Call Center Management Featured Article
Is Call Center Management Missing Opportunities for Access to Improved Resources?
In the customer service industry, it’s long been assumed that the call center was a cost center. Therefore, investments made in this space were not seen as something that could further the business and often didn’t earn a place of priority in the budget. Such an approach often left call center management struggling for relevance in a competitive market.
Today, this approach is changing, turning this once cost center into a profit center when the right strategy and execution is applied. Call center management no longer needs to fill the role of the necessary evil and instead should get priority notice in the C-suite. A recent report released by Zendesk in partnership with the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), however, suggests that call centers need to do more to prove their value to the organization as a whole.
The report, "Collapse of the Cost Center: Driving Contact Center Profitability," shows that while thinking is changing within the organization, it is still slow moving in some aspects. For instance, more than 62 percent of call centers are still considered cost centers, and only 27 percent of call centers are measuring and reporting on their service levels the right way. If call centers step up their efforts and demonstrate the value they bring, it could go a long way toward improving their ability to gain more resources and tools to improve outcomes.
"Contact centers provide unmatched and essential services for organizations, yet their importance is hindered by the lack of visibility their contributions have on a grander scale," said Justin Robbins, senior analyst for ICMI, in a press release. "Organizations must uncover the opportunities hidden within their operations and take the necessary steps to make their worth apparent."
The challenge has always been that call center managers are spending so much of their time running the call center that they often overlook the importance of communicating their value and having those conversations to uncover where their contributions lead to greater success. To that end, many need to step up their activity level when it comes to measuring and reporting. At the same time, they need to pay attention to schedule adherence, ensuring that 90 percent of time is utilized, and accuracy as 50 percent of call centers are not measuring this metric.
ICMI also recommends that call center management use surveys to measure customer satisfaction and report findings to decision makers. Exploring other methods of measuring customer satisfaction can lead to improved outcomes and the majority of call centers examined are missing up- and cross-sell opportunities. By stepping outside of the traditional thought process within the customer service arena, managers have an opportunity to improve their overall value to the organization, thereby improving access to the resources they need to drive success.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi