Despite the credit cruch, 80 Contact Centre Profressionals gathered on 1st October for the Planning Forum's first event in the City of London - looking at End-to-end service and back office planning. Sponsored by AOM and XTAQ these twin seminars included the chance to hear from and meet with many suppliers and other industry professionals, with topics for the seminars chosen through feedback from Planning Forum members. Take a look at the presentations below for more information - or watch this space for a fuller event report.
The day opened with introductions and two keynote presentations - from Paul Smedley, Executive Director of the Professional Planning Forum on “Integrating front and back office to drive customer experience” - and by 2008 Innovation Awards winner Graham Angell from EDF Energy detailing the great work they have done in the fields of End to End service and Back Office Planning. At the morning break, the event then split into the separate seminars.
Back Office Planning Seminar
The Back Office Planning seminar sponsored by XTAQ had a number of presentations from various software and process vendors discussing different approached and tools available in this field. The underlying message from all presentations was very clear that the Back Office environment is an area that is under developed in terms of planning disciplines, but it is not insurmountable and all presenters encouraged all delegates to make the first steps on the journey as there are huge benefits are to be realised from any organisation who undertakes the challenge.
Other messages that came clearly from the all the presenters is that Back Office environments are VERY different from Front Office / Call Handling environments and therefore different methodologies and approaches must be considered when looking to plan for this environment, it is not about queue management, it is about workload management. Also, the journey of introducing planning in the Back Office environment is a long and difficult journey, but the benefits experienced are often felt beyond the Back Office alone as highlighted by EDF Energy, who explained that their Front office Forecasting improved by 20% as understanding their Back Office help them understand their call drivers better and the full end to end customer experience.
Presentations from the Back Office Planning Seminar can be dowloaded below and include;
- “Operational Intelligence for the Intelligent Operation” by Spencer O’Leary, Business Development Director for XTAQ
- “Performance Management & Data Integrity” by Tim Becker, Client Engagement Manager for eg solutions plc
- “Faster, More Cost-Effective Delivery with Workforce Optimisation” by John Bailey, Consultant for Enterprise Solutions Verint, Witness Actionable Solutions
- “Back Office Planning” by Emma Price for Active Operations Management International
- “Case Study – Back Office Planning” by Graham Angell, Head of Resource Planning for EDF Energy
End to End Seminar
The End to End seminar, sponsored by Active Operations Management International (AOM), focused on how the alignment of the front and back office areas is key to delivering for our customers. In some organisations end-to-end service is already even including fulfilment and branch networks. A clear message from the days presentations is that we need to take the customers view of the service no matter where they choose to enter your organisation and looking to drive real improvements for the customer journey.
Presentations from the End to End Service Seminar can be dowloaded below and include:
- “How to see the whole picture and manage the supply chain” by Emma Price, Active Operations Management International
- “The Ripple Effect of Back Office Operations on the Customer Experience” by Daryll Demos, Verint, Witness Actionable Solutions
- “The cost of not having end-to-end vision” by Tim Becker, eg solutions plc
- “Thinking Governs Performance” by Will Pyke, Vanguard
- “Measurement and action with Skyline, Building a best practice model” by Ian Morton, Budd
To see the agendas follow these links for EndtoEnd Service or Back Office Planning