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Category:
Case Studies

Open Compute / Fidelity Investments

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Open Compute Delivers Flexibility and Empowerment
to Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments reconfigured its data centers to better fit its business needs, engaging its engineering team in redesigning a revolutionary new rack, and reducing energy consumption by 20%.

At a glance
Industry: Financial Services
Data centers: 4
Physical servers: 11,000
Virtual servers: 22,000
Storage: 22PB
IT staff: 10,000+

 

Founded in 1946, Fidelity Investments is a multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world.

Fidelity’s Enterprise Infrastructure team is responsible for the company’s data centers, networks, technology platforms and enterprise software, providing the underlying technology that enables the company’s IT developers to deliver timely, innovative solutions and services to its customers.

Challenge: Finding new efficiencies

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, Fidelity Investments was looking for opportunities to streamline its operations. The company’s Enterprise Infrastructure team found room for improvement in the way it consumed technology in its servers and data centers.

“Many enterprises have been sold on proprietary gear for years,” says Eric Wells, vice president of data center services for Fidelity Investments. “At Fidelity, we’d gotten used to our suppliers telling us what was available, what the next innovations were. That’s fine, but it drives a very high-cost operating model. We needed to do it differently going forward.”

Fidelity’s Enterprise Infrastructure team also wanted to transform that way its members worked. Instead of maintaining a closed shop, the team was looking to open up and engage with an external community of engineers as a way to keep up with the latest developments and innovate in-house.

The Enterprise Infrastructure team is focused on three key things: time-to-market, cost efficiency and system security/stability. It was looking to build an underlying architecture that supported all of these things, and would also help reduce operational cost and complexity.

Solution: Reinventing the data center

Open Compute is an open-source community of engineers working to redesign servers, storage and data center hardware designs for maximum efficiency and scalability. Open Compute was born inside Facebook, when the company realized that it had to re-invent the data center to maintain its exponential growth rate. Facebook designed and built a new kind of data center from the ground up that is 38% more efficient and 24% less expensive to run than a traditional data center. The company then shared these technologies as the Open Compute Project in 2011, hoping to create an open-source movement in the data center space that would bring about the same kind of rapid innovation typical of open source software.

Today, OCP has 150 member companies and thousands of participants working on eight different projects.

For Fidelity, Open Compute came along at just the right time. Since joining Open Compute in 2011, the company’s hardware engineers have participated in a number of initiatives, held a variety of positions and contributed several key specs back to the community. “We’re excited and proud to be part of a community that complements our own innovation in data center design, cloud services, social media and mobile devices,” says Keith Shinn, senior vice president, enterprise infrastructure. The company is currently migrating much of its distributed IT footprint to a private cloud platform based on Open Compute—a project that wasn’t possible before Fidelity designed the Open Bridge Rack.

Open Bridge Rack

The Open Bridge Rack is a convertible datacenter rack that can physically adjust to hold any size server up to 23 inches across. It’s a key link in helping enterprises make the switch from proprietary gear to Open Compute.

Traditionally, servers and racks are sold together. Standard servers are 19 inches wide while OCP servers (21 inches) and Telco devices (23 inches) are wider, so they require a larger rack. But even within 19-inch servers, there are slight size differences between different vendors, making their servers and racks incompatible. This is one way suppliers ensure future business.

The Open Bridge Rack changes all that, because it can be adjusted to accommodate a 19-inch server today, and a 21 or 23-inch server tomorrow, allowing Fidelity—or any enterprise—to future-proof its investment in racks.

The rack also improves on the standard power supply configuration. Known to be a big mark-up item for vendors, standard racks have 80 power supplies for 40 servers—many more than strictly necessary. What’s more, they can’t be replaced if they fail. The result is energy inefficiency, additional cost and wasted material. The Open Bridge Racks, like their predecessor the Open Compute Open Rack, have just 12 power supplies for 40 servers. They’re easy to replace if they fail, and they can be reused when an enterprise refreshes its compute.

Not only does Fidelity save money by not having to buy new racks, but Open Bridge Racks are also easier to maintain and more efficient. “This rack bridges the gap between today’s EIA racks/hardware and the next generation Open Compute racks/hardware,” says Brian Obernesser, vice president data center architecture. “The rack itself is convertible between EIA and OCP standard configurations. Its flexibility enables consumers to convert EIA racks either free or ganged in place to the OCP configuration as they begin to adopt OCP hardware. It also allows integrators or colocation facilities to standardize on a single rack that can respond and adapt to ever-changing customer requirements.”

Fidelity designed (patent pending) and donated it to the Open Compute Foundation, making it available to different manufacturers. The company has standardized on it, using it for its OCP deployments and everything else.

Community involvement

Before designing the Open Bridge Rack, Fidelity partnered with Goldman Sachs and a number of other financial firms to create an Open Compute server that would fit into a standard 19-inch rack. That work resulted in two new specs: the AMD Open 3.0 modular server and Decathlete, for Xeon/Intel.

Members of the Enterprise Infrastructure team have also partnered with other Open Compute participants to start the Compliance and Interoperability Project, which is focused on certification of Open Compute hardware and software. Today Fidelity engineers are working with Open InfraShare, a group focused on how to incorporate open software and hardware into existing architectures. The group meets to share designs and discuss requirements specific to enterprises. The aim is to draw attention and lend credibility to open source solutions.

Throughout the experience, the community itself has been one of the biggest benefits of participating in Open Compute for Fidelity. Bob Thurston, director of integrated engineering has found the community to be a remarkable asset. “The relationships we’ve built through our OCP involvement, especially with peers from other enterprise and hyper-scale data centers, have been invaluable in helping us look at things differently.”

In production

Today, Fidelity is using Open Compute gear to transform its infrastructure. The company is staring to target go-forward platforms, like its private cloud. That’s an environment that allows developers to rapidly build and test critical new apps and features for Fidelity customers—and it’s all based on Open Compute.

Open hardware works for Fidelity because it’s more cost-effective, and also allows the engineers to design for different types of workloads, whether that’s a private cloud or big data analytics. Michael Poulter, senior vice president architecture says, “Open Compute gives us more flexibility to use non-proprietary components in our systems, so that we’re not locked in to any single vendor, and we can more quickly evolve what we’re working on. We want more flexibility, and we think this is a desire we share with a lot of other companies.”

Results: Influence, serviceability, cost savings and sustainability

Despite successive years of double-digit IT growth, Fidelity has achieved a 20% energy reduction across its North American data centers and is ahead of projected optimization targets in data center infrastructure costs. “We have totally changed the way we build data centers in the spirit of Open Compute,” says Joe Higgins, corporate sustainability officer and vice president of engineering. “Open communities are critical in achieving the highest levels of optimization for enterprise data centers.”

Costs have gone down due to less power consumption and also because now Fidelity can use gear from several different vendors who are competing on price. Maintenance is easier as well, which also contributes cost savings. Fidelity’s participation in the Open Compute Project also helps influence the evolution of data center components, shaping the industry as a whole in a way that supports Fidelity’s business.

“Open Compute has helped transform our organization into an ‘enlightened consumer,’” says Alok Kapoor, executive vice president, enterprise infrastructure, “one that’s better educated, aware and self-sufficient. It has empowered our people and firm to take a much more engaged and active part in the technology with a real ROI that goes well beyond cost.”

All the improvements haven’t gone without notice. Fidelity’s leadership understands the benefits as well, embracing open infrastructure as a key element of the firm’s executive-sponsored “compute strategy” initiative. In addition Fidelity has established an open source center of excellence to forward the firm’s broader adoption of open source technologies.

Category:
Ghost Writing

UberTech blog post

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UberTech ZDNet blog post

for Diarmuid Mallon, Director, Global Marketing Solutions & Programs – Mobile, SAP

Speed Bumps on the Road to LTE

LTE provides consumers with a broadband-like mobile experience, and operators with increased network efficiency. So why isn’t it more widespread? Because there are still a few more speed bumps on the road.

The LTE conversation has so far been about two things: consumer devices supporting LTE, and operators building out LTE networks. Both are important aspects, but they’re not the whole story. The commentary that’s missing is the next layer down. (This is the third in a three-part series. If you haven’t already, be sure to also read part one on consumer benefits, and part two on operator benefits.)

If you’re one of the lucky few using an LTE device on an LTE network, you’re probably getting used to the “new normal” of your faster data speeds, watching video on demand and all that. What you may not have discovered yet is that if you go on holiday to another country, your LTE may not travel with you. That’s a fundamental problem right now: there’s little LTE roaming, because of spectrum fragmentation.

