Call Center Metrics

Applying metrics than helps to manage call centre may be more advantageous to come up with immediate resolutions.

Metrics than helps to manage call center – what are they and what benefits can they bring to the call center industry?

Helping the call center can be done by hiring analysts and experts to check the performance of call center agents and the environment of the working place. Analysts can be from independent or hired employees of a call center business. Outside help can provide the industry with sound business strategy, which can be necessary to meet its objectives and defined goals.

However, in managing a call center, help from experts may be costly or even ineffective at a certain degree. In call center management, one of the things that managers of contact centers can use to measure efficiency and efficacy of the business functions is the metric system. One of the metrics for measuring the performance of the call center agents, as well as the managers, supervisors, and other employees with direct relation to the business and its functions is the KPI.

KPI is perhaps one of the popular metrics, either financial or non-financial, for measuring the activities that may be too complex to quantify, but are still quantifiable. This metric tool, known as key performance indicator, can be used to assess factors that are crucial to the functions and strategies of businesses. The factors which may be seen as key performance indicators may be critical in meeting the objectives of a business enterprise, in this case, the call centre business.

The factors that may be crucial to a call center business may include the proficiency and competency of employees, particularly agents, the average response time of calls, the rate of abandoned calls, the cost per call, and customer satisfaction.

The things that need to be quantified and measured can be kept at a minimum number. As they say, less is more. Thus, the factors that can be considered key performance indicators should only be those that have direct connection and response to the performance of a call centre business.

KPI of call centers can be used not only to measure the performance, but also to help identify strengths and weaknesses in the work setting. The performance metric can, likewise, be utilized to determine and diagnose the problems and drivers of performance gaps.

Moreover, KPI may also be applied in call center businesses to come up with prescribed actions for performance enhancement. In some cases, it can be benchmarked to industry peers so other players of the call center industry can come up with ideas for performance measurement. Further, the use of KPI can help a call center business in establishing the performance goals for the entire organization.

The balanced scorecard is another metric that can be used in call center management to assess the performance in the call center agent level and other departments in the call center business. It is also a performance measurement that can assess quantifiable and complex activities that have importance in the call center business. Balanced scorecard software is a tool that can help call center managers in determining the performance level and rate in the business.

Assessing performance involves measures than helps to manage call center. Other tools and methods proven to be effective can also be applied in call center management.

Help desk key performance indicators are important factors to use when you want to measure the performance of call centers. These indicators quantify the necessary aspects for accurate measurement.

In the industry of call centers, it is very important to employ help desk key performance indicators. This is because these indicators are developed to evaluate how far along a certain call center is in achieving its corporate goals and objectives. To do this, key performance indicators or KPIs are then needed, to determine the performance of the help desk, and that of the call center as a whole.

The key to optimizing the manpower and resources of call centers lies on effective performance management measures. What are these performance management measures? These are actually quantifiable aspects used to effectively measure the performance of each and every member of the workforce. Performance management measures actually include constant monitoring of agent performance, formulation of objectives, proper training of agents, recognition of agents who have been excelling in terms of performance, and evaluation of agent performance. To do this efficiently, KPIs are also used for this endeavor.

KPIs are essential parts of performance management. In ensuring effective performance management of the help desk, you just cannot do without KPIs. In fact, these KPIs are very helpful in assisting agents and representatives as to what calls should be prioritized and how to process the calls that are being handled. However, you have to note that these KPIs should not be defined before the corporate goals and objectives of the call center are defined. This is because the KPIs exist to smoothen out the process of achieving these goals and objectives. This is the main purpose behind the existence of KPIs, after all. These key performance indicators assist in measuring the current performance of the help desk, in relation to the goals and objectives originally set. Thus, you cannot expect two or three help desks to be utilizing the same set of KPIs. This would mean that the call centers have the same goals and objectives that they want to achieve, and this is just not possible.

