Modern contact centers need new metrics to succeed, according to research by the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI).
The research, presented in the Understanding Modern Contact Center Metrics report,highlights the contact center industry's suignificant changes in the past decade due to new channel offerings, shifting business priorities, and underlying technologies. As such, the need for new and effective metrics is critical for organizations to align their strategic goals with contact center KPIs to deliver improved efficiency and customer satisfaction, according to the organization's experts.
"New contact channels and the growing expectations of customers have transformed the customer management industry," said Justin Robbins, senior analyst atICMI. "It is essential that the metrics used to measure performance as well as other aspects of contact centers recognize modernization."
The research found that contact channels and customer expectations have evolved, and a new set of metrics and benchmarks are required to effectively run the modern contact center. Key findings in support of this included the following:
- 39 percent of contact center leaders recognize that they struggle with identifying and measuring performance.
- 83 percent of contact centers measure their accessibility, defined as the degree of ease a customer has in reaching them.
- 60 percent of organizations have increased their focus on contact center efficiency in the past year.
- 65 percent of contact centers measure their efficiency.
- Customer satisfaction is believed by the largest percentage of contact center leaders (37 percent) to be the best measure of agent productivity.
"We recognize that many leaders struggle with identifying and measuring performance within their contact center. We partner with enterprises to help them identify the most critical measurements they need to increase efficiency and performance that a modern contact center requires. The momentum for cloud contact center software is being driven by these needs," said Mike Burkland, president and CEO of Five9, in a statement.