Performance Measurement Systems for Call Centers
Tutorial Series

Module 1 - What to measure in your call center

The Call Center Learning Center is proud to present a tutorial series focused on performance measurement systems. This three-part tutorial series will pull from Prosci's research-based toolkits and best practices reports. This module addresses how to determine what to measure in your center.  Module 2 will discuss how to make these measurements.  Module 3 will focus on benchmarking your center's performance.
 

Key questions for your performance measurement program

1. What will you measure?
    
2. How will you make these measurements?
    
3. Who will you benchmark your performance against?

This module will answer the first question of what to measure.  The remaining modules in this tutorial series will address the other two key questions.

Establishing appropriate measures for your environment

When determining call center measurements, you must always keep in mind three important concepts:

1. What do my customers need?
    
2. What are our business needs?
    
3. How do we stay competitive in the industry?

You need to select metrics that make sense for your business model, the services you provide to customers and the types of contacts you handle.  If you are providing technical support, then the length of the call will have a different level of importance than if you are taking orders.

Figure 1 illustrates how to determine what measures to use based on what is most important to your call center.

Figure 1 - Determining what to measure in your call center

Some commonly measured metrics in contact centers include:

KPI categories and goals

Upon determining the appropriate measures for your call center's priorities, you should identify at least one or two key performance indicators (KPIs) in each of the following areas:

• Operational efficiency (focused on operational costs)
   
• Operational productivity (if applicable for your center, focused on revenue generation)
   
• Service quality and customer satisfaction (focused on customers' experience)
   
• Employee satisfaction (focused on your most important resources)
   

Consider the following questions when setting specific goals for your call center's performance: 

Contact length and channel (operational efficiency)

• How long do calls last (handle time)?
• How long does it take to compose an email response? Fax? Text chat?
• Will customer service suffer if short contact lengths are targeted?
• Redistribute voice contact to lower cost media (for example, IVR)?

Revenue generation (operational productivity)

• What is the goal for the take rate (percent of contacts resulting in sales or revenue generation)?
• What is the overall revenue goal?
• What products and services are targeted for upsell and cross-sell?
• What is the number of outbound contacts expected per agent per day?

Customer contact issues (service quality)

• What will be the definition of a quality contact?
• What customer satisfaction goals will be targeted and how will they be measured?
• Will customer satisfaction goals conflict with other targets, such as average handle time?
• When will a contact be considered resolved?
• What is the best metric for quality monitoring to assess overall service quality?

Employee work issues (employee satisfaction)

• How do we define employee satisfaction?
• What non-contact activities will be supported by the center (e.g., training, project work)?
• What occupancy rate is targeted to balance efficiency and employee satisfaction?
• What is the overall turnover objective for the center?

Why are you measuring these metrics?

To reiterate an important message from the beginning of this tutorial, measuring for the sake of measuring is not productive. While you work through determining what to measure, always keep in mind the end goal - improving call center performance and supporting your business strategy.

As you examine the "why" of call center measurement, you should work on designing or re-designing a performance measurement system that targets certain measures to certain groups.  For example, some call center measures are appropriate at the individual level and some are not.  Agent occupancy or utilization rates are not appropriate for individual agents, whereas agent availability is appropriate.

A valuable resource to help you understand the different call center performance metrics is the Call Center Measurement Toolkit.  It provides a complete, alphabetized guide to performance measurement that is easy to understand and easy to implement.  Each measurement area includes complete definitions, common mis-uses of terms, how to compute each measurement area of your call center, goal-setting tips and recommendations for improving performance in each area.