During a Global Pandemic, Which Call Center Metrics Are the Most Important?

In 2020, many call centers management teams decide to make a major shift in their operations. Although many call centers were already considering a digital transformation prior to the pandemic, managers suddenly realize the time was right to move forward with creating a remote/hybrid work environment for agents.

Call centers are traditionally crowded places. With many agents speaking in close proximity, they became a potential super-spreaders spot for the COVID-19 virus. Businesses continuity required they make a shift to remote work, and quickly.

“Millions of agents suddenly needed to work remotely, and businesses needed to figure out how to manage and provision for a remote workforce,” according to a recent report by Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert). “Investments were focused on developing new ways of working, new channels of customer engagement, and enhanced e-commerce capabilities.”

The good news, for many call centers, is that the solutions they’ve adopted in recent years to allow omnichannel customer support put them in solid position during a pandemic. Rich performance management solutions, already rapidly adopted pre-pandemic, became more important during the pandemic and required new ways of measuring performance and engaging agents, according to Frost & Sullivan.

One of the challenges, however, became understanding which metrics were most important while running remote or hybrid contact center operations.

Frost & Sullivan's latest white paper, Customer Experience Has Changed. Are Your Metrics Keeping Up?, explores how enhanced performance metrics are integral to customer experience (CX) and digital transformation strategies.

“With a deep understanding that customer and employee satisfaction are interdependent, contact centers that want to thrive in uncertain times need to take a deeper look into the interwoven dynamics of performance metrics,” said Nancy Jamison, Industry Director for ICT at Frost & Sullivan. “Rich performance management tools can unlock hidden operational information that is critical to navigating the changing workplace. Enabling tools for agents from modern desktops to knowledge management and process automation are key to improving employee experience. If agents are empowered to positively assist customers and be attentive and engaged, customers will respond in kind.”

The Frost & Sullivan white paper is free, and may be downloaded on the company’s website.

Edited by Luke Bellos