There are 4 different levels of disaster severity related to the contact center, and each level impacts the experience you deliver to your customers. These levels are SEV1, SEV2, SEV3, and non-production defect. SEV1 is the most serious level with non-production being the most mild.
The 4 Incident Severity Levels
SEV1: Critical Impact/System Down
A SEV1 defect is a production outage. This is where the production system has ceased to operate, and there is no workaround. There are several different ways that a contact center can experience a SEV1 outage. An example is an error in the IVR, such as a prompt not loading, that prevents callers from being able to complete tasks within the IVR, resulting in a significant number of additional calls getting through to the agents. The errors can also involve agent systems, such as the CRM system failing, making it impossible for agents to access customer records and serve customers effectively.
SEV2: Significant Impact
A SEV2 defect refers to defects that affect production, but workarounds are possible. A SEV2 disaster, compared to a SEV1, is not a production outage but still affects the customer experience. For example, the CTI might misroute calls, resulting in agents having to manually transfer calls. Ultimately the customer is served, but there’s a not insignificant negative impact to the customer experience.
SEV3: Minor Impact
A SEV3 defect also impacts production systems. Customers and agents are able to accomplish tasks, but experience nuisances and inconveniences. An example of a SEV3 in a contact center is when audio quality is poor, requiring the customer and agent to repeat themselves, but ultimately, they are able to accomplish their tasks. In terms of your CX, these aren’t critical, but are the CX equivalent of death by a thousand paper cuts.
Non-production
Non-production defects are found before systems are put into production. An example of a non-production issue would be a Disaster Recovery failure identified during a load test. The earlier in the development cycle that you are able to identify defects, the better. And, of course, keeping them out of the production environment is critical to providing a good CX.
Cyara Is Here to Help
It is important for organizations to minimize the risk of these different levels of disasters. Each level provides its own challenges financially and to company resources. Not only will it cost the company time and money to fix the issue, but it can cost them customers as well. How much can it cost? Read our blog How Much Does a Sev1 Cost Your Organization?
Read more about Cyara’s IVR testing solutions and incident management solutions.
Customer Experience is where customers are won and lost. Help make every customer experience a win by using the Cyara Automated Customer Assurance Platform to ensure customer satisfaction one experience at a time.