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.
Tags: help desk, performance