However, once these KPIs have been implemented, it is important for all members of the workforce to be made aware of them. After all, these are the quantifiable factors that would be used to measure the performance of everyone on the workforce, particularly the help desk. Also, making your workforce aware of these KPIs can motivate them to perform better as well. Priorities can also be aligned according to corporate goals and objectives. Furthermore, since KPIs have to be quantifiable in nature, this implies that certain software should be used to measure them accurately. Help desks should be ready to invest in such software for effective performance management.

It is actually wise to use a limited number of help desk key performance indicators. Less is more, as people would say. If you use many KPIs, measuring performance here would become too complicated. There would be too many extraneous factors that have influence on the whole measuring process. Thus, it is recommended to limit the number of KPIs to just five. Choose the KPIs that are relevant to the nature of the business itself. These KPIs should also be in accordance to the goals and objectives originally set. For the most part, these are the commonly used KPIs: first call resolution, call cost, agent efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall call center performance.

Performance measurement can be a tool and a process for measuring ROI of helpdesk. Quantity may not only be involved to assess the ROI, for quality should also be considered.

There are factors to consider in measuring ROI of helpdesk. But first, it is worth to know what a help desk is and how it functions.

Help desk is an assistance and information resource that can provide resolutions to problems concerning IT products. In other words, it helps people with problems in computer and related products by relaying troubleshooting transactions via telecommunication means. Companies, mostly corporations, have help desk support to provide assistance to their customers via a website, e-mail, and/or toll-free number. Though companies can employ hired help desk agents, this function has usually been outsourced to contractors that offer the differentiated service.

Help desk does not only exist in the information technology world. The traditional help desk support can be found in businesses and educational institutions. In companies, help desk can provide information assistance, not only to their clients and customers, but as well as the employees. Some companies have their in-house help desk catering only for their employees.

The function of help desk has also reached into the realm of educational campuses. Some schools have a curriculum where students availing of that class can perform help desk functions.

Perhaps, the most popular help desk of these contemporary times can be seen in call centers.

Help desks are deemed helpful in maintaining the business and customer relationships. Because of its nearness to customers, it is important then for people handling the help desk to be properly trained. The performance of a help desk agent must be within the means of the company’s mission and defined goals and objectives.

In measuring the ROI of help desk, there are critical factors that must be taken into account. Perhaps the foremost is the performance of the help desk agent.

Assessing the performance of the help desk agent or agents is important in determining the return of investment for employing the customer-support function. In measuring the performance of help desk agents and the ROI of help desk, performance metrics can be used.

Perhaps, the most popular metric for activities that are complex to quantify and measure is the KPI or key performance indicator. The KPI in helpdesk ROI may include the performance of the help desk agent. Other factors to be considered would include employee proficiency, response time, call abandon rate, and customer satisfaction. These factors can be measured by recording the call activities of help desk agents and customers or by tracking system known as incident tracking system for logging the processes and activities taken place on the onset of calls.

The balanced scorecard is another tool that can be applied for assessing the total performance and measuring ROI of helpdesk.

The balanced scorecard is a metric for measuring the activities of enterprises and assessing their value and results in line with the enterprises’ objectives. It is a performance measurement framework that can be utilized by businesses to measure quantifiable and abstract factors that are vital to a business.

There can be variation in the contents and elements of the balanced scorecard used by one company to another. Individuals tasked to measure the performance may have used traditional means of assessing the total performance rate. However, in these modern times, the use of software has become increasingly common. Measuring the performance using the common or customized software can be helpful for businesses aiming to fully practice its strategies and for gaining insights of the things that must be done as responses to certain problems or concerns.

Measuring ROI of helpdesk can be complex. One company may use different performance measurements to derive the ROI of its helpdesk functions.

To measure and control call center performance, you will need to gauge the rate at which it is performing. These measures can show you how.

Simple call centers evolving into multi-channel contact centers do not just happen in a whiff. Adding or upgrading technologies and expanding staff skills are important following the addition of new applications such as e-mail and web chat. Also, it is necessary to determine which performance measurements should be used for this new kind of operation.

Performance measures that are associated with service are said to be the most important. These measures may work for both call and contact centers or change depending on the type of transaction.

