Which Metrics Matter?

Doesn’t that depend on who you are, what your job function is and what industry your business is in? There are white papers that state which metrics are the top 20 and there are articles referencing the benchmark target for the top 5 – 10 metrics.  Yet many of us still wonder which metrics are relevant to agents and managers and for the different groups within our business.

There is a difference between real time alerts and historical metrics.   A real time alert is a notification to the agents, supervisors and managers that report of a KPI that has exceeded its threshold.  These threshold alerts are typically: Calls InQueue, Longest Wait Time, ASA, Agents Available, Service Level, Abandonment Rate, Tickets Waiting, Chats InQueue, Emails Waiting, etc.  Real time alerts are to increase revenue and improve customer satisfaction.

Historical metrics are reports that managers and agents review to see the overall performance for the group(s), call center, or the agent themselves.  The debate is which metrics are most important to your report and it will depend on the industry and the group you are reviewing. For example, here are two sets of metrics for an insurance company one set is for New Customers the other set is for Policy Cancellation. Both sets are for the group level.

New Customers represent revenue and Policy Cancellation represents lost revenue.  However, improving performance within the Policy Cancellation calls will have limited affects on customers wanting to cancel.

Another example of the difference between groups is in Customer Service managing trouble tickets / support tickets.  One group handles calls, chats and emails from Gold Level customers and the other group handles free support.
　

                   
Chat and Email metrics can be difficult to obtain, depending on the systems in place.  With the Gold Level CS some of the metrics are compared against goals while the Free CS wants to know how high these metrics will go.  Abandon Rate for the Gold may have a threshold level of 7.5% while the Free CS does not have a threshold setting it is just important to know what the abandonment rate is.  The up / cross sell rate is an important metric for the Free CS reporting.

When looking at metrics the industries the business is in determines the top metrics. The goals for the call center, group and finally agents helps sort out which metrics are most important.  From a senior management view point Revenue and Productivity Cost determine the metrics of the reports.  A senior manager wants to know what revenue has been brought in, what revenue was potentially lost, and what is the staff cost to maintain the highest revenue levels.  A financial report comparing new customers to existing customers:

 A senior level manager from a Fortune 100 Mutual Fund Company “…any wait time over 10 seconds is a historical call…”  what was meant by this comment was a new customer call that has a wait time over 10 seconds will be abandoned and a lost sale. The productive and non productive states are agent level metrics totaled and summarized for the groups to see the productivity by the agents.  Agent labor costs are high for revenue producing financial call centers, however, lost calls is also lost revenue. Therefore tracking the productivity of agents is part of the managers summary level reporting.

There are other metrics that are reported separately when accurate data is available.  Call Backs: Call back accepted, call back made and conversion rate on call back.

Metrics for agent level reporting will slightly vary based upon the industry, department, agent position and seniority level.  To be clear this is a report for the manager that is regarding the agents. Again the industry and the department the business and agent are in should define the metrics that manager needs to review.  An example of data requested from two managers one is an Outsourced provider selling products for its client. The other is a Customer service provider managing support calls, chat and logged in tickets (email interaction could not be reported).

      
The manager report metrics is affected by many factors as have been mentioned.  There are other factors that change the reporting metrics.  What are the goals for the call center / group / department / agent? What is the agent turnover ratio? What is the product and or service failure ratio?  There are many internal challenges that can change the report metrics.

When going one level deeper to learn the agent level metrics the report needs to be more historical and over a longer period of time.  The reports can be used for performance review, training recommendations, job security, position changes (advancement or reductions) or responsibilities.  Agent level reports should include all groups (queues) the agent works for and not just one group.

       
The agent level report should also be historical over different lengths of time.  Report times should be the same for all agents to prevent a report that makes someone look very good or very bad. Performance can be: Yesterday, week ago, one month, three months, six months, nine months and one year.  Some may want a report that is monthly because of their cyclical time is different from others.

Outsourcers usually have reports that are monthly so they are able to show the client or corporate how the call center has performed and how specific agents have performed.  The purpose for this report is the justification of the call center being outsourced or in a global location different from headquarters.

There are many articles and white papers that show the metrics that you should have in your manager level reporting. Rather than follow the list in the latest article review your corporate goals, create reports for the different groups/departments, think about your goals and what you are trying to accomplish for the call center. And if you are a remote center the reports can be used for justification of your center. Build the report that will most likely fit your needs and answer your questions about agent, group and overall performance.

The metrics that are shown above all come from customer requests.  There are a number of metrics that are never asked for by many contact center managers.

CSat: Customer Satisfaction ratings.  This is a valuable KPI that should be included yet is not requested or seen in many reports.  Some do not conduct surveys, some surveys are found to be only very negative or very positive neither of which is a true rating of the center and some surveys are not relevant.

