Overview
If used correctly, benchmarking your contact center or broader customer experience performance can provide an excellent set of tools to both measure and monitor contact center operations. SixSigma defines Benchmarking “an improvement process in which a company measures its current methods and performance and compares against a standard (ex ISO 9001), then measuring against world class performers / best-in-class companies”. There are three types of benchmarking that are commonly used:
- Internal
- Industry
- Strategic
Internal benchmarking is used to determine where your organization is today versus benchmarks or targets that are defined internally. Internal benchmarks are useful for developing an understanding of where an organization is today versus metrics and targets tied to the organization’s customer experience goals and objectives. Internal benchmarking is particularly useful if the organization has implemented the means to continually and/or routinely monitor benchmark performance trends over time through the use of dashboards or scheduled reporting.
Industry benchmarking is used to compare the performance of an organization versus the benchmark performance averages in its industry.
Strategic benchmarking is used to compare the performance of an organization versus the industry average for companies outside its industry. For instance, a healthcare provider may want to compare its contact center performance benchmarks and/or customer experience to online retailers. This type of benchmarking can provide insights that may not have been as evident if benchmarking is limited to a single industry.
Selecting benchmarks and metrics
One of the first questions people often ask when internal benchmarking is discussed is what benchmarks should we use and what performance metrics should we target for them. Unfortunately, the answer depends on the type of benchmarking being performed, the nature of your business, the industry you’re in, what part (function) of the company is being benchmarked, and how mature your organization’s customer experience capabilities are among other factors. The good news is that there are rules of thumb as well as ample resources to get you started.
For Industry and Strategic benchmarks, the answer is a little easier. Companies like The Temkin Group (https://temkingroup.com) and Benchmark Portal (https://www.benchmarkportal.com) and [many] others provide industry benchmarks that can be used to get the ball rolling. While we do not necessarily recommend limiting yourself to “off-the-shelf” research, these do provide an excellent starting point.
Internal benchmarking requires a bit more thought but again, there are rules of thumb that will help to keep you on the right path. First and foremost, internal benchmarks should be defined based on your overall customer experience goals and objectives. Having said that, it is important to consider key benchmarks (e.g. average handle time in a contact center) as well as benchmarks that support or inform them (e.g. wrap time). Keep in mind that the relative importance and use of specific benchmarks will vary depending on where they are measured in an organization.
As an example, in an inbound contact center, average handle time (“AHT”) is generally considered a key benchmark. If handle times are highly variable this will have a direct impact on agent availability which will in turn impact service levels since scheduling algorithms use AHT to generate staffing schedules. In an outbound sales group, particularly ones that use preview or progressive dialing, AHT is still measured but is not generally considered a key benchmark.
Associated Deliverables
Specific deliverables vary by the type of benchmarking your organization would like to perform but in all cases, we will work with your team to define and document all required benchmarks, define their data sources and definitions as well as targets. Once defined, we will work with your team to populate current performance against each benchmark.
Please contact us for additional information.
How Benchmarking Benefits Your Organization
Internal benchmarking is an invaluable tool to develop an understanding of where your organization is today versus the benchmarks defined to achieve your desired customer experience and contact center performance goals. Once established, internal benchmarking provides a tool that can be used drive continuous operational improvements.
Similarly, industry benchmarking will allow your organization to see where you rank relative to industry averages while strategic benchmarking will allow your organization to gain insights into how your company compares to companies outside your industry.
Typical Benchmarking Project Duration and Resource Commitment
This varies by benchmark type but in most cases, internal benchmarking can be completed in 6-8 weeks. Resource commitments will vary based on your environment, availability of both real-time and historical reporting and numerous other factors. As a general rule of thumb, we recommend an internal resource commitment of 2.5-3.0 FTE over the course of the course of the engagement.
Please contact us for additional information.