What Is Call Center Reporting? A Guide for Small Businesses
Corey McCraw is a staff writer covering VoIP and Unified Communications. Corey has over a decade of experience in marketing, tech writing, and corporate communications and has even penned content for the former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.
With more than five years of content writing experience, Sam covers office technology topics at Fit Small Business, including business phone systems and unified communications as a service (UCaaS).
This article is part of a larger series on VoIP.
Call center reporting is the process of presenting key metrics that measure the performance of individual agents and the efficiency of call center processes. It contributes to a business’ overall success, identifying areas for improvement, specifically regarding customer service. To generate better insights from call center reports and reap their benefits, the key is to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs), industry benchmarks, and business goals.
How Call Center Reporting Works
Call center reporting works by compiling and organizing raw data from the call center and presenting it as insightful, understandable KPIs. The data is sourced from different call center systems, namely interactive voice response (IVR) solutions, automatic call distributors (ACD), and workforce management systems (WFMs), which are common features found in business phone solutions.
The KPIs included in call center reports are those relevant to business goals, customer satisfaction, and process efficiency. Automatically compiled by the call center software, they are organized in charts, graphs, and other visual elements and displayed in a dashboard. With an overview of all the KPIs, you’ll easily draw insights that will inform your next action steps for better customer service. Here are some typical call center reporting metrics:
- First Contact Resolution (FCR): Measures the agent’s ability to address a customer’s problem during the first call
- Schedule Adherence: Shows if individual agents follow their assigned schedules or not
- Average Call Duration: Describes the amount of time a person spends on a call
- Average Wait Time: Reveals the total amount of time customers spend in caller queues before an agent answers it
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures the likelihood of a customer recommending services to someone else
RingCentral Contact Center’s dashboard lets managers and supervisors see key performance metrics. (Source: RingCentral)
Call Center Reporting vs Analytics
Because call center reporting is closely associated with analytics, businesses are often confused between the two. Both are essential in conducting performance reviews, but they are distinct in their functions.
As mentioned earlier, call center reporting turns raw data into useful information for easy metrics tracking. On the other hand, call center analytics involves identifying trends and patterns in the data presented, which will be used to make changes in delivering customer service. With that, reporting comes before analytics.
Here’s a summary of differences between reporting and analytics:
Call Center Reporting | Call Center Analytics | |
|---|---|---|
Purpose | Reveals what's happening in your contact center | Asks why something's happening in your contact center |
Activities | Raw data is compiled and organized | Organized data is examined, compared with other metrics, and interpreted |
Output | Graphical representation of data (charts, graphs, tables) | Insights and recommendations for action |
Benefits of Call Center Reporting
Call center reporting improves customer service because it provides information about customer sentiment and demands. For instance, when you look at the NPS and Average Wait Time, you’ll instantly determine if customers are satisfied with the service they received from your team or not. This information makes it easier to develop steps for improvement.
Aside from better customer service, your business benefits from call center reporting in these aspects:
Several key performance indicators (KPIs) in call center reports evaluate how your team is doing in terms of handling customer inquiries. As mentioned, first contact resolution (FCR) gives you an idea of how competent your agents are in addressing customer concerns without the necessary follow-up.
The industry benchmark average for this metric is 70%. An FCR lower than this should compel you to include training recommendations for agents. It will also make you look at the bigger picture of the customer journey, checking if they have used other communication channels to resolve problems. Tracking the FCR helps you make appropriate changes to customer service delivery. Nextiva, one of the top call center platforms, features voice analytics, helping optimize FCR tracking.
While improved agent performance ultimately benefits customers, it’s valuable to the actual agents as well. Employees who perform well are happy and motivated. In the long run, job satisfaction contributes to lower turnover rates.
Nextiva provides important insights on the call center performance, including the number of daily calls, cases by topics, and daily cases by status. (Source: Nextiva)
Since monitoring KPIs leads to better agent performance, it translates to decreased costs as well. Competent, well-trained team members are productive during calls, which reduces the need to add more agents to accommodate demand. At the same time, satisfied agents are more likely to stay in the organization. It’s no secret that replacing an employee costs far more than retaining one.
The money-saving benefits you get from call center reporting also come from monitoring cost-related KPIs, including the cost per call and average handle time. By monitoring these metrics and looking at industry standards, you’ll be able to allocate resources better.
Call center reporting provides insights into the efficiency of your existing systems. The call abandon rate, for instance, tells you if your ACD and IVR are able to accommodate customer demands.
A rate that is too high (above 8%, according to industry standards) points to a confusing IVR flow that makes customers hang up before speaking to an agent. It also indicates call queueing problems, with callers waiting on hold for long periods of time. With a call center report giving you visibility into this metric, you’ll be able to make changes to your IVR and ACD systems.
Types of Call Center Reports
Call center reports are classified into these categories: agent-related, call-center-related, and customer-related. Let’s discuss them one by one:
Agent-related Reports
These real-time or historical reports consist of data evaluating the individual performance of agents. Here are some common agent-related call center reports:
- Agent Status Report: Displays the name of each individual agent, their respective user IDs, and ACD state (available, busy, break, unavailable or idle, or signed out). Also known as an agent availability report, it helps in measuring schedule adherence. On 8×8’s call center platform, it’s easy to see the status codes for each agent, whether they are on case management, training, or working on a special project.
