As computers, printers and software become more powerful, customers expect more help with selecting and using these products. They also expect to always be able to reach a staff of professional agents who will take the time to communicate with them knowledgeably and clearly. a Call center managers at various high-tech businesses are hiring agents who demonstrate technical skills and who can recognize the specific type of assistance each customer needs, whether it's choosing a color printer or learning how to retrieve voice mail on a wireless phone. Here's how call centers at six high-tech firms take the complexity out of using high-tech products.

Timberline Software

Timberline Software, located in Beaverton, OR, offers accounting and estimating software for construction companies and property managers. "We don't physically program it to be customizable, but we assist [people] with error codes and help with networking issues," says Amy Pierce, Timberline's operations director of client services.

The company uses Avaya's (Basking Ridge, NJ) G3r phone switch to route customers who call its toll-free number to agents, including an agent who works from home.

Timberline, which started as a one-person operation in 1971, runs one call center that answers 25,000 calls a year. The center is open from 6 am to 5 pm Pacific time, Monday through Friday, and it employs 112 agents, including 94 tech support reps. A tech support director and nine application team managers directly supervise and evaluate the tech support reps.

When determining whom to hire, Pierce seeks agents who have experience with accounting, estimating and tech support. New hires first receive four weeks of classroom training. They then spend three weeks answering live calls next to supervisors. During the next ten weeks of training, new hires alternate between spending two weeks in the classroom and three weeks taking live calls alongside supervisors.

After agents complete their training, mentors regularly sit with them as they receive calls. Although Timberline does not record agents' conversations, the company surveys customers and escalates urgent issues to managers, who follow up with customers within 24 hours.

The company uses Blue Pumpkin's (Sunnyvale, CA) workforce management software to forecast and create schedules for agents. "This allows us to more efficiently staff our center," says Pierce. "Before that, we were doing manual calculations to determine staffing levels, but now we are more accurate in how we forecast. [We also] track whether or not an agent logged into his shift. It's important to be able to make sure that a person is where he is supposed to be to get the quality of service expected."

Pierce says that Timberline has undergone a major re-engineering to consolidate its databases and direct calls to agents based on the type of services that customers request, rather than based on the software they buy. The company used to maintain information about customers on separate databases depending on whether they purchased software for estimating or accounting. Agents also had to look up different call histories for the same customers if the customers were using different types of products from Timberline.

"We changed our model so that all [customers] receive the same level of service and so that there is a seamless handoff [between the two]," she says.

Timberline's customers are reaping the benefits of the center's re-engineering. "It used to be that the level of client satisfaction was low because the call wasn't getting to the agent who was able to help," says Pierce. "After our re-engineering, the satisfaction rates went off the chart. Our referral sales got better because the tech support was so good. How good your tech support is can make or break a deal."

Xerox Replicates Customer Service On-line

Xerox, headquartered in Rochester, NY, manages 13 call centers and employs 800 agents worldwide to assist callers and on-line customers with questions about products that include copiers, fax machines and printers.

Xerox's largest call centers operate out of Irving, TX; St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada; and Uxbridge, United Kingdom. Agents at Xerox's call center in Irving answer calls from 7 am to 7 pm, Central time, Monday through Friday. The center in St. John's is open on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm, Atlantic time, and Xerox's other call centers in North America are open on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm within their local time zones.

Mary Donato, a vice president who oversees Xerox's call centers, says that agents typically help customers with making their initial purchases, with renewing service contracts and with trading in old machines for new machines.

"We're able to sell more on the low and mid end, and allow our sales force to be stronger on the high end," she says. "[The centers] give us the ability to make more calls per day than if we were driving account to account."

All agents have four-year college degrees and previous sales experience. "Agents need to have good business savvy, a high energy level and understand the environment," says Donato. "You do need top performers, people who can sell, but we also need people who can do it [over the Web] without meeting the client face to face."

Xerox's call centers use ACDs, IVR systems and workforce management software from Aspect (San Jose, CA). To record and evaluate calls and on-line communication between agents and customers, the company uses a monitoring system from e-talk (Irving, TX).

"We want to capture a Web chat interaction transcript for quality improvement as well as for a historical record for archival purposes, trend analysis, data mining and lead generation," says Mark Laffin, manager and chief engineer of Xerox's call centers.

Donato places great emphasis on offering on-line customer service. "We used a telemarketing approach in the past," she recalls. "In 1998, Xerox decided to become more productive and improve its coverage model. [We've found] that callers are more receptive to the Web now than they were two years ago because the timing is right. They are getting more comfortable with the Web as a means of communication."

Donato says that Xerox plans to expand more than the number of ways consumers can reach Xerox. She expects that the company will double the total number of seats at its call centers within the next two years.

Nokia Wires Centers for Support Over the Internet

Nokia, which has its international headquarters in Finland and US headquarters in Dallas, TX, operates a main customer service call center in Tampa, FL, and a second center in St Louis, MO.

Matt Pitts, director of customer care for Nokia, says that Tampa was Nokia's first US headquarters. When the company moved to Dallas, the executives at Nokia recognized that it made sense to keep its team of experienced agents in Tampa rather than requiring the agents to move. Nokia opened the center in St. Louis, MO, as a backup location in case of weather problems in Florida. "We tried to find another location in a different time zone to make sure things weren't redundant for the customers," says Pitts.

