Use of Lean Six Sigma in BPO was aimed to tackle the stress resulting due to estimated response times. While the goal was to solve 75% of the inquiries in the first-call resolution, and 90% in five-day resolution, none of the collected data supported this. Even escalated calls has increased to 15 per week. Rather than laying off staff, or adapt usual stringent steps, the company decided to imbibe the concepts of Lean Six Sigma in BPO to improve the process.
The measurement system analysis revealed that the calls that could not be answered right away and it required some research. Since the service representatives were not given enough time to research and resolve, such calls remained unanswered. These customers would call back, the same cycle would follow, leading to an increased call volume with no resolution.
Such problems lead to 50% first-call resolution rate and 62% five-day resolution rate. The first measurement system analysis or MSA failed due to lack of consistency among the operators. A second MSA helped the team start with the measurement successfully. This brought about an understanding that even if operators spent too much time answering calls, it would not increase the first-call resolution rate.
The results from the measurement system analysis helped in deciding to divide the team to take calls and do the research separately. A tracking system was put up to follow the issues, along with their age of persistence. Also, any calls that remained unresolved for four or more days were forwarded to the management’s attention.
This increased the first-call resolution rate to 90% and five-day resolution rate to 98%. Also, escalated called reduced below 1 per week.
Such examples prove that practice of Lean Six Sigma in BPO can help build the processes, and hence increase customer satisfaction. These concepts underline the critical quality of the system, and help save the businesses.
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