Call center reporting is essential to running an effective customer service operation. With the proper technology and strategy companies can be sure that customers are getting the highest level of service and can hold representatives accountable for any issues that may arise. Spectrum (News - Alert) Corp is well known in the call reporting sphere and the company recommends five things to make sure you’re getting the best out of you reporting solution. While employment of these strategies may work better for some, these basic recommendations should be helpful in just about any business to use call center reporting more effectively.

The first step is setting goals about for what you want from your call reporting software to do for you. Dan Boehm VP of Sales and Marketing at Spectrum finds that “Too often the goals change from one person to the next. This implies the goal is not really a goal more likely it is a plan of action.” To combat that fact he suggests that call center managers write down goals to make sure adherence remains the same even when the work environment shifts.

Data collection is the second tip the Spectrum team recommends for effectiveness in call reporting. Monitoring information coming from the ACD, CRM, WFM, Help Desk software that the company uses can provide invaluable information as to the direction your call reporting software is moving the company

Tailoring reports for a specific audience is also essential to the correct usage of the information generated. Controlling what type of information a particular set of your company can see ensures can help meet departmental goals and offer an overview of what’s happening within your organization. Agents who most directly affect the goals should see their real time status, team leaders that manage groups of agents should see the real time and historical status, and managers should see the overall scope of the call center with drill down capabilities

Making sure the reports are easy to read and easy to organize will also promote your end goal. Formatting to fit the media they are being displayed on also make sure your team will have no issue in viewing or understanding them.

Last but not least, establishing a baseline and tracking your results means you’ll know when and how you met your goals. Spectrum suggests that before implementing a new call center reporting solution a company track stats for 6 months as a control test and use them to determine the success of your reporting decision.

Call Center reporting is important with or without a strategy to go along with it. When used in conjunction with the tips outlined by Spectrum the ROI can be even greater.

Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco