Seven Metrics to Watch for Call Center Success. By. ICMI editors . The most successful contact centers have winnowed out the distracting facts and figures – won’t actually call that information, since it doesn’t always truly inform – to get to the real heart of what should be measured to mark success around and continuously improve the customer experience. It’s really a balancing act: Basing an entire service strategy on the number of calls handled per hour or on average handle time will inevitably damage contact quality; but quality metrics that aren't balanced quantitative and efficiency measurements can have an adverse effect on the customer experience – and the call center’s cost. Here are the seven key metrics ICMI has identified – with the help of top- performing centers and expert industry stakeholders. FIRST- CALL RESOLUTIONRecent research suggests that no single KPI has a bigger impact on customer satisfaction than does first- call resolution (FCR). Customer contact research and consulting firm Service Quality Measurement (SQM) Group finds that for every 1% improvement in FCR, you get a 1% improvement in customer satisfaction. In a study of more than 1. SQM found that centers that achieved “world class” customer satisfaction ratings had a FCR average of 8. FCR average of only 6. Increased customer satisfaction isn't the only big benefit realized by contact centers that achieve high FCR. These centers typically also enjoy: Lower operating costs. A low FCR rate breeds a high number of repeat callers – reducing the cost burden of callbacks, especially in high- volume contact centers. Reduced revenue at risk. SQM research shows that if the customer's issue is resolved on the first call, only 3% of those customers are at risk of defecting to your competitors - - compared to a whopping 3. Applies To: System Center 2016 - Service Manager. This article provides an overview of how to configure service level management in Service Manager. Higher employee satisfaction. The strain on agents who must contend with frequent callbacks from often- frustrated customers is significant and invariably leads to low morale, poor customer service and high agent turnover. However, when agents are given the tools and training they need to achieve high FCR, they feel empowered and confident on calls. Invariably, customers take notice. While FCR has been identified as a critical KPI for contact centers, there is some question about what exactly constitutes a . Others deem a call resolved if there is no follow- up work to complete after it. Aiming for calls that require neither transfers nor follow- up work is a sound approach to high quality service, but it is incomplete from an FCR measurement standpoint, say experts, because it fails to take into account something essential - - the customer's perspective. It’s important to let the customer tell you if their issue has been resolved, whether through real- time or near- real- time customer feedback channels, such as post- call IVR surveys, online surveys, live surveys or immediate email- based surveys. SERVICE LEVEL/RESPONSE TIMEService level and response time are classic metrics, and they’re fundamental to effective management of the contact center and the customer experience. These metrics tell you how accessible the center is to customers, how many agents are needed to provide efficient service or how your center's service compares to others in your industry. Service level is defined as: . Service Desk/Helpdesk Metrics and Reporting : Getting Started (Version 3) Page 2 Copyright © Serio Ltd 2005-2008 Developers of Serio Helpdesk and IT Service. Journal of Management and Marketing Research Efficiency metrics for nonprofit, Page 1 Efficiency metrics for nonprofit marketing/fundraising and service. Website for the State of Oklahoma Chief Information Officer CIO), a cabinet-level secretary, who manages the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES. Incident, Problem, & Change Management Metrics Benchmarks Update A Report From The Pink Elephant IT Management Metrics Benchmark Service Version : 1.0. Find and compare Field Service Management software. Free, interactive tool to quickly narrow your choices and contact multiple vendors. Response time (which is the equivalent of service level for transactions that don't have to be handled the moment they arrive) is defined as: . These metrics measure how well you are getting customer contacts in the door and into the hands of agents (and thus are essential for planning and budgeting). They are the clearest indication of what customers experience when they attempt to reach your contact center. When establishing and assessing service level and response time objectives, the important thing isn't merely how high your overall stated objectives are, but how consistently the center hits those objectives throughout the day. Don’t be lulled into thinking solid performance here is the only thing to watch. A center can achieve its objectives, yet still be wasting resources, creating extra work and providing poor quality. Accessibility is an enabler, not a guarantee of quality or of customer delight. Accessibility means that contacts are getting in and being handled efficiently so that the contact center has the opportunity to accomplish its mission of ensuring long- lasting customer satisfaction and loyalty. If quality is poor, things such as repeat contacts, unnecessary contacts and escalations and complaints will eventually drive service level down and frustrate your customers. ADHERENCE TO SCHEDULEAdherence to schedule is a measurement of how much time during an agent's shift he or she is logged in and handling contacts or at least available to do so. Most centers choose an adherence objective around the 8. Adherence is comprised of time spent in interacting with customers, as well as time spent in after- call work, making necessary outbound calls and waiting for calls to arrive. Time taken for lunch, breaks, training, etc., is not counted as time assigned to handle contacts, and thus is not factored into adherence to schedule measurements. While always an important metric in contact centers, adherence to schedule has taken on an even more significant role of late as centers have learned to focus more on what really matters, and on what agents can control. Where average handle time and calls per hour used to rule the metric roost, centers have discovered that agents are merely slaves to such measurements and that these metrics aren't indicative of whether staff is in the right place at the right times, doing what they are supposed to be doing. Agents can't control how many calls are coming in or how long a transaction might take on the customer side, but they can be held accountable for where they are and what they are doing. This is not to say that contact centers should completely do away with more traditional productivity metrics. After all, the center needs to have an idea about how many calls a typical agent is handling and how long those calls are lasting to help pinpoint any scheduling adjustments that may have to be made. The good news is that when placing a stronger emphasis on adherence to schedule by having agents in the right places at the right times, things like average handle time and calls per hour tend to take care of themselves. That is assuming the center has taken time to provide agents with adequate training and a quality mindset, and that the center has done a decent job of forecasting and scheduling. That said, there is the danger of focusing too stringently on adherence to schedule - - watching agents' every move with the help of workforce management technology and inevitably eliciting cries of micro- management from them. Here are several recommendations from ICMI for ensuring solid adherence stats that agents won’t find intrusive: Train each agent on how much of an impact he or she has on the queue, and on customer accessibility and satisfaction. Establish concrete service level and response time objectives that everybody knows, understands and accepts. Educate agents on the essential steps involved in resource planning to ensure that they understand how schedules are produced. Develop appropriate priorities for the wide range of tasks your agents perform on the job. Provide real- time information to agents and back it up with training on how to interpret that data. Track and manage schedule adherence at the supervisory level, as conditions dictate. Track schedule adherence for the entire group for planning purposes and to assess how well management has created a process that enables appropriate schedule adherence. FORECASTING ACCURACYForecasting accuracy – better described as forecasted contact load vs. It is a critical, high- level objective in all contact center environments. Underestimating demand leads to understaffing. This, in turn, leads to long wait times in queues, frustrated customers, burned- out agents and high toll- free costs (due not only to the long hold times, but also to the longer call times that might result from dedicating a portion of the call to caller complaints about hold times). However, overestimating demand results in waste, overstaffing and increased idle time. Forecasted call load is available from the system used for forecasting (e. ACD, workforce management system, email response management system, Web servers - - wherever data is available. Forecasting accuracy should not be reported as a summary of forecasted versus actual contacts across a day, week or month, but rather as an illustration of accuracy for each reporting interval, typically half- hours. SELF- SERVICE ACCESSIBILITYIt has become the quest of most contact centers to deflect from the agent queue as many basic transaction types as possible. These calls are shunted to self- service systems - - mainly IVR and interactive Web applications. This can help enhance service efficiencies and cut costs; it also frees up agents to use their valuable skills to assist customers with more complex issues, thus keeping staff engaged and motivated. But some centers get so caught up trying to lure customers off the phones and into self- service that they forget to track something essential: how well the self- service systems actually . Self- service accessibility has emerged as a critical metric in this age of automation and customer- centricity. Leading contact centers gauge not only how many customers begin self- service transactions via IVR and the Web, but also how many complete those transactions without live- agent assistance. Centers with a serious focus on effective self- service have invested in tools that record customer interactions with IVR apps and Web sites. Such tools help to pinpoint any system glitches or snags that hinder the customer experience and that cause customers to .
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