Spectrum fragmentation? It’s a technical mouthful. Let me break it down.

Around the world, the radio frequency that we use to make mobile phone calls varies. In the UK, we use frequencies between 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. In the US, the military uses that band, so consumers are over on 1900 MHz (or 1.9 GHz).

A decade ago, if you tried to make a call in the UK on a US phone, it wouldn’t work because the phone wouldn’t have been using the right radio frequency, or spectrum. So, Europeans had to use European phones. Americans had to use American phones. Asians had to use Asian phones. That’s spectrum fragmentation.

In the intervening years, manufacturers have developed “world phones” that work across the various spectrums. Apple’s iPhone is a great example. Before the iPhone 4S, there was only one phone, made on a single production line. Then iPhone 4S incorporated support for 10 different frequencies on both GSM and CDMA networks. It now costs a pretty penny to make calls and get data while you’re roaming, but you can do it—and without having to do anything special. The phone manages the frequencies and your operator makes sure your data plan travels with you.

Today, LTE has this same spectrum fragmentation problem. For example, a major UK broadcaster currently uses the same frequency as North American LTE networks (2100 MHz). When Canadians with LTE visit London, they can’t use 2100 MHz because EE, the only 4G provider in the UK, is over on 1800MHz. So, they’ll have to upload that video of the Buckingham Palace changing of the guard on 3G, which will take quite a bit longer than what they’re used to back home.

LTE spectrums are so fragmented globally that there’s no way one phone could possibly work everywhere. That’s why the iPhone 5 comes in three models with three different chip sets. All three support the global services of the 4S. Each of the three support 4G LTE in either Asia, Europe or the US. On the other hand, note that Google’s Nexus 4 doesn’t support LTE, and Google says the reason is that it doesn’t want to have to support all the frequencies.

The fact that Apple and other manufacturers are starting to solve the fragmentation problem is good news for LTE. When Apple introduced its first LTE mobile device—the “4G” iPad—it only worked on a handful of operators in North America. Today the iPhone 5 works on over 60 operators across the world. So increasingly, you’ll be able to connect to LTE networks when you travel.

The spectrum fragmentation is one issue. Another is whether or not mobile operators have the technical ability to offer LTE roaming services. If your operator doesn’t support LTE roaming, then you won’t be able to do it no matter what phone you use.

The build-out of high-speed LTE networks is different from that of earlier technologies. LTE uses a completely new signaling protocol, called Diameter. Completely above and beyond the SS7 MAP that 2G / 3G mobile networks use, Diameter requires mobile operators to establish new roaming connections. As operators launch LTE networks over the coming years, each one will have to set up new roaming connectivity. Effectively, the work operators have done over the last 10 years to upgrade to 2G and 3G will need to be repeated.

In fact, there’s a whole backend infrastructure improvement required to make this improvement. SAP Mobile Services (my employer) is working with operators now to upgrade their networks and make it happen.

Global LTE: we’re getting closer, but we haven’t yet arrived.

If you want to learn more about LTE roaming, don’t miss the free webinar, LTE Roaming: Making it Work. Making it Reality hosted by my colleague Bill Dudley. (See his blog here.)

 

Read the article in situ.

Category:
Ghost Writing

SAP (Sybase) blog post

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SAP (Sybase) blog post

for David Dichmann, Product Line Director at SAP

What’s in a Model?

PowerDesigner is built on the concept of models, and when I talk to people who are new to approaching enterprise architecture this way, I get a lot of questions. “What’s the use of models?” they want to know. “What’s the value?”

A key value of models is that they give us a way to simplify, understand and explain complex topics. When you buy furniture at IKEA, for example, it comes with an instruction set — or model — of the step-by-step process you should to follow to assemble the thing. If it weren’t for that model, flat-pack furniture wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is!

Like those assembly instructions, many models are a type of graphic diagram. Those include information models, data models, business process models (we do this thing first, and another thing next, etc.) and context diagrams, which represents the environment that an organization’s IT system resides within.

There are also many types of models that aren’t graphical, such as business models, system models, business requirements documents, use cases and excel spreadsheets, as well as all kinds of lists of things such as people, inventory, and stuff we need to do.

In business, we use models to help us define and describe who we are, what we have, how we operate, and what we intend to do in the future, so that we can understand each other better, and work together more efficiently.

