• the overall strategic thrust of the organisation [operational efficiency, product and services leadership, customer intimacy]
• the direction of the contact [incoming or outgoing, response or telemarketing, both]
• the communication channels in play [telephone, email, web, fax, letter]
• the nature of the work conducted [routine, mundane, repetitive or challenging, requiring the application of higher level decision-making, problem-solving, communicating and other competencies]

However, in general terms, there is normally a 4-runged metric ladder to climb [with overlapping, not necessarily exclusive rungs]:

FIRST RUNG
Econometric productivity/ efficiency measures are sold to organisations as panaceas by technology and system vendors - and they have more to do with performance of the vendor's product than excellent customer service, for example :

• number of times phone rings before it is answered etc. etc.
• number of waiting or queued customers
• number of completed calls per time period
• random quality monitoring [and subjective judgement] of service agent calls

Investors in People UK, after gathering the views of over 1500 employers and 1200 employees, report [People and Productivity. October 2001] that “almost ¼ of respondents [24%] believed productivity to be best defined by customer satisfaction, rather than more econometric measures such as output [10%], output per head [16%], output per head per hour [13%]”

Typical outcome or result of using these measures: the contact centre is of average or below capability, handling routine, low-level tasks. Management style tends to be of the command and control variety. Productivity, morale and turnover are ongoing problems. The level of customer satisfaction is low.

Clearly there is a need to go beyond, to institute complementary or replacement measures that address actionable customer satisfaction issues.

SECOND RUNG
Measures have become more outcomes -based and are related to contact centre effectiveness. These measures have a bearing on better service experiences and positive customer perceptions. They are measures such as:

• average length of waiting time [or perceived length of wait by customers]
• number of calls resolved on a right first time basis [or ROFC: Resolution on First Contact]
• staff turnover [on the basis that contented, competent and experienced staff are in the best position to add customer interaction value]

Refer to the article “First Call Resolution” by Niels Kjellerup [www.callcentres.com.au]

Typical outcome: Clearly, because customers are not kept waiting and because their questions, orders, instructions, requests are handled efficiently [right first time every time], it can be assumed that customer satisfaction levels will be raised above industry average [where the majority of players are still on the first rung]. The contact centre is now positioned to handle more complex calls, introduce a coaching culture, raise competency levels and strive for service excellence.

THIRD RUNG
This is where we really get to what counts [excuse the pun]. The article “A Short Guide To Service Measurement” [see this web site: Literature: Articles: Customer Service] appeared before its time, but the principles then outlined are now beginning to be adopted by a few pre-eminent service providers - the three value-metric elements being:

• business process or task performance from the customer's perspective
• strength of the human interaction [i.e. a culture relevant weighting of ‘servqual’ factors such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy]
• the lifetime value of the customer to the organisation [so that service excellence is directed primarily at most valued, chosen customers - although all customers are served at levels above a minimum threshold].

The process element can usually be “lifted” off well-constructed call-logging systems, the lifetime value via data mining and solid guesstimates, and interaction-satisfaction via a variety of external and internal surveys and listening posts.

Typical outcome: The contact centre understands and responds to customer needs, expectations and perceptions of experiences, and is bent on learning, improving competence levels and continual improvement. More complex calls are handled by empowered service providers and the level of human interaction is excellent. Highly valued customers are identified and nurtured. There is greater focus.

FOURTH RUNG
The contact centre metrics are further developed in order to embrace inter-connected shareholder, customer, employee and internal business efficiency values. These metrics dovetail with and are integrated with those used in the rest of the organisation, and properly selected and designed serve to prevent common pitfalls, such as the over reliance on technology and systems-driven “customer relationship management”. We did a fascinating intervention at this level for a multi-national petroleum company recently. The company is now employing fewer but far more focused measures, slickly co-ordinates people, process and technology and there is much better integration and teamwork between the contact centre and other departments [HR, Marketing, Distribution, Finance etc.] They feel that they are on top of their customer care aspirations. Customers intend to remain with the company, are purchasing more frequently and are exhibiting greater loyalty – typical outcomes at this level of sophistication.

OVERALL PERSPECTIVE
Strategic and operational measures are related to culture, vision and values and thus cannot simply be decided upon and implemented [i.e. imposed] in isolation - especially if they are linked to the reward and recognition mechanisms for teams and individuals. Chosen measures tend to reflect the level of sophistication reached by a contact centre. Knowing the progression [ladders to be climbed] can be helpful as a benchmark of the “pb” type: our personal best. When examining, designing and implementing performance measures, a facilitated approach involving the key stakeholders is always best. Centre-ing Services [centserv@iafrica.com] specialises in assisting organisations to develop the right service measures for their particular stage of development, service aspirations, and chosen customer value propositions – and to introduce them successfully, with due cognisance of the emotional aspects that need to be properly addressed.