An example of call center performance measure is blockage. This accessibility measure indicates the rate of customers at which they cannot access the center at a specific time due to inadequate network facilities. Measures that indicate blockage or busy signals by occurrences of “busy trunk lines” are utilized by most call centers. Failure of a blockage goal enables a center to meet its rate of answer goal by blocking excess calls. It may appear as if the call center is doing a good job at managing call queues, but it can actually have a negative impact on customer accessibility.

The call center should also carefully know how much facilities are needed for email server capacity and bandwidth to avoid huge quantities of emails from overloading the system. The same goes for the number of lines that support fax services, which must be adequate enough to allow reasonable blockage.

Another way to measure call center performance is through abandon rate. Call centers usually gauge the number and rate of abandons because both correlate in terms of revenues and retention. However, it has to be noted that the abandon rate is not completely under the control of the call center. While the average waiting time in queue can affect abandons, there are a lot of other factors affecting this number, among which include availability of service alternatives, time of day, caller tolerance and many others. Also, while the abandon rate measure is not commonly related with email interactions, it applies, however, to web chat communications.

Self-service availability and utilization is also an important accessibility measure and is commonly gauged by self-service menu points and methodology, demographic group or time of day.

On the other hand, the most common measure for speed of answer in a call center is the service level. Meanwhile, the longest delay in queue (LDQ) is another gauge for speed of answer, which is used to indicate when it is necessary for immediate staffing reactions. LDQ is categorized into two namely longest delay to answer and longest delay to abandon. The former is the delay for a customer’s transaction to be finally handled by the agent and the latter is delay for a customer to abandon the contact.

These measures usually gauge the speed of call center performance. There are still many other performance measures applicable to call centers, both in-bound and multi-channel. These may be used to measure individual agent performance or overall call center operations. In all cases, these measures should be used to determine performance excellence as well as gaps that need improvement with different adjustments.

These customer service performance tips can give your business the edge in today’s fiercely tough competition.

Competition nowadays has become even more cutthroat. Customer expectations are getting higher and there is more price comparing, among many factors that need to be considered in order to get a leg up in the competition. Competitors are doing all they can to keep their customers and gain new ones as well. It’s a simple fact that presents a cold, hard truth: Satisfy your customers and you keep them. If you can’t, then you lose them.

So how do you make sure you re not lagging far behind in this fiercely competitive environment? It’s that simple. Good, quality customer service. By putting value to your customer’s needs, having the ability to create strong customer relationships and finding tailor fit solutions to customer problems, you can ensure the success, if not the survival of your business. In whatever facet of doing business with customers, it is important to give them a higher quality of service than those of your competitors. You need to treat every customer as a positive experience and make the customer feel that s/he is highly valued in your business as well. By giving your customers a positive and pleasurable experience, they will keep coming back for more of your products and services.

Customers have also become more demanding today. There are a number of ways that you can do to win them over. A very important thing you should always keep in mind is to put your customers first. Focus on them and pay close attention to what they really need. Know and understand what their needs, concerns, expectations and priorities really are. This way, you go beyond more than just merely serving them but also demonstrating that you care.

Also, whether you admit it or don’t, you should keep in mind that your business exists because you are in sales. You are being constantly evaluated by your customers so each time you interact with them, you should always show concern and care for them. Remember that whatever you say or do can affect your relationship with the customer and the reputation of your business as well. By constantly giving them exceptional service, you build goodwill with your customers and strengthen your business’s sustainability and credibility as well.

To ensure a culture of customer service excellence in your company, get everyone in your team involved in establishing office guidelines and policies that require each one to maintain core values that are important to both the customers and everyone in your business.

Choose effective words or phrases that demonstrate care and professionalism in your everyday interaction with customers. Also, establish a system for measuring customer care. These include number of customer complaints, retention rates and satisfaction rates. Know which measures are important and commit to improve them.

It is only right to treat your staff properly if you want them to treat customers the same too. You cannot expect them to be ‘happy to serve’ your customers if they are not pleased with how you are treating them. Let your people feel that they are working with, and not for you. This will encourage true cooperation so that your business can achieve customer service excellence.

