call center stats

Bank Call Centers Vs. Retail Call Centers

Banking Call Centers provide better customer service than retail call centers, according to the 1999 O'Conner Call Center Quality Assurance Benchmark Report. Seventeen of the nation's largest banks and five retail businesses were evaluated for service quality excellence on the attributes of customer reception, customer rapport, needs identification, professionalism, product knowledge, cross-selling and closing. The results found that the banking call centers scored higher than the retail cell centers in six of the seven attributes measured. The largest gap occurred in cross-selling, where the banks scored 21.63% against the retail groups' scores of 14.70%.

Ovum Predicts Continued Strategic Importance Of The Call Center

Call centers will remain strategically important to business, and the call center market will continue to grow despite the "Web hype," according to independent analyst group Ovum, Inc. But Web-enabled call centers will become more widespread because they can have a demonstrable positive impact on the bottom line. The findings come in a detailed new report from Ovum entitled Next Generation Call Centers: CTI, Voice and the Web. Ovum cites two reasons for the call centers' continued importance: the fact that companies still believe they can service their customers better in real-time and that customers feel their needs are better serviced by direct interaction with an agent than with self-service media.

According to Purdue University's 1999 Call Center Benchmark Report, 78.3% of inbound calls are resolved by the first agent the caller reaches. The report also found that call center budgets have increased 18.5% from 1998 to 1999 and the average amount allocated to human resources is 56.1% of the total call center budget, down by more than 8% from the previous year.

The average salary of a customer service manager of an external call center is $53,900 a year, according to the 1999 Call Center, Telemarketing and Customer Service National Salary Guide by Tele-Management Search. The report gives 22 job description and salary ranges for corporate, service agency and other telemarketing support positions. The guide also finds that managers of outbound external centers earn an average of $56K


reading, research, and related links
	call center & help desk

		statistics, facts, and quotes
		Call Center Salaries The average salary of a customer service supervisor is $29,900 a year and the average salary of a customer service manager is $56,300 a year, according to the 2000 National Salary Guide from Telemanagement Search, a call center recruiting firm based in New York City. Telemanagement Search, www.tmjobs.com Call Center Magazine, July 2000 MANAGERS RATE HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES Call Center Network Group's 1998 Call Center Management Survey polled call center professionals using a printed and on-line Web survey. The survey ask respondents to value issues related to human resources management of a call center. Ergonomics, workforce management, quality monitoring, training and benchmarking scored the most frequently as "very valuable." Call Center Magazine, May 1999 Call Center Network Group, www.ccng.com Salaries for Support Professionals The Association of Support Professionals www.asponline.com Call Center Magazine, April 2000 FREQUENCY OF MONITORING Most agents are monitored fewer than ten times a month, according to the National Investment Company Service Association's (NICSA) 1998 Call Center Survey. The survey of 111 mutual fund management companies found that, on average, agents are monitored between five and nine times each month. The study also found that communications and product knowledge are most frequently monitored and more than half of the organizations monitor technical skills and transaction processing performance. Achieve Global, 800-456-9390 Call Center Magazine, September 1999 CALL CENTER = PROFIT CENTER Approximately 63% of companies run their customer service and support operations as profit centers, according to high-tech management consulting firm Pittigli Robin Todd & McGrath's (PRTM) 1998 Customer Service and Support Benchmarking Study. PRTM surveyed 119 companies within four industries: computer and electronic equipment; software; telecommunications and networking equipment; and telecommunications services. The study shows that companies with profit-driven support centers have up to five times higher gross margins for their overall centers than companies that offer standard service. They also have up to three times higher gross margins on products and significantly lower costs. PRTM, 781-647-2800, www.PTRM.com Call Center Magazine, August 1999 Bank Call Centers Vs. Retail Call Centers Banking Call Centers provide better customer service than retail call centers, according to the 1999 O'Conner Call Center Quality Assurance Benchmark Report. Seventeen of the nation's largest banks and five retail