The Under the Radar Speech Analytics Evaluation Characteristic

I have discovered that there is a serious element that many companies are failing to use in their evaluation of Speech Analytics vendors, and understandably so, because it is so difficult to find.....BUYER'S REMORSE.

Think about what you need to overcome to find this.  First, do you think a company is going to give you a reference to a company that didn't have success with their product.  That doesn't makes these references worthless, but you have to take that under advisement.  More importantly, do you think a company is going to tell you they screwed up with their first adventure using speech analytics in their attempts to be an early adopter?

I can think of a handful of companies that have not had good experiences with implementing speech analytics and their buyer's remorse comes down to these elements.

Total Cost of Ownership:  How big is your hardware footprint?  How much is available out of the box and how much needs to be customized for your business? How high maintenance is it going to be in terms of employee effort?

Spectrum of Search: Can you do search on speech?  How about chat text and surveys?

Vendor Relationship:  How long have you been working with the vendor on speech analytics?  What type of support is on the clock and what type of support is benevolent?  How do they deepen the customer insight and how quickly do they do it?  Are they a partner or are they a transaction?

Analytical Horsepower and Operationalization:  How do they convert customer insight into choreographed customer interaction?  How do they help me measure performance? Are they evaluating a customer interaction or a complete customer experience?  Are their tools flexible enough to allow me to change my definitions and transcend different definitions across various companies.

Who else did you evaluate and is this the first company you've had integrated?  This is hard to ask and harder to answer, but you need to find out if this is their first or second try, based on Speech Analytics just now reaching mainstream.  The other way to look at this is to find out what company logos are on the vendor website, and then compare that to the companies they actually give you as references and try to triangulate to an answer.

As a last resort, you may have to ask the question via social networking sites, but you have to be skeptical with some of the answers.  Regardless, do your due diligence and find those companies that are less than happy with the results.  You will likely find a recording platform company that is trying to be all things to all people.

The 4 Critical Ingredients to a Great Customer Experience

Lots of folks including many I respect, have recently put out new material on imperatives and necessities to the customer experience.  Many tackle strategic and corporate prerequisites which are important, however the tactical customer view is what is really needed and must bridge the gap between this strategic and the tactical, customer-facing view.

So, I have attempted to build my own model and I'd love your feedback on it.  I tossed around a bunch of terms and tried to balance being too specific without being too vague simultaneously.

A great customer experience must be predictable, informative, fulfilling, and trustworthy.  Let me explain.

Predictable:  Predictable to me means that I can anticipate what the agent will say and the agent can anticipate where I am going with my potentially unique request.  Predictable means you can quickly realize whether or not I need to be transferred and respecting my time.  Predictable means an easy transaction, it means I can anticipate how long I may be on hold or whether or not I can handle my needs on line.

Trustworthy:  Trustworthy goes beyond secure data and privacy.  It means that you are benevolent in your interaction and doing what's right for me, regardless of what puts more money in your pocket.  It's genuine.  It's personal without adversity because you looked at my situation as a person and not as how it fits your policy.

Fulfilling:  Fulfilling means closure.  It means I have checked something off my list and it means I just avoided an issue where I may have had to call two weeks from now.  It means complete and at peace with the result.


Informative:  Experiences must be informative.  Informative is mutually beneficial to the customer and the company.  Informative is enjoyable and allows you to think about what to do the next time something happens, whether that is the time to call, the form to retrieve, the information to be prepared with, or the time that something will be on sale or a product that will provide me greater value of my time and money.

I have also included what happens or what the experience is if you only have three of the four.  I'm sure this model will evolve as I get ready to tackle some major consulting engagements here over the next six months, but I have a place to start and would love to learn more from you on how this model can be improved.