Cost/Call: Depending on the contact center Cost/call can be meaningless or extremely important.  Is the center a BPO or outsourced center? Are there specific customers that are tracked and cost justification needed? Are separate groups tracked for line justification?
Shrinkage: Some will track the productive (working) and non productive (non-working) states, while others will not but will track shrinkage.  Shrinkage, vacation, lunch, holidays, time off, training, etc. are all considered shrinkage.  There are some who will not consider certain states as part of shrinkage because of mandatory needs.  Some centers may require high level agents have licenses which has the agent taking tests, attending a class, etc. The agent themselves may argue that this is an extremely important part of their position and therefore should not be considered shrinkage or a non productive state.

Quality: Call quality can quickly define the CSat scores for the agent.  However, quality is subject to interpretation by the reviewer and can be an ineffective/inefficient metric.  Who is reviewing the quality and quality scores can also affect the interpretation of the scores.  A manager who has the same experiences should be the one that is reviewing the quality scores and agent effectiveness and efficiencies.

Tracing: Agent tracing per call and / or for a segment of the day has become important to some supervisors and managers.  True agent state per call or segment of the day is a much better status reporting then agent states numbers for the day or week.  The difficulty with this metric is the availability of it from the PBX.  Also the availability of the data from voice / email /chat can be a challenge.

Some of the metrics mentioned may not fit your needs or goals.  AHT for some is a waste of reporting efforts and time.  Why bother reporting on something that is not accurate, has no value or can easily be changed by the agent if it is used against them?  Your contact center goals are the key to the metrics that are required in your reports.  Do not look at these report lists and assume these are the one you must have.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to learn more about metrics for your contact center.  If there are terms in this document that you wish to know more about feel free to contact me for more information.

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Corporate Communications / Corporate Signage

There are many applications and benefits of using Corporate Signage (Digital Signage) for Corporate Communications.  Communicating to customers, employees, vendors and suppliers is a vital part of improving business relationships and employee morale.

The corporate signage can and should be used in multiple locations throughout the business. All of us are familiar with the signage in the lobby but the communications need to go further than that.  Hallways, break rooms, cafeteria, conference rooms, senior management areas and segregated departments can all utilize signage with area specific content.

·       Lobby: Greeting important customers and visitors, event information, corporate news, local news, brand alerts and awareness, industry information and timely information for employees.

·       Hallways: General non confidential content for those that have access to the area.

·       Break Rooms: Advertisements that are or will be running on TV, product or brand content, department information and other non confidential news.

·       Cafeterias / Lunch Rooms: Menu’s, Announcements about future parties, News, weather, sports, event information, CEO webcasts, RSS Feeds, Visitor greetings, vendor advertisements, stock prices, employee of the month photos, industry news, call center agent status alerts and much more content.

·       Senior Management Areas: Confidential business related news and data, revenue information, business performance information and other news.

·       Segregated Departments: There are many different departments within a business.  Content can differ by department. Call Centers, IT, Support, Sales, Customer Service, Accounting, HR, Production, Shipping, Warehouse, and so many more areas.  The content can be specific for the department but still remain non confidential.

Corporate communications content should be defined by the location and audience visibility.  The outcome and feedback of the content displayed is used to determine the content that is displayed on the digital signage. 

With smart phones being available and used in the work place keeping content non-confidential, public and positive works to the organizations benefit. 

Corporate Communications

Effective communications throughout the corporate offices are an important part of daily operations. Employees, customers and vendors all need information about your business and the industry but it can be difficult to relay the proper messages to these different audiences. Corporate communications through digital signage resolves these challenges.

Digital corporate communications from the lobby to the hallways and break rooms are effective methods of sharing general information as well as urgent corporate news.

Corporate Communication applications:

• Corporate news, greetings and event information is shared in the Lobby.
• Internal general non confidential content is displayed in the Hallways.
• Break Rooms can be used for product news, call center agent status, advertisements, messages, alerts, news and weather.
• Cafeteria / lunch rooms use corporate communications in a multitude of functions. News, weather, sports, event information, CEO webcasts, call center agent status, visitor greetings, vendor advertisement, stock prices, RSS feeds, menu’s, employee photos, and so much more!
• Rooms and areas used by senior management utilize corporate communications to stay alert on messages, RSS feeds, news, stock information, competition, industry and market trends, etc.

Lobby Corporate Communications
Welcome customers to your business with an appropriate and inspiring message.  Share your business information with the customer as well as local news and weather.  Industry news can be worthwhile information for the lobby audience as they wait for their meeting with you to begin.

Too often we miss the opportunity to give information about our organizations to our customers or vendors.  You can provide industry news, event information and invites, and you can tailor the lobby content so it meets your needs and requirements.

