QATC Survey Results

This article details the results of the most recent QATC quarterly survey on critical quality assurance and training topics. About 100 call center professionals representing a wide variety of industries provided insight regarding e-learning.

Participant Profile

Twenty-five percent of the participants are from call center operations with 101-200 agents, followed by 24% with 50-100 agents, and 14% with 201-300 agents. Twelve percent have less than 50 agents while another 12% have over 500 agents. The majority of the call center operations represented in this survey are in the financial, utility, and telecommunications industries.

Currently Using e-Learning in Training

Almost three-quarters of the participants are using e-learning in training programs. The popularity of e-learning has grown in recent years with the development of a large variety of standard course offerings completed and used over and over again with little instructor time required ongoing.

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Suppliers of e-Learning

Over half (52%) use a combination of in-house staff and outside suppliers to produce e-learning programs, while 45% use in-house staff only. While materials directly focused on the products and services of the specific company generally need to be done in-house or by contractors, there is a lot of generic content that is available through vendors that can fill in those needs with minimal effort and expense to the contact center.

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e-Learning Platform

Almost half (46%) use an in-house learning management system (LMS) as the platform for e-learning, while 30% use a vendor-supplied platform that is accessed via the Internet. Fifteen percent have an external learning management system. In many cases, the LMS serves the entire organization but for some it is dedicated to the contact center operation. Using an external or vendor-supplied platform allows for pay-as-you-go rather than the capital investment of an in-house system and may better serve the needs of smaller organizations or those just starting to utilize e-learning.

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Types of Training Delivered via e-Learning

When asked what types of training were delivered via e-learning, 31% use e-learning for brief updates and short information alerts or tips, 30% use e-learning for refresher training on topics identified from quality assurance scores, and 26% use for new hire training.
Percentage of New Hire Training via e-Learning

Thirty-two percent of the participants do not do any new hire training via e-learning, while another 32% do 10-30% of the new hire training in this manner. Twenty-nine percent do less than 10%. Some centers find that e-learning is a great option to offer to those in the new hire class that are faster than others and may be bored waiting for the class to be ready for the next topic. It can also be used for those who are struggling so that they can revisit some topics where they need more time without slowing down the entire group.

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Percentage of Ongoing Training via e-Learning

Thirty-three percent of the participants use e-learning for some ongoing training (less than 10%), but 22% are not using e-learning for this. Twenty percent, however, do 31-50% of ongoing training via e-learning. Used in this way, the e-learning can be just-in-time focusing on something an individual needs help with, can deliver updates or new content to the entire team, or be simple reminders and tips that can help the team to focus on a technique or process that needs to be reinforced.

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Biggest Benefit from e-Learning

When asked what the biggest benefit is from e-learning, the largest percentage noted that staff can access e-learning whenever there is a lull in activity. Where there are significant peaks and valleys or seasonal activities, the available time can be more effectively utilized with e-learning (if the staff will actually use it). The second most popular answer is that it ensures consistency of the message to all students. It is surprising how few of the respondents mention the needs of multiple locations as this is one of the things that can really strain the training department resources, but it may be function of the demographics of these respondents or they felt some other factor was more important.

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Biggest Challenge with e-Learning

By far, the biggest challenge noted with e-learning is the development time. The development can be as simple as audio attached to slides and as complex as interactive processes and computer simulations depending on the content to be delivered and skills to be practiced. Also noted was that the learning may be less effective than other delivery methods, and it can be difficult for staff to find the time to actually complete the classes.

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Integration with Quality Monitoring

Sixty-five percent of the participants do not have any integration between the e-learning and quality monitoring systems to point toward specific classes or lessons needed. Twenty-five percent noted that the quality monitoring scores indicate gaps, but not specific lessons. Only 10% have the full integration to point to specific classes or lessons needed. While full integration is one of the benefits advanced by those vendors who offer a suite of products including QM and LMS, many centers have legacy systems from multiple vendors and the integration may be a bit more complex.

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Integration with Workforce Management

Again, there does not seem to be much integration going on with e-learning and other technologies. Sixty-one percent do not have any integration between e-learning and the workforce management system to identify periods of availability to fit in e-learning sessions. Twenty-four percent have learning periods built into schedules, and 15% identify availability real-time to allow agents to switch to e-learning. Having full integration so that lulls in activity in the center can be more efficiently filled with e-learning programs is one of the benefits that can be gained when WFM and LMS are integrated, and adding QM integration can automate the process of selection of the appropriate content even further.

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Conclusion

This survey provides insight into the use of e-learning in the call center. While almost three-quarters of the respondents use e-learning, it is rarely an integral part of training programs, and is also not integrated with other technology, such as quality monitoring or workforce management. The biggest benefit seems to be that staff can access e-learning anytime there is a lull in activity, but the biggest challenge is the time that it takes to develop the curriculum.

We hope you will complete next quarter’s survey on social media, which will be available online soon. red box