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Lean Part 4: Takt Time

The final concept in Parlance’s exploration of Lean practices for call management concerns timing and intervals. “Takt Time” is traditionally defined as a “measurement of production intervals required to meet customer demand”. It is the time between the start of production of one unit and the start of production of the next unit – when these production starts are set to match customer demand. For example, if 10 units are needed to meet demand, and assuming a 40-hour work week, the average Takt Time must be no more than 4 hours.

To place this concept in the context of contact center call management, we can relate Takt Time to agent availability intervals. How many agents are required to meet the real-time caller demand? Let’s look at a simplistic hypothetical scenario. Assuming a Takt Time of 6 minutes (average time on call), and an hourly volume of 100 calls, Takt Time will influence staffing needs as seen in the below image:

takt-time-1

Yet, if we meet the core Lean principle of waste reduction by using an advanced caller self-service solution to automate portions of the caller experience (routine requests, ID verification, account lookup, skills-based disposition and routing, etc.), Takt Time can be significantly improved:

takt-time-2

In this scenario, self-service has reduced agent time on call to the point that Takt Time has been cut in half – requiring fewer resources to meet the caller demand. Not only does this eliminate waste by reducing staffing costs, but it also provides ongoing improvement, another core principle of Lean. You’ll now have a 24/7 call management asset on your side that lets you do more with less. No more hold times. No more phone trees or frustrating IVRs. Just a fast and simple caller experience empowered by a partnership between advanced caller self-service and dedicated agents.

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Gabe Zoldi

Gabe is a test engineer. His responsibilities are building, testing, monitoring, and improving all aspects of QA for the Parlance Engineering Team. His background is in developing full-stack test frameworks that include end-to-end, functional and performance testing. Gabe grew up in Monterey and Seattle before moving to the Bay Area in 2001 to join a startup called AlphaBlox. Prior to Parlance, Gabe worked as a Test Lead at Twilio.

 

Arunkumar Nedunseralathan

Arun is a Software Engineer. He has spent over ten years working as a Software Engineer developing applications for various healthcare and financial companies. Prior to joining the Parlance team, he worked as a consultant at Fidelity Investments. Arun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Ocean Enginering from the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras.

 

Linton Ranson

Linton joined the Parlance team as a Systems Administrator in 2022. He has over 15 years of experience working in IT for large enterprise organizations, with over a decade of experience as a Systems Administrator. Linton is a self-proclaimed homebody and a family man. When he’s not running around with his 3 kids, he loves to play sports, and is an avid video gamer. His dream vacation is to travel to Germany to drive on the Autobahn.

 

Sanjay Yadav

Sanjay joined Parlance in 2022 as Director of Software Development. In his role, he heads up the entire software development team to bring intelligent, speech-enabled solutions to the market. He is a passionate technologist who prioritizes speed without sacrificing quality in software delivery. He follows modern software design principles to build solutions that are scalable, performant and reliable. Sanjay brings years of experience building SaaS platforms using cloud native technologies in EdTech, Healthcare Tech, Application Security and FinTech. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Framingham State University and an MS in Technology Management from Brandeis University. Sanjay is originally from Nepal and came to the US on a full tuition undergraduate scholarship. When not working, he enjoys spending time with his wife and a young son or cooking, traveling, and playing tennis.

 

Nikki Ballinger

Nikki joined the Parlance team as a Solutions Engineer in 2022. She brings a strong technical background to the table, having spent over 15 years working in development and data analysis for finance and market research companies. A New Zealand native, she is an avid gardener, and loves playing with her dogs in her free time.

 

Irene Bratsis

Irene joined Parlance in 2022 as a Product Manager. She is responsible for growing our product function at Parlance. Irene is a NYC based AI product manager, AI practitioner, and community builder. She has spent years organizing events and initiatives with varying groups and serves as Regional Lead and book club organizer for Women in Data, moderates a monthly discussion Women in AI, and is a founding member of WiCyS Artificial Intelligence Affiliate. Irene is originally from Waltham, MA and has received a BA from Simmons University in Economics and International Relations. Prior to her product management work, Irene upskilled into machine learning and worked as a data scientist, and she has spent over a decade working in B2B SaaS tech environments. Irene loves to travel, paint and write.

 

Cristin Shields

Cristin joined Parlance in 2022 as Head of Customer Operations. She brings 20 years of healthcare operations experience in revenue cycle, project management, and patient access. Cristin designed, implemented, and managed the day-to-day operations of the centralized patient access call center for one of the major Boston teaching hospitals. She truly understands patient/caller pain points and the impacts on health system operations, and has a passion for working with clients on solutions for a best in class caller experience. An avid Boston sports fan; Cristin has lived in New England her whole life. She loves to attend sporting events with her family, and chase after her kids. Cristin holds a BS in Healthcare Management and Policy from the University of New Hampshire, and is an alumni of the Umass Boston Center for Collaborative Leadership. She is thrilled to be part of the Parlance Team!

