Contact Center Benchmarking

 

The concept of Benchmarking derives its name from 16th century surveying practices and has enjoyed a resurgence in the past 50 years as a means of achieving rapid improvements in business operations performance. In essence, business benchmarking involves studying the methods of performance leaders in order to adapt and implement their processes.

Benchmarking can be a useful approach to identifying new ideas and improving existing performance but it is not without its risks. Properly designed and implemented, a benchmarking project can provide useful information upon which you can base practical improvements that will succeed. Benchmarking is very effective at generating “how to” ideas; it should not be used to establish “what to do” instructions.

A successful Contact Center Benchmarking initiative involves the following six steps:

• Clearly establish the business purpose and expected outcome(s) of the project.
• Create a detailed “baseline” of the current state and identify potential areas for improvement that are related closely to the business purpose.

• Select the benchmarking approach that you will use (internal, external, functional or generic, and quantitative or qualitative).
• For each improvement opportunity you have defined, identify organizations that are known for doing those things well.
• Study, analyze and adapt.
• Implement and measure the results.

If you are considering undertaking a benchmarking study for your Contact Center, Tyche’s experienced consultants can help you avoid the pitfalls and extract maximum benefit from the experience.

Benchmarking seems like a great way to discover new and better ways to move your operation forward but you weren’t familiar with the method….. but now you know!