The most important rule of performance management is also the simpler; do not make decisions without data. Fortunately, in today’s business world you can measure just about anything. Hence, it is much easier to pinpoint the challenges your contact center team is experiencing. A great starting point in the improvement of your contact center’s performance is to know your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This way, you can begin making data-driven decisions.

In this article, we will cover some of the most essential KPIs for measuring the effectiveness of your agents. However, we cannot stress enough how important is to find the right balance; do not be tempted to track every aspect of your contact center’s performance. Instead, choose a reasonable number of KPIs to monitor so you can concentrate your efforts where it matters the most.

Average Handle Time

Average Handle Time (AHT) refers to the amount of time it takes an agent to answer an incoming inquiry. This commonly used metric can help you gain insights into the responsiveness and efficiency of your agents. But keep in mind that the problem with AHT is that it measures efficiency but not effectiveness. Any pressure to reduce AHT often results in lower First Call Resolution and Customer Satisfaction rates, explained below.

First Call Resolution

In an ideal world, customers would need to call the contact center only once to have their issue resolved. Unfortunately, this is not the case in reality; according to the research organization SQM Group, the average contact center has a First Call Resolution (FCR) rate of 72%, leaving more than a quarter of the calls to require a follow-up engagement. A high FCR is a sign that your agents are knowledgeable and fully empowered to help your customers.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction (CSat) is arguably the strongest indicator of a contact center team’s success. Therefore, collecting feedback from customers has become an industry standard for contact centers. By setting realistic goals for customer experience, you can ask questions that will help you understand the customers’ expectations and if your agents are delivering.

Occupancy Rate

Occupancy Rate is the percentage of time that agents take on call-related activities compared to the total logged-in time. This metric is a great way to track how efficiently your agents are managing their time. From handling calls with customers to managing support tickets and other related tasks, you can get an understanding of their workflow and how much time they spent on each task. Occupancy Rate can help you identify any hindrance in agents’ workflow so you can devise a plan to fix it.

Select the right reporting tool

Having selected the KPIs that will allow you to manage your contact center, it is time to receive the data that will enable you to take your team’s performance to the next level. CCube, our business intelligence application for enterprise contact centers delivers dynamic reporting that enables companies to gain insight into their customer interactions.

To find more about CCube click here.