Abbott Associates

Financial Management

Financial Management for Call Center and Service Center Professionals

This class has been specifically designed to meet the needs of the Call Center and Help Desk Professional

Objective: Attend this seminar and you’ll go back to work with a practical, real world, look at cost. You will study the relationships between all aspects of the organization’s cost structure. You will understand where the call center’s cost fits in, how to manage your call center cost, and techniques for reducing your cost without sacrificing performance. This class was designed specifically for call center professionals.

Lecture Delivery: Same content, same instructor just more convenient. You will be able to attend the lectures conveniently through streaming rich media video technology.

Who Should Attend: Are you a call center professional, technical manager, engineer, or director who wants to manage the cost and finance? This call has been specifically designed to meet the needs of the Call Center Professional. This is the class for you!

James C. Abbott will be your instructor. James is on the faculty at the University of Arizona in Tucson teaching graduate engineering courses. He teaches this course as part of the masters engineering curriculum.

Topics

Having It All
Every effective call center has three key components: low cost, flawless service, and short wait time. You will learn how to integrate these three vital components into your existing plan. Understand the difference between efficient and effective and the critical importance of total cost.

Finance
Review, in down-to-earth terms, all aspects of cost including the balance sheet, fixed versus variable cost, and profit and loss statements. Clear understanding of how call center costs fit into these arenas is crucial. You will learn which are critical to a call center management program. The purpose and use of a budget is explained. Understanding which areas are key for each accounting function, and what areas are not, builds the basis for our call center cost program.

Cost Buildup and the Cost System
Establishing a method for call center cost management requires a sophisticated approach. This approach requires an intimate understanding of all the things that add cost and cause it to fluctuate. This section will cover how to establish a cost basis for each transaction and type of call. Unit cost, favorable and unfavorable variances, standard cost, and the accounting buzzwords will be explained so that you can truly use or build your cost system.

Operational Cost Reporting
Understanding how to calculate the results is not sufficient for effective reports. The effective report prerequisites will be covered in a context of reporting the cost, and also how it impacts cost reduction. The organizational structure’s impact on cost will be explained. You will learn how to integrate reports, charts, and graphs to improve your call center information. There is a difference between raw data and information – you must know how to prepare reports that will get used. This section will teach you how to read the data and convert it into information for better decision-making.

Cost Management and Cost Reduction
You must understand what is required to manage your cost, and how to reduce cost without jeopardizing performance and wait time. By the end of the class, you will be able to compute your return on investment (ROI) for all purchases, projects, and improvement initiatives.

Capital Budget

This section will cover projects in a call center world. Many call center projects require capital funding. This section will explain the time aspect on money, project acceptance decision making rules, how to track the actual results plus more. By the end of the class, you will be able to compute your return on investment for all purchases, projects, and improvement initiatives.

Financial Analysis

You must understand what is required to manage your cost, and how to reduce cost without jeopardizing performance and wait time. You will learn about the cost analytical tools for a call center, help desk, or support center. Value analysis, Breakeven analysis, and Forecasting

Agenda:

This class is comprised of six sections. You can take one section that is critical to your knowledge or take the complete class.

Section 1 Financial Fundamentals

This section will cover, in down-to-earth terms, all aspects of call center, call center cost, and call center finance. This section will also cover the ins and outs of corporate accounting in practical everyday language. The topics covered in this section are:

Call Center types
The Goal
The difference between effective versus efficient
Queuing science for maximum effectiveness in a call center
Financial terms
Product and process life cycle
Double entry accounting system

Section 2 Financial Decision-making

In this section you will learn critical call center management. Clear understanding of how call center costs fit into these arenas is crucial. In this section you will learn which are critical to a call center management program. The organizational structure’s impact on cost will be explained. Understanding which areas are key for each accounting function, and what areas are not, builds the basis for our call center cost program. The following are the topics covered in this section

Division of Labor
- Business roles
- Decision-making (Policy, Strategy, Tactics)
- Financial Violation of division of labor
Business
- Knowledge as an asset
- Operational Base Camp
- Operational Philosophy
Process Principles
Call Center why process & Variability

Section 3 Financial Reporting

Review, in down-to-earth terms, all aspects of finance including the balance sheet, fixed versus variable cost, and profit and loss statements plus much more. You will have a clear understanding of how call center costs fit into these arenas is crucial. There is a difference between raw data and information – you must know how to prepare reports that will get used. This section will teach you how to read the data and convert it into information for better decision-making. The topics covered in this section are:

Financial concepts and their practical use
- Depreciation, Accrual and cash methods, Inventory handling
- Closing of the books
Financial Reporting
- Income statements, balance sheets, financial testing

Section 4 Operations Tactical Reporting

You will learn which the purpose and use of operating budget is explained. You will also learn why operating budgets are not the best tool to measure the financial effectiveness of your center. Establishing a method for call center cost management requires a sophisticated approach. This approach requires an intimate understanding of all the things that add cost and cause it to fluctuate. This section will cover how to establish a cost basis for each transaction and type of call. Unit cost, favorable and unfavorable variances, standard cost, and the accounting buzzwords will be explained so that you can truly use or build your cost system. In this section we will cover:

The difference between financial tactical standard cost versus operational budget.
Standard Cost methodology and where to use it
- Standard Cost buildup
- Earned value report
Operating budget and where to use it

Section 5 Capital Budget

Future Value, Present Value, Payment annuity
Capital Project Planning
- Basic Project Decision
  - Return on investment
  - Payback period
- Advanced project acceptance rules
  - Net Present Value
  - Internal Rate of Return
Capital budget result tracking

Section 6 Financial Analysis

Value Analysis
Breakeven and its use in a call center
Forecasting and its use in a call center