3rd Party Remote Call Monitoring Feature

Fantasy sports – I’m often amazed that people actually have time to play. I have enough trouble finding time to watch the live games I want to see and keep up with everything else I need to get done in a week. But, the reality is the pastime is intriguing and the prospect of winning big just for playing along has attracted more than a few to the game.

Craig Antonucci, The Professor for 3rd party remote call monitoring company BPA, recently compared this gaming to business in his latest blog. In the fantasy sport, you have a limited budget and every player has a cost. In business, you have a limited budget and everything you want to do has a cost. The goal is to maximize what you can afford in hopes of generating the biggest possible return.

The same logic often goes into the use of customer service metrics in the call center environment. The goal is often to maximize all individual metrics, but that’s often biting off more than you can chew. Plus, it’s not uncommon that these metrics are misleading the business overall. It may seem counterproductive to have 3rd party remote call monitoring and other metrics in place if you’re not getting accurate information, but there is a way to fix the problem. It starts with understanding the metrics in the first place.

Too many companies believe that their metrics are absolute and this gets them into trouble. For instance, it’s not uncommon for companies to want to maximize average handle time (AHT) and quality scores separately. Assume that these two are tied together. The more you aim to improve your AHT, the harder it will be to maintain or improve your quality scores. At the same time, you could aim to improve AHT in a way that improves your quality scores. The key to making improvements in both areas is to find the right mix that generates the best overall outcome.

Next, you have to understand that metrics do matter and you have to pick the right ones to pay attention to. If you have a star performer who stinks in the metrics that you’re actually measuring, that star performer becomes the weakest person on your team. Look at the metrics that truly measure performance as it relates to the overall outcomes you need to achieve as a call center. Anything else is just noise and doesn’t contribute to a solid outcome.

Finally, keep in mind that every metric has a cost and a benefit. There are costs to improving it and if it fails, you could lose customers. The key is to balance the cost and benefit, understanding the point at which it makes no sense to spend another dollar to improve metrics by just one point. If you’re not tying it to the bottom line and a shift in performance makes no sense for your outcomes, you’re wasting time and resources.

To get the most out of your metrics and your strategy, pay attention to these points. If you want to be constantly improving, you have to have a place to start. With the right focus and a little trial and error, you’ll be on a much better path to optimal performance.