The Ascent Group, Inc.

Call Center Strategies 2010

The Ascent Group’s research conducted during early 2010 sought to better understand how companies are handling inbound customer contact. We asked companies to share their call center experiences to help us identify the practices that make or break a customer contact center. The results of this research will be published in our upcoming report, Call Center Strategies 2010.

As part of this research, we asked companies to report call center operational data so we could calculate several performance benchmarks. The following benchmark metrics were collected and calculated:

• Cost - Cost per call
• Productivity - Calls Handled per FTE (per month)
• Service - % Abandoned Calls
• Service - % Call Resolved on First Contact
• Service - % Agent Availability (time on phone or available to take calls)
• Service - Service Level Conformance
• Service - Average Speed of Answer

We identified the “best performers” for each industry-—above average companies that deliver low cost, high productivity, and high service. We calculated a “best performer” average for these high performing companies. We also calculated an industry average for each of the benchmark metrics, to demonstrate the performance of participants by industry.

We asked companies to share inbound call center operational strategies and experiences to identify the practices that lead to higher productivity, improved call quality, and increased employee retention. We also asked companies to provide plans moving forward as well as lessons learned along the way.

Analysis featured in the research includes:

• Call Center Benchmarking Comparisons by Industry
• First Call Resolution Performance
• Training Practices
• Monitoring Call Quality
• IVR Performance Summary

Call Center Strategies 2010 profiles research participants in a case study format, sharing current technologies, call center management practices, lessons learned, challenges overcome, and plans for the future. In addition, we provide detailed results and analysis from the survey itself and detail "best practices" demonstrated by our participants.

Published: March, 2010

View analysis and exhibit list from the Report

Download a Research Extract from the Report

Benchmark Your Inbound Call Center Operations