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Abandonment Rate (AR)
The percentage of callers who hang up before their call is answered by a
live agent or before they make a selection in an IVR unit. The Abandonment
Rate can be calculated by dividing the number of calls abandoned (NCA) by
the number of calls offered (NCO).
Agent
A call center staff member handling outgoing or incoming calls. There are a
variety of names that a call center agent may be known as such as CSR,
operator, or communicator, to name just a few.
Answering Service
Call center service focused on taking calls on behalf of a person or
business during break periods or after hours.
Attrition Rate (ATTR)
The rate canceled sales agents make which get cancelled. The Attrition Rate
is calculated by dividing the number of cancels by the number of sales.
Auto Answer Greeting
Pre-recorded customized greeting played at the beginning of a call answered
by the system. This greeting can be created by a call center staff member,
or directly by the call center client, and played to the caller before the
call is routed to an agent.
Automated Call Distributor (ACD)
Computer that coordinates inbound calls evenly between a set of agents.
Incoming calls are sent directly to the queue for the first available agent
to handle in the order it was received.
Automatic Number Identification (ANI)
Call centers use ANI to keep track of phone numbers of people calling into
the call center. This is useful for people who do crank calling or harass
the call center staff.
Average Delay to Abandon (ADA)
The amount of time the average caller who abandoned the call waited before
abandoning.
Average Handle Time (AHT)
Total time required to handle a single call, on average. In an inbound call
center, includes AWT, ATT, and the amount of Outbound Time spent on the
incoming call. An accurate calculation is: (TTT + TWT + TOT) / NCH = AHT
Average Out Time (AOT)
In inbound call centers, the average amount of time spent on each outbound
call. This can be calculated by dividing the TOT by NOC.
Average Speed of Answer (ASA)
The time the average caller had to hold before having an agent
answer.Callers who are answered immediately are factored into the
calculation with a 0 ASA.
Average Talk Time (ATT)
Average amount of time spent talking to customers for each call. This can be
tracked in both Inbound / Outbound campaigns. It can be calculated by
dividing TTT by NCH.
Average Work Time (AWT)
Average time spent working on call related issues. While wrapping up the
call and letting the customer go, the agent is still unavailable for calls
while finishing up with the prior contact. It is calculated by dividing TWT
by NCH.
Calls / Contacts Per Hour (CPH)
An easy way to measure productivity in the call center. It is calculated by
dividing the NCH by phone time usage of an agents shift.
Cancellation (CANC)
Canceling of a sale which is used when calculating the attrition rate.
Conversion Rate (CONV)
The percent of contact calls made that become verified sales. You can
achieve this rate by dividing the number of sales into the number of
contacts.
Dialer
Outbound call centers use this computer telephone technology to dial numbers
automatically. It knows to hang up if connecting with voicemail, busy lines,
no answers, answering machines and telephone company messages of dead lines.
The dialer strives to match phone agents with customers as soon as the
customers answer their line.
Direct Response
This is the process of measuring results of direct media. Types of calls
that fall under the direct response include reservation bookings, lead
capture, surveys, coupon redemption, catalog order
entry, dealer locate, fundraising and donation lines, information and
referral, mail order fulfillment, market research, merchant processing, and
more.
Dispatch
Dispatch calls are simply the calls that require a call center agent to take
a message directly from the caller and relay the information to the person
who the message was intended for.
Emergency Response
Emergency Response calls generally refer to calls requiring specific and
immediate handling by the call center agent. The caller supplies the reason
of their call and the call center agent escalates the
information to the appropriate person, as supplied by the client, to relay
the information to.
Exception Code
Code for tracking the incidences of various exceptions. The exception code
for being in training may be TRNG. Meetings may have the code AtMeeting or
MEET. The following codes defined are only sample exception code in which
many call centers have there own in-house code
systems.
Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
The number of full time employees needed to perform a certain amount of
work. If the project workload is more than the needed full time staff, part
time employees can handle the remaining workload.
Headcount
It is total number of people that are employed in the call center? Not only
the FTEs, but all employed individuals.
Help Desk
Help Desk calls coming in to a call center are typically referring to calls
for product usage and support or problems.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR / VRU)
This is also known as VRU or Voice Response Unit. An automated service used
to provide information to callers on a self-serve basis through the use of
touch-tone phone systems. The goal of IVR implementation is to offload call
volumes of the phone agents in the call center wherever possible.
Loading Factor
This is also known as "shrinkage." They are unavoidable exceptions or
planned use of time in addition to the hours spent handling calls. In the
long term planning, forecasting, and budgeting process, we may have to take
into account all of the following factors like coaching, meetings, paid
breaks, scheduling, sickness, training, vacation and more. These hours
should be added to the base requirement before arriving at a loaded total
requirement.
Loaded Staff Required
The number of agents needed to handle the workload once all loading factors
are taken into account.
Manned Over Paid (M/P)
A useful ratio for any call center, "M over P" is the relationship between
hours logged into the phone system to payroll hours. Can be based on your
phone staff only or can include payroll hours for all staff involved in the
operation of the call center.
Number of Calls Abandoned (NCA)
This is also known simply as Abandons. The number of callers who hang up
before their call is answered by an agent or before they make a selection in
an IVR. This is calculated by subtracting NCH from NCO.
Abandonment Rate (AR)
The percentage of callers who hang up before their call is answered by a
live agent or before they make a selection in an IVR unit. The Abandonment
Rate can be calculated by dividing the number of calls abandoned (NCA) by
the number of calls offered (NCO).
Agent
A call center staff member handling outgoing or incoming calls. There are a
variety of names that a call center agent may be known as such as CSR,
operator, or communicator, to name just a few.
Answering Service
Call center service focused on taking calls on behalf of a person or
business during break periods or after hours.
Attrition Rate (ATTR)
The rate canceled sales agents make which get cancelled. The Attrition Rate
is calculated by dividing the number of cancels by the number of sales.
Auto Answer Greeting
Pre-recorded customized greeting played at the beginning of a call answered
by the system. This greeting can be created by a call center staff member,
or directly by the call center client, and played to the caller before the
call is routed to an agent.
Automated Call Distributor (ACD)
Computer that coordinates inbound calls evenly between a set of agents.
Incoming calls are sent directly to the queue for the first available agent
to handle in the order it was received.
Automatic Number Identification (ANI)
Call centers use ANI to keep track of phone numbers of people calling into
the call center. This is useful for people who do crank calling or harass
the call center staff.
Average Delay to Abandon (ADA)
The amount of time the average caller who abandoned the call waited before
abandoning.
Average Handle Time (AHT)
Total time required to handle a single call, on average. In an inbound call
center, includes AWT, ATT, and the amount of Outbound Time spent on the
incoming call. An accurate calculation is: (TTT + TWT + TOT) / NCH = AHT
Average Out Time (AOT)
In inbound call centers, the average amount of time spent on each outbound
call. This can be calculated by dividing the TOT by NOC.
Average Speed of Answer (ASA)
The time the average caller had to hold before having an agent answer.
Callers who are answered immediately are factored into the calculation with
a 0 ASA.
Average Talk Time (ATT)
Average amount of time spent talking to customers for each call. This can be
tracked in both Inbound / Outbound campaigns. It can be calculated by
dividing TTT by NCH.
Average Work Time (AWT)
Average time spent working on call related issues. While wrapping up the
call and letting the customer go, the agent is still unavailable for calls
while finishing up with the prior contact. It is calculated by dividing TWT
by NCH.
Calls / Contacts Per Hour (CPH)
An easy way to measure productivity in the call center. It is calculated by
dividing the NCH by phone time usage of an agents shift.
Cancellation (CANC)
Canceling of a sale which is used when calculating the attrition rate.
Conversion Rate (CONV)
The percent of contact calls made that become verified sales. You can
achieve this rate by dividing the number of sales into the number of
contacts.
Dialer
Outbound call centers use this computer telephone technology to dial numbers
automatically. It knows to hang up if connecting with voicemail, busy lines,
no answers, answering machines and telephone company messages of dead lines.
The dialer strives to match phone agents with customers as soon as the
customers answer their line.
Direct Response
This is the process of measuring results of direct media. Types of calls
that fall under the direct response include reservation bookings, lead
capture, surveys, coupon redemption, catalog order
entry, dealer locate, fundraising and donation lines, information and
referral, mail order fulfillment, market research, merchant processing, and
more.
Dispatch
Dispatch calls are simply the calls that require a call center agent to take
a message directly from the caller and relay the information to the person
who the message was intended for.
Emergency Response
Emergency Response calls generally refer to calls requiring specific and
immediate handling by the call center agent. The caller supplies the reason
of their call and the call center agent escalates the
information to the appropriate person, as supplied by the client, to relay
the information to.
Exception Code
Code for tracking the incidences of various exceptions. The exception code
for being in training may be TRNG. Meetings may have the code AtMeeting or
MEET. The following codes defined are only sample exception code in which
many call centers have there own in-house code systems.
Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
The number of full time employees needed to perform a certain amount of
work. If the project workload is more than the needed full time staff, part
time employees can handle the remaining workload.
Headcount
It is total number of people that are employed in the call center? Not only
the FTEs, but all employed individuals.
Help Desk
Help Desk calls coming in to a call center are typically referring to calls
for product usage and support or problems.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR / VRU)
This is also known as VRU or Voice Response Unit. An automated service used
to provide information to callers on a self-serve basis through the use of
touch-tone phone systems. The goal of IVR implementation is to offload call
volumes of the phone agents in the call center wherever possible.
Loading Factor
This is also known as "shrinkage." They are unavoidable exceptions or
planned use of time in addition to the hours spent handling calls. In the
long term planning, forecasting, and budgeting process, we may have to take
into account all of the following factors like coaching, meetings, paid
breaks, scheduling, sickness, training, vacation and more. These hours
should be added to the base requirement before arriving at a loaded total
requirement.
Loaded Staff Required
The number of agents needed to handle the workload once all loading factors
are taken into account.
Manned Over Paid (M/P)
A useful ratio for any call center, "M over P" is the relationship between
hours logged into the phone system to payroll hours. Can be based on your
phone staff only or can include payroll hours for all staff involved in the
operation of the call center.
Number of Calls Abandoned (NCA)
This is also known simply as Abandons. The number of callers who hang up
before their call is answered by an agent or before they make a selection in
an IVR. This is calculated by subtracting NCH from NCO.
Number of Calls Handled (NCH)
This is also known as Contacts. It is the number of calls that actually are
handled by an agent or by the IVR system. Different IVR systems will have
different definitions of "handled". On the agent
side, the call is counted if it is answered by an agent. Also it is always
less than or equal to NCO. Calculation is done by subtracting NCA from NCO.
Number of Calls Offered (NCO)
This is the number of calls that came into the inbound call center,
including calls that abandon because they are not answered in time. The
total number of calls received, whether or not they are handled by agents or
an IVR. It is always greater than or equal to NCH. It can be calculated by
adding NCA to NCH.
Number of Outbound Calls (NOC)
In an inbound call center, a count of the number of calls an agent places to
other departments, other agents, or the outside world.\ Outbound calls are
generally made while working on issues related to an incoming call like
calling a customer back to let them know an issue is resolved.
Occupancy Rate (OCC)
This is the percentage of their logged-in time that your staff is occupied
by calls or post-call work. The total time they are unavailable for another
call. The total amount of time they're not idle divided by the total time
they are logged into the telephone.
Out Call Ratio (OCR)
In an inbound call center, the rate at which outbound calls are made in
relation to the number of inbound calls handled. This is calculated by
dividing NOC by NCH.
Personal Broadcast
The client or a call center staff member records the desired message and an
automatic dialer calls all of the phone numbers in a database supplied by
the client and relays the message.
Phone Time
This is also known as the Total Sign-In Time. The total amount of time spent
signed in to the phone system.
Pre-announce
A pre-announce is a recorded informational or instructional message that is
played to people who call in on a client's account. The line is answered by
the system and the message is played before routing the call to a live call
center agent.
Queue
This is a line, A bunch of people waiting, A place for people to line up,
like in a tollbooth with a maze of cars waiting to come through. ACDs handle
queuing in inbound call centers, keeping incoming calls in order and
dispatching them to the first available phone agent.
Sales
A count of all sales made in a revenue-generating call center. It can also
be called conversions or closes. Other terms may be used in outbound call
centers where surveys are performed, and a completed survey is similar to a
completed sale.
Sales Per Hour (SPH)
It is a simple measure of productivity in a sales-oriented call center. It
can be calculated by dividing Sales by Phone Time. If an agent makes 30
sales in 5 hours, she has an SPH of 6.0.
Service Level
The percentage of calls answered within a certain time factor. There are
three service levels to be concerned about which are Target, Forecast and
Actual.
Time Accounting Code (TAC)
It is a tracking code used to categorize time spent on different activities
in the call center. Synonymous with exception codes, without the negative
reference. TACs can be classified as negative (representing time away from
the phones) or neutral (simply tracking overtime hours).
Total Delay
This is the total amount of time delayed callers had to wait to be answered.
Arrived at by multiplying the Average Speed of Answer by the Number of
Delayed Callers and is Important in calculating the telecom costs associated
with a poor service level.
Total Handle Time (THT)
The total time spent handling calls that is calculated by multiplying AHT by
NCH.
