A Lean Approach to Improving Service

Call Center Performance

Jyoti Govekar and

Prasoon Agarwal 8

With increasing competition, expanding globalization and demanding customers, the playing field in the service
call center (SCC) industry has changed rapidly, as phone banks have evolved into multichannel contact centers.
Many organizations have realized that the key for survival is efficiency and effectiveness, with a focus on
productivity and customer experience.
Lean techniques, which focus on waste elimination, have provided large-scale benefits to manufacturing
industries. However, the Lean approach also can help SCCs map their value streams, standardize operational
processes and drive continuous improvement on the floor. By using Lean tools, SCCs can transform themselves
from a cost center into a profit center, as well as increase market share and enhance the customer experience in
a competitive global economy.

Average Handling Time

The productivity of a voice-based SCC is measured in terms of average handling time (AHT), which is the
average time it takes for a service representative to resolve a customer query, request or complaint, measured in
minutes or seconds. Typically AHT begins the moment the customer initiates the call and includes talk time, hold
time and related tasks that follow the transaction.
AHT is calculated as:
(Total talk time + Total hold time + Total after-call wrap time)
Total number of calls handled
The presence of non-value-added (NVA) activities on service calls increases the actual talk time, which can
provide more opportunities for fatal errors that can impact the customers experience. Some examples of these
fatal errors include giving the wrong information to the customer, denial of service, rudeness, call disconnection,
call avoidance or an incorrect service request creation.
The following table lists the different forms of wastes identified in several Lean studies that were conducted in
voice-based SCCs operating for domestic as well as international clients.

NVA types

Long Call Scripts

Unstructured Scripts

Definition

Lean Waste

Long opening, empathy, paraphrasing,

Over processing /

closing scripts

NVA

Useless scripts used increasing

Defects, over

Customer interruption/ argument

processing / NVA

Applying Lean in 5 Steps

Impact on

Impact

Productivity

on CE

Irrelevant Probing

Questions not pertaining to the issue

Defects, over

processing/ NVA,
motion
Repeated Customer Interaction/

Customer interrupts when all the

Defects, over

Interruption

required info not given at a single

processing/ NVA

instance
Repetition of Associate Queries

Same questions repeatedly asked by

Defects, motion,

the associates and the customer

over processing/
NVA

Dead Air

Situation when both Customer and

Waiting, defects,

associate not conversing to each other

over processing/
NVA

Hold Time

Placing the call on hold

Waiting, defects,
over processing/
NVA

Transfer Time

Transfer time to another queue

Waiting, defects,
over processing/
NVA

Unnecessary Customer Validation Customer validation done even when

not required

Over processing/
NVA, defects,
motion

Lack of Multitasking

Multitasking in terms of usage of tools

Waiting, NVA

on computer and talking to the

Customer at the same time
Search Time On

Navigation time on the systems finding

Waiting, inventory,

Portals/Systems/Applications

difficult to search the information

motion

The Lean approach focuses on continuous identification and elimination of waste and NVA activities, which can
help improve operational efficiency in a voice-based SCC. Lean plays a major role to help reduce any waste or
NVA in an inbound or outbound call, thus reducing the transaction time. The shorter calls also improve the
customer satisfaction and reduce the number of repeat calls by providing only valuable information to the
Customers.
To launch a successful Lean program in typical voice-based SCC environment, be sure to follow these five steps:
1. Capture the voice of customer (VOC) Obtaining feedback helps practitioners understand the pain areas of
internal and external customers, and also for setting expectations. VOC can also be used for identifying the
stakeholders affected by the problem.
2. Define the problem statement This process provides a map for baseline processes and metrics associated
with the problem. Defining the problem also helps process improvement teams calculate the expected cost
savings from the Lean improvement project.