 

Siyana Minkova

Siyana joined the Parlance team in 2022, bringing 4 years of call center experience to the table, intimately familiar with the problems Parlance works to solve. She has found a home in the Sales and Marketing department, offering support and communication expertise to the whole team. Before joining Parlance, she worked as an Insurance Customer Relationship Specialist for General Electric. Born in Bulgaria, she has grown up in Massachusetts since the age of two. Siyana is an avid traveler and loves going on adventures. She also enjoys reading, baking, and relaxing with her family and cat.

Joseph Maxwell

A technology industry veteran, Joseph has over 30 years of experience. As CEO of Parlance Corporation, Joseph is responsible for all aspects of company strategy, product development, technology infrastructure, and service delivery. Joseph shares his expertise with visionary organizations nationwide, in healthcare, higher education, and enterprise, who rely on Parlance every day to improve call handling, ease caller effort and reduce operational costs. Prior to Parlance Corporation, Joseph worked on speech recognition technology-based applications at BBN Technologies (now part of Raytheon). Joseph holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Linda Huynh-Nguyen

Linda is the Marketing Assistant at Parlance. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire, majoring in Communications. She was an active member of Best Buddies UNH and Amnesty International. Her interests are blogging about her life with friends and traveling. Linda is a proud pet owner of a Chorkie (a Chihuahua / Yorkie combo). Outside of work, she loves to help her mom cook Vietnamese food.

Maurizio De Cagna

Maurizio is a solution engineer. His responsibilities are building, testing, monitoring, and improving applications and the user experience for the Parlance managed solution. His background is in customer support, testing/QA, sales support and product management. Maurizio grew up in Switzerland and Italy and is fluent in French and Italian. He enjoys solving problems, helping people, fixing electronic devices, building FX pedals, and playing around with synthesizers.

Ali Karasic

Ali is the Marketing Director at Parlance. Her background is in marketing and graphic design. Prior to Parlance, Ali worked in several sectors including; HighTech, EdTech, and Non-Profit, in both traditional and digital marketing. Ali grew up on the Jersey Shore, graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and has lived in the Boston area for over 15 years. She is passionate about connecting with people and spent 6 years for a Boston-area business networking organization. Ali loves working at Parlance because the team is friendly, smart, collaborative, and always focused on learning and improving.

Scott D’Entremont

Scott joined Parlance in 2018 as Chief Revenue Officer. He is responsible for all aspects of growth at Parlance. New revenue generation, revenue retention, and increasing the value of the Parlance brand in the markets we serve are all part of his responsibilities. Scott has a technology career that spans 25 years with 20 years in executive management as both a CEO and COO. As founder CEO of Netspoke, Scott grew the company from 2 people to 120 and an annual run rate of more than 20 million leading to the acquisition of the company by Premier Global Services (NYSE PGI).

Jaelynn Linares

Jaelynn Linares joined the Parlance team as a Solutions Engineer. She brings over 20 years of customer service experience to her role. She enjoys problem solving, logic puzzles, and helping people. She has lived in Massachusetts her whole life and still hates winter, but loves the ocean. In her free time you will find her baking and making crafts.

Joe Nelson

Joe joined Parlance in 2021 as an Implementation Project Manager, responsible for the planning, implementation and on-time delivery of the Parlance solution to customers. He brings 20+ years of successful project management experience to his role and is driven by understanding and creatively managing customer needs to enable their business success with the Parlance solution. Born and raised in Boston, Joe graduated from Bentley University with a degree in Management and a concentration in Computer Information Systems. In his spare time, he is an avid runner and wine lover, enjoys non-fiction reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Maryellen McDonnell

Maryellen McDonnell joined the Parlance team as a Customer Support Analyst after two years working with the team as a Caller Experience Analyst. She has a background in voice recognition and worked on the team that launched the Amazon Alexa. Having worked in administration at Harvard Medical School for 15years, Maryellen is at home with the unique organizational structure and terminology associated with the health care and higher education sectors. Maryellen is a graduate of Cornell University, but has stayed true to her Massachusetts roots. She is so happy to be on the Parlance team!

