Anyone can build a world-class contact center with an unrestricted budget. In real life, customer service budgets are the first to get cut and the last to get boosted as company fortunes fall and rise, leaving managers struggling to do more with less. Call center analytics provide the tools needed to turn those underfunded service teams into star company performers.

Illustrating The Need For More Agents

The way to make an impression on the number crunchers is with numbers of your own. Call center analytics produce hard statistics on how the department is performing. Managers use these reports to demonstrate how call volume has risen even as the staff has been cut. They show hold times rising and customers satisfaction falling, and make a case for how the underfunded contact center is hurting corporate profits.

A strong case backed by unimpeachable statistics protects agents during layoffs and puts them near the front of the line when the company rehires. This has the side benefit of improving agent morale as they see they are not first on the chopping block. Sometimes finances dictate that all departments are going to hurt, so call center managers have to learn to use their resources better.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Agents

Waste is one of the worst problems facing a business, and it's an issue even if the company shows strong profits. In phone centers, waste can come from unnecessary transfers, overstaffed departments or inefficient methods of handling callers. Call center analytics show the department processes in clear detail so managers can find the inefficiencies and correct them.

Call volume isn't always the same, so why should call staffing be? Once call traffic trends are understood, agent shifts can be assigned to cover the high volume times without having anyone idle during low traffic hours.

Agents who spend too little time with each caller may be dismissing clients before their needs are met, while those who spend too long might be struggling to find solutions to problems and would benefit from more training.

Finding The Real Answer

Technology is a tool, not a solution. Call center analytics help managers evaluate a contact center's performance, but it is only one step in the process. Agents and customers will have valuable insights into the process from their front-line experience.

Reports might show average call time has been increasing, but that's a symptom and not the real issue. Why is call time increasing? An influx of new agents creates a temporary call time increase as recent employees come up to speed. Congestion on the company's computer network causes service software to respond more slowly. Recent news stories about the company's industry have callers asking more questions. Once the real reason has been tracked down, a solution can be created.

Hiring more agents is not always the best option. Call center analytics allow contact centers to use existing agents more efficiently.