Certain information can be denied access to the lobby so confidential customer or business news is not provided to the wrong group.

Hallway Corporate Communications
Employees are overloaded with email, text message and corporate documents that have vital information for the employee and business.  Too often this information is not read by many within the business and they miss out on opportunities to learn.  Sharing this information or alerting employees about information is a critical way to improve employee knowledge.

Content on the screens in the hallway can and should vary based upon the audience that shares that hallway.  Industry news, contact center status information, business performance information, private company events, public company events, advertising, etc.  Share content that meets the level of the audience.

Break Room Corporate Communications
Again the audience that will see the content on an LCD Screen in the break room will determine what information is provided. A private, company only, break room can share vital business information such as business status, call center agent status, revenue information, customer details, business / industry alerts, customer service ticket status, etc.  

The time of day can also affect the content that is displayed on the screen.  Morning content can share business information, news, weather, departmental status and performance. While afternoon content might show similar information but also add traffic, weather, or sports
.

Many companies have high employee sick days the day of or after a major sporting event such as the Super Bowl or the World Cup.  By adding the sporting event to the LCD screens in the office employee sick days can be reduced.  Within a Call Center the Manager had the World Cup running on the LCD screen.  If the Service Level for the call center dropped below 60% the World Cup would no longer be running on the LCD Screen.  This manager was able to have employees show up for work, improve customer support and have increase overall morale within the call center.

Cafeteria Corporate Communications
We usually think of digital signs in the cafeteria as a menu board or a TV.  Corporate communications is showing up much more often on the LCD Screen showing a variety of content.  Certainly menus and employee’s of the week are up on the screen, but other content is shown and requested to be shown as well.  Greeting visitors, alerts, building changes, important dates, vendor advertizing, traffic alerts, news, industry information, company events, photos from an event, call center status for critical agents, CEO video, RSS feed, stock prices, etc.

These two images show the agent status and the Group status for the day. Agent Status so the agents make it back to their desks on time.

 The location of the LCD screen will assist in the value of the screen.  Having the screen near the lines in the cafeteria will help get the content across to the audience.  Cafeterias vary and there are other locations for the screens.  Exits, tray return, coffee machines, and other locations that are used outside of the normal lunch hour are good places for the LCD screen.

Companies are expanding their communications by displaying relevant and important information to employees, vendors, customers and senior level management.  The content can vary based on the location of the LCD screens, who sees the screens, and the content that is available.

There are many options regarding content.  Internal company data that shares the stability and growth of the organization improves employee morale.  Industry content shows vendors and employees what is occurring in the marketplace. Local information for customers and employees reduces the boredom at appropriate times.  The idea behind sharing information is to improve relationships between the company and all those that see the information.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss corporate communications.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

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Dan Boehm
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Spectrum
dboehm@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839

Contact Center Reporting for Managers

Today agents are working with customers through voice, email and chat.  As a manager you need to track the status and performance across these channels to ensure the agents continue to meet their goals and objectives.  Furthermore, as a manager, you are watching performance for your multiple groups (divisions / departments).  Creating these reports may not be an option for the manager based on the total costs, compatibilities or capabilities.

Multi-channel data on a report needs to be defined by what it is trying to accomplish.  Managers want to know the agents status across all channels, voice, email and chat. The report needs to show the group status, then the option to select the group to see the agent status for that group, and then select the agent to see the agent status and performance both in real time as well as a historical report.

The immediate reaction to this report is this is a report I have today in my system if I just take the time to organize it and run the report.  Remember this is a multiple group report combining data from separate skills or queues and across multiple ACD’s.  Global call contact centers have combined data for the groups that have agents in multiple global contact centers.

The historical reporting shows three key KPI’s:

• Occupancy – combines the talk time with the wrap up time (ACW Time)
• Working State Time – combines talk time; wrap up time and Aux states that are considered to be productive. These codes will vary by contact center.
• Non working State Time – combines all non working states time to show how unproductive the agent has been.  Lunch, break, idle, logged out, etc. are all examples of non productive.

Because your agents are working with customers via voice, email and chat you need to see their performance at each level.  What is their status for each of these? What is the work time for each of these? Are they logged into these channel options?  

This status report contains data collected from Email, Chat and Voice that is combined across multiple ACD’s and groups.  The purpose is to see how the agent is performing through three channels and to ensure they are not using one channel to justify lack of performance in another channel. Combining Group totals for the channels (voice, email and chat) also shows the manager how well the international call centers are performing. 

These reports are different from the standard reports that are available from the ACD provider.  These combine data across channels: Voice, Email and Chat; from multiple ACDs; and creates group level reporting.  These collaborated reports give managers the tools they need to see real time and historical status for agents that work on numerous tasks as part of their job. 