8×8 Contact Center’s monitoring and analytics dashboard offers an overview of agent status. (Source: 8×8)
- Agent Call Report: This outlines all the information about the number of calls handled by agents. It’s usually presented by call type. Along with the activity report, this helps you measure agent utilization rate.
- Agent Call by Skill Report: This shows the number of calls handled by agents at different skill levels. Use this report to optimize skills-based routing systems.
- Agent Call Detail Report: This lists important details of every inbound and outbound call, including the time the call was placed, the start and end times of a call, and the duration of the call. This also gives a better perspective when measuring agent utilization rate.
The call summary tab on Freshdesk Contact Center lets users see call details for each agent, including duration, handle time, and wait time. (Source: Freshdesk)
- Agent Activity Report: This summarizes the number of calls handled, total handle time for the calls, average handling time, and shortest and longest handling time.
- Agent Summary Report: This breaks down agents’ time and corresponding activities. With this, you know how long they are online, on queue, and off the queue. Similar to an agent status report, this helps evaluate schedule adherence.
- Agent Disposition Code Report: This summarizes all the disposition codes or call tags agents used for calls. Call tags are labels providing a general description of a call. For example, “interested,” “appointment scheduled,” and “abandoned in a queue.” This report is used for monitoring call outcomes and improving call campaign lists.
Call Center-related Reports
These reports include data that measure the performance of your contact center as a whole. Here are the most common examples:
- Call Direction Report: This shows the number of inbound and outbound calls across a channel over a certain period. Analyzing other reports will give you a better idea of the demand for your contact center and better forecast staffing requirements.
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) Report: This evaluates how well a contact center accommodates customers. This report takes into account the number of calls answered within a specific period. Managers use this information to identify SLA breaches and adjust workflows accordingly.
The service level metrics report by Freshdesk Contact Center makes it easy for managers to see how many calls were within the service level and breached the service level. (Source: Freshdesk)
- Call Center Health Report: This outlines the call center’s overall performance within a specified period. Managers see the total number of incoming calls, outgoing calls, missed calls, missed transfers, total transfers, and abandoned calls.
Freshdesk’s health report lets managers have an overview of important call center metrics. (Source: Freshdesk)
Customer-related Reports
These reports are directly related to customer experience. Similar to agent-related reports, these are real-time or historical reports. Here are some of the common customer-related reports:
- First Contact Resolution Report: This shows the number of calls that were resolved during the first interaction with an agent. High FCR rates are closely connected to better customer experience.
- Average Wait Time Report: This report measures the average time a call stays in the queue before a call center representative answers it. Longer wait time translates to poor customer experience. Average wait time is also known as the average speed of an answer.
- Call Abandon Report: This report displays the percentage of abandoned inbound calls and the details of the time before customers hang up. A high percentage of abandoned calls points to frustration among customers.
Freshdesk’s curated reports include the abandoned call metrics, categorizing calls by queue, by number, and by reason. (Source: Freshdesk)
Call Center Reporting Best Practices
While call center platforms make it easy to access essential data, the key to making the most of the reports is to follow best practices. Here are some recommended action points when evaluating what’s happening with your contact center:
There’s an overwhelming number of metrics included in call center reports, encompassing different performance areas. Instead of looking at all the graphs and charts, focus on what exactly you need to monitor based on your team’s goals.
For example, if you’re evaluating customer satisfaction, the metrics you should consider first are contact resolution, net promoter score, and call abandon rate. Call center platforms like Freshdesk offer customization capabilities, helping managers highlight metrics that matter the most to a specific department or team.
Your business goals dictate the most important metrics in your call center operations. When looking at reports, look at the figures and see how they fare in relation to the objectives you have set for a specific period. As you use the reporting tools to monitor progress, recalibrate your customer service strategies.
It’s difficult to make sense of the figures on your call center platform if you don’t have a point of reference. Thus, it’s important to know the industry standards for different metrics. Here are some generally accepted call center metrics you should know:
Call Center Metric | Industry Benchmarks |
|---|---|
FCR rate | 70% to 75% (meaning 30% of customers have to call back about the same problem they inquired about) |
80% | |
Call abandon rate | 5% to 8% |
Service level | 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds |
6 minutes and 3 seconds | |
28 seconds |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is a call center dashboard?
A call center dashboard is a call center reporting tool that displays different call center metrics in graphs, charts, and tables. With the data laid out in visuals, it’s easy for managers to look at certain metrics and evaluate progress and success.
Do call center platforms have report templates?
Yes. Most call center platforms provide report templates. Managers choose among canned template options, place input parameters, and then create or schedule the report. The parameters include performance metrics such as call completion, service level, and abandoned calls.
In the RingCentral Contact Center, it’s possible to create custom report templates where you choose specific metrics, as well as the order in which they will appear on the report. To learn more about this platform, check this RingCentral Contact Center review.
What are the types of analytics in call center platforms?
These are the common approaches to analyzing call center data:
- Speech analytics: Uses algorithms to analyze sentiment and evaluate customer emotion and satisfaction.
- Performance analytics: Displays agent-related reports to allow managers to identify training gaps and opportunities, as well as process inefficiencies.
- Post-call surveys: Lets businesses understand how customers felt about their most recent contact with you.
- Predictive analysis: Uses historical data to forecast trends on staffing needs.
Bottom Line
Call center reporting is essential to customer service success, as it improves overall efficiency, identifies areas of improvement for agents, and optimizes costs. As you make improvements to customer service delivery, dedicate time to looking at important data to draw strategic plans. Consider these top business phone systems that offer robust call center reporting tools.
