The Executive Guide To Call Center Metrics

As the cost of doing business increases, call centers and help desks are frequently moving overseas. How can your center remain competitive? Is pooling the best way to slash your wait times? James Abbott concisely answers these questions as he leads you through the world of process-centered customer service. Strategic and tactical terms, how to choose metrics to measure, and the miracle of Queuing Science are covered thoroughly, using easy-to-grasp anecdotes to explain the key technical topics.

This is the only book available today that provides a very readable, step-by-step guide for managing an incoming call center. The book combines theory with practical advice and is filled with over 100 charts and graphs, several case studies and an extensive glossary and index. Readers will learn how to: achieve service level with quality in an era of more transactions, growing complexity and heightened caller expectations; understand the "how" behind best practices; boost caller satisfaction; win top management's support; and discover what separates a good call center from a great one.

Annotation With the emergence of the callcenter as a mission-critical part of the corporate customer service strategy, management of the callcenter has moved from a reactive "fire-fighting" style to a more proactive tactical style of professional management. Measurements drive behavior, and "you get what you measure and reward." The primary purpose of this book is to provide new professional callcenter managers with a methodology for "managing their callcenter by the numbers."

Examples of sigma use abound in the product manufacturing world. Screws and nuts really work together because product and process designers worked hard to make sure that the part variation, sigma, was held to a minimum. The concept of sigma's use in the service sector is harder to visualize. If we don't understand why we should use sigma, our use of the tool is slim. Not only do we have to use and understand sigma, additionally we must understand the science associated with its use. (From Chapter Two: Why Sigma?) So explains James Abbott in this guide for executives who want the benefits of Six Sigma in their call centers. In addition to complete explanations of queuing science, factoring, and segmentation, the book leads readers through the application of these methods to manage customer experience, reduce agent turnover, and lower wait times. Six Sigma's role in risk management and lost opportunity cost are explored, and there is comprehensive coverage of the traits of effective operations and their managers, decision-making for the five call center types, and the difference between responsibility and accountability in the call center.

Tips on making your call center a genuine profit center In North America, call centers are a $13 billion business, employing 4 million people. For managers in charge of a call center operation, this practical, user-friendly guide outlines how to improve results measurably, following its principles of revenue generation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. In addition, this new edition addresses many industry changes, such as the new technology that's transforming today's call center and the location-neutral call center. It also helps readers determine whether it's cost-efficient to outsource operations and looks at the changing role and requirements of agents. The ultimate call center guide, now revised and updated The authors have helped over 60 companies improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their call center operations Offers comprehensive guidance for call centers of all sizes, from 20-person operations to multinational businesses With the latest edition of Call Centers For Dummies, managers will have an improved arsenal of techniques to boost their center's bottom line.

Design a complete Voice over IP (VoIP) or traditional PBX system with Asterisk, even if you have only basic telecommunications knowledge. This bestselling guide makes it easy with a detailed roadmap that shows you how to install and configure this open source software, whether you’re upgrading your existing phone system or starting from scratch. Ideal for Linux administrators, developers, and power users, this updated fifth edition shows you how to write a basic dialplan step-by-step and brings you up to speed on the features in Asterisk 16, the latest long-term support release from Digium. You’ll quickly gain working knowledge to build a simple yet inclusive system. Integrate Asterisk with analog, VoIP, and digital telephony systems Build an interactive dialplan using best practices for more advanced features Delve into voicemail options such as storing messages in a database Connect to external services including Google Hangouts, XMPP, and calendars Incorporate Asterisk features and functions into a relational database to facilitate information sharing Learn how to use Asterisk’s security, call routing, and faxing features Monitor and control your system with the Asterisk Manager Interface (AMI)

Design a complete VoIP or analog PBX with Asterisk, even if you have no previous Asterisk experience and only basic telecommunications knowledge. This bestselling guide makes it easy, with a detailed roadmap to installing, configuring, and integrating this open source software into your existing phone system. Ideal for Linux administrators, developers, and power users, this book shows you how to write a basic dialplan step by step, and quickly brings you up to speed on the latest Asterisk features in version 1.8. Integrate Asterisk with analog, VoIP, and digital telephony systems Build a simple interactive dialplan, and dive into advanced concepts Use Asterisk’s voicemail options—including a standalone voicemail server Build a menuing system and add applications that act on caller input Incorporate a relational database with MySQL and Postgre SQL Connect to external services such as LDAP, calendars, XMPP, and Skype Use Automatic Call Distribution to build a call queuing system Learn how to use Asterisk’s security, call routing, and faxing features