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss your management level report.  For more examples of reporting visit our website and the products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

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Dan Boehm
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dan@specorp.com
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Contact Center Managers Dashboards

There are many types of contact center dashboards that managers are using today.  Obviously the most important dashboard is one that will work for you.  From a managers point of view the dashboard should contain real time and historical data, it should include critical KPI’s and metrics, and it should have layers of content and it should be available regardless where the manager is when they need it.

Real time data will focus on group / split skill KPI’s with overall agent status added in.  The target is to see how the call center is performing and if agents that are available are handling calls, emails and chats.

Managers that want more real time information can scan through the second layer of this dashboard. In this example the manager clicked on the PVY Fund to see why 23 staffed agents were all unavailable.

In this agent states layer of the dashboard the manager focuses on three items: State, Reason Code and total Abandoned calls. If an agent is in an unproductive state then the manager reviews the time the agent has been in that state.  If the time is short it is forgotten, if the time is long then it is mentioned to the agent’s supervisor.  This contact center is in the financial industry managing mutual fund customers both existing and new.  Agents that are unproductive are noticed quickly by the manager and the agent’s supervisor. 
 

The total abandoned calls for the PVY fund is watched closely by this manager.  Abandoned calls, according to the manager, are lost revenue.  This manager calculates the daily, weekly and monthly “lost” revenue on a separate spreadsheet and shares that with the supervisors.  The supervisors per fund then discuss this with the agents with the most abandoned calls.

The historical portion of the manager’s dashboard shows how the agents have performed over certain time frames.

Agents are looking for raises, new positions within the call center and have their own justifications for asking for these changes.  Managers with historical data can immediately respond with facts. The two key points in this layer of the dashboard are the working state time and the nonworking state time.  Working State is being productive while NonWorking is unproductive.

Breaks, lunch, training, coaching and other logged off status are considered to be unproductive.  This type of dashboard is not a default or standard option with ACD reports. Some contact centers are adding in email and chat work to the productive numbers.  It is important for contact centers to accurately set up logged out status options.

This historical layer of the dashboard goes back to one year.  The time frames on the report were fairly standard requests that managers ask for starting with yesterday and including quarterly status reports. It is also easy to see that this agent was on vacation during the 3 month time frame when compared to one month and 6 months.

There are other key metrics on this dashboard: Occupancy, Avg Talk time and Avg ACW time.  These metrics confirm with the manager the agents idle time and productivity time.

One of the most interesting differences between actual call center dashboards and the examples that you find when you Google Call Center Dashboard is the lack of charts and graphs.  Spectrum has the ability to include graphs, charts, gauges and other attractive features to a dashboard, but contact center managers quickly find that not enough data is available to them when they view a graphical dashboard.  They move over to a spreadsheet view of the data and eliminate or reduce the request for charts and gauges on their report.

Mobility has always been an important functionality for contact center managers.  The job requires the manager to be at corporate meetings, to assist the staff at their desks, travel to industry events and contact center training and work from home.  A managers dashboard should be available on a desktop, tablet PC, web based report or even a smart phone.

 A manager’s dashboard requires multiple layers of content from real-time to historical on the group level down to the agent level. The dashboard also needs to available to the mobile manager via remote connectivity so the manager is able to be aware of the contact center status at all times.  A dashboard that does not meet these requirements loses value rapidly.

The real time and historical report shown at the top of this article is based upon mutual fund contact center manager’s requirements.  The names of the funds and agent names have been altered to protect confidentiality. All numeric values seen in the images are actual values.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to learn more about dashboards for your contact center.

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Dan Boehm
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Spectrum
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Highest Ranked Call Center Articles

Over the last three plus years I have written over 50 articles regarding contact centers.  These articles have been delivered to over 500,000 people and read over 100,000 times. Five of these articles have been read and saved most often.  The difference these articles have over the others is the content.  These five articles share information about metrics, and performance.  Click on the title for a link directly to the article.

KPI’s and Metrics for Agents, Team Leaders, Managers and Senior Management
The KPI’s and Metrics for Call Center agents up to senior management are explained in this article.  There is a significant difference between the agents, team leader, manager and senior management metrics.  Agents require real time data to help them meet their goals. Team leaders want group level statistics as well as their own stats.  Managers needs summary data for the call center, group level and drill down to agent status information.  Senior management is typically reviewing the historical data for the call center to see how performance has improved over time.

http://www.slideshare.net/onstage/kpis-and-metrics-for-agents-team-leaders-managers-and-senior-management

