The challenge

Health insurance is a complicated business that affects people’s lives. It’s rooted in human emotion. When members contact an insurer, associates must have a mix of deep knowledge and soft skills like empathy and patience to provide a positive experience. It is a key part to developing a superior member experience.

One health insurance’s contact center had an excellent member services training program for specialized contact center associates, who handled healthcare coverage questions and customer issues. But key employee performance data such as quality assurance and knowledge assessment scores got lost across various data systems.

These associates who needed to be on top of their game with the right set of skills. So, having the data stored in one area was essential for instructors to easily find real-time information to improve their learning curriculum. In addition, stakeholders and management wanted a better understanding of the program’s success.

The company wanted to modify the program at the individual level and adjust the curriculum in real time to help maximize the outcomes of employee training.

Our solution

We collaborated with the client team to integrate essential performance data into an analytic cloud platform. Our team gathered the averages of handle, hold, and talk time with customers. We also reviewed customer satisfaction levels from simulated calls and the depth of knowledge on key topics and questions. Multiple sources flowed into one comprehensive analytic environment and eliminated scattered metrics. We assembled the right metrics in one place.

We then used the data to design several insights dashboards for different internal stakeholders. The dashboards highlighted individual performance metrics, such as average call times, as well as schedule adherence metrics. These reports addressed questions such as, “which area(s) should I focus more in training” and “is their overall performance improving over time” with no need for additional reports. We achieved near real-time insights that could be easily reviewed to inform changes to individual learning. Customized reports were then sent to trainers, managers, and senior leaders within one day that emphasized the metrics most important to each audience. Trainers received individual associate scorecards, while managers received class performance metrics and trainer assessment results.

The results

Important insight emerged when the team applied its in-depth learning analytics to data from live associate calls. We found that live interactions were not as intense as the simulated ones. Trainers spent too much effort preparing associates for stressful scenarios they would probably never encounter. The curriculum was adjusted to create a calmer and more realistic environment for the trainee, easing their transition to real clients.

The contact center now has a cohesive way to review trainee and trainer performance and validate the training curriculum. With daily associate training reports, instructors can effectively coach and nurture new hires in the areas where they need additional support. The client can now easily utilize data to make curriculum and training decisions quickly. This, in the process, creates an easier and more satisfied health insurance member experience to optimize training and develop the top-notch associates it needs.