Total Out Time (TOT)
In an inbound call center, the total amount of time spent on outbound calls
which is calculated by multiplying AOT by NOC.
Total Talk Time (TTT)
The total time spent talking to clients on incoming calls (in an inbound
call center) or on outbound calls (in an outbound call center) which are
calculated by multiplying ATT by NCH.
Total Work Time (TWT)
This is also known as Post-Call Processing (PCP) or Wrap Time. It is the
total amount of time spent unavailable for new calls, working on issues
related to past calls which is calculated by multiplying AWT by NCH.
Workload
It is the amount of work to be done in a given time frame. In any
environment, there are tasks to be completed and each task will take a
certain amount of time. The total amount of time spent required to finish
all the tasks is the total project workload. Workload is used to determine
how many base staff are needed to serve the customers. This is also known as
Contacts. It is the number of calls that actually are handled by an agent or
by the IVR system. Different IVR systems will have different definitions of
"handled". On the agent side, the call is counted if it is answered by an
agent. Also it is always less than or equal to NCO. Calculation is done by
subtracting NCA from NCO.
Number of Calls Offered (NCO)
This is the number of calls that came into the inbound call center,
including calls that abandon because they are not answered in time. The
total number of calls received, whether or not they are handled by agents or
an IVR. It is always greater than or equal to NCH. It can be calculated by
adding NCA to NCH.
Number of Outbound Calls (NOC)
In an inbound call center, a count of the number of calls an agent places to
other departments, other agents, or the outside world. Outbound calls are
generally made while working on issues related to an incoming call like
calling a customer back to let them know an issue is resolved.
Occupancy Rate (OCC)
This is the percentage of their logged-in time that your staff is occupied
by calls or post-call work. The total time they are unavailable for another
call. The total amount of time they're not idle divided by the total time
they are logged into the telephone.
Out Call Ratio (OCR)
In an inbound call center, the rate at which outbound calls are made in
relation to the number of inbound calls handled. This is calculated by
dividing NOC by NCH.
Personal Broadcast
The client or a call center staff member records the desired message and an
automatic dialer calls all of the phone numbers in a database supplied by
the client and relays the message.
Phone Time
This is also known as the Total Sign-In Time. The total amount of time spent
signed in to the phone system.
Pre-announce
A pre-announce is a recorded informational or instructional message that is
played to people who call in on a client's account. The line is answered by
the system and the message is played before routing the call to a live call
center agent.
Queue
This is a line, A bunch of people waiting, A place for people to line up,
like in a tollbooth with a maze of cars waiting to come through. ACDs handle
queuing in inbound call centers, keeping incoming calls in order and
dispatching them to the first available phone agent.
Sales
A count of all sales made in a revenue-generating call center. It can also
be called conversions or closes. Other terms may be used in outbound call
centers where surveys are performed, and a completed survey is similar to a
completed sale.
Sales Per Hour (SPH)
It is a simple measure of productivity in a sales-oriented call center. It
can be calculated by dividing Sales by Phone Time. If an agent makes 30
sales in 5 hours, she has an SPH of 6.0.
Service Level
The percentage of calls answered within a certain time factor. There are
three service levels to be concerned about which are Target, Forecast and
Actual.
Time Accounting Code (TAC)
It is a tracking code used to categorize time spent on different activities
in the call center. Synonymous with exception codes, without the negative
reference. TACs can be classified as negative (representing time away from
the phones) or neutral (simply tracking overtime hours).
Total Delay
This is the total amount of time delayed callers had to wait to be answered.
Arrived at by multiplying the Average Speed of Answer by the Number of
Delayed Callers and is Important in calculating the telecom costs associated
with a poor service level.
Total Handle Time (THT)
The total time spent handling calls that is calculated by multiplying AHT by
NCH.
Total Out Time (TOT)
In an inbound call center, the total amount of time spent on outbound calls
which is calculated by multiplying AOT by NOC.
Total Talk Time (TTT)
The total time spent talking to clients on incoming calls (in an inbound
call center) or on outbound calls (in an outbound call center) which are
calculated by multiplying ATT by NCH.
Total Work Time (TWT)
This is also known as Post-Call Processing (PCP) or Wrap Time. It is the
total amount of time spent unavailable for new calls, working on issues
related to past calls which is calculated by multiplying AWT by NCH.
Workload
It is the amount of work to be done in a given time frame. In any
environment, there are tasks to be completed and each task will take a
certain amount of time. The total amount of time spent required to finish
all the tasks is the total project workload. Workload is used to determine
how many base staff are needed to serve the customers.
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