Like many, I was captivated by Laura Hillenbrand’s book Seabiscuit, and the subsequent movie that followed. It told the story of a racehorse from the 1930s and his unlikely rise to fame. Seabiscuit, despite capturing the hearts of America and winning countless races, wasn’t the top “dog” of the day. It was actually another horse named War Admiral, and what America really longed to see was a match-up between the two.
One of the things that made this book so great was the detail Hillenbrand put in regarding the horses’ styles. You really got a feel for how they ran a race and how their jockeys positioned them for the win. For Seabiscuit, he did best when paced during the race and then allowed to chase down the leader at the end, eventually overtaking him for the win. War Admiral bolted from the gate with thunderous speed, maintained it throughout the race, and simply left others in his dust. However, when it came time for the “Match of the Century,” Seabiscuit’s team knew they’d need a different approach. They knew Seabiscuit would never make up the gap War Admiral would create if they let him stick to his normal pace, so they trained him to bolt at the sound of the bell. And he did just that. He quickly took the lead, and despite War Admiral pulling even during the race, Seabiscuit sprinted ahead in the stretch and won the race.
Drawing on the Similarities
The pace of the horse became critical to their success, and this holds true for users of interaction analytics as well. The cadence with which companies approach projects, construct business cases, generate actionable information and cycle that information back through the enterprise determines how likely the company will be able to use that information to generate meaningful change, monitor its success and create a return on investment. Paced too slowly, and the time to insight becomes drawn out and value isn’t returned to the organization. Paced too quickly and there is more information generated than can be acted on. And, just like different horses run better at different paces, different roles in the organization function better at different paces as well. The key is setting the right cadence for the right players and their role in the analytic process.
A Well-Timed Read-Out
My colleague, Mike Hutchison, wrote about the importance of having a flexible managed services team who could provide regular read-outs of the analytic work they were doing to make sure the projects were delivering the expected results. Having these regular read-outs also ensures that they’re delivering a level of detail that is actionable. Whether it’s a vendor’s managed services team or a customer’s own team conducting the analysis, having regularly scheduled check-ins of the results is key to making sure the business cases being studied are staying on target with a company’s goals and addressing their most critical needs. I recommend these take place twice a month and involve project managers, analysts and supervisors from both the vendor and customer’s teams.
Measure Early, Measure Often
As actionable information is generated from read-outs of the analytic work, it must be translated into action plans and implemented in order to generate discernible returns. But every action plan needs to be measured in order to determine if it’s optimized and continuing to work as originally conceived. The players in this will vary, as the business case will determine if it’s an agent behavior that needs correction, a business process that needs adjustment or even a new marketing or sales plan that requires implementation. However, once a recommendation is implemented, its results should be measured on a regularly scheduled basis, so that a statistically relevant comparison can be made from one time period to the next. This should be done frequently. My recommendation is once a month. The old adage, you can only manage what is measured, is extraordinarily true in analytic driven efforts.
Stand Up and Shout
Finally, for an interaction analytics solution to maintain momentum in an organization it needs to provide value both inside and outside the contact center. For this to happen, progress and results of projects need to be broadcast across executive stakeholders. This allows members across multiple departments to hear the impact interaction analytics is having and allows for ideas to be generated for new applications of the technology within the organization. It has been shown that all successful implementations of interaction analytics have the common thread of executive level sponsorship and support. I recommend that at every key executive or stakeholder meeting, whether these happen monthly or quarterly, specific times be set aside to discuss the latest findings and successes driven from interaction analytics. Analytic efforts should change along with business changes.
Finding Your Pace
Though some organizations may choose to set a pace that is better suited to an endurance racer, and others start off from the gate quickly and maintain a brisk pace, the key to success with interaction analytics is to have clearly outlined goals and a well-defined plan for moving information in a way in which it can keep pace with that organization’s ability to implement the findings. I’ve outlined recommendations based on my experience working with many successful customers, but just like Seabiscuit had to find the right pace to win the race, each customer needs to find the right cadence that works for them.
It’s All About the Partnership
Another advantage Seabiscuit had was his trusted jockey who knew when to hold him back or ask him for more. For you, having an interaction analytics vendor who has the right business and managed analytic services team will play a big role in your company’s success. Make sure your vendor’s team has experience in helping their customers establish a governance plan. Mike offered some great questions to ask in his blog, to determine if they have a plan for working at the right pace when conducting analysis. I would also investigate how they recommend working with you to create action plans and set plans for continuous monitoring. If you have the right analytic partner, they’ll guide you to a pace that works best for your company so you’re sure to cross the finish line a winner.