Call Center Scorecards
Call Center Scorecards, Balanced Scorecard or simply scorecard exist to enable call center managers to review overall call center performance.  The scorecards also assist top management in their quest to understand the value and performance of the call center.  Too often top management views the call center as a cost center and does not understand the value that the call center brings to the organization.  In addition, when a call center manager has to explain how well the call center is performing numerous statistics, charts, graphs and reports are provided which end up confusing top managers.

http://www.slideshare.net/onstage/call-center-scorecarding

Call Center Statistics and Performance Metrics
There is a difference between call center statistics and call center performance metrics.  Both are very helpful to the call center but are used in two different ways.  Statistics are used to show what the current status of the agent or group and performance metrics show how well the agent or group is performing.
Statistics can provide a view of what is happening in the call center right now, for the interval or for the day.  These statistics are helpful when the agents, team leaders and managers want to know the current status of the call center.

http://www.slideshare.net/onstage/call-center-statistics-and-performance-metrics

Using Metrics to Change Agent Behavior
The statistics and metrics you provide (display) to your call center and agents should be changing their performance.  If you are not seeing a change in performance this could mean:

1. You are not reporting the proper metrics;
2. Your goals are not set properly;
3. You are not showing (displaying) the correct metrics and statistics;
4. You do not show the appropriate amount of concern to your agents.

http://www.slideshare.net/onstage/unified-reporting-5243755

Performance Management in the call center
The primary objective of Performance Management is to improve overall efficiency in the business and call center.  Utilizing dynamic performance management reports business leaders may effectively monitor the performance and decision making of the stakeholders. Leaders then may make adjustments to their strategies to assist the business in achieving their stated goals.

http://www.slideshare.net/onstage/performance-management-in-the-call-center

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to learn more about real time reporting for your contact center.

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dan@specorp.com
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Performance Reviews

A performance review/evaluation (Measurement / Appraisal) is a process of assessing an individual based upon their job performance, productivity and non job related activities occurring in the office. Performance and productivity reviews may include standard metric reviews, call quality including recorded call performance and quality scores, product and service knowledge, sales/sales upgrades/ subscriber extensions, achievements, customer service, training and training results, attendance, non work related activity and attitude. Depending on the industry and the organization goals more topics can be added to the overall list of performance review items.

Performance reviews are timely and require a significant predetermined process to create an outcome that is relevant, accurate and worthy of personal discussions with agents and supervisors.  Because of the workload to do a full and complete review many are not given or some that are provide a lack of relevant data.

Reviews are often delayed because of overload and stress the manager is under. Agent level feedback also delays the reviews because the review of the past were poorly conducted too lengthy and not relevant to the goals the agent was targeted to achieve.  Also if agent turnover is high what is the incentive to the manager to review agents that will be leaving the company?

While this sounds negative it is an example of what is going on at many contact centers. What some contact centers have begun to do is to narrow down the reviews and make them more relevant to longer term agents. New agents are not getting full reviews until they meet and exceed predetermined goals that have been discussed in training.

Targets and goals for the top key metrics: The organization will have goals and targets for the agents to achieve regarding key metrics. These metrics will vary by industry, they will vary by the groups within the contact center as a simple example the metrics will vary by the agent experience and skill sets and they will vary by month, week, day and time of day.

To determine how the agent has actually performed the manager sets the goal for a metric, then divides that by actual performance for that metric in question.  For example, the agent has a goal of 90% for adherence.  The agent’s actual performance was 65% or 25% below the goal.  Therefore, the agent has performed well below the goal. Yet the agent argues that he was under pressure for other goals.

This same agent claims that he is unable to meet his schedule because he puts at risk FCR and Customer Satisfaction goals.  He is under pressure to resolve all customer issues with the first call.  He is also trained to satisfy the customer regardless of the time it takes to resolve the problem.  These two additional goals make it difficult at time to stay on schedule for training, breaks, coaching and logging out and into outbound calls.


Metrics levels change through the year: Throughout the year metrics change based on the industry the contact center is involved in.  December to some agents is a very busy time while January is slow for those same agents.  So looking at agent performance should be done on a monthly basis and not just an annual basis because of the annual averaging of the performance outcome.  Monthly reporting is done through analytics similar to figure .

Figure  shows this group of agents has performed for the day.

Taking the monthly analytics and summarizing the data for the year explains how the agent has underperformed in certain key metric areas.  Creating an annual review of key metrics and showing the actual annual time spent in or out of those metrics can be a key towards successful performance reviews.

This annual agent status review (agent name and state / level changed to protect confidentiality) shows that Jacobs spends a lot of time on the call wrap up. Training for the year was 5 days. Is it possible to improve after call wrap up by additional training?

By adding a scorecard for the agent for the annual review the manager can discuss the importance of certain key metrics and how the agent has performed.

Scorecards will depend on the industry and the group the agent is participating within.  The scorecard will also be affected by the agents experience and skill sets.  Scorecards, like analytics are affected by the risk factors.  While these are not always 100% accurate they are very helpful in the general discussions with the agent and supervisor.

There are many factors to consider prior to annual performance reviews.  Some factors are not even mentioned in this article.  In one HR situation the Contact Center manager had a good relationship with an agent that had a positive attitude and was always fun to be around. However, this same agent did not meet most of her key metrics and adherence and occupancy goals were rarely met. Her response was she was helping other agents personally.


What is your turnover in the contact center? How much does that cost you? Is having agents that do not perform and do not meet goals a cause of concern or are you more concerned about the replacement process?  Annual performance reviews are challenging work but should be done.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to learn more about Analytics and Scorecards.

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Dan Boehm
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Spectrum
dan@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839

Agents New Years Resolutions

In January and February 2012 Spectrum received requests to change the agent’s desktop wallboard layout and content. These requests were easy to accommodate but it had created an interest in why were these requests coming in at that time.  After a few phone calls and emails the replies were all the same: Agents are requesting changes to their desktop so they are able to improve and it is part of their New Year’s Resolution. 

This article is about the changes that were requested. Please note all company logos, agent names, and group names may have been changed or removed to protect confidentiality.

1. Make the Customer Happy: This request came from companies that were working with existing customers answering policy questions, account balances, product issues such as delivery/repairs/replacements.  The requests did not come from companies that handled new customers/accounts, customer / account cancellations, or customer service / trouble ticketing skills.

 
In this desktop wallboard the change request was to remove Calls Waiting and replace it with Oldest Calls Waiting.  The agents that were getting this change were experienced and were well aware of any calls waiting.  The agents wanted to know about the wait time so they could manage the calls they were handling at the time.  In this example, the manager for this call center added in the Offered and Taken calls.  To fit these in the Abandon Rate and AHT were removed.  The size of the desktop wallboard was an issue so additional KPI’s just could not be added.

2. Improve themselves: This request came from many different call centers. It did not matter the size of the center or the business they were in. Agents were looking to improve themselves as part of their New Year’s Goals.  Depending on the business and industry the call center is in the requests varied. At one large call center the managers requests included: Average Handle Time (AHT), First Call Resolution (FCR), Occupancy % and Adherence %.  Spectrum made changes for the agents and depending on the agent’s skills and experience they were given different KPI’s on their desktop.  The manager’s dashboard is the example below. 

This managers dashboard also has multiple tabs that allow him to view group data, agent details, agent and group analytics and summary totals for all groups. A message will also run at the bottom of the dashboard but was removed due to the content. 

3. Do well for the Company: This request was from aggressive companies that do a lot of on line business.  In one case the company has a high agent turnover. They pay the agents well but if the agents do not perform they are terminated.  For one call center the request was for AHT, Sales Revenue by Group, Sales Revenue by Agent, Lead Agent Sales and Lead Product Sales.  This request was not put in place because Sales and Revenue figures were confidential and not approved by senior management. However AHT and ACD Calls for the day were added.


At Spectrum we receive requests from customers to make changes to their agent desktops, call center digital signage, dashboards, web reports, etc.  However, at the beginning of the year we receive an increased number of desktop changes that are started by agent requests to the manager.  Some of the changes were so interesting I had to follow up with these requests to learn more about why they wanted to change/add the KPI’s on the desktops and dashboards.  Changes made to LCD screens, Phones, Tablet PC’s and web based reports were all very standard.

For the agents desktop the reasons for the changes and additions became very simple:

1. Agent turnover – Companies with Call Centers, Out Sourced Call Centers, Customer Service Centers and Help Desks were terminating agents based on poor performance.  Some of the agents were looking to improve and not lose their jobs.  
2. Agents looking to improve so they are able to be promoted to another position or a different group: Seniority is not enough to be promoted. Agents needed to show improvement to a level that the team leaders or managers felt was enough to justify the promotion.  
3. Agents looking to improve enough so they can quit their jobs: If an agent improves they now have experience of success, get positive feedback from leaders and managers, receive awards and upper management praise, exceed goals. The agents would include these awards/feedback/praise to their resume.  Managers mentioned the New Year starts the process of agents turning in their notice and receiving a higher than usual response to openings.
4. Agents looking for a pay raise: Performance reviews are done at different times during the year. However, it appears that many agents look for a pay raise starting after the New Year.  By improving their performance, meeting or exceeding goals and receiving praise from senior management agents use this as part of their request for pay raises.  

Change requests to the agents desktop and manager’s dashboard come to Spectrum often. Adding KPI’s, changing formulas, showing total’s, adding agent details and adding analytics are requested most often.  The New Year’s resolution changes may be permanent or short term depending on whether the change request was positive or negative, if the agent moved on or was terminated and if the manager was satisfied with the agents performance change.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to discuss changes to your agent’s desktop wallboards or managers dashboard. For more examples of agent desktops visit our website and the desktop products page. http://www.specorp.com/products

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Dan Boehm
VP Sales and Marketing
Spectrum
dan@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839

Artwork in the call center?

I had to ask the manager I was talking to “Have you ever dusted the plasma screen you are using?” The customer reply to me “No, the janitor does that.”  I had to correct myself and get to my point.  “You have had the plasma screen in the call center for over four years and you have never changed the content on the screen?”

No they had not and it had gotten to the point where the agents now almost completely ignore the plasma screens and only review them when the screens provide an audible alert.  The success or failure of the screens can be attributed to the changes to the content on the screens.  The goal should be to modify the KPI’s that are being displayed to ones that are needed.  Call center content needs change based on time of year, business changes, new goals and trends, agent / group successes or failures and call center group relocation's. 

The benefits of an LCD screen in the contact center are:

·        Improve agent and group performance with critical KPI’s that can and do change throughout the year;

·        Agents will react proactively to real time metrics and improve efficiencies;

·        Managers can keep tabs on operational effectiveness while they are interoffice mobile;

·        Minimize agent sick days during important events (Super Bowl, World Cup, etc);

·        Impress visiting customers and potential customers with state-of-the-art technology.

The content on LCD screens has tremendous value and benefits to the agents and call center.  But the content must be kept timely, accurate and appropriate for everyone.  The lack of changes to the content will lower the value to the call center. Content changes include new KPI’s that show where groups are under performing, new layout of the existing content to increase screen visibility and add data that is new to the group from ACD only to ACD and in-house database for example. 

Call center managers should be making changes to the LCD Screen(s) and if they are not sure what changes to make they can ask team leaders, supervisors, senior management, other call centers or even their call center software vendors. 

Don’t treat the LCD screens like artwork: hung up where you want it and showing nice colors.  Treat the LCD screen correctly with performance improving content, always changing layouts, positive group and agent updates and you will have screens that are always being reviewed by agents. 

Agent Desktop Wallboards

To help improve performance of the agents many managers add a desktop solution.  In many cases agent desktops are busy with 15 - 25 applications to assist them with their job duties.  However, these applications do not help them with the timing of the contact center calls, emails and chats. This article is about desktops improving the timing of voice, email and chat with the customers and helping agents improve performance.

There are many things that Managers want to see the agents improve on.  Things such as ASA, Abandon rates, AHT, FCR%, CSat%, SvcLvl% and Accepted Calls are some of the top requested agent KPI’s.  However, is it best to show some or all of these KPI’s?  It depends on the agent.  Every agent is different but there are top differences to consider.
    

Call Center managers are challenged with many tasks but the top two, depending on the type of call center are: Reduce Costs or Increase Revenue.  With these two goals the managers is always looking to minimize calls waiting to increase the possibility of sales or have a more effective agent that can manage multiple tasks.  Considering these options the desktop wallboard will have specific type of content.

The second issue that a Call Center Manager must overcome is dealing with agents that are significantly different from one another.  The agent difference will determine the type and amount of content seen on the desktop wallboard.  New agents need a minimum of data on the desktop but content that will help them do the job properly.  Here is an example of a desktop wallboard for a new agent.

  
Key data is displayed that will help the new agent meet the immediate goals: answering the calls quickly.

Agents that are experienced and perform very well require a higher level of content. The information they desire is that which will help them achieve or exceed goals and trends for their role.  These effective agents are also efficient in their duties and tasks and look for data that will assist them in meeting their quarterly or annual performance goals.  A call center manager that does not help them meet their goals may lose that agent.  Here is an example of a desktop for an experienced agent:


KPI’s on this desktop wallboard alert the experienced agent to goals that are not being achieved.  These alerts will help adjust the agent’s performance. 
  
There are five things to think about prior to offering a desktop solution for the agents and deciding what each agent will see on their desktop.  Topics to think about are: Agent Experience, Agent Attitude, Agent Responsibility, Group / Agent Goals and Corporate Goals.

• Agent Experience: A new agent versus a highly skilled experienced agent should see a desktop wallboard, but with different content considering their experience levels.
• Agent Attitude - Some agents have the wrong type of attitude in the call center.  They do not like their job, their responsibilities, the manager or other agents, or they may not like incoming calls.  If these agents cannot be trained or removed the content on the desktop may be goal oriented - such as CIQ, ASA, ABN, Oldest, Transferred, CSat and FCR.  
• Agent Responsibility: The job the agent performs may affect the data they see on their desktop wallboard.  A presales agent at a mutual fund company should be aware of the current wait time for callers. While an agent at an insurance company taking calls for policy cancellation may not need to know the current wait time.
• Group and Agent Goals can adjust the content requirements.  A new sales order group/agent will need different content than an order cancellation group / agent.
• Corporate Goals - The goals, policies or procedures of the organization may set content rules for agent desktops. Assertive / aggressive organizations with trends to assist any caller may want desktop content to ensure calls are taken on time, not abandoned, and not transferred incorrectly, high FCR%, high CSat and much more.  In these cases all agents should see this type of desktop content.

Agent Attitude:  Overly negative agents need desktop content that will help drive them to meet the goals that are provided to them.  The proper content becomes the positive reminder for them to meet certain levels or risk poor annual reviews.  Depending on the agent’s personality the KPI’s that are displayed on the agents desktop can change.  For an agent that always reminds us of the annual goals it is best to use those goals as the KPI’s.  Managers should track the agent’s threshold analytics which can be used in the annual performance reviews.


Additional KPI’s such as Calls Waiting, Oldest Wait Time and ASA might be added if they are a part of annual performance reviews.

Agent Responsibility: Or another way to view this is the industry the call center group represents.  New financial customer agents desire low answer times while product replacement agents do not mind keeping callers waiting.  Help Desk agents are looking for high FCR and CSat numbers and wish to see this through the day.  Consider what the goal is for the agent to determine what is on the desktop.

 
A customer service or help desk should track and follow the metrics that show critical performance issues.

Corporate Goals: The goals, trends, policies and procedures set down by the organization can affect the call center.  As the corporation moves to meet the trends of their industry the changes may also affect the agents and how they are reviewed annually.  Agents are made aware of organizational changes but need reminders on the desktop to help them meet the new goals and trends.

Corporate changes directly affect the call center.  Agents are notified of the changes and need relevant content that will help them achieve the new goals. 

The content mentioned and shown in the examples above are regarding agents and not team leaders, supervisors or managers.  At times there is a request, by the agents, to change the content to show much of the same content the managers are seeing.  The fault in this is some agents comparing themselves to others, agent comparing themselves to a group and invalid reasons to argue at the annual performance reviews.

 The idea of the desktop wallboard is to improve the agent’s performance and help them achieve or exceed their goals.  Managers look at topics of interest to adjust their opinions of desktops and desktop content.

• As the industry changes there may be a need to change desktop content.  
• If the call center has trends that are not positive desktop reminders showing the lack of goal achievement may be displayed to the agents.
• Internal business alterations such as new products, improved communications or increased job responsibilities require more desktop information for the agents.

During working hours the agent’s desktop is their domain manager’s use that thought process to help the agents improve or meet their goals.

There are many other reasons for wanting a desktop wallboard for the agents.  Stated below are some of the reasons given to Spectrum by current customers.

• Improve incoming call reaction time;
• Reduce talk time with bad or talkative customers;
• Have accurate AHT (average handle time) for your group;
• Stop bad work ethics such as transfers, hang ups, on hold for no reason, breaks and internal socialization;
• Appropriate communication times with customers on email and chat.

Desktop wallboards can help solve agent challenges if the goals are realistic, agents are trained, content is appropriate and content is altered as needed throughout the year.  Desktops that are all the same for all agents, leaders and managers will not improve the performance for a long period of time.

Managers and Team Leaders typically have other content that they see on their desktops and dashboards.  The content can be:

• Groups content with additional tabs for drill down to agent performance
• Tabs including voice, email and chat
• Agent specific details with current status
• Content about the incoming call directions (VDN, Vector and Trunks)
• Threshold analytics which provides details on performance beyond what the agent is viewing.  

Team leader content from Voice, Chat and email. Agent status, reason codes and the time they have been in that status. Group content and then critical KPI information at the bottom of the desktop display. 

Content covering calls, email and chat will show the manager details about the incoming customer contacts and how the groups are performing.



Select group, agent details and analytics in a dashboard for a manager help with daily, weekly, monthly or annual status.


A group analytics review shows the overall performance on meeting the goals.  These analytics can alert a manager to trends the agents think they can hide.  The Hit Count shows how many times a threshold has been exceeded, how long it has affected the queue in Duration and the KPI Name.

Agent Desktop wallboards can be very effective in helping the agents meet their goals by displaying appropriate content to the agent.  When adjusted based on the agent’s personality the managers can continue to assist the agents meet their annual performance goals.  Keeping the same old content on the desktop while the agent improves or changes their role causes the agent to hide or ignore the desktop wallboard.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to learn more about Agent Desktop Wallboards.

Follow Spectrum Corporation:

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Dan Boehm
VP Sales and Marketing
Spectrum
dan@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839