From November 2007

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Wearing PJs to work
At first, the idea of being monitored and evaluated on a regular basis was an adjustment for most Vermont Teddy Bear agents, given the company’s history of – and continued efforts to create – a fun contact center atmosphere where wearing pajamas to work is welcomed.

“And they’re living in Vermont, [where] you have a very relaxed environment,” he says, “so early on this was a rather large shock.”
Now, d’Andrea says he sees “absolutely no rolling of the eyes” and insists the agents have embraced the Click2Coach technology as a way to improve.

Smith recently hosted a call-in session of contact center leaders from several companies, during which the subject of blending agents across communications channels was discussed. Most who talked during the call said they still keep agents separate so that one group handles calls, while others handle e-mail and chats.

Vermont Teddy Bear fits that mold. The company has, however, meshed the type of merchandise that its agents must handle. Before, some agents dealt only with the bears, while others might take orders for pajamas or flowers. “But the solidarity was missing and we wanted to change that,” d’Andrea says. Now, agents take calls for all concepts.

Even if telephone agents aren’t communicating with the public via computer, Envision’s monitoring system can capture what is going on with their computers during the calls.

Capturing voice and screen records simultaneously is becoming the norm, according to a 2007 Forrester Research report on contact center quality monitoring software.

“Companies first began using this software to abide by compliance regulations,” the report states. “However, it is increasingly used to provide quality assurance for interactions, gather business intelligence, aid in individual agent performance management and identify areas for agent development and coaching.”

The additional information is valuable, Smith says. “When you were monitoring only the calls and an agent said, ‘I’m sorry, my computer is really slow today,’ you didn’t know if that was what was really going on,” she says. By capturing screen information, supervisors can tell if that agent’s computer was actually slow, or if that was only an excuse to disguise her own problems or distractions.

“With this, you see the whole picture,” Smith says

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