Call centers always attract attention of the majority of customers. Sure, if you have no questions regarding the product of service you purchased you never pick up the phone and call customer support. However, it often happens that purchased products do not work properly or you simply have any questions about acquired services/products. In such a case calling to a customer support service is a must. As a rule, people form their judgment about a definite company based on conversation with customer support specialists. Even if you own a very good PC, one irritated call to a customer support service of the manufacturer may make you forget about buying from this company ever again. This is how lots of companies lose their customers. And that is how various companies acquire new clients. Inadequate performance of a call center may cause serious problems for any company. Besides, wrongly chosen strategy for a call center results in financial losses. In other words, companies that aim at internal harmony and adherence to adopted strategy should regularly monitor strategy implementation. This is where BSC comes into play.
Stages of call center BSC implementation
Balanced Scorecard proved to be an effective framework for call centers and helpdesks. Since retention of customers is an obligatory element of any business strategy, BSC helps improve customer satisfaction and optimize call center performance. The whole chain of BSC implementation in call centers looks like this:
- Adoption of comprehensive strategy. There is a common mistake – some call center managers start using BSC just a performance measurement but not strategic management tool. In such a case, Balanced Scorecard will never demonstrate its true power.
- Once the strategy is discussed it is important to appoint personnel that will be responsible for implementation and maintenance of call center BSC. Traditionally, BSC teams include call center chief managers, strategic planners and external consultants who have experience in implementing BSC in various industries, preferable in call centers.
- Choice of key performance indicators is deemed the most important stage of BSC call center implementation. The problem of choosing the wrong KPIs is perhaps the most common. Managers choose irrelevant indicators that provide top management with the wrong information. this may lead to dreadful consequences.
- Measurement of indicators is the next stage. Call center management should operate correct data to make decisions. Use of reliable BSC software and tools to gather and analyze information is a must!
Examples of call center measures used in scorecards