When we look at how models are used in industry — any industry — they’re much more than just diagrams or lists. Models also capture knowledge, which is what makes them different from plain old drawings. In this way, models become a kind of living knowledge base. You can reuse them, adjust them, and apply standards to them so that everyone who creates them follows the same protocol.

Another value of models, then, is that they provide a true common ground from which a group of people can communicate and collaborate.

When all of the different models in an organization come together, so that we can understand and explain how we do things in context with what we do, why we do it, and where we’re going in the future, the models and become an asset to every stage of every decision process in the entire enterprise. Now that’s value.

Category:
Snark

reusable shopping bag label

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M. J. Carlyle & Co. reusable shopping bag label

Paper or plastic? No thanks!

Honey, the time has come to BYO bag, and you wanna look sharp bringin’ it. Take your new carry-all to the farmers’ market and the fishmonger, to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. And then pat yourself on the back for reducing waste and saving energy.

Our snazzy satchels are eco-aware, affordable, and made of nontoxic materials. You can feel good about buying from us, ‘cause we give your money away! Find out how much, who gets it and why—and see all our latest styles—at our website.

Zealously designed in L.A. Responsibly made in China.

Category:
Articles

In mobile banking, emerging markets show the way

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Financial Times, March 6, 2013

Guest column: In mobile banking, emerging markets show the way

By Sanjay Poonen

For the world’s unbanked, those without access to even the basic savings account, it is hard to save, impossible to build credit, and all too easy to succumb to predatory lending.

Without a bank account, one cannot buy things online, or make purchases that require a credit card. The unbanked consumer is effectively cut off from many affordable financial services, depending instead on check cashers, loan sharks and pawnbrokers.

Lack of access to financial services has long limited people’s personal options. It is well known that financial exclusion perpetuates poverty and slows down economies. And it is not a small problem.

According to the World Bank, half the people in the world fifteen years of age and older – about 2.5bn people – do not have bank accounts.

From a bank’s perspective, however, bringing basic financial services to the world’s unbanked is a huge market opportunity – and a philanthropic one, too. The opportunity isn’t new, of course. In recent years, however, mobile technologies have matured to the point that they provide a cost-effective delivery channel, which has put the opportunity within reach. In fact, a new mobile banking report from Juniper Research predicts that more than 1bn people will use their mobile devices for banking by the end of 2017.

Dutch Bangla-Bank Limited (DBBL) is among the pioneers in mobile banking for the unbanked. In early 2012, the Bangladesh-based bank launched a suite of mobile banking services targeting the unbanked and underbanked. In only ten months, it garnered more than 1m new customers. Since then, an average of 100,000 customers have been signing up for services each month, and these customers have deposited more than $7.75m using the mobile banking platform.

Mobile operators are experiencing similar success among the unbanked. Safaricom, part of the Vodafone group, launched M-PESA branchless banking services to Kenyans via cell phones in 2007. As of March 2012, the operator listed more than 14.6m active users. Several other operators, including Cellcom Malaysia (AirCash), Globe Telecom (G-Cash), Mobicom Africa (MobiKash), MTN Uganda (Mobile Money), Orange (Orange Money) and Smart (SMART Money), offer similar mobile banking services to the unbanked.

The services are especially popular in emerging markets such as Mexico, Peru, South Africa and India where bank branches are few and far between, roads are poor or non-existent and transportation options are slow and/or unreliable. Mobile technology bridges these gaps.

The rural poor in developing economies make up the majority of the world’s unbanked population, but they are not alone An official US report released in September last year found that 8.2 per cent of households in America are unbanked. That amounts to nearly 10m households, or 17m adults. An additional 20.4 per cent — or 24m households (51m adults) — are underbanked. Together these figures add up to more than a quarter of the US population.

The percentage of both the unbanked and the underbanked has increased slightly since the last survey in 2009. Americans are also using alternative financial services more, including payday loans, check cashing, money orders, pawn shops, and so on. Both increases are probably due to the economic recession and resulting high unemployment rates.

Given that the current recession is global, it stands to reason that the numbers from other developed nations are probably similar. In fact, the World Bank’s latest numbers show that 11 per cent of the unbanked live in high-income economies.

Since mobile financial services in emerging markets are successful, why not apply the same models in established markets and provide clear pathway into more formal banking?

Lack of access is obviously not the main issue in most of the developed world. In the US survey, respondents cited insufficient funds, and the fact that they don’t need or want an account. The issues are different, but the results are similar.

For example, consider prepaid debit cards and payroll cards. They are both relatively new products that are increasingly popular, especially among the unbanked and underbanked. Consumers must “load” prepaid debit cards with an amount of money before they use them at points of sale. Payroll cards are similar, but can receive payroll funds directly from employers.

Pioneering banks are offering these cards now, using a business model similar to the one that has worked in emerging markets: a simple account accepted by a wide range of merchants. More important, almost half of unbanked US households that have used a prepaid card say they are likely to open a bank account in the future. Again, they represent a pathway into the formal banking system.

Some prepaid cards are stymied by fees, and do not build a credit history like a secured credit card, both of which are drawbacks. They do, however, help create financial literacy and a familiarity with credit that can be a step in the right direction.

Another example is Standard Bank’s AccessAccount in South Africa. These “starter” accounts can be opened using a mobile phone at a local sales agent and have no minimum balance and a low fee structure. Mobile origination is not only far more accessible for customers; it is also 80 per cent cheaper.

Launched in March of 2012,the bank is currently opening up to 7,000 of these accounts every day using SMS (text messaging) technology. In a country where only 54 per cent of the population has an account at a formal financial institution (World Bank, 2011), Standard Bank has found a way to tap into a very big market.

Approaching the unbanked population requires a new game plan. For banks looking to expand their base of customers, existing deployments in developing countries offer many lessons. So do alternative financial services in developed markets. For example, check cashers are conveniently located and open during extended hours. They provide a range of services under one roof. Fees are high, but they are clearly posted and easy to understand.

As worldwide economies move away from cash and toward mobile payments, it is important to consider that those without bank accounts will get left even farther behind unless mobile services are available that meet their unique needs – in both developing and developed economies.

The numbers are large enough to create a real opportunity and mobile technology provides a cost-effective delivery channel, as evidenced by DBBL’s successful mobile banking deployment. There is still plenty of room for more. The emerging markets have created a successful model for the unbanked that developed economies could follow.

Sanjay Poonen is president of Technology and Innovation Products, SAP

See column on Financial Times website.

Category:
Articles

7 Steps to Coaching Success

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Byline article for industry magazine placement, attributed to Ron Hildebrandt, founder of Enkata

7 Steps to Coaching Success

Contact centers are constantly under the microscope. On the front line with customers, they’re tasked with providing the best possible service in the most efficient way. To do it, they often invest millions of dollars to route, manage, record and analyze calls. Yet, most spend relatively little on managing the foundation of good customer service: agent performance. Contact centers with the best customer service records have begun to pull ahead of the competition by taking an entirely different approach, investing in next-generation coaching tools to ensure that they get the most from their people.

 

“Performance Coaching” is a structured, best-practice method that can transform contact centers. It helps companies shorten agent on-boarding time, reduce agent turnover, improve first call resolution, reduce average handle time and improve quality scores—often within the first six months.

From Traditional Coaching to Performance Coaching

Performance Coaching is a paradigm shift from traditional coaching. It’s a systematic approach that concentrates supervisors’ time on the agents, metrics and behaviors with the most improvement potential. Performance coaching differs from traditional coaching in focus, consistency, topics addressed, success metrics and time investment, as described in the table below.

The 7 Steps

Moving from traditional coaching to a Performance Coaching model takes planning and time. The following seven practices are critical to making Performance Coaching take root during the transition period and succeed for the long term.

  1. Define the yardstick for coaching success.
  2. Personalize the coaching process.
  3. Focus on the right “vital few” metrics.
  4. Coach the right agents.
  5. Provide specific feedback to change behavior.
  6. Coach your coaches.
  7. Continually raise the bar.

1. Define the yardstick for coaching success.
A Performance Coaching program is about results. By measuring and rewarding agent performance and supervisors’ coaching results, companies can establish a foundation for the right Performance Coaching culture. Measure success at the site, team and supervisor level to ensure full visibility. For example, highlight your most effective supervisors by tracking the percentage of under-performing agents (below a target) by supervisor, as well as the percent of agents who achieve key performance indicator (KPI) goals. Give accolades to your best-performing coaches. Give assistance to those who struggle.

2. Personalize the coaching process.
Coaching is not a one-size-fits-all process. Coaching frequency, content, workflow and forms are often very different between sites, groups and coaching type. Personalizing the coaching process to reflect these differences ensures supervisor buy-in, and also that each and every session is relevant and productive. However, don’t overdo it. Too much variation between agents increases the complexity of the process and can create an inconsistent coaching culture.

3. Focus on the right “vital few” metrics.
Narrow your coaching focus to a list of three to five metrics, and you’ll set clear priorities for agents and concentrate coaching time in the most critical areas. Suggested criteria for your vital few KPIs:

  • Linked to key company initiatives
  • Part of agent incentives
  • Achieve balance between efficiency and effectiveness
  • Highly varied among agents
  • Easy to understand

A good place to start is with average handle time, quality monitoring (QM) scores, customer satisfaction (CSAT) and first contact resolution (FCR). These best-practice metrics balance each other, and they’re the critical drivers of call center performance.

4. Coach the right agents.
Supervisor coaching time is a precious commodity. Invest it where it yields the highest payback: in the agents with the most improvement potential. Performance Coaching dedicates 60-80 percent of time on the middle performers, the 30-40 percent of agents clustered around the average.

To avoid over-coaching the worst performers, create a coaching strategy that outlines the percent of coaching time by agent segment. For example, a best-practice plan might call for spending 20 percent of monthly coaching time on the best performers, 20 on the worst performers, and 60 on those in the middle.

5. Provide Specific Feedback to Change Behavior
Performance metrics are only actionable if supervisors present them along with specific suggestions on how to change the behavior that causes them. For example, agent “desktop management” behaviors, such as poor typing skills or not using keyboard shortcuts, are often a major reason behind long handle times.

Supervisors can identify behavior-change suggestions by conducting side-by-side observations and reviewing QM results. New technologies (vendor offerings differ here) can also help uncover costly habits by linking directly to desktop analytics systems and call recording systems.

Once identified, it’s best to focus on just one well-documented and researched suggested behavior change during each coaching session.

6. Coach your coaches.
Great coaches are made, not born, as the old adage goes. Supervisors need training to establish and improve solid coaching skills. Help them feel confident that they know to provide not only specific and timely feedback in a constructive manner, but also that they match their response to each situation.

Consider certifying your supervisors in a course before deploying your performance coaching program. Then, regularly assess skills with “ride-alongs,” where a leader evaluates each supervisor at prioritizing which agents to coach, selecting the focus metric, matching their coaching model to the agent situation and providing relevant, behavior-based feedback.

7. Continually raise the bar.
Contact centers are dynamic places, with new agents, products, marketing campaigns and initiatives to keep up with every month. To ensure your organization can improve its performance in these ever-changing conditions, establish a coaching competency team to assess overall coaching effectiveness, maintain best practices and address business changes in coaching and training. Include representatives from every site and give the team the charter to help the organization achieve coaching mastery. A coaching competency center can become the place to meet, share ideas and evolve the coaching process as the business changes.

Performance Coaching Technology

While launching a Performance Coaching program primarily requires new processes and approaches to management, don’t underestimate the technology piece. It’s critical. A Performance Coaching initiative needs infrastructure that supports best practices, workflows, activity tracking and accountability. The technology must ensure that everyone in the organization is playing from the same playbook and measured against the same set of objectives.

Additionally, by automating reporting and administrative tasks, coaching technology creates more time for supervisors to spend with agents. For example, it can cut the time required to prepare performance reviews in half by providing employee targets, percent attainment and coaching notes at the click of a mouse.

For Best Results: Back to Basics

Agent coaching is the foundation for improved contact center performance. It’s by far the most effective management tool that a call center operation has to impact the business. However, the traditional, informal coaching processes that most centers use lack the focus and structure to achieve optimal results.

Performance Coaching is a new approach that requires transformation from the top down. It’s a leap forward from traditional coaching in its ability to help supervisors and agents become top performers. To be successful, supervisors must coach the right agents, using the right metrics and the right process. Performance Coaching drives results by focusing on changing agent behavior.

In the process, Performance Coaching will improve your KPIs, customer satisfaction and agent retention in a sustainable way. Although not a panacea, Performance Coaching is becoming a cornerstone of leading-edge service operations worldwide.