Tips for using business intelligence to improve call centre agent productivity

How to Improve Call Centre Agent Productivity using Business Intelligence

By now we can all agree that agents are the heart and soul of a contact centre.

Improved agent performance has the ability to transform a call centre from a costly operation into a profit centre.

Growing organisations with call centre agents who are quick to respond and help customers resolve an issue play a significant role in customer retention and growth for that company moving forward.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Sometimes it’’s easier said than done.

Not surprisingly, demanding that agents put in more hours every week and take fewer breaks throughout the day often leads to unhappy employees who end up leaving the organisation.

Instead, the best answer to improving agent performance as well as helping contribute to overall business growth is to combine observed agent behaviours and processes with insights drawn from business intelligence (BI).

So, what’s the relationship between BI and improved agent efficiency?

Let’s take a closer look at a few ways that BI is known to help improve agent success.

4 Ways to use Business Intelligence to improve call centre agent productivity

1. You can focus in on what matters.

Sometimes less is more. As is the case with call centre metrics. Instead of trying to measure every type of metric possible, businesses should focus in on two to three to measure and strive to perfect.

Sure, BI provides call centre managers with endless amounts of data and insights, but that information is only as valuable as what it’s used for.

So, narrow in on a few metrics at a time to measure, and focus efforts on using that information to help call centre agents improve upon their skills within these verticals.

2. You can leverage metrics as performance incentives.

Let’s face it – most of us are competitive in nature, at least to some extent, and can appreciate a friendly challenge.

Job performance metrics can be used as a way of motivating employees or call centre agents to reach their full potential.

Monthly incentives or weekly performance check-ins where agents can see where they stand against their peers is a great way to motivate agents to answer more calls or to increase first call resolutions (FCR) rates.

BI in this case can be leveraged to tie agent performance to both quantitative and qualitative outcomes.

3. You can learn to make the best use of time and resources.

Perhaps one of the best features of BI is that it provides call centre managers with a bird’s-eye view of all internal operations.

By analysing this information, call centre executives can make more sound business decisions regarding the allocation of resources, in an effort to maximize overall productivity and output.

4. Route customers to the right agent – every time.

We’ve all been there – having an issue and calling into customer service, only to look forward to spending what feels like an entire afternoon waiting on hold.

Needless to say, it’s frustrating and detrimental to company growth.

With BI on the other hand, calls can be routed to the correct agent on the very first try who is equipped to help resolve the issue.

Aside from helping to decrease on-hold times and increase FCR rates, this leads to overall more satisfied customers.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to improving agent performance levels, the process is fairly straightforward – address internal processes and behaviours and find a way to improve what might be lacking.

Leveraging BI is one of the most efficient means of assessing your call centre as a whole, and strategically using this insight to make improvements and increase productivity.

Recommended further reading: 3 call centre games to improve performance

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