LOVELAND, Colo. — According to the 2007 Call Center Best Practices Benchmarking Reports from leading contact center research firm Centerserve(R) (www.call-center.net), key findings show that customers are the number-one driver of contact center changes. Featuring 250 companies from 51 countries, the reports show that “improving the customer experience” was listed by call center managers as the top priority for their organizations in the coming 12 to 24 months.
Additionally, an analysis of Centerserve’s four benchmarking reports over the past eight years shows a trend toward a people-oriented focus. In an attempt to improve both employee and customer satisfaction, contact centers are spotlighting progressive training and coaching plans as well as enhanced quality monitoring programs to advance the skills of their agents.
Other findings in Centerserve’s 2007 Call Center Best Practices Reports include process changes with the greatest positive impact on customers, current performance levels and goals for common key performance indicators (KPIs), top qualities to look for when hiring agents and lessons learned from outsourcing. Designed to provide contact center managers and executives with key data to improve the operations and performance of their centers, the 2007 Call Center Best Practices Reports are divided into three key areas: Benchmarks in Call Center Operations, How to be a Great Call Center Manager and Improving Call Center Best Practices.
The 2007 reports are the fourth in a series of research projects Centerserve has conducted in the call center field. In its 1999, 2001 and 2004 Call Center Best Practices Benchmarking studies, the company collected data from over 650 organizations in 50 countries. Participants in this year’s study included IBM, AOL, United Airlines, Morgan Stanley and the Dow Chemical Company, among others.
Sponsored and conducted by Centerserve and the Call Center Learning Center and co-sponsored by Strategic Contact(R) (www.strategiccontact.com), the reports were developed with three primary goals: To uncover the most effective management practices in call centers today; to reveal the most current performance objectives and results (KPIs) for call centers by industry; and to identify the operational and managerial changes that have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction, call center efficiency and revenue contributions.
The 2007 Call Center Best Practices Reports are divided into three areas focusing on operations, management and business processes (for more information visit www.call-center.net/ccstudypractices.htm or call 970-669-6554).
Report sections and topics include:
Benchmarks in Call Center Operations Report
* Performance objectives and results (KPIs)
* Past improvement initiatives
* Future directions and improvements
* Reporting and analytics
* Home-based/remote agents
* Demographics
How to be a Great Call Center Manager Report
* Management practices: Supervisors/team leaders
* Management practices: CSRs/agents
* Hiring and recruiting
* CSR/agent training
* Motivation and incentive programs
* Communication
* Home-based/remote agents
* Demographics
Improving Call Center Business Processes
* Workforce management
* Quality monitoring
* Process improvement
* Outsourcing
* Demographics
About Centerserve(R)
Founded in 1994, Centerserve is a leading supplier of call center benchmarking reports and research-based toolkits. The company also sponsors the Call Center Learning Center, an online call center resource community. Centerserve is respected in the contact center industry as a provider of benchmarking reports, toolkits for call center consultants, and handbooks for employees and managers.
About Strategic Contact(R)
Strategic Contact is an independent call center consulting firm that helps companies optimize the strategic value of their customer contact technology and operations. Strategic Contact’s services help clients achieve their business goals through planning and execution of projects such as voice over IP migration planning, call center outsourcing strategy, information technology planning, and virtual call center design.
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