Call and contact centers may face different challenges. Whether they are receiving too many phone calls in the office or simply lack the staff to make cold calls, many organizations compromise their customer service delivery. Developing a business strategy to improve customer service delivery is crucial to every business.
In business, problems and challenges must be accurately identified before they can be solved. A thorough assessment is therefore necessary when trying to improve certain business components.
Business and call center strategic assessment refers to the evaluation of existing business processes. A third-party assessment is objective and may rely on monitoring, surveys, interviews, observation and result analysis.
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About Call Center Strategic Assessment
Developing the right call center strategy for individual companies requires a contextualized approach. Within a call center assessment, all aspects of call and contact centers are evaluated. This includes the employees, the call center technology, processes and procedures.
Having an on-site expert helps save the company time and money, as call center experts are experienced in accurately identifying problem areas and implementing particular solutions.
The goal of having a strategic assessment is to find a company’s strengths and weaknesses. The assessments enable the creation of customized training programs for agents, as well as the implementation of particular technological solutions and the development of efficient procedures
Call Center Effciency Assessment and Call Volume
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One of the biggest factors in efficiency is call volume. The amount of calls a call center takes can impact how much attention each customer is given.
Call forecasting allows organizations to get a better idea of how many phone calls they might receive and how to anticipate upcoming traffic. This in turn makes call center agents more prepared and able to deliver excellent customer service.
Call forecasting is directly linked to workforce forecasting. Successful companies have the optimal number call center agents, based upon their call volume. If there are more incoming calls than expected, the customer service will be compromised due to a small number of employees.
Call Center Benchmarking
Call center benchmarking is a crucial management tool that serves to compare call centers against other competitive contact centers. Benchmarking involves obtaining relevant metrics and comparing the data to global metrics.
The benchmarking process provides an invaluable insight into the competitors at their busiest and slowest periods. An individual company’s data can be compared to relevant global metrics. The goal is to obtain essential information with regards to call center efficiency, agent performance and call volume. This data is based on hard evidence, averages and relevant statistics.
Benchmarking tools provide various types of information, including the following:
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- Service level –this refers to the percentage of calls answered within a specific time frame.
- Average speed to answer – all calls are monitored and average answering speed is then calculated.
- Schedule adherence – it measures how well call center agents are adhering to their schedule.
- Abandonment rate – the rate is the number of callers that hang up before reaching an agent.
- Average call duration – this refers to the amount of time agents speak with each customer.
- Call forecasting accuracy – the difference between the predicted and the actual call volume.
- Occupancy rate – the rate defines the time agents spend on calls or performing after-call work.
- Overall customer satisfaction – the satisfaction is measured by conducting customer surveys.
Call Monitoring Benchmarking
Call monitoring benchmarking involves the research of call monitoring techniques used in call centers. Different call and contact centers may use different monitoring software and hardware solutions.
Recording and analyzing phone calls can also sometimes be combined with the use of score cards. In some cases, businesses perform their own call monitoring, whereas other organizations chose to employ impartial call center consultants.
By analyzing call monitoring techniques used by industry peers, business managers can decide which call monitoring technologies and practices will work best for their organization.
Human Resources and Service Delivery Assessment
Customer service levels are highly dependent on the call center agents and employees. If call center agents lack skills or knowledge, customer service delivery will be poor, compromising the success of the entire organization.
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To ensure that agents and representatives meet the organization’s customer service standards, businesses should conduct call center agent assessment. The assessments are usually performed with newly hired agents; however, agent performance should be continually assessed through call monitoring, surveys, benchmarking and side-by-side observation.
Service delivery assessments are usually not complicated to perform. Agents are often asked to write tests, but they can also be monitored and surveyed. Benchmarking tools allow for a side-by-side comparison of agents working in the same industry. Tools like these provide clear data without having to disrupt workflow.
Monitoring agents can be very beneficial. Top performers can be easily identified and properly rewarded. This does not just give the agents clear and measurable goals; it offers them additional motivation.
Tracking agent performance makes agents more focused on customer service and improves the efficiency of call centers.
In general, call center assessments serve to identify particular call center challenges. The assessments also provide a clear understanding of a contact center’s current strengths, performance and overall efficiency. Forecasting allows agents to anticipate calls and develop plans to handle them more effectively, whereas benchmarking tools serve to compare an individual call center to global metrics.
Our Solution
Our company works hard to take your call center to the next level. We provide you with strategic call center assessments that take all aspects of your business into account. With our analysis and benchmarking, you will be able to quickly identify your strengths and weaknesses.
We focus in particular on agent performance and customer service assessment, two of the most important factors of your call center. Our goal is to provide you with the technological solutions and enhanced procedures you need to be successful.
With our help, you can discover the quickest and easiest ways to improve your call center and provide excellent customer service.