In my previous article, I discussed how every business can benefit from call centre technology. Following the points I made there, I’d like to highlight the importance of in-depth analytics for your integrated telephony solution.
Rather than just serving as a business communication and customer service platform, your cloud-hosted call centre solution can also be a multifaceted business tool that helps you manage your staff performance, monitor your costs, see how many queries were resolved or unresolved and track behaviour, both from your call centre agents and your customers.
What are call centre analytics?
Before I expand on what call centre analytics can do, let’s broadly define exactly what these tools are. In simple terms, call centre analytics is a selection of productivity and management tools you can use to optimise your company’s performance at various levels.
As a manager or business owner, there is only so much you can do at once. Call centre analytics can help take the pressure off by independently measuring performance, identifying areas in need of improvement, managing complaints and, ultimately, giving you a holistic view of your call centre dynamics, with insights you can act on strategically.
The why of analytics
According to a 2020 McKinsey report, many organisations have successfully used call centre analytics to reduce average call handling time by around 40% and improved self-service containment rates by up to 20%.
Contact-centre.com reported that customer experience (CX) analytics strengthens overall customer experience by (among other things) improving IVRs (interactive voice responses), self-service and call routing.
Visual Capitalist reported that the sheer amount of data we have to monitor every day can be overwhelming, or simply impossible to monitor manually. Effective analytics systems use AI and dedicated software to collect, collate and analyse vast amounts of data, so you have access to all the information you need without having to pore over infinite spreadsheets or recordings.
What analytics do you need?
Outcome-based reporting analyses whether queries were resolved or sales were made. It can also help you identify the exact reasons why the queries were – or weren’t – handled successfully. With that information at hand, you have the scope to re-evaluate your operational or sales strategies, to address any service or skills gaps that are causing disconnects.
If you need more detailed feedback from your customers about their call centre experience, a quick post-call survey will give you a clearer understanding of how callers felt following their interaction with your agents.
Even if your people work remotely, you can still keep an eye on their performance using time and attendance tracking, which can help you manage scheduling and stay on top of overtime costs.
You can also get detailed statistics on first-call resolution metrics, access sales per agent reports and call dispositioning.
Scheduled reporting sends out automated data based on your preferences. For example, if you need to see how many calls went unanswered daily, weekly or monthly, you might want to schedule a daily, weekly or monthly report, which will be automatically generated at your interval of choice and sent to you.
Metrics matter
In terms of the analytical tools available from your telecoms provider, what I’ve touched on here is the tip of the iceberg. In the bigger picture, the one constant in a data-driven world is that digital analytics can be the secret weapon that gives you an advantage over the competition.
As Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of research at Gartner said, “Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine.” We should be getting into the driver’s seat before the opportunity passes us by.
About Euphoria Telecom
Euphoria Telecom is a leading provider of an innovative, cloud-based, cost-effective business telephone service that offers unprecedented control and automated operational efficiency. The solution offers any business a truly simple approach to managing communications across an increasingly decentralised and mobile workforce. Seamless integration and automation make it simple for businesses to access insights, reports and efficacy of communications.
The company has earned a reputation as a customer-centric business, decreasing customer telephony costs by up to 50% and maintaining excellent customer service. Established in 2010, the company now proudly hosts over 4 000 business customers in South Africa and continues to grow rapidly. The company was founded by George Golding, Conrad de Wet and Rafal Janik, and is managed by John Woollam and Nic Laschinger.
Contact Euphoria on 087 094 5999 or find out more on euphoria.co.za.
- The author, Nic Laschinger, is chief technology officer at Euphoria Telecom
- This promoted content was paid for by the party concerned