Denise Griffin

Denise joined Parlance in 2021 as the first Customer Success Manager, partnering with the Sales and Service Delivery teams in engaging the largest accounts to ensure optimal service usage, customer education, and customer retention. Prior to joining Parlance, Denise worked in Systems Engineering, Partner Alliances, Program Management and Data Analysis roles. Denise graduated from Tufts University with an Electrical Engineering degree. Outside of work and spending time with her family, she volunteers in board level positions in IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and gives STEM and professional development talks at K-12 schools, universities, and conferences.

Ahlem Triki

Ahlem is AI/NLU Engineer. She has spent over five years working as a software engineer and developing Conversational AI applications.
At Parlance, Ahlem integrates NLU solutions within the Parlance Service platform. Prior to joining the Parlance team, Ahlem worked at Ensofia as AI software Engineer. Ahlem worked in France and Ireland before moving to the US in 2017.

Paul Cox

Paul is a Systems Administrator for Parlance, with focus on internal infrastructure and client facing servers. He ensures that the Parlance team has the IT tools to accomplish their objectives. Paul has over 20 years of experience with a vast array of different technologies, focusing on Microsoft systems. Paul grew up near Philadelphia, but he’s been in the Boston area since 2007.

Brian Kramer

Brian is a Software Engineer who has spent more than 5 years developing cloud-based applications in industries such as Educational Technology and Healthcare.  As a Software Engineer at Parlance, Brian’s responsibilities include development of web applications, maintenance of HL7 interfaces, and implementation of new technologies. Prior to Parlance, Brian worked as a software consultant at Accenture. Brian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Dayton.

Suparna Agnihotri

Suparna Agnihotri joined Parlance as Senior Software Engineer. She has 15 years of experience in Software Development. Along with the development team, she works on the core product and makes sure to deliver best solutions to support Parlance customers. Suparna worked for a Hedge-fund firm, as Senior Software Engineer, for 9 years, before joining Parlance. Suparna got her Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from Mumbai University and Master’s degree in Computer Science from UMass, Boston.

Annmarie Block

Annmarie is responsible for growing new Parlance sales in Texas and the Southeast, primarily in the healthcare and education sector. Annmarie has spent the last 30 years in sales and sales management working with communication and technology companies, for both national and Boston-based companies. Previously, Annmarie served as the Vice President of Sales, for Netspoke (purchased by PGi), where she trained and developed a dynamic sales team in both the fundamentals of sales and outstanding service. Annmarie has been awarded numerous personal and team awards for outstanding achievements in sales, including Presidents Club, The Deloitte North American Fast 500, The Deloitte Technology Fast 500, and The Inc. 500. She joined Parlance in 2018, and is happy to be doing what she loves most — working directly with customers. Annmarie holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has been living in Southern California since 2006.

Michele Gosselin

Michele has been with Parlance since 2009, as a Customer Solutions Engineer. In addition, she serves on the Parlance dialog design team and manages the performance benchmarking process. Michele is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, with a degree in Psychology.

Scott Gomes

Scott joined the Parlance team in 2003. He has had many roles including Systems Admin, Infrastructure Manager and is now the Manager of IT and our Customer Solutions team. In this role, Scott is responsible for the team that deploys, manages and innovates Parlance’s managed solutions that our customers have come to rely on. Additionally, Scott has a direct role in the infrastructure that supports these endeavors. Prior to joining Parlance, Scott worked in tech roles at RCN, Click2learn.com, and One INC. He attended Fitchburg State College, majoring in Communications.

Nancy Fyrberg

Nancy joined Parlance in 2001. During her career at Parlance she has worked in many different departments. She began her Parlance journey in Customer Support, dabbled in Sales, supported the Marketing department and then came back home to Customer Solutions in 2015. She loves working with customers as she is truly “a people person”. Nancy partners with her customers to understand their pain points, in order to design applications that support their caller groups and business needs. Prior to joining Parlance, Nancy had worked at multiple companies within a technical customer support role. Nancy graduated from Salem State University with a Bachelor of Art degree; photography concentration, music minor. She enjoys spending time with her family and pets and always tries to live an artful life.

John Laidler

John is an experienced Software Engineer who has spent more than 35 years developing applications, including 20 years working with telephony speech recognition products.  As a Senior Software Engineer at Parlance, John’s responsibilities span a broad range including development of web based tools, implementation of HL7 interfaces, providing Dictionary Management applications and investigation and evaluation of new technologies. Prior to Parlance Corporation, John worked on telephony applications at Lyrix Incorporated and before that worked for Raytheon developing Air Traffic control systems. John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Leeds University (UK).

