Jun 07, 2010
The Agility/Complexity Dilemma
Posted by: Jim Shulkin
Posted by: Jim Shulkin
In the most recent issue of The National Association of Call Centers (NACC) In Queue newsletter there’s a feature article by Lori Bocklund (President of Strategic Contact and an Envision Customer Forum Keynote Speaker next month) that talks about the increasing challenge of driving/maintaining agility and flexibility (arguably more important in the contact center today then ever before) without substantially over-complicating your technology environment to do so. It’s an intriguing and valid point that’s consistent with what I’ve seen a lot of in the market.
The benefits of technology are boundless and few would argue that we’re not better off with it than we are without it. Imagine trying to do your job today in the same capacity but limited to using technology that was available 20, or even just 10 years ago. Technology enables us to be more effective, productive, capable, etc., etc., and yes, agile and flexible should be two other benefits. But to Lori’s point, that often comes at the cost of complexity. Solutions naturally grow more sophisticated (often cleverly disguised vendor-speak for “complex”) when their intended users need to be more agile and flexible in their application of them, it’s the nature of the beast.
But often times it just goes too far. Not that MS Excel is a particularly daunting application, but it’s the favorite cliché example of a mainstream application that most everyone has, yet most of us actually utilize less than 10% of the tool’s capabilities. I’m certain I fit this stereotype (with 10% likely being generous). The example typifies the challenge faced in most categories of technology…providing flexibility for a broad array of disparate users and needs without making it so complicated to use that 90% of it is largely unutilized, i.e., it becomes “shelfware.”
Giving the contact center ample agility and flexibility to perform its specific functions and achieve its individual goals, based on the organization, without over-complicating the application or alienating the users is a constant challenge, but one that has tremendous merit. Especially today, as technology advances at an incredible pace, but not many organizations in today’s economic climate have an appetite for spending money on something that will be relegated to collecting dust on a shelf in six months because users have given up on trying to solve the puzzle of utilizing, maintaining and achieving real ROI from it.
In closing, the old adage/objective of “KISS” (Keep It Simple Stupid) may be no more relevant than when it comes to implementing technology. The value of agility and flexibility fall apart pretty quickly when they come at the cost of complexity that hampers adoption or utilization.
12:00 AM
