?

Lets start by providing an example of what unified desktop is by making an analogy to something we use everyday – the (lowly) cell phone.

In the old days, you had a cell phone.  It kept basic information, but you also had your desktop PC or notebook that held your contact list and other information that would be pretty useful if you were someone that was always on the road and travelling.

Maybe you had a PDA (personal digital assistant).  They were the rage, weren’t they?

You needed something – you started up your laptop and retrieved the information.

What a pain.

In comes the first of the smartphones – the BlackBerry.  Now you could get your corporate e-mail routed to your BB, you could even carry your documents with you.  Unified communications.

Out comes the Apple iPhone and now not only can you get your e-mail, but you could VPN into the corporate network and work as-if you’re in front of your PC.  Unified communications.

The unified desktop is very similar.  The unified desktop takes all your applications and converges – or integrates – them into one “super application”.  Think about it like this, depending on the industry you are in your customer service agents may need access to 5 or 10 application in order to fulfill certain requirements.  You could have the following:

• Accounting applications (billing and accounts receivable)
• Order placement
• CRM (Client Relationship Management) tools
• Inventory
• E-mail
• IM
• Softphone
• Knowlegebase

Though this presents a high-level overview, it is entirely possible that each item above is composed of one or more applications.

Trying to train and then have your agents navigate through dozens of applications is not an easy task.  You will build process upon process to handle simple enquiries – your agents may spend more time learning the process than mastering the tasks that are required to fulfill the job requirements.

The unified desktop integrates everything into one application, so that a look-up or change in one automatically makes updates in related applications.  It simplifies logins as well, the user doesn’t need to remember a dozen passwords but only one.  If they forget one, IT can reset one password.  If they forget 3 passwords, IT is working with multiple applications and resetting passwords.  Mulitply that by the number of customer service agents you have in your group.

There is a very good article on Contact Professionals’ website – http://www.contactprofessional.com/issues/article.asp?ID=375 that will give you more information about the unified desktop as it relates to the contact center.

So why would anyone want to spend the money on a unified desktop for their contact center?  Simple…

• Improves first call resolution
• Improved customer experience – they are not constantly on hold, or transferred from one department to another
• Improved agent satisfaction – agents don’t need to struggle to learn multiple applications or memorize dozens of logins
• Reduce call handling times – everything is in one place, you don’t need to keep 20 windows open on your desktop
• Reduced training costs – focus on building product knowledge, not application knowledge; spend less on building detailed and intricate processes to handle every issue the arises
• Reduce agent churn – a happy agent will stay with your organization; this will reduce costs overall with hiring and training new staff

The key in any contact center is to reduce costs.  It’s not always efficient to reduce staff as there will always be a need to retain staff to a certain level – so you need to look for operational efficiencies by looking at those items that are within your control that you can make changes to.

I would love to hear your take on the unified desktop, whether you use it in your organization and what types of results you’ve had with a unified desktop.

Everyone Has Accomplishments

From time-to-time I help friends and friends-of-friends with their resumes, or job search efforts.  When I initially take a look at their resumes, they are very boring.  There is nothing there to excite me about them.

So I start asking the individual questions about their current job, what their dream job looks like and about their accomplishments.

That’s the trigger word: accomplishments.

When I ask this, most just look at me.  Then they say “well, I didn’t accomplish anything.  I’m just a programmer” or whatever their job is.

But this is where you are wrong.  You probably HAVE accomplished something.  Perhaps you coded some new procedures/functions/scripts that enhanced an application?  Maybe you helped design part of an application?  Maybe you even streamlined code that allowed the application to work faster/better/with less errors.

These are ALL accomplishments even if they were part of the job.

For example – as Director of Customer Support and Operations it’s my job to ensure that we meet service level agreements – the fact that I meet them is an accomplishment eventhough it is part of what I have to do.

It’s called “tooting your own horn” and friends, when you’re looking for a new job or the first job you do toot as much as you can BUT remember that you need to toot in such a way that you also show the value you will add to the prospective employer.

Now there are individuals out there that may not get the opportunity to make changes in their workplace, in some companies processes are so tight that you cannot make changes for various reasons – legal, regulatory etc., but there are always ways to streamline what you do — that is an accomplishment.

Let me give you another example.  One of my CS Agents prints out any memo that I send out and puts them into a binder.  He then builds his own “process” to handle those specific events.  He’s developed his own processes to handle those issues – that is an accomplishment.  He can bank that on his resume.

He can safely put on a resume “developed my own processes to deal with customer service issues” and in an interview expand upon that.

Regardless of the position you are in, you have the opportunity to enhance your work by looking at what you do and seeing if there are ways to improve upon it.  If you have spare time after having completed a project, look at it again and see if there is any way to optimize it.  Maybe there isn’t a way — but isn’t it better than just sitting around?

Be proactive in your career and you will find hidden gems that have the potential to propel you forward.

Checklist For Developing A Training Program

Whether you are considering a continuous program or a one-shot course, the questions should stimulate your thinking. Many of them involve alternatives that you need to resolve in setting up the program.

Use this checklist as a guide. The experience of other companies in training can provide additional guides. However, in thinking about a training program for your company, consider each question and answer with a “yes” or “no” in light of the training needs of your particular situation.

This is Part 1 of a multi-part series of posts on Developing a Training Program.

What Is the Goal of Training?

The questions in this section are designed to help the owner-manager define the objective or goal to be achieved by a training program. Whether the objective is to conduct initial training, to provide for upgrading employees, or to retrain for changing job assignments, the goal should be spelled out before developing the plan for the training program.

• Do you want to improve the performance of your employees?
• Will you improve your employees by training them to perform their present tasks better?
• Do you need to prepare employees for newly developed or modified jobs?
• Is training needed to prepare employees for promotion?
• Is the goal to reduce accidents and increase safety practices?
• Should the goal be to improve employee attitudes especially about waste and spoilage practices?
• Do you need to improve the handling of materials in order to break production bottlenecks?
• Is the goal to orient new employees to their jobs?
• Will you need to teach new employees about overall operations?
• Do you need to train employees so they can help teach new workers in an expansion program?

What Does the Employee Need to Learn?

Once the objective or goal of the program is set, you will need to determine the subject matter. The following questions are designed to help you decide what the employee needs in terms of duties, responsibilities, and attitudes.

• Can the job be broken down into steps for training purposes?
• Are there standards of quality which trainees can be taught?
• Are there certain skills and techniques which trainees must learn?
• Are there hazards and safety practices which must be taught?
• Have you established the methods that employees must use to avoid or minimize waste and spoilage?
• Are there material handling techniques that must be taught?
• Have you determined the best way for the trainees to operate the equipment?
• Are there performance standards that employees must meet?
• Are there attitudes that need improvement or modifications?
• Will information on your products help employees to do a better job?
• Should the training include information about the location and use of tool cribs and so on?
• Will the employee need instruction about departments other than his or her own?

Additional topics which will be covered in subsequent posts will be:

What Type of Training?

What Method of Instruction?

What Audio Visual Aids Will You Use?

What Physical Facilities Will You Need?

What About Timing?

Who Will Be Selected as Instructor?

Who Should Be Selected?

What Will the Program Cost?

What Checks or Controls Will You Use?

How Should the Program Be Publicized?

In addition to providing a simple checklist that you can follow, we will drill into each of the topics to provide more valuable information.

Over time, each of these topics will be linked and we will feature the primary post on the right sidebar menu for easy access to this valuable information.

You are welcome to share your experiences on this topic by leaving a comment or if you wish, we would happily accept you as a guest poster to the blog – either way, just leave us a comment and we will be in touch!

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