This document discusses key performance measures for call centers and contact centers. It identifies 18 performance measures across categories of service, quality, efficiency, and profitability. These measures become more complex as call centers evolve into multi-dimensional outsourcing providers offering various support services. Performance must be analyzed considering both ordinary call center work as well as more advanced multi-level support. Key measures include block rates, abandonment rates, self-service usage, first resolution rates, agent occupancy, conversion rates, and cost per call.

1. Call center performance management
We, here in this article will talk about how a simple inbound call center evolves into a
multi dimensional outsourcing service provider and so does its performance management
problem as well. With advanced technology and brightest minds, call centers expand and
upgrade themselves to the next level of services and quality. But we need to understand
that as call centers, their services and outsourcing trend have changed; their performance
management techniques need to be changed as well. To determine the standards and
quality of working, we are presenting 18 performance measures in terms of services,
quality of work, efficiency and profitability of their services and impact of their support
on a business and its growth.
We are analyzing these mentioned performance measures in two aspects of work levels:
one for ordinary call center and another contact for multi level support provider contact
center.
Performance Management in terms of Service
The most important measures of performance are those associated with service. Some of
these measures are the same for both a call center and contact center, while some will
need to change slightly to reflect the new types of transactions.
1. Blocks and Hurdles
Blocks and hurdles are indicated as time when customers are not able to get through the
network due to insufficient facilities at work. The busy signal, dropped calls and other
situations can be count as such. These obstruct the speed of performance and have
adverse affect on quality of services. Also, it has negative effect on customer satisfaction.
Solution: Increase the server capacity. To estimate how many network facilities to be
needed by you so that it does not get overloaded.
2. Abandon Ratio
The dropped calls do impact the retention and revenue generation of call centers. They
understand that making your customer wait in queue to receive a call is not going to take
you anywhere. Nonetheless, it cannot be eliminated properly. There are number of factors
that affect this factor such as caller's patience, the time of call and other alternatives of
getting in touch like email or dropping a number to call back.
3. Self-Service

2. Now, when market is expanding and customer base of organizations are growing, their
partner call centers are adopting new measures to attend them. Most of them are adapting
self-service facilities that help customers to choose their operations and help menu by
themselves.
In a contact center, the performance can be tracked by observing how many times help
menu was accessed and how many times a live agent was called upon?
4. Service Level
Service level consists of determining the most average speed of processing a request.
Some of Call Center Outsourcing Services and contact centers measure the response time
taken by the customers as well.
5. Maximum Delay in Queue
Another measure of speed is to calculate the longest time a customer was made to wait.
This is also referred as worst case.
Quality Measures
6. First Resolution Rate
The first call resolution is called one and done in call centers which is very critical and
significant for the performance levels of a Outsourced Call Center. The factors
contributing in this performance measure are the team that handled the query, time of call
and nature of query.
7. Rate of Transfer
The seamless nature of a process of a call center can be determined by the rate of transfer.
How much part of the work was handled over or transferred to another team or person,
also counts.
8. Communications Skills
How well versed customer support executives are and how they behave with customer
can either bog down your reputation or soar it above the clouds. This quality measure can
be monitored through observance, reviewing the performance and proper reporting
channels.
9. Procedures Adherence
This helps to integrate value and customer satisfaction together. Your agents should be
willing to stick to workflow and shifting of process. Also, they should feel obliged to call

3. scripts because they are trademark of your call center and brand awareness tactic for your
client.
Efficiency Performance Measures
10. Agent Occupancy
Agent occupancy is the time that an agent takes to attend the customer as compared to the
times he is not taking the calls. This is an important measure to check and oversee how
your agents are utilizing the working hours.
11. Staff Attrition
It is the time when your staff is not present to handle the flow of calls. It could be due to
meeting times, break times or other non productive issues. It is an important measure as
you can easily calculate that how many people you will need in a session so that no call
would go missed.
12. Efficiency of Schedule
It is about just hitting the mark. Not less and not more, just the right number of people
working for you. Understaffing or overstaffing both is extremely dangerous curves for an
organization.
13. Adherence to Schedule
This performance measure is a calculation of number of working hours per schedule. It
ascertains the productivity of a team and its agents.
14. System Availability
An agent is incapable of doing anything if his system is slow. The overall performance of
an agent can be marred by a slow system. For instance, IVR is much used and coveted
technique of every call center. It eases down the workload of agents by 50 percent, in
case IVR is not functioning properly, an agent would have to devote time to understand
the nature of the query and answering it accordingly.
15. Coaching:
Training and learning is the keystone of every organization. Be it regarding
organizational behavior or concerns product manuals or FAQs, one -on- one training
always helps and motivates agents to exceed their capacities and attain the targets.
Profitability Measures
16. Rate of Conversion

4. The success of call center depends on the growth of organization they work for. How
many of leads have been translated into sales, is the measure of their real success and
actual performance.
17. Up-Selling and Cross-Selling
How much value has you agents added to your clients. This value added services adds as
an advantage along with generated revenue in the kitty of your client.
18. Costing as per one Call
This is a critical and bottom line measure to calculate the efficiency and workload
stamina of a call center. How much effort, facility, money and labor you have put in one
call and what you are getting back out of it can be a real eye opener shot for any call
center which boasts about success.
http://performanceappraisalebooks.info/ : Over 200 ebooks, templates, forms for
performance appraisal.