Everyone knows what happens when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. It’s unfortunate, but that‘s how too many businesses, including contact centers, operate. It’s not that they want to operate that way, they simply lack access to the crucial data needed to make informed decisions to keep their businesses running smoothly.

The troubling thing about companies in this situation is that the data are there, but getting to the information in the proper format presents a problem. It all comes down to the necessity for a really good reporting system. Once that fact is recognized, the next step businesses that want to be better informed need to take is to explore the options in reporting tools.

Any software you consider should provide the ability to analyze data of your operation and its contact center (quality and usage) and give you access to archival capabilities (access to past recordings should you need them for quality or legal reasons). Plus, you’ll want exporting tools to make it easy to format and disseminate the information to the people who need it.

You’ll want to be able to export reports to multiple formats like HTML, PDF, XLS, XML and DOC, as well as to be able to create graphical views and charts. Having all of these options helps ensure the recipients of the reports can make good use of the information.

For optimum decision making, most business, and especially contact centers, will want to have reports on real-time as well as historical performance. One company, KnoahSoft (News - Alert), reports that its Harmony software offers just-in-time, dashboard reports that provide "snapshots" of recent performance. It says dashboard reports appear when the user logs in so they have an instant graphical representation of their individual or team performance.

You’ll also need to evaluate how often you’ll want to receive reports. To be sure you don’t miss anything, it’s probably best to go with software that generates reports that cover daily, weekly and monthly activities and delivers them automatically on a schedule. Be sure these reports will show all transactions for the period together with each agent's corresponding quality evaluation scores.

Ask the software provider if its product will give you the option of customized reporting with a report template utility that won’t be too difficult to use. You’re going to want to be able to enter the parameters and have the toolbar let you jump directly to any page in the report. It would be nice to also be able to adjust the zoom factor to enlarge or reduce the size of the displayed report. In addition, you’ll definitely want the ability to search for specific content in the report just by typing a word or phrase into a “find” box. You’ll want software that, once it “finds” the information you’ve specified, will then export the report to various file formats for future viewing and further analysis.

 In the end you’ll find that better information leads to better results. It’s a simple matter of choosing the reporting tools that deliver the information you need to make the right decisions at the right time.