As successful as call centers may be today, there is still a need to manage and control call center performance. Here are some tips on how to do this.

The call center industry has been experiencing boom after boom for so many years now. This is a strong indication that there is much revenue to be earned in this industry! And for the many investors considering delving into the call center industry, you must be prepared to tackle every single aspect to be tackled, just to ensure the success of your call center. Yes, call centers are indeed quite successful these days. But this does not go without much effort from the many people behind it, as well as the different technologies that support the operations of such centers!

The typical call center does not just cater to the needs of one client. In fact, in the most common setting, a call center could very well cater to the needs of banks, travel agencies, financial institutions, and the like. And these establishments have different needs and operations to handle. The call center itself would then have to hire different sets of representatives who would then be trained to handle the problems and issues the customers of these clients would be calling about. Let us say that a call center has an Internet Service Provider for a client.

The call center would then have to hire representatives who would have sufficient background and experience when it comes to the technologies and such in providing Internet services. The same call center could then have a financial institution for a second client. The representatives hired for this account should then have a certain level of background in accounting or banking and finance. Thus, there is a need for any call center to be very flexible when it comes to catering to the individual needs of their clients. So, what can be done to manage and control call center performance?

The perfect approach to take here is actually the Balanced Scorecard. This is actually metrics and metrics management combined. The metrics to be used here should represent the business in its entirety. These include the calls, the operators, the expenses incurred, and the revenue gained. In managing these metrics, the proper order should be implemented. But it is equally important to keep the number of metrics to be used at a moderate level. So, just choose the metrics that are relevant to your business as a call center.

You should also have a financial perspective when deciding which metrics to use here. Most call centers actually perceive that more revenue is garnered with more calls. But this is not true at all. This is not just about making as many calls as possible. There are also conversion rates to consider, as well as maintaining costs at the lowest possible rate.

Next to consider are the internal processes. Just how is a phone call handled in your very own call center? How do the queues of calls go about? Is there a particular segmentation of incoming calls that takes place? How long is the call-handling time that you perceive as average? And what about your service window? Is it available 24/7? These are just some of the questions you need to ask when it comes to the internal processes of your call center. By keeping these things in mind, the plan to managing and controlling the functions entailed in maintaining call centers is indeed made easier to achieve.

To ensure the productivity of helpdesk in call centers, there are actually a lot of certain helpdesk management tips that you can consider.

The helpdesk actually exists to provide much needed assistance in the overall operations of call centers. When you are in the business of call centers, there are actually two sets of customers that you need to consider, which are the internal and the external customers. If only the budget would allow, then all needs brought about by these customers can be answered to right away. Unfortunately, such is not the case, so there should be some sort of balance to be set when it comes to helpdesk management.

The first of many helpdesk management tips is the auditing of the center’s current practices. It is important to do this before you do engage in certain changes for your processes, as needed. Each and every detail should be audited. However, you should pay attention to customer care and other support services offered by your helpdesk.

The second is to develop what is known as service level management. This is done by clearly outlining what the different services that your helpdesk offers. IT provisions should also be monitored, since there would inevitably be broader requirements when it comes to handling the business. Once this service level management is established, then things should flow more smoothly.

The third step is to reevaluate costs entailed. The total costs in providing these services should be pegged, first and foremost. After such a figure is established, then you should proceed to determine just how much each and every call received and made costs, as well as the costs each call entails in order for particular issues to be resolved. Identify which calls are easily resolved because these are actually the ones that are cheaper. These are the calls that do not generate that much income for your helpdesk. This does not mean it would be better to have calls on problems and issues that are harder to resolve, just because these generate more income. Rather, effective helpdesk management would do whatever it takes to provide self-help tips, so that clients would no longer have to contact customer service representatives just to solve trivial problems, say, resetting passwords for instance.

The fourth step is to make sure you have exactly the right mix when it comes to hiring the people for the job. Techies may have the needed expertise to handle difficult calls, but they just might not have the necessary customer service skills needed in handling the call itself. Similarly, customer-savvy representatives may be too lax when handling difficult calls. Thus, the perfect mix should be achieved here. It is actually better to get customer-savvy representatives than to get techies. This is because technical skills can be easily taught and learned, whereas interpersonal and communication skills are inherent.

Lastly, you should demand quality support from your suppliers. This is in accordance to your rights to high-end support, so do not worry about appearing demanding. Technical evaluations should be made from time to time, so that you can be sure that your call center would be as efficient as it should be. Returns of investment would then be made more smoothly if you keep in mind these helpdesk management tips.

There are certain helpdesk efficiency secrets that can be used in ensuring the overall performance of helpdesks all over the world. Customer satisfaction is the underlying concept in these secrets.

The advent of technology brings about so many advantages and benefits that are resting on the palms of our hands. But not everything brought about by such technologies are positive. There are certain technical problems and issues that gizmos and gadgets just cannot do without. And this does not pertain to just gizmos and gadgets alone! There are so many services that warrant a call or two to helpdesks, just for technical support or assistance. Thus, in order for helpdesk agents to provide the quality service their customers are entitled to, then a certain level of efficiency should be achieved on their part as well. And this is where the importance of knowing certain helpdesk efficiency secrets sets in.

When you are discussing helpdesk efficiency, then you should keep in mind the underlying concept of customer satisfaction. This is the primary aim of all helpdesk agents. Now, there are certain things that can help any helpdesk agent in ensuring customer satisfaction. One of these is the establishment of a scorecard. This scorecard actually helps in quantifying aspects that determine helpdesk performance. Here lies the concepts that have been used for some time now, and these are the number of calls answered, as well as the length of the calls that have been answered. The basic premise here is the more calls the agent receives, then the more people he is able to help. To be able to entertain more calls, then the handling time for each call should also be as short as possible. This is the quantitative side in helpdesk performance.

There is also a qualitative side that you just cannot do without. The number and length of calls are not enough to ensure customer satisfaction. In fact, customers do not really care how long their calls would be, so as long as the issue or the problem is resolved. Thus, this should also be included in the equation, to ensure helpdesk efficiency.

For these to be strongly implemented, then the needs of your customers should be evaluated and outlined as clearly as possible. This way, you can easily determine the benchmarks needed in the whole process. The ability to foresee the needs of your customers is vital here. As helpdesk agents, you should know the features of the products you are handling inside and out, so that you will have a glimpse of the possible glitches and complaints your customers might have. You also have to remember that not all of your customers have the technical knowledge that is needed in operating your products efficiently. As helpdesk agents, you have to be patient when handling these matters. Remember that your job is to satisfy each and every customer. Keep this in mind, especially during the times when handling calls becomes difficult.

Lastly, the proficiency and productivity of helpdesk agents should be plotted on the scorecard as well. You have to make sure that the helpdesk agents you hire are as productive as they come. This way, customer satisfaction is easier to achieve. Thus, you should monitor the performance of each of your agents. You should check the call abandon rates of your agents for this aspect. Call abandon here actually means that the agent himself did not bother to take a call that has been routed to his line. This is a strong indication of irresponsibility. Thus, helpdesk agents with high call abandon rates should be constantly monitored.

Leading the customer service team to attaining a commendable customer service performance is full of challenges. There are several simple ways on how this could be achieved.

There is always a heavy demand for a good customer service performance. On the business front, a reliable customer service unit is one of the main factors that help bring about a healthy revenue flow to the company. When there is an excellent customer service, it is logical that there would be a sustained volume of loyal patrons and customers. In the end, this would lead to higher sales and a steady flow of income for the company.

If as a manager, you are aiming for a high customer service performance, experts advice that you target providing an extraordinary service to customers. Clients are sources of income for your unit so make sure they are well served and well treated by your team. Here are seven of the most effective tips that would help you guide the customer service team towards a better and more sustained performance.

