How Conversational Intelligence Can Boost Your Call Center ROI

A comparison of Conversational Intelligence and Traditional Quality Management

Call centers are constantly looking for ways to improve their quality management (QM) processes and enhance their customer experience. However, traditional QM methods, such as manual call reviews by dedicated staff, are often costly, time-consuming, and limited in scope. In this whitepaper, we will explore how Conversational Intelligence (CI) can offer a superior alternative to traditional QM, by using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze 100% of calls and provide actionable insights for agents and managers. We will also present a realistic scenario of a call center with 30 agents and compare the return on investment (ROI) of using CI versus traditional QM.

What is Conversational Intelligence?

Conversational Intelligence is a technology that uses AI to automatically transcribe, analyze, and score every call that takes place in a call center. CI can capture the voice of the customer and the agent, and extract key information such as sentiment, emotion, intent, topics, keywords, and compliance. CI can also provide real-time feedback and coaching to agents during or after the call, as well as generate reports and dashboards for managers to monitor and improve the overall call quality and customer satisfaction. CI can integrate with existing call center platforms and CRM systems, and offer a scalable and flexible solution that can adapt to different business needs and goals.

What is Traditional Quality Management?

Traditional Quality Management is a process that involves manually reviewing a sample of calls by a dedicated staff member, usually a quality analyst or a supervisor. The staff member listens to the calls and evaluates them based on predefined criteria, such as call duration, customer satisfaction, agent behavior, and compliance. The staff member then provides feedback and coaching to the agents, and generates reports and dashboards for managers to track and improve the call quality and customer satisfaction. Traditional QM is often limited by the availability and expertise of the staff member, the accuracy of the sample and how it lines up with prototypical recordings, and the timeliness and effectiveness of the feedback and coaching. Currently, your QM specialist dedicates 75% of the work week to manually reviewing just 3% of your total call volume. Despite hard work and dedication, this limited scope means you are only scratching the surface in identifying customer complaints, operational inefficiencies, training issues, and compliance concerns. You are contemplating hiring a second QM staff member.

How to Compare Conversational Intelligence and Traditional Quality Management?

To compare the ROI of CI and traditional QM, we will use a realistic scenario of a call center with 30 agents, who handle 60 calls per day each, for a total of 1800 calls per day. We will also assume that the call center has a dedicated QM staff member, who earns a loaded salary of $90,000 per year, and that the current success rate of traditional QM is 3% of calls reviewed. We will also assume that the cost of CI software is $49.95 per month per agent. Further, we will assume 75% of the dedicated QM staff members’ time is dedicated solely to the QM functions. We will then calculate the cost per call reviewed, the net savings, and the ROI for both methods, as well as consider some additional factors that could affect the comparison.

What are the Results of the Comparison?

The table below summarizes the results of the comparison between CI and traditional QM, based on the scenario described above.

Method	Calls Reviewed per Year	Annual Cost	Cost per Call Reviewed	Net Savings (Year 1)	ROI (Year 1)
Traditional QM	27,096	$180,000	$6.64	N/A	N/A
Conversational Intelligence	453,600	$107,982	$0.24	$72,018	400%

As the table shows, CI can review 100% of calls, compared to only 6% by two traditional QMs, for a much lower annual cost and cost per call reviewed. CI can also produce $72,018 in savings per year as compared to hiring a second staff member. Additionally, utilizing CI will allow you to restructure the QM staff member's time. The dedicated QM staff member can now put forth time and energy towards company initiatives, projects and/or training that completes the feedback loop on the QM process. However, these results are not the only factors to consider when comparing CI and traditional QM. There are also some additional considerations that could affect the comparison, such as the impact of CI on agent performance, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement, all of which can be enhanced by the additional time now available to the QM staff member.

What are the Additional Considerations?

Besides the financial aspects, there are also some qualitative aspects that could influence the comparison between CI and traditional QM. These include:

Improved Agent Performance: CI can offer more granular and objective insights into call quality, such as the sentiment, emotion, intent, and compliance of the customer and the agent. CI can also provide real-time feedback and coaching to agents during or after the call, as well as personalized recommendations and best practices. These features can potentially lead to more targeted and effective coaching, improved agent skills and behavior, and increased agent confidence and motivation.
Increased Customer Satisfaction: Better trained and equipped agents can lead to higher customer satisfaction scores, as they can handle customer inquiries and issues more efficiently and empathetically. CI can also help identify and address customer pain points, needs, and expectations, and provide insights into customer loyalty and retention. These features can potentially lead to more satisfied and loyal customers, increased customer lifetime value, and positive word-of-mouth.
Employee Engagement: Freeing up the dedicated staff member's time from manual call reviews could be used for other tasks or potentially redeployed elsewhere, impacting overall employee engagement. CI can also help create a culture of continuous learning and improvement, where agents and managers can collaborate and share feedback and best practices. These features can potentially lead to higher employee engagement, lower turnover, and higher productivity.

Conclusion

In today's competitive landscape, providing a high-quality customer experience (CX) is essential. You cannot afford to overlook the benefits of Conversational Intelligence (CI). For less than half the cost of hiring another QM specialist, CI enables us to review 100% of your calls, drastically reducing your exposure to customer complaints and dissatisfaction.

This investment transforms the QM role from a purely operational one to a strategic asset, enhancing your CX scores and boosting customer retention. By implementing CI, you are not only optimizing costs but also significantly improving your service quality and operational efficiency.

The strategic contribution of your QM team will be elevated, leading to a more engaged workforce and a better overall customer experience. This makes CI a compelling choice, providing a substantial return on investment and positioning us for continued success in delivering exceptional customer service.

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