Call center Performance Metrics Solution receives Customer magazine 2012 Product of the Year Award

We are very excited that Monet Metrics has been recognized as Product of the Year for exceptional innovation by TMC’s Customer magazine. CUSTOMER magazine, the industry’s source for news, product information, and strategies for communications that engage customers and potential customers, has named Monet Metrics as their 2012 Product of the Year Award winner. In a statement, the magazine said: "Monet Software was selected to receive Customer Magazine 2012 Product of the Year Award for its achievement in advancing customer experience management technologies." In summary, the solutions delivers the following benefits to call centers:

• Better decisions through actionable intelligence and flexible real-time dashboards: Monet Metrics sets a new standard by transforming call center management from a reactive to a proactive approach. Pre-built reports and metrics make relevant data readily available to proactively manage call center performance.

• Improved productivity and agent motivation through scorecard capabilities: Scorecards, key performance indicators (KPI), real-time dashboards and customizable reports deliver a constant stream of intelligence helping call centers take the right action at the right time to better meet their business goals.

• Key performance indicators right at your fingertips, anywhere and anytime: Call center managers and supervisors can make more informed decisions, resulting in higher customer satisfaction, more cost control and better utilization of resources. It also frees up time for supervisors and managers to focus on working with agents, coaching, training and planning, instead of collecting and analyzing data.

The 15th Annual Product of the Year Award winners are published in the January/February 2013 issue of Customer magazine, www.customerzone360.com. For a demonstration of Monet Metrics, please follow this link to watch the call center performance management overview demo.

Call center performance management metrics in real-time

Performance management is a critical part of managing call centers and is essential to help you align your people, processes and systems to your goals and objectives, such as customer satisfaction, cost control and revenue goals. However, many call centers lack the means to measure and track their key performance indicators (KPI) necessary to improve forecasting, staffing, scheduling and adherence in real-time. Only if you get alerts and can monitor performance in real-time, you can transform call center performance management from a reactive to a proactive approach. Tools such as scorecards, key performance indicators, real-time alerts, agent analytics, dashboards, and customizable reports deliver a constant stream of intelligence helping you take the right action to better meet your business goals now and in the future.

With real-time performance management, you can get easy access to a unified view of key performance metrics at any time that allow you to quickly adjust parameters such as forecast, schedules and staffing, or automatically trigger other events. Metrics such as:
•    Adherence
•    Service levels
•    Answer and abandon metrics
•    Average handle time (AHT)
•    Average speed of answer (ASA)
•    Average talk time (ATT)
•    Forecast accuracy
•    Labor costs and staffing
•    Shrinkage and absenteeism

Systems automatically collect and present real-time and historical performance data at agent, group and center level. Key performance indicators, scheduling information and service level indicators can be distributed to call center employees through web-based consolidated reporting, giving them the information to do a better job. This will also rree up time for supervisors and managers to focus on working with agents, coaching, training and planning, instead of collecting data – all resulting in better service to your customers.

If you are interested in learning more about this, please watch our call center performance metrics demo video on our website.

Call center metrics have to be actionable - what does that mean?

There is often the question about the type of call center metrics you should track. But equally important is how "actionable" these metrics are. So, what does "actionable" mean?

• Do I have access to metrics at the time when I can still have an impact (e.g. adherence, performance)?
• Can I actually make a change at that moment and have an impact (e.g. re-calculate forecast, adjust schedule, monitor calls)?

So, how can you make metrics actionable? The use of scorecards, key performance indicators (KPI), real-time dashboards and customizable alerts deliver a constant stream of intelligence helping call centers take the right action at the right time to better meet their business goals. This will transform call center management from a reactive to a proactive approach and helps make more informed decisions faster, resulting in higher customer satisfaction, more cost control and better utilization of resources. Some additional benefits are:

• Provides management with a unified view to monitor and analyze key performance metrics, such as agent adherence, service levels, labor costs and staffing resulting in more informed decisions.

• Motivates agents to self-manage their performance and take action with coaches and supervisors based on real data and KPI’s (key performance indicators) to meet business objectives.

• Frees up time for supervisors and managers to focus on working with agents, coaching, training and planning, instead of collecting and analyzing data. 

For more information about this topic, please watch the call center performance metrics video on our website.

Call center performance management metrics and tips

Often, it is not the sheer number of different call center performance metrics that drive success, rather how well they are presented (graphics versus numbers), how accessible they are (now in real-time versus later) and how they relate to each other (having a big picture versus a "siloed" view). With rising customer expectations and cost pressure, call center performance management becomes ever more challenging. Here are three things to consider when thinking about improved and more effective call center performance management: 

Dashboards: Make data easy and simple to understand
There is that saying "a picture is worth more than a thousand words" - the same is often true for numbers. Having access to detailed reports with lots of numbers is necessary, however, often a simple dashboard with key metrics provides the right amount of information to see if you need to take action throughout the day.

Real-time: Make data actionable and pro-active
For some data and metrics it is fine to review them at a later point and draw conclusion, however, there are a few key metrics that you should get in real-time. This allows you to make changes right then, when you see an issue coming up, such as out-of-adherence, changing call volumes and call pattern (compared to your forecast).

Integration: Connect the "dots"
The challenge in a center is often to optimize one variable (metric) without compromising another. For example, a reduction in call time could impact call quality or customer satisfaction. If you have access to "connected" data you can better understand how one change might affect the overall performance of your call center. Also, it helps different teams and departments (that often act as "silos") better work together by sharing "cross-functional" call center metrics. Unified workforce optimization solutions that integrate workforce management, call recording, quality and performance management can help accomplish this.

If you would like to learn more, please watch the various call center workforce optimization videos on our website.

Call center workforce optimization - what is it and why is it important?

Many call center managers are still challenged with having the right number of agents with the right skills, ensuring that calls are handled in compliance with regulations and policies, while also delivering great customer service based on quality standards.Call Center Workforce Optimization (WFO) solution suites for call centers help automate workforce management, call recording, quality assurance and agent analytics in one integrated package. Call centers can quickly and easily optimize all aspects of their workforce with one solution, resulting in better utilization of resources, better cost management and improved service levels. Typically, WFO consists of the following modules:

• Workforce Management
• Call Recording
• Quality Management
• Performance Management and Agent Analytics

With a unified WFO solution, call centers can connect all aspects of scheduling, skills, quality, metrics and compliance to better meet customer needs and deliver more effective customer service. Managers and supervisors can easily identify patterns and analyze metrics at various levels for training and quality assurance purposes and establish quality standards and best practices. In addition, they can combine quantitative and qualitative information for a complete assessment of contact center performance. For example, if they notice a potential issue, they can easily drill down across functions to get to the root cause and develop tailored training and coaching programs to address it. Only an integrated WFO suite allows you to “connect the dots” and get the whole picture to quickly improve call center performance.

If you are interested in learning more, please watch the workforce optimization videos on our website.

Workforce management: How to move from "reactive" to "proactive" call center performance management?

Performance Management Dashboard

Performance management is a critical part of managing call centers and is essential to help you align your people, processes and systems to your goals and objectives, such as customer satisfaction, cost control and revenue goals. Many call centers lack the means to measure and track their key performance indicators (KPI) necessary to improve forecasting, staffing, scheduling and adherence. There is a trend of transforming call center performance management from a reactive to a more proactive approach. Scorecards, key performance indicators, real-time alerts, agent analytics, dashboards, and customizable reports deliver a constant stream of actionable intelligence helping managers and supervisors make more informed decisions faster, resulting in higher customer satisfaction, more cost control and better utilization of resources. Here are just a few benefits:

• Better decisions through actionable intelligence and flexible real-time dashboards: Gives management a unified view to monitor and analyze key performance metrics, such as agent adherence, service levels, labor costs and staffing resulting in more informed decisions.
• Improved productivity and agent motivation through scorecard capabilities: Motivates agents to self-manage their performance and take action with coaches and supervisors based on real data and KPI’s (key performance indicators) to meet business objectives, creating a culture of accountability and self-motivation.
• Easy and fast access to key performance indicators: Frees up time for supervisors and managers to focus on working with agents, coaching, training and planning, instead of collecting and analyzing data.

To learn more about agent analytics and performance management please take a look at our website or download our Monet Metrics brochure as part of the WFM Success Kit.