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Call Center Tutorial Series - call center measures, reports and reporting
Three Steps For Creating Effective Call Center Measures and Reports

by Gail Sprague, Vanguard Communications

So how’s your call center doing?

This question can be answered in many different ways – too many different ways. There are reports from the telephone system, scheduling system, voice response system, and other technology tools. Productivity statistics, quality monitoring measurements, sales revenue, customer satisfaction surveys…the list goes on and on. The volumes of reports that are generated creates a "data for the sake of data" atmosphere that eats up valuable time and resources, often without clear goals in mind. Unless measures are tied to the day-to-day effectiveness of the call center and the overall mission of the company, there is no sense in gathering and analyzing data.

Step 1: Define your goals.

Rather than trying to organize and process the reams of data that piles up in databases, on desks, and in filing cabinets, be selective. Focus on what is really important to your needs. Consider all the sources and types of data generated and decide which ones directly impact the business needs and goals of your organization. Do you want to provide better customer service? Improve processes and work flows? Increase revenue and decrease costs?

Keep the list manageable. Focus on three to five really important measurements that will truly reflect the success of your center. The list will be different for every call center. If yours is a revenue-generating center, for example, you may want to monitor abandon rate, service level, and sales volume. A help desk or technical support line might be more concerned with "done in one" resolution and customer satisfaction. Use phone stats as well as other sources of data to provide a holistic view of the call center’s objectives.

The following table provides some examples of measurements to consider in three very different categories:

ACD	Processes and Operations	Systems and Contacts
Calls Answered	Calls Completed on First Contact	Cost per Minute
Average Speed of Answer	Turnaround Time	Cost per Call/Contact
Average Talk Time	Customer Satisfaction	System Utilization
Average Wrap-up Time	Save Rate	System Availability
Abandoned Calls or Rate	Upsell/Cross-sell Revenue	Network Busies
Service Level	Schedule Adherence	Hit Rate (ANI, etc.)

No golden rules.

It is important to decide which measures matter to YOUR call center, to YOUR business goals and to YOUR customers. There are no magic industry standards to strive for. If you run a customer contact center that provides car insurance quotes to potential customers, you don’t want to keep them waiting too long - they could spend that time looking through the yellow pages for your competition’s phone number. However, if you’re giving away free samples of a new product, your callers may accept a slightly longer hold time. What matters is setting logical, realistic targets that are specific to your environment.

Beware of conflicting objectives.

The goals you set for your call center should be a means to an end: mainly the high level business and operational needs of the organization. Although the big picture is key here, don’t forget to examine the individual goals in detail. Think each measure through – what is involved, what the end result will be, and the resources and skills necessary to accomplish them – to be sure they do not conflict with one another.

For example, if decreasing costs is a primary business goal, you may meet this need by targeting a shorter average handling time. However, if customer satisfaction is also a primary goal, a conflict may arise. These two measures may drive different behaviors. Reps who are tasked with handling a high volume of calls may not take the extra time to develop a warm and fuzzy rapport with callers or may "accidentally" hang up on customers in the quest for an acceptable AHT.

To avoid the pitfalls of conflicting objectives, don’t focus on measurements as the only objectives. Make the high level business and operational needs the primary objectives and use measurements as a guide to get you there. People do what they are incented to do, and you must give them clear, obtainable targets to work towards.

Principles for Effective Measures

There are five main principles to effective measures:

Simplicity: Measures should be easy to communicate and comprehend. Your associates and supervisors need to really understand what the measures are and what they mean.

Drive the right behavior: Measures are a means to an end. Make sure reps don’t confuse measurements and objectives, and that the measure don't drive them to do the wrong thing.

Measurable: The data needs to be available and correct to accurately calculate the measure.

Accountability associated with control: avoid holding someone accountable for a measure for which they cannot control the outcome.

Support high level business goals: Remember the big picture. Your measures should "roll-up" to support the entire organization.

Action step: Prepare a list of the business goals for your call center. For each business goal, write down the measures in the call center which have the most impact on that business goal. Identify any potential conflicting measures, and select those that you believe will most influence the success of your call center and drive behavior toward the overall business goals. Assess each measure against the principles listed above.

Step 2: Create methods for measurement.

Once you’ve identified which measures are most important to the business goals and mission of your organization, the next step is to decide how you will measure. This is more complicated than it sounds. You can’t rely on industry standards, as there are no industry standards. Just peek at a glossary, pick up an industry rag, or visit a vendor web site - everyone defines and calculates differently.

Take turnover as an example. Most call centers have some idea of their turnover, and how it compares with their "industry standard." But exactly how are these numbers calculated? Do you count positive (promotions) and negative (resignations) aspects? What about folks who don’t make it through training – do you count them too? Are your answers the same as everyone else’s? Probably not. You need to determine how you will define your measurements to best serve your needs.

What is everyone else doing?

Every call center is different, with unique goals and targets based on different experiences and expectations. Because of this fact, you can’t go out and find a statistical survey and expect to find all the answers. But it is useful to be aware of what other call centers are doing – what works, what doesn’t work, what they’ve learned and would do differently. Several benchmarking studies are available that will help you understand what other call centers are measuring, and how they are performing. Pay attention to the lessons that relate to your own business goals, and forget the rest. There is no need to be a slave to someone else’s 80/20 service level if those numbers aren’t based in the reality of your call center. If your callers are happy with 80/30 or 80/40, stay with it. Don’t strive to achieve a goal that doesn’t matter – it only costs money.

Bad data in, bad data out.

The key to good measurement is consistency. Review business policies and procedures that guide contact handling, processes, and the associated measurements to make sure everyone is working the same way. Common call handling procedures are important.

