Call Center Management Featured Article
The Two Most Critical Metrics in the Contact Center
Contact center managers are some of the busiest people in industry, and it appears that they continue to be handed more hats to wear as technology evolves and customer demands escalate. In addition to being bosses, trainers, recruiters, motivators, counselors, planners, coaches, software experts and disciplinarians, contact center managers have had to become data specialists, as well. Customer support generates enormous amounts of data on a daily basis, and many companies collect this information. Call center managers are increasingly being expected to use the data to improve operations.
There are many things that can be measured in the average contact center. Understanding which ones to measure (and when) is harder than actually extrapolating the data itself. Most contact centers operate according to some kind of metrics, but those metrics aren’t all created equal. In a recent blog post, Monet Software (News - Alert) CEO Chuck Ciarlo outlined some of the most critical areas to measure for success in customer support.
One of the biggest metrics contact centers should be measuring is the accuracy of their forecasts. Without a great forecast, planning becomes a wasted effort, and the call center ends up running to catch up with customers: not a great scenario if you’re hoping to keep your customers. Forecast accuracy relies on a great workforce optimization foundation, and traditional manual methods of forecasting won’t leave managers with anything to work with to keep accuracy high.
“Workforce optimization (WFO) delivers seasonal stats, monthly stats, daily stats, even numbers analyzing one portion of one hour, so variations can be determined and adjustments made accordingly,” wrote Ciarlo. “Special days and special events will also figure into these calculations – once again, the automated WFO solution will always be better and faster than a spreadsheet.”
Once you have a great forecast, it becomes time to measure how well the contact center is sticking to it. This brings up another critical metric: schedule adherence. No matter how good the forecast is, if agents are doing what they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be, the forecast will ultimately be off…sometimes way off. Traditional workforce management methods (think: spreadsheets) don’t help managers understand when adherence is off in real time. They allow them to know only after-the-fact that adherence wasn’t good.
“Workforce management (WFM) software makes the goal of optimal schedule adherence easier to achieve,” wrote Ciarlo. “Not only will the WFM-generated schedules provide more accurate information, they will make a dramatic change in the manager’s schedule as well. How long does it take to run all of the necessary numbers with a spreadsheet? With WFM, managers can access better numbers more quickly, so they have more time to address other issues, or leave the office on time for a change.”
Getting these two factors right will allow companies to go ahead and track the metrics that indicate the quality of the customer experience. These include first-call resolution, employee engagement, customer satisfaction and even customer engagement. As Ciarlo writes, service levels should never be confused with the more comprehensive examination of the overall customer experience. Once a company has a good grip on its scheduling and adherence, it can go ahead and take concrete steps to improve the customer journey.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi