Call reporting is a great way to gain insight into the operation of your call center and employing a strategy that keeps track of KPI’s is the first step to improvement.

Unfortunately, many call centers lack clear plans when implementing a real time call reporting strategy.  This lack of direction can quickly derail an investment that when used properly provides valuable insight into the operation of your call center. Having a detailed plan on the areas you want to improve will get mileage out of your call center reporting venture and will allow you to hold all parties responsible for lapses in service.

So which KPI should your reporting solution be tracking to boost the effectiveness of your call center? Real time reporting should be focused on uncovering information that matters right now. KPIs like call volume, call abandonment and threshold variance are the kinds of information your agents and managers can use.  Tracking these indicators and displaying them with either call center wallboards or desktop reporting software allows workers to adjust behavior to meet requirements and expectations.

While it’s important to keep an eye on other metrics like schedule adherence or call length, this information does not matter as much in real-time. Problems with these metrics are more likely to involve discussions with individual agents rather than a complete strategy overhaul for the call center.

The best reporting solutions provide different breakdowns to multiple levels of the organization, not just the management. Real time information can be driven to the boots on the ground (agents and managers) and more in depth information can be held for review by higher ups. The flexibility to create reports and segregate data based on position within the company makes real time reporting tools very valuable to the call center.

Real time call reporting coupled with wallboards or desktop delivery systems is the best way to give your agents actionable intelligence. It’s important to keep in mind, the detail you have in your call reporting plan will be directly related to its success.

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. Follow him on Twitter (News - Alert) @cpdimarco.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca