Counting the Beans: Making Sense of Service Desk Metrics

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Counting the Beans Making Sense of Service Desk
Metrics

• Robert S. Last
• Content Manager, HDI
• rlast_at_thinkhdi.com
• February 13, 2008

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Metrics Dont Have to Hurt
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What Does Support Do Anyway?

• The Four Principles of Support
• Respond (Phone, Chat, Web, Email, Walk-up,
  Walk-to)
• Resolve (Solve the problem)
• Count (Metrics measure performance
• lost saved productivity)
• Customer Service Wow!!

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Why are Metrics Painful?

• Based on Call Center Technologies
• ACD PBX
• Full of generic reports
• Badly written manuals
• Multiple audiences
• Inherited Metrics Programs
• May be outdated
• Evaluated regularly?

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Why are Metrics Painful-Part II?

• New Technologies Same Humans Same World More
  stuff to count!
• Chat
• Email
• Web
• Text Messages (Dominos Pizza)
• Mobile-Wireless Workforce w/Cell Phones!!
• High Tech-High Touch
• SLAs with Penalties

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Types of Metrics

• Response, Resolution, Satisfaction
• Service Level, Operational, Hierarchical
  Reporting, Value Justification
• Quantity, Performance, Quality, Value
• Balanced Scorecard
• Cost/Productivity, Customer Satisfaction,
  Employee Satisfaction, Organizational Maturity

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Which Metrics to Choose?

• What you want?
• What you need?
• What your boss wants?
• What your boss needs?
• What your organization wants?
• What your organization needs?
• A combination of all of the above

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Report Distribution Matrix

• Understand the value and audience of a report.
• Periodically review reports against desired
  purposes.
• Challenge a report with questionable value.

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Determining Audiences Reports
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Keep It Simple, Sam Principle

• Dont spend more than 30 minutes producing a
  metrics report
• Ask your internal
• customers what
• they need from
• you
• Map requests

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Most Common Performance Metrics

• Performance Metrics are Key Performance
  Indicators (KPIs) that drive performance
• Need to be tailored to YOUR business needs
• Frequently tied to SLAs OLAs
• Get these right everything falls into place

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Source of Performance Metrics

• ACD
• PBX
• Call tracking/problem management system
• Network monitoring system
• Email management system
• Knowledge management system

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Types of Performance Metrics

• Team performance
• Individual performance
• Relationships to each other

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Support Center Operations

• What Should be Measured?
• Response Time
• Resolution Time
• Staff Performance
• Support Center Operational Performance

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Response Time Metrics

• Percentage of Immediately Connected Calls
• Avg. Speed of Answer (ASA)
• Wait Time in Queue-Queue Announcement, Music, or
  Commercial?
• Caller Tolerances (handout)
• Hold time
• Call-back Time

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Resolution Metrics

• Resolved on First Call
• Resolved on First Contact
• Resolved in X hours
• Resolved in Y days
• Calls/Cases Re-opened
• Requests resolved electronically
• Calls/Cases Avoided due to Self-help

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First Call Resolution Rate

• New research from the University of Oklahoma
  clearly indicates a strong, positive correlation
  between a high FCRR and a positive score on a
  customer satisfaction survey!!

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Measuring Staff Performance

• Calls Taken
• Percent resolved when
• Phone-in-the Ear (PIE) time
• Schedule Adherence Occupancy Rates
• Call Monitoring Scores
• Chat Email Evaluation Scores
• Research Time
• Customer Satisfaction
• 360 Degree Team Reviews

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Measuring Electronic Support Services

• Measure pages frames accessed
• Number of visitors
• Session Length
• And/Or
• Trends Calls vs.Web or Email or Chat
• Call avoidance of certain types of calls targeted
  for E-support

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Electronic Support Services-Part II

• The idea of
• Build it and they will come
• only worked in the movie.
• What is the objective of your electronic support
  services program?
• Customer asks Why should I use it?

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Electronic Support Services-Suggested Reading

• Online Customer Care-Strategies for Call Center
  Excellence, Michael Cusack, 1998
• Beyond Customer Service-Maintaining a Consistent
  User Experience in a Multi-Channel Environment,
  Eldon Brown, 2003, HDI Focus Book

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HDI Focus Book

• Building a Web Self-service Portal Keys to
  Success, Paul Dooley,2007 HDI Focus Book

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Customer Satisfaction Metrics

• Satisfaction Rating
• Satisfaction with
• Response Time
• Resolve Time
• Status Updates
• Technical Knowledge
• Customer service skills professionalism

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Key Performance Indicator

• A measure that is used to help manage a process,
  IT service, or activity.
• Used to evaluate the progress or trend toward
  meeting the goals of the support center
• A measure of strategic importance which differs
  depending on the nature of that organization
• Focus on Results

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KPIs Come in Many Forms

• Two of the most common formats are
• Leading Indicators
• The drivers or enablers of desired results
• Monitor your progress towards the goal
• E.g., speed of answer is a leading indicator that
  influences customer satisfaction
• Lagging Indicators
• The results of change
• Slow to change and only repeated improvement will
  affect them
• E.g., customer satisfaction and stock price are
  lagging indicators of how an organization is
  performing

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Excel Spreadsheet Reporting

• Daily Reporting
• Applicable for busy operations
• Good for evaluating the deployment of staffToo
  many or too few?
• Daily reports help track historical demand
  patterns
• Lag Indicator

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Excel Reporting-Part II

• Weekly Reporting
• Generally used as an internal tool
• Typically summaries of daily reports
• Good for spotting recurring daily
  trends-Mondays are always busy
• Should have a space for a Comment space to
  record exceptions

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Excel Reporting-Part III

• Monthly Reports
• Summary reports of the KPIs most important to
  your support center your management
• Totals for Problems/Incidents by Product,
  Service, Customer, Location
• Performance KPIs

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• Metrics are indicators or approximations of a
  real-world situation that may be too complex to
  express in a small number of variables

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Trend Your Reports

• Any Support Center can have a bad day or be
  forced to react to forces beyond its control
• Dont change your world based on one bad
• Day
• Week
• 3-6 Month of results for decision-making

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What Are The Critical Success Measures?

• To our Customers
• Call load forecasting for each
• product release or upgrade
• ASA of lt90 seconds
• Surveys after each contact
• Daily review of Top 10
• problems resolution

• To our Employees
• Clearly defined career paths
• Leadership training for
• supervisors team leaders
• Comprehensive training
• Equitable pay scales

• Impact on Cost / Productivity
• Weekly review of
• incidents/calls
• Identification of lower,
• medium upper levels
• of cost/call
• KPIs established for every
• aspect of the operation

• To our Organization Maturity
• Use of industry recognized
• support
• Documented policies
• procedures
• Balanced Scorecard Program
• C-Level Support and attention

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What Do I Do With The Reports?

• Reports are useless unless they
• Answer questions
• Force questions to be asked
• Lead to a new or different types of training,
  processes, procedures, etc.

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Resources

• www.thinkhdi.com
• Members Only/Members Toolbox
• Ask the Expert
• Discussion Room/Forums
• Focus Books
• White Papers
• Books-See Attached List

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Action Plan

• Compile a Reports Catalog
• Define your audiences who gets what
• Define what they get, when they get it, and how
  they get it
• Trend analysis review quarterly or as needed
• Identify problems address

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Questions

• rlast_at_thinkhdi.com