Metrics and Scorecard Development in the Contact Center

360 degree business concept

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve all heard the phrase “What gets measured is what gets done.” Whoever said this probably never managed a contact center. Since the inception of call centers, one of their defining attributes has been that everything is measured. At the time when the only technology that most call centers had was an ACD and possibly a customer account maintenance platform, these systems offered up dozens of metrics, many of which the management staff didn’t understand or know whether they should be tracking or not. The challenge wasn’t measuring things, it was knowing what measures to focus on and manage to.

Leaders of today’s contact centers can probably name ten different technologies running in their operations and often, that barely scratches the surface. With each of these typically capable of providing dozens of metrics independently, as well as metrics that come from juxtaposing data from one application against that of another, the possibilities are endless. The challenge of identifying the right metrics is greater than ever before, and it’s critical because we know that it’s not what gets measured that gets done, but what we manage effectively that gets done well. To identify the right metrics for your contact center, it’s important to answer the following questions:

[bulletlist]

  • What are the metrics that represent the most value to my customers?
  • What are the metrics that represent the most value to the business?
  • What are the metrics I need to manage my operation vs. those that define the level of success?
  • What are the results of these metrics that define success, mediocrity and failure?
  • For which metrics do we have the ability to influence the outcome by improving our performance within the contact center?
  • What are the levers we can pull to affect the outcome of those metrics?
  • What’s the right balance between metrics that drive great service and those that contain our cost?

[/bulletlist]

Once you’ve identified these metrics, its important to give them the right level of visibility to those best positioned to influence their outcomes. Furthermore, ensuring alignment of metrics at all levels of the organization is critical, both in terms of identifying individual metrics that drive organization metrics and aligning the targets or expectations.

Contact Center 411 can support you in doing a check-up on your metrics to see if they’re really providing you the best picture of your contact center’s performance and enabling you to effect continuous improvement. If you’ve added new channels, technology or other capabilities to your contact center without re-evaluating your entire scorecard holistically, it’s probably time to do so. Even if your operation hasn’t changed much, it could be worthwhile to see if you’re keeping up with industry standards.

Please contact us today to discuss the right set contact center performance metrics and targets to support your organization’s current strategic objectives.