3. Map the value stream This exercise takes into account all the touch points of the process that add value to
the processes and systems, starting from the suppliers and ending at the customer.
Value stream mapping (VSM) is a strategic improvement and planning tool that can help identify and measure
waste in an inbound or outbound call. The purpose of VSM is to look at the flow of conversation, the systems in
use and the time required at each stage from the start of the call until the customer hangs up.
To understand how a particular SCC process works, practitioners can create a current-state VSM (CSVSM),
which shows the as-is call flow with the NVAs and other wastes shown at each stage of the call. The time
accounting to these NVAs increases the AHT. CSVSM can be used as the basis for identifying the improvement
opportunities with a view of reducing the wastes over time. A future-state VSM (FSVSM) can then be designed
for the call flow minus the NVAs and wastes. Moving from CSVSM to FSVSM improves the process cycle
efficiency, which helps in reducing the wastes and thus the AHT.
4. Identify waste By pointing out the instances of muda (the Japanese word for waste) and other NVA
activities in the entire value chain, practitioners can identify and target major areas of improvement.
One method that is instrumental in identifying opportunities for improved efficiency is the time and motion study.
This scientific technique can be deployed in an SCC to capture the elements in CSVSM and establish the correct
split in value-added and NVA activities, based on a sample size with a 95 percent confidence level and standard
deviation of the population.
Time and motion studies focus on standard workers and a concept of rating for capturing the standard time to do
a job. Similarly, to minimize measurement errors, it is important to implement measurement system analysis in
the study, such as gage R&R, a statistical approach that can help measure the amount of variation in the
measurement system.
5. Eliminate waste This can be accomplished by implementing an improvement action plan. Adding a control
plan as a final step will ensure that benefits are sustainable.
Based on the findings of the time and motion study, brainstorming sessions can be conducted by the Lean
project team to uncover NVAs and wates. Subsequently, multi-voting can be used to prioritize the top NVAs that
contribute to 80 percent of the problem. This practice of identifying and eliminating wastes in voice-based
transactions can form a part of the Control plan. Quality auditors can set up an NVA measurement system, with
regular audits focusing on NVAs, feeding it back to operations and training for necessary preventive and
corrective actions.

The Way Forward

Lean has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of manufacturing organizations. The approach has
streamlined workflow, reduced defects, eliminated waste and resulted in improving the overall customer
experience. In the call center environment, SCCs need to replicate the Lean manufacturing processes in their
routine schedule.
With an ever-increasing focus on cost and efficiency improvement, Lean provides a perfect opportunity to
achieve more output with fewer resources. The principles of VSM, poka yoke, 5-S and and the Toyota Production
system can be applied in SCC environment to improve operational efficiency and customer experience.
When recruiting qualified employees, hiring managers at call centers need to consider the feedback from the
operations and training departments with regard to background and experience. This will ensure that defects in
processes are not passed downstream. Similarly, the quality assurance team should provide regular feedback to

operations on the NVAs observed in the process. This not only helps to drive continuous improvement on the
floor but also assists the training team in assessing the requirements for both fresh and experienced SCC
workers.
Service call centers can become Lean by first developing the awareness and intolerance of waste within all the
operating functions. The waste consciousness should pervade the entire organization in such a way that people
begin seeking improvements and challenges proactively, even in the least structured activities, to ensure that
they align to customer value and business goals.

Many of you are probably familiar with Six Sigma as a method to continuously improve
quality or efficiency. The Six Sigma method can be applied to production facilities,
business processes and your Customer Service Chain!
Six Sigma spans a number of areas but one part of Six Sigma that interests me
specifically is called Muda in Japanese and means waste. Removing waste from a
process, product or service reduces cost, increases quality and improves consistency.
Lets take a look at 8 specific forms of muda:

So how do these 8 wastes relate to your Customer Service Chain?

Talent: Not testing and thus not knowing your true employee skills means you cannot
send interactions or work-items to make use of these valuable skills. It means you could
be loosing-out on the time it takes to handle a certain task.
Inventory: Not knowing current state of your inventory means you cannot staff
effectively and you may increase backlogs. Backlogs are costly for you and frustrating
for your customers.
Motion: If you do not have visibility over how fast (or slow) work items move forward,
then you cannot efficiently manage the service level you promised to your customers.
Waiting: With many BPM & CRM applications, work items sit there and wait until the
organization is ready for the next step to be taken. It means service levels are under

pressure and customers might start contacting you to understand what progress had
been made on their request.
Transportation: A work item transported to the wrong employee results in valuable time
being wasted and the work item needing to be transported to another employee. If this
happens often then you are clearly wasting valuable time.
Defects: Because you might be transporting the work-items to unskilled employees, you
could be introducing errors into the handling process or the customer request being
fulfilled. Rework ratios go up, NPS scores go down but also employee satisfaction
tanks.
Overproduction: Often there are many systems, processes or applications that produce
too much work. Employees do not know where to start and what work item have more
priority than the other. Employees get stressed, start to make mistakes and the customer
promise is not delivered.
Over processing: Some employees might be doing more work than others. While some
meet their targets and do even more, others might be reading the daily newspaper overand-over. Better management information and real-time visibility of what employees are
doing will provide the right insight to take action.
While contact centers have done a pretty good job in removing Muda from their realtime channels, for work items and back office operations the reality is often very
different.