|
Your customers have relationships with a variety of businesses
and will very likely compare
their experience with your contact center to every other customer
service experience they have ever had. So how do you
figure out what the competition is doing? Applying
benchmarking and best practices can have a
significant and positive impact on how your call center performs
in the eyes of the customer.
Benchmarking and best practices research are excellent tools to learn new approaches
to your
business and build external focus into your improvement programs.
When used properly, this data creates energy and excitement
about what is possible and is a great motivator for improving
your call center. |
|
Participate in the 2006 Call Center Best
Practices Study to receive a FREE
report
Prosci and the Call Center Learning Center are currently
conducting our latest benchmarking study of
call center operations and technology trends, performance and lessons
learned. All participants
receive a free copy of the
latest, most comprehensive call center research report. Find out more about how to
participate in the study. |
Benefits of benchmarking and best practices
Benchmarking and best practices research provides you and your team
with a
snapshot of a variety of contact centers to gauge how your
center measures up. When used correctly, this data can positively impact many areas
of call center performance and management. Using benchmarking and
best practices research can enable you to:
-
Position your center to be
more efficient and effective
-
Learn what is working (and
what is not working) for other call centers
-
Avoid mistakes made by other
centers with "lessons learned"
- Develop an external reference when setting performance goals
- Understand your competitors' position
- Communicate your performance against external benchmarks to your
management team
- Learn about new call center practices and technology
applications
- Improve your call center's overall operation
Top 5 guidelines for using benchmarking data
Benchmarking is the search for best practices among other call
centers, and is often used in the assessment and development of call
center policy, performance measures and objectives. Yet, when used
improperly, benchmarking can impact both you and your call center.
It is essential that you are aware of the top 5 guidelines to follow
when using benchmarking and best practices data:
- Don't play copycat
It is often tempting to see a successful call center, and then
try to copy it. However, what is most beneficial is to
pick and choose the components of the strategy and processes
that are applicable to your call center's unique needs and
customer demands. Consider benchmarking and best practices as one source of
learning - but not the only source.
- Understand the processes behind the
data
Knowing the numbers is only one component of benchmarking.
Understanding the processes used by others reveals how the
measure is being used and how the performance is being achieved.
Benchmarking can provide insights for new methods in your call
center and it is this understanding of new processes and
technology that will yield breakthroughs for your call center.
-
Look for the root cause
When comparing your center with your competitors or other call
centers, identifying performance gaps is only the beginning.
You must also be sure to conduct a root cause analysis for your
largest performance gaps. Why does this gap exist?
Why is your center performing at a different level?
Without a firm understanding of the "why?" your center will not
be able to determine and implement effective action steps to
close the gaps.
- No industry standards
There are no "industry standards." If you find one labeled
as such, use it as just another reference point. There are
no official or sanctioned standards for performance measures for
call centers. The competitive marketplace defines the
standard, and that is constantly shifting as technology improves
and customer expectations change. What is
important to know is how the results were obtained and use
common sense when applying them to your organization.
- Make your benchmarking
and best practices initiative
part of a larger improvement program
Benchmarking should be tied to an overall improvement program.
Avoid benchmarking for the sake of benchmarking.
Benchmarking should be focused on your key business issues and
targeted to processes and technology that need improvement.
Applying benchmarking and best practices in your call center
The data presented in this tutorial can be used by your
call center to ensure that it is moving in the
right direction and benefiting from
the lessons learned by other call
centers. Several benchmarking studies are available that will help you
understand what other call centers are measuring and how they are
performing.
The goals of Prosci's best practices research are to:
-
Enable call center managers to uncover the
most effective management practices,
based on benchmarking research.
-
Identify operational
and technological changes that are having the
greatest impact on customer satisfaction and call center
efficiency.
-
Share the most current
key performance indicators (KPIs) for call centers by industry.
Prosci and the Call Center Learning Center are currently conducting our
latest
benchmarking study on
call center operations and technology. All participants
receive a free copy of the
latest, most comprehensive call center research report
available, including data on quality monitoring, training,
outsourcing, KPIs, cost data and more valuable research.
Participate in the study
to stay on top of what is happening in call centers around the
world in 2006.
Recommended Resources:
Call Center Planning and Design Toolkit
A comprehensive guide to call center strategy, planning and design; an excellent resource
for new contact center start-ups, existing call center improvement and future planning
with detailed templates and planning roadmaps.
Controlling the Cost of Call Center
Operations Toolkit
Provides a systematic approach to reducing your call center costs. With this toolkit, you
will critically examine multiple channels for reducing expense. The outcome is a set of
identified and prioritized cost saving initiatives that are most suited for your contact
center.
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. With an entire section dedicated to measuring, benchmarking and
improving cost per contact, this toolkit is your step-by-step guide for cost metrics.
Motivating Call Center Agents Toolkit
A comprehensive guide specifically designed to increase productivity and motivate
agents. Discover what truly motivates your agents to do their best work with
easy-to-follow steps that guide you through the principles of motivation and how to
overcome the agent-manager disconnect. Interactive assessments are included that allow you
to find the root cause of low agent productivity and reduce your turnover rate.
Quality Monitoring Toolkit
A complete and in-depth guide to implement or improve a quality monitoring (call
monitoring) program.
Complete
Call Center Series
Save 30% off the list price when you purchase the complete
call center business performance series!
Call Center Business
Performance Packages
Find a call center package to meet your needs and save 20-25% off the list price!
Send
this page to a friend
Register to receive free weekly
tutorials and announcements.
Send questions to
callcenters@prosci.com
HOME
(970) 203-9332 or 800-700-2831
in the US |
About
Prosci. Prosci is a registered trademark.
Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved.
Call Center Learning Center
call-center.net
|
