How many call centre people does it take to change a light bulb?

We had a lot of fun this week with 24 answers to our competition.  Having received so many answers it was difficult to choose a winner, but here goes…

 

Best answer and champagne winner

I make it 10!

1. IT Helpdesk to triage that the bulb needs replacing
2. Resource Forecaster to identify slot in operations to schedule change based on previous pattern of bulb failure
3. Project Manager to raise change request
4. IT Governance to do IT risk assessment and approve change request
5. Team Leader to ensure suitably skilled staff available
6. Systems Administrator to project skills-based routing to select most suitably skilled agent
7. Trainer to build and deliver training programme
8. Agent to change light bulb
9. Quality Assessor to check compliance to defined process and produce balanced scorecard
10. Administrator to generate management report on number of bulbs changed per agent per day by 15 minute intervals

Dave Lee
Head of Consulting at Datapoint Customer Solutions

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The following four answers were highly commended and will be sent a runner’s up prize

No agent necessary. Your procurement department has forced us to make this a ‘low-value call type’ and it is now handled through the IVR or self-help knowledge base on the web (www.fixityourself.com). Hit zero all you want, it won’t help.

Brett Ransom
Vice President, Business Development

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In my last role it would have been one… me!  As head of department I felt I could flout my own health and safety rules about putting a chair on a desk and standing on that to do it!

Krista Roberts
Highly experienced Customer Service Manager

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None – we outsourced that to India.

Warren Collier, CHRP
Director Business Consulting Services at Self Management Group

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The answer is none. We checked with the vendor and they confirmed the original bulb was working as designed.

Ed Kawecki, PE
Marketing Manager at Cybertech International

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We would also like to thank the following participants for their highly original answers.

100 call centre people to change a light bulb – 1 manager to hold the bulb, 99 call centre workers to turn the call centre around.

CallCentreWorkr

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Don’t forget that all of this has to be recorded for regulation and training purposes!!

Max Kissick-Jones
Experienced Sales/Channel Director

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Is the bulb change aligned with our strategic goals & objectives?

Maureen Donzuso
Corporate Communications Manager at AtlantiCare

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It only takes one….as long as it’s someone in IT, since they can do everything? Unfortunately, he replaced it with an outdated bulb that didn’t really fit anyway, but it’ll do for now.

Alan Feldman
Sr. Management Consultant – B2B Marketing at Winn Tech

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Yup, one from IT can handle it. But you’ll need to open a ticket and once a P1 through P5 priority is assigned, it can go into the work queue. 1st step is root-cause analysis – why did the first bulb fail? Until root cause is determined no corrective action can be taken. Assuming IT can duplicate the failure, the problem might get resolved within the Q3 budget.

Andrew Sanders
Director, Customer Care at Kelley Blue Book

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Alternatively, without thinking through the business ramifications fully, a naive decision maker might think ZERO: just outsource the supply of light!!

Mike Boyle
Principal Consultant – Freelance Consulting

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Zero.

We outsource our electrical needs.

Faisal Mehmood
Product Development Manager at Stratasoft

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It takes one call centre person. However, it may take several engineers to actually decide that it needs to be replaced and here is how the process would go!

1. Call received by call centre technician in real time.
2. Technician would verify that switch was not in the off position
3. Technician would then verify that no one had changed anything such as the light bulb itself.
4. Technician would ask if other machines in office were working to verify that there was electrical power.
5. Technician would determine that a LR is needed (Light-bulb Request)
6. Technician would send this to the Light-Bulb Review Team
7. The engineers on this team, usually 3 or 4, would ask the technician to verify all of the above conditions which were already completed by technician.
8. Engineers would determine a CLR (Change Light-Bulb Request)
9. Change Request Engineer logs in sourcing tool.
10. Maintenance Engineers look at problem but do not see anything wrong with the bulb and send back to LBRT (Light-Bulb Review Team)
11. LBRT have support technician re-ask customer first four questions again.
12. Sent back with same answers.
13. Maintenance Engineer decide problem must be inside bulb and they did not see it at first.
14. Send Light-bulb Installation Tech to replace unit since bulb was designed in a vacuum
15. Support receives call that Install Tech has replaced bulb
16. Support person calls customer and asks permission to close case and sends satisfaction survey.

So as you can see! It took 1 support technician and 6 engineers, and an install tech to repair the broken light bulb.

Sean Duley
Pre-Sales Business Manager at Motorola

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Did any one Beta test changing the light bulb first? I smell a defect brewing.

Stu Wunder
Business Systems Analyst at Esurance

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To hear what America has voted as the number one answer – press 1
To find out what Paris Hilton thinks the answer to this question is – press 2
To have someone install a light bulb in your call centre cubicle – press 3
To check light bulb pricing in your area – press 4
To return defective light bulbs – press 5
To speak to a call centre technician – please hold
To speak to Chuck Norris after holding for more than 2 minutes – press #

John O’Leary
Director of Sales & Marketing at Arizona Industries for the Blind – an AbilityOne agency

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Word just in from IT….the call centre will be shut down for the next month while they wait for the newest release of Light 2.0

Alan Feldman
Sr. Management Consultant – B2B Marketing at Winn Tech

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Zero Call Centre FTE is required since the sales team is the only group that supports the organisation.

Steven Cramer
SVP Operations, Northwinds Contact Solutions

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10 people:

• One six sigma black belt to improve the light bulb changing process
• One PMO specialist to ensure ‘Project Light Bulb’ is tracking appropriately with the necessary COPC or ISO documentation
• One Trainer to develop the Light Bulb changing procedures and guidelines
• One Quality Leader to develop the Light Bulb quality checklist for compliance and safety
• One Project Manager to oversee all of the tasks involved and report out the progress to the necessary chain of command and the PMO
• One Call Centre Agent to physically change the light bulb
• One Supervisor to give the Agent feedback on his or her performance, especially around ACT (Average Changing Time)
• One Operations strategist to move this process to an alternative channel… not self service, maybe Halogen lights
• One BPO specialist to migrate this activity overseas
• One CFO to remind us that we are a cost centre and that our unit cost to change a light bulb is way too high

And let us not forget the Marketing Department (not included in the count), who on a moment’s notice wants the light bulb changing process to include up-selling ladders and flashlights.

Rob Sutton
AVP, Global Operations and Systems, AIG

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Need one to take the disposed-of light bulb to the recycling centre.

Leigh Ann Hornbuckle
Site Director at Market Strategies International

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2… one to change the light bulb while the other monitors for quality purposes.

Ed Kawecki, PE
Marketing Manager at Cybertech International

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Nope – don’t forget 1 trainer to teach how the light bulb should be changed and 1 supervisor to cheerlead the results and coach for effectiveness.

Kurt Wallach
Sales Development Consultant at Wells Fargo NBBC – Accomplished Telesales Professional

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You also left out the Director to generate the PO and the approval from Procurement to purchase the light bulbs and the Accounting Department to approve the expense.

Marlene Moorman
Director Operations Sallie Mae

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Trying to change the light bulb is against its rights of self-determination.

SF CA

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None, if the bulb had a device management client – it would care for itself.

InnoPath

Have we missed any answers?  Please feel free to add any answers