Consider the use of the not ready state. Rep A completes a call and immediately makes himself available to accept a call. Rep B however, completes a call and then sits in the not ready state the queue builds up a little, and then makes herself available to accept a call. This procedural difference results in very different availability statistics for the individuals, and skews the group averages. To maintain consistent measurements, reps must be trained on the correct processes and procedures, be given obtainable targets to aim for, and be given periodic performance reviews. Without proper and consistent use of tools and procedural guidelines, the associated measurements are meaningless.

How you measure is just as important as what you measure. Remember to calculate in a standard fashion, and strive for consistency in all processes and procedures to create measurements that are useful to your call center.

Action step: For each measure you have selected, clearly define how the data will be collected. Assess the accuracy of the source. Ensure that procedures are in place in the call center to ensure that the measure accurately reflects the actual performance and that you will not be mislead by the results of the data. If the data is coming from a system (e.g., ACD, IVR, CIS, etc.), then you will need to meet with the technology support group in your center to fully understand the data from this system. Ask a lot of questions and make sure the data is representing the measure you need.

Step 3: Putting measurements to work.

Measurements themselves are not a goal, but rather an indication of how your business is functioning. With careful analysis of the measurements that reflect the business goals of your organization, you can learn a great deal about how your call center is doing. Don’t measure for the sake of measuring, but rather create a plan to review and use the information that is generated.

Action steps

Chart the data.

Once the data starts pouring in, it can be a bit overwhelming. But don’t let the reams of data and endless columns of figures get you down. Put the data into a format that is easy to understand and use. Taking the time to chart out the important information in a readable and workable form is worth the effort. Bar graphs, pie charts, and comparison matrices are all much easier to work from than the standard system-generated report. And you won’t be doing this just for yourself – remember other folks will review the data too. These charts will eventually show a wider audience the progress that your call center has made over time!

Set targets and benchmarks.

It is important to develop measures that are accurate and correct for your environment. Moreover you will need benchmarks and targets. Each of your charts and graphs should reflect the long-term target for your call center, and if you have good benchmark data, show how well you are performing against these benchmarks. You will also need to revisit your benchmarks and targets periodically to ensure that they meet the business goals of the call center.

You also need to communicate that targets and objectives are dependent on the business conditions and time period. Let’s say that you’re the manager of a call center for a local utility. And based on your business objectives and customer expectations, you’ve targeted an average speed of answer of 40 seconds. Now, should that be the target for every hour of every day? Will you accept worse performance during an outage? How about striving for a shorter talk time to handle that increased volume? Different situations sometimes demand different measurements and processes. The list below highlights some other factors that may influence performance targets:

Time of day, day of week

Season

Marketing events

Special focus in the call center

Customer/product

Media/contact type

Create situational targets and processes when necessary and be sure everyone knows what is expected.

Communicate your results.

Measurements are used by different people for different things, so it is important to clearly communicate the goals and measurements to your entire team. The following table shows some of the users of call center measurement data, and how they might use it in real-time and historically.

	Immediate Use	Long Term Use
Management	Analyze activity Assess performance	Business planning Product/service changes Technology changes Marketing changes Set new goals and targets
Supervisors	Analyze activity Assess performance Refine training Daily management	Justify staffing Resource allocation Refine training Process, call flow and work flow changes
Reps	Decisions for activity Personal assessment	Personal growth decisions Career planning

Since measurements and their associated goals have such a widespread impact, it is important not to keep them to yourself. Everyone in the center needs to know what is expected of them, and how their efforts contribute to the overall success of the call center. Management and supervisors may benefit from status meetings and summary reports. Providing reps with the necessary feedback can be as simple as posting messages on a reader or bulletin board, or as complex as elaborate reward programs. The key is to convey the message that everyone has a responsibility for the high-level business objectives that are reflected in the measurements.

Staff in other departments need to know what’s going on in the center, so don’t forget to tell them, too. Is the marketing plan working effectively and generating calls? Are calls coming in on the new product release? Is the volume dropping off now that the problem’s been solved? People in marketing, product management/development, and other areas will understand the call center better and work more closely with it when they are informed.

Act on areas for improvement.

Sometimes the measurements do not meet the set targets. This is the time to review your environment, processes, and procedures, and develop plans to better meet your goals. For example, let’s say a call center manager is tracking total transaction time and the numbers are well over the target. Process analysis might be a logical first step to create more efficient work patterns. Once the best processes have been identified, a technology assessment could be in order. The automation of the new processes makes the goal for total transaction time more realistic. A plan based on measurement analysis can help you do it to better, smarter and faster.

1. Set
Targets

2. Collect Measurements

3. Show
Results

4. Create Action
Plans

There may even be times when the targets just can’t be met – they were unrealistic to start, staffing is low, or other hurdles exist. It is important to assess and refine measures, rather than continuously operate in an environment where targets can’t be met.

Conclusion

The next time someone asks you, "So how’s your call center doing?" you can give them an earful. Explain exactly what your key measurements are, how they are calculated and how they are tied directly to your organization’s business goals. Tell them who uses the measurements and how, and what actions are taken if the targets aren’t met. Most importantly, show your progress over time. These are the characteristics of good call center management.

About the author

Gail Sprague is the lead research analyst for Vanguard Communications. She works extensively in call center research in the areas of messaging, voice response assessment and design, and measurement systems. Ms. Sprague's background includes experience in the insurance industry and in customer service positions in retail and insurance. She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the State University of New York, Albany.

Related resources:

Controlling the Cost of Call Center Operations
How to cut costs in your call center; a systematic approach to expense reduction, this tookit provides over 50 initiatives to cut costs, including short-term quick-hits, mid-term tactics and long-term strategies (more information).

Call Center Measurement Toolkit
How to measure and improve call center performance; an excellent guide to developing a performance measurement system with concrete recommendations for improving call center performance (more information).