1. Be extraordinary. Your team might have different ideas and concepts of being extraordinary. It would be better if you would set a standard concept for the word and be clear that the concept set for the team is only applicable to team efforts. This way, everyone would agree to one standard definition for the word and eventually have a consensus of how being extraordinary could be applied to real life situations particularly in the customer service operations.

2. Allow team members to approach you when they are not sure about any provision regarding the customer service operations. Because of this, make your self highly approachable and accessible most of the time. That means, you should always be around especially during occasions when problems arise.

3. Motivate the team to be extraordinary. To do that, orient and brief the team to further and more clearly understand what there is to understand. This way, they would be better equipped into do better in what they do. As a manager, you should also respect individuality and allow each team members to retain their individuality. Advocate sincerity, as it would help better establish rapport between customer service representatives and clients.

4. Share helpful information. If you have encountered new knowledge that may be of great help to operations, immediately share this to everyone in the team. Doing so would help you ensure that everyone is well informed. Eventually, this would translate to better customer service.

5. Share commitment. As a manager, of course, you are expected to be highly committed to your job. You are an effective manager if you would be able to make your team as committed as you are. Motivate the team to reach goals and targets and improve the unit’s overall performance.

6. Be patient. Significant increases in sales do not happen overnight. Be patient to wait for sometime until target results and outcomes are met.

7. Be prepared for challenges and react to such setbacks accordingly. Who says attaining high levels of customer service performance is that easy? A team would succeed on collective efforts aside from having a highly effective manager that handles the team.

Identifying the metrics or key performance indicators (KPI) that really matters is crucial for managers to measure call center performance. These metrics should not be entirely agent-centric. Rather, customer satisfaction and loyalty should also be taken into account.

Many experts now consider the important role that key performance indicators (KPIs) play in measuring call center performance. Along with this, they recognize the need to narrow down KPIs to the metrics that really matters.

Traditionally, performance management systems in call centers used to really on simple measurements like handling times, talk times, wrap times, and idle times as the primary criteria for evaluating agent efficiency. With certain technologies like predictive dialers and automatic call distribution (ACD) systems, it was very easy to access, compile and interpret data on agent-centric efficiency metrics that have been mentioned previously.

While these information do provide call center managers accurate information about how their agents perform, they do not necessarily dwell on overall customer experience. Likewise, these efficiency measures do not take into account the performance of a call center in line with its corporate goals.

The emergence of new technologies that enable call centers to obtain customer interaction analysis has benefited call center managers by enabling them to run their usual operations and at the same time, determine how the entire organization vis a vis their corporate goals. Unlike traditional call center efficiency reports, these new technologies focus on improving the overall productivity of call centers in conjunction with improving customer satisfaction ratings.

Call center management are faced with the dilemma of balancing productivity goals of the entire organization and the improvement of call center customer experience. Managers, more often than not, hire additional agents especially during peak times when frequency of inbound calls is expected to rise. At the same time, they can not hire as many agents as they want because agent salaries account for almost 70% of call center expenses.

Along with this balancing dilemma, it is also a challenge for call center managers not to rely more on agent-centric measurements as indicators of success. Doing so tends to disregard other KPIs such as customer satisfaction and loyalty which should have been considered as primary critical success factors. Experts on call centers, upon thorough analysis, now find the need for call center managers to identify metrics that will help them identify which among the agents are able to meet quantitative goals at the same time, provide top-notch customer service.

By obtaining data on talk time and first call resolution (FCR), it becomes easier to identify which among the agents excel in solving customer problems within the least amount of time.

Most call center technologies can easily provide information of up to 25 metrics at a time. While these can be used as indicators of agent and call center efficiency, experts recommend that only 5 metrics ideally measures overall call center performance. These five KPIs are cost per call, customer satisfaction, first contact resolution (FCR) rate, agent utilization and aggregate call performance. These metrics are based on the Pareto or 80/20 principle which states that from these 5 indicators, 80% of performance measurement and call center management values is obtained. These success factors, likewise, determine the Balanced Score of a call center which quantifies the aggregate efficiency of a call center over time.