Dan Heer

As a Business Development Executive at Parlance, Dan works with health systems, higher education institutions, and enterprises throughout the Midwest to improve their organizations caller experience. After graduating from Minnesota State University with a degree in Economics, Dan began a Business Development role in healthcare staffing. Always wanting to move into the technology space he found a role with Gartner, inc. working with emerging technology companies to help understand their markets to scale their business’. Through sourcing and discovering many tech companies with growth potential, Dan realized he wanted to be a part of one himself and knew what to look for. Parlance was the perfect fit. The technology had immediate value to its customers, but what sold Dan to work here was the team that Parlance employs.

Ann Colella

Ann started her career with Parlance in 2016, as Implementation Project Manager.  She ensures a timely delivery of the Parlance solution while focusing on the customers objectives.  Ann has 18 years of project management experience.  Prior to joining the Parlance team Ann worked at Fidelity Investments for 16 years, overseeing a variety of project implementations.

Sheila Kelly

Sheila joined the Parlance team in 2012 as a business development executive covering the Western United States. She takes great satisfaction in developing strong and enduring partnerships with clients to solve operational challenges that impact customer experiences. Prior to joining Parlance, Sheila had stepped away from the corporate workplace for more than a decade to raise her children and focus on civic engagements in her hometown of Great Falls, Montana. She holds a BA from Vanderbilt University.

Keith Greenwood

Keith has been with Parlance since 2006, starting as a Field Service Engineer. His present role as Solutions Engineer has Keith working with our customers to deploy speech solutions from project inception to ongoing maintenance, providing 2nd-tier support and acting as a SME for integrating Parlance Service with our customer’s unified communications and telecommunications environments. Before Parlance, Keith worked in various technical roles at Lockheed-Martin and PixelVision/Avocent, and attended Northeastern University, majoring in Electronics Engineering.

Chris DeRizzo

Chris has been selling for Parlance since 2000.  Living in New York State, he mostly covers the New England territory, although he has customers all over the country.  Prior to Parlance, Chris held positions in both sales and finance.  One of the reasons he’s enjoyed being with the Parlance team for so long is his quest to help customers save money and create efficiency with our solution.  He also loves getting out and meeting different people and creating new relationships. Chris enjoys the outdoors and spending time traveling with his family.

Bill Pajunen

Having worked in the telephony and speech-enabled application industries for 30 years, Bill has seen the technical landscape in a constant state of change.  In his software development role, he has found the task of enabling innovation both rewarding and challenging.  Working with vendor integrations, distributed environments, process instrumentation, and data analysis have all added to his appreciation for the development process and its role within a successful service offering.  Working at Parlance with a collaborative development team to deliver new features or products is great. When that product is reliable, and valued by the customer, even better. Before joining Parlance Bill worked at Wang Information Services, VoiceCom, and Lyrix Inc, all telephony and-or speech application service companies.

Amy Murphy

Amy Murphy has been a member of the Parlance team since the Back Street Boys joined forces!  She’s held several sales and marketing positions throughout her career at Parlance and considers the Parlance team family.  Currently, Amy manages the Parlance Business Development team and focuses on developing new client relationships. She helps organizations realize the incredible impact of Parlance speech automation technology — streamline operations, improve service levels, and lower costs.

William Sadkin

With over 30 years of experience in building mission-critical real-time systems, Will serves as the Director of Software Development at Parlance, and is one of its founding employees.  Will considers it his team’s mission to bring highly reliable and serviceable speech-driven solutions to market, and to then support those systems to ensure that both Parlance’s solutions and customer service remain the best in the industry.   Prior to Parlance, Will worked at Unisys and BBN Technologies (now Raytheon), where he helped design and build deliverable systems in several technological domains, including air-traffic control radar processing, military tactical training VR simulation and speech recognition.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science from SUNY Potsdam.

Mindy Garber

Mindy Garber is a founding employee at Parlance and is Chief for Quality/Customer Satisfaction. Her responsibilities include corporate processes, support, training, field engineering and customer surveys. Since 2004, Mindy has also been active in the conflict resolution field. One day a month, she serves as a mediator with the Massachusetts District Courts, and has mediated over 250 civil disputes. In addition, she serves as a non-attorney arbitrator with the Massachusetts Bar Association.  Mindy is a guest lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and teaches workshops in Negotiation Skills, Difficult Conversations, and Design Dispute Resolution for Engineers. She has a MS from Stanford University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She also attended Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation.

John Emery

John Emery has been in communications since he took an announcing job at age 16 at the radio station in his home town. After college and two years in the military he became the founding music and production director for radio at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.  He then spent 12 years as Production, then Programming Vice President for Charles River Broadcasting in Boston.  Since 1998 he has been a solutions engineer and recording manager for Parlance Corporation.