As computers, printers and software become more powerful, customers expect more help with selecting and using these products. They also expect to always be able to reach a staff of professional agents who will take the time to communicate with them knowledgeably and clearly. a Call center managers at various high-tech businesses are hiring agents who demonstrate technical skills and who can recognize the specific type of assistance each customer needs, whether it's choosing a color printer or learning how to retrieve voice mail on a wireless phone. Here's how call centers at six high-tech firms take the complexity out of using high-tech products.

Timberline Software

Timberline Software, located in Beaverton, OR, offers accounting and estimating software for construction companies and property managers. "We don't physically program it to be customizable, but we assist people with error codes and help with networking issues," says Amy Pierce, Timberline's operations director of client services.

The company uses Avaya's (Basking Ridge, NJ) G3r phone switch to route customers who call its toll-free number to agents, including an agent who works from home.

Timberline, which started as a one-person operation in 1971, runs one call center that answers 25,000 calls a year. The center is open from 6 am to 5 pm Pacific time, Monday through Friday, and it employs 112 agents, including 94 tech support reps. A tech support director and nine application team managers directly supervise and evaluate the tech support reps.

When determining whom to hire, Pierce seeks agents who have experience with accounting, estimating and tech support. New hires first receive four weeks of classroom training. They then spend three weeks answering live calls next to supervisors. During the next ten weeks of training, new hires alternate between spending two weeks in the classroom and three weeks taking live calls alongside supervisors.

After agents complete their training, mentors regularly sit with them as they receive calls. Although Timberline does not record agents' conversations, the company surveys customers and escalates urgent issues to managers, who follow up with customers within 24 hours.

The company uses Blue Pumpkin's (Sunnyvale, CA) workforce management software to forecast and create schedules for agents. "This allows us to more efficiently staff our center," says Pierce. "Before that, we were doing manual calculations to determine staffing levels, but now we are more accurate in how we forecast. We also track whether or not an agent logged into his shift. It's important to be able to make sure that a person is where he is supposed to be to get the quality of service expected."

Pierce says that Timberline has undergone a major re-engineering to consolidate its databases and direct calls to agents based on the type of services that customers request, rather than based on the software they buy. The company used to maintain information about customers on separate databases depending on whether they purchased software for estimating or accounting. Agents also had to look up different call histories for the same customers if the customers were using different types of products from Timberline.

"We changed our model so that all customers receive the same level of service and so that there is a seamless handoff between the two," she says.

Timberline's customers are reaping the benefits of the center's re-engineering. "It used to be that the level of client satisfaction was low because the call wasn't getting to the agent who was able to help," says Pierce. "After our re-engineering, the satisfaction rates went off the chart. Our referral sales got better because the tech support was so good. How good your tech support is can make or break a deal."

Xerox Replicates Customer Service On-line

Xerox, headquartered in Rochester, NY, manages 13 call centers and employs 800 agents worldwide to assist callers and on-line customers with questions about products that include copiers, fax machines and printers.

Xerox's largest call centers operate out of Irving, TX; St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada; and Uxbridge, United Kingdom. Agents at Xerox's call center in Irving answer calls from 7 am to 7 pm, Central time, Monday through Friday. The center in St. John's is open on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm, Atlantic time, and Xerox's other call centers in North America are open on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm within their local time zones.

Mary Donato, a vice president who oversees Xerox's call centers, says that agents typically help customers with making their initial purchases, with renewing service contracts and with trading in old machines for new machines.

"We're able to sell more on the low and mid end, and allow our sales force to be stronger on the high end," she says. "The centers give us the ability to make more calls per day than if we were driving account to account."

All agents have four-year college degrees and previous sales experience. "Agents need to have good business savvy, a high energy level and understand the environment," says Donato. "You do need top performers, people who can sell, but we also need people who can do it over the Web without meeting the client face to face."

Xerox's call centers use ACDs, IVR systems and workforce management software from Aspect (San Jose, CA). To record and evaluate calls and on-line communication between agents and customers, the company uses a monitoring system from e-talk (Irving, TX).

"We want to capture a Web chat interaction transcript for quality improvement as well as for a historical record for archival purposes, trend analysis, data mining and lead generation," says Mark Laffin, manager and chief engineer of Xerox's call centers.

Donato places great emphasis on offering on-line customer service. "We used a telemarketing approach in the past," she recalls. "In 1998, Xerox decided to become more productive and improve its coverage model. We've found that callers are more receptive to the Web now than they were two years ago because the timing is right. They are getting more comfortable with the Web as a means of communication."

Donato says that Xerox plans to expand more than the number of ways consumers can reach Xerox. She expects that the company will double the total number of seats at its call centers within the next two years.

Nokia Wires Centers for Support Over the Internet

Nokia, which has its international headquarters in Finland and US headquarters in Dallas, TX, operates a main customer service call center in Tampa, FL, and a second center in St Louis, MO.

Matt Pitts, director of customer care for Nokia, says that Tampa was Nokia's first US headquarters. When the company moved to Dallas, the executives at Nokia recognized that it made sense to keep its team of experienced agents in Tampa rather than requiring the agents to move. Nokia opened the center in St. Louis, MO, as a backup location in case of weather problems in Florida. "We tried to find another location in a different time zone to make sure things weren't redundant for the customers," says Pitts.