Discovery phase for Customer Service
The Discover phase is the first, critical step in the Pega Express™ methodology. This stage is when you gather all the data that a successful customer journey needs, define the desired business outcomes, prioritize business solutions, and split them into actionable microjourneys.
Note: For more information about the basics of the Discover phase, see The Discover Phase and your MLP module on Pega Academy. Additionally, for more information about the Pega Express phases, see Pega Express Phases and the Discover Phase Toolkit.
During the Discover phase, you focus on your outcomes through the following activities:
- Decide on the microjourneys to build by using design thinking techniques.
- Use low code to capture the three Pega Express pillars. Pay special attention to understanding channels because they lead to opportunities for higher efficiency.
- Estimate and size your project.
- Create a Day 1 Live Plan.
- Establish a coproduction project team.
- Get ready to start your project.
Design thinking is at the heart of Pega Express. You can use design thinking during the Discover phase to help identify the future microjourneys that you need to achieve your business outcomes, and then during the Prepare phase for an identified microjourney to help reimagine and design the new experience.
Contact center analysis
Begin every Discover phase by asking questions of the contact center employees. Start with customer service agents and managers, and include upper management, IT and support as needed. Ensure that you gain insight into various aspects of the existing contact center and obtain sufficient information to form an accurate picture of the current state of the process.
Consider metrics to be of principal importance during this phase. Ask the stakeholders what metrics they track across different levels of the organization. Some of the key metrics include:
- Average Handle Time (AHT)
- First Call Resolution (FCR)
- Repeat Call Rate
- Top 10 call types
- Abandon Rate
- Containment Rate
To gain a better understanding of the contact center processes, ensure that you also cover the following topics:
- Infrastructure
- Strategy
- Agents, managers, supervisors
- Quality assurance
An important aspect in every interaction with stakeholders and contact center employees is to use the same language. Familiarize yourself with industry standard denominations and acronyms before engaging into any session and anticipate potential answers to create a smooth experience for your stakeholders.
Detailed research
After the initial information gathering, use probing questions to gain further understanding of any aspect of the operation that is relevant to a successful Discover phase. Allow your stakeholders time to provide full, complex answers to these questions to ensure that they do not miss any information.
Ask the stakeholders about the specific areas where you can use Pega Customer Service™ to bring the greatest improvements:
- Knowledge management and agent readiness level
- Post-call work
- Disjointed agent experience
- Data duplication level
- Connections between the systems that agents use every day
These categories are examples that do not encompass the entire scope of possibilities. Always tailor the question you pursue to the specifics of the operation. Mark specific pain points across the various organizational levels and the customer journey, including customer feedback, for later referencing.
Contact center walkthrough
A contact center walkthrough, or an operational walkthrough (OWT), is a workshop activity for gathering vital information about the current state of the contact center. The ideal conditions for a walkthrough are a face-to-face meeting with the stakeholders over the course of a full day to allow sufficient opportunities to engage with the participants. However, depending on the working conditions and personal comfort level, you can also proceed with a virtual walkthrough.
The goal of a walkthrough is to capture an accurate snapshot of the current operations. For this purpose, you engage with multiple stakeholder groups across different levels of the organization and ask in-depth questions.
Note: You might already have answers to some of these questions from various sales operations, so check within the organization before the operational walkthrough. As a best practice, avoid asking stakeholders the same questions.
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