Call Center Performance Evaluation

What is Internal Metrics?

Internal metrics are methods introduced and applied to measure the success of inbound or outbound call centers. Usually, a call center works in a pressured atmosphere where administrators need to handle tasks, including the timely response to every call, while maintaining a high degree of customer support, and customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Internal metrics are evaluation indicators used for the assessment, comparison, and monitoring of results or output. Usually, companies use a group of metrics to create a dashboard that managers or consultants analyze daily to maintain performance reviews, perceptions, and business objectives.

Average Handle Time (AHT). AHT is the approximate length of the entire customer service transaction, from the time the customer initiates the call until the completion of the conversation.

Blocking Rate. Blockage Metric lets the staff track the number of calls that could not be addressed due to business constraints or infrastructure problems. 

Cost per Contact. The Cost per Contact KPI calculates how much each contact costs your call center, which is a vital part of the cost-benefit study at the same time.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT). Consumer Satisfaction (CSAT) is a sign of customer pleasure. CSAT is based on a brief survey that consumers fill out after a discussion.

Forecasted Calls vs. Actual Calls. It is a primary factor in deciding the actual amount of capital needed, calculated as a proportion of the difference between the number of calls predicted and the number of calls received.

Number of Calls Offered. It is the total number of calls sent to the call center, including abandoned calls or calls where the caller gets a busy signal.

What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is the process that call centers use to compare their efficiency to other leading companies in the same industry. The factors that need to be considered in benchmarking are the products, services, or procedures. 

Benchmarking is developing into a collective mechanism that lets BPO suppliers and customers set project boundaries and priorities together. It also helps ensure that everyone involved receives the best benefit from an outsourcing partnership.

Call center benchmarking evaluates the operations and metrics of one call center to those of related organizations. The point of benchmarking is to recognize internal prospects for change. Here are the two main types of benchmarking the BPO industry:

What is Quality Assurance?

Quality Assurance (QA) is any structured method to avoid mistakes and errors in services or manufactured products. Quality assurance involves logistical and procedural tasks performed in the quality chain to ensure that the specifications and expectations for a product, service, or operation are followed.

Businesses and organizations use quality assurance to guarantee that the product is designed and delivered with proper procedures. QA is vital for manufacturers and companies to avoid problems when supplying products or services to the customer. It also provides oversight of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components, manufacturing and maintenance facilities, processing and testing procedures.

Quality is an essential factor to consider in any product and service. That is why manufacturers and service providers are continually looking to improve their products or service quality. The primary purpose of a QA strategy is to establish customer trust and the reputation of the organization or company; while at the same time enhancing work processes and performance and allows the company to compete favorably with others. 

QA needs a large commitment in people and systems. Doing quality assurance can be time-consuming that may influence the arrival of products. With a few exceptions, the downside of QA is more a prerequisite for a necessary step to be taken to ship a quality product. Without quality assurance, there will be none to guarantee the legitimacy of the qualifications.

What is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)?

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the engagement of services from a third-party provider. BPO uses various technology-enabled services to hasten the delivery of services. The business activities could be back-office such as, but not limited to, payroll, accounting, human resources, or front office jobs like customer service, sales, and marketing, etc. In the case of content providers, these business activities could mean hiring writers, remote editors, or virtual assistants.

BPO speeds up processes and enhances efficiency. Companies that outsource some of their business activities use their time on core services and competencies. With this shift in focus, companies improve their current processes that may result in improved customer satisfaction. BPO helps companies divert their resources to more critical business strategies. Often, companies find it impractical to hire a full-time position in-house because of the cost associated with doing so.

When a business engages an external specialist to manage and operate some of its internal processes, it's referred to as business process outsourcing. Such ‘processes’ include customer service, accounting and finance, or sales. It is different from hiring an agency to do specific tasks, as the outsourcing provider (BPO) is more concerned with the ongoing production of labour-intensive tasks, instead of the higher-level strategy and guidance.

Now, business process outsourcing has broadened and is more akin to staff augmentation, or staff leasing.

There are many benefits to outsourcing, as well as some downsides and risks. The common benefits include:

The business process outsourcing sector is a vast industry, generating over $200bn annually, and employing many millions of people worldwide. Some examples include:

Facebook and Uber outsource many of their operational functions, including content moderation for Facebook, and customer service for Uber

A medium business with 50-500 staff might outsource the labour-intensive accounting and finance functions to a team in the Philippines.

It is common for small business owners to have a Virtual Assistant (VA) working for hem full time, remotely from the Philippines.

The type of business process outsourcing can be characterised by their specialisation, location, and size.

Business process outsourcing is in the human resources and professional services sector. However, their services extend across all industries. The majority of BPOs are generalist, in that they offer a full range of professional services, although some specialise in certain verticals (ie accounting, or animation).

Business process outsourcing typically operates form developing nations such as the Philippines, India, and Colombia. They typically have cheaper cost-of-living and bigger populations. Different locations offer different advantages.

The bigger BPOs employ more than 250,000 people. They are huge, global operations. Medium-sized BPOs range from 500-5,000 staff and offer a full range of services. The smaller BPOs might have 1-500 people.

Collectively, business process outsourcing provides any kind of staffing solution. Common functions of BPO include:

Outsource Accelerator is the most trusted source for independent information & advisory for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). We have over 4,000 articles, 200+ podcast episodes, and a comprehensive directory with 700+ BPOs… all designed to make it easier for clients to learn about, and engage with, business process outsourcing.