“With the new year comes new year's resolutions.”

For Dan Boehm, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Spectrum (News - Alert) Corporation, they do, anyway. Haven’t seen much in the way of a New Year’s resolution around this reporter’s house ever since our young son said “If there’s something you want to do, why do you have to wait for next year to start doing it?”

But it’s cultural, to resolve to stop smoking, lose weight or be a better person, as Boehm says. The gym is busier for the first couple weeks in January, then by about Valentine’s Day attendance is back to normal.

There might be a point to making New Year’s resolutions, though, if you manage a call center. As Boehm says, “one way you can be a better person is to review and change your metrics, thresholds and reports.” And that would make a fine New Year’s resolution. As would “Drink more red wine.” Hey we all like an easily-kept resolution now and then.

Reviewing and changing your metrics, thresholds and reports “will make you a better person,” Boehm says, “because your agents and supervisors will love you for it! Call centers are dynamic. Every year there is something new from the company that the call center must deal with. Everyone in the call center needs to adapt to these changes. Yet the agents and supervisors are still looking at the same metrics, responding to the same thresholds and seeing the same reports from last year.”

He has a point. You’d hate to be the only one in the office who hasn’t noticed that time is marching on, now would you? If nothing else New Year’s resolutions remind us that there are still goals to be met.

“If the call center has experienced any changes at all the reports, thresholds and metrics should change as well,” Boehm says, adding that in addition, “agents that have finished another successful year probably have been promoted or at least are doing something more advanced. These agents should not be looking at the same old tired metrics and have the same threshold levels as last year.”

Now that is an excellent point. And again, as a wise young man once said, if there’s something you know you should do, why wait until New Year’s Eve to do it?