Call Center Metrics

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.

Measuring Helpdesk performance can ensure customer satisfaction, which is the primary goal in the business. With a properly established system, monitoring customer satisfaction would be easier as well.

The world of technology brings us many, many benefits that all of us can enjoy. However, with such benefits, there are also a number of technical issues that one just cannot do without. This is because, as high-tech as these gadgets may be, there will indeed come a time when you would need technical support for whatever glitches the features may have.

And with this comes the importance of Helpdesk. Simply put, Helpdesk refers to the mediators that make the features of fads and gadgets easier for their users. Customer satisfaction is the underlying concept Helpdesks aim for. Because of this, it is of such importance to measure Helpdesk performance as well.

Since the basic aim of Helpdesks is providing customer satisfaction, then one of their aims should also be to be as effective at their jobs as possible. For this purpose, a scorecard should then be developed to quantify Helpdesk performance. Ever since the concept of Helpdesk surfaced, there have been two aspects used for this: the number of answers called, and the length of these calls.

The less time Helpdesk agents spend resolving the issue for each caller, the better. The concept here is not just, “The more, the merrier”, but “The more, the better.” If a Helpdesk agent would spend less time for each call, then he or she would be able to handle more calls. Thus, it is very important to keep track of the number of calls answered and the length of these calls.

However, Helpdesk performance should not be measured by just using quantity as basis. Quality should be measured as well. With just quantity as basis, there would be a quota to hit for every Helpdesk agent, of course. It would be very easy to lose track of the concept of customer satisfaction here, especially if you would focus your attention on just getting as many calls as possible. Quality should still be meshed in the equation.

By including customer satisfaction in your scorecard, determining the benchmarks in the evaluation of the needs of customers would be so much easier. It is very important to be able to foresee the needs of your customers, especially when it comes to the features and such of your products. You have to bear in mind that not all customers would have the technical knowledge that you have about the products. Of course, there are those customers who are techie in nature.

These are the people who make the job of Helpdesks easier. Still, there are those who are not familiar with the technology products come with. These are the people who would need guidance from the beginning to the end of the call. This takes patience and effort on the part of Helpdesk agents.

The proficiency of Helpdesk agents should also be included on the scorecard. One way to do this is to monitor the call abandon rates of the agents. High call abandon rates would strongly imply that the agent is not entertaining the customers that have rung his or her line. The figures for this aspect are one effective way of measuring Helpdesk performance. Agents with high call abandon rates can indeed be pegged as inefficient at the job. Monitoring Helpdesk performance this way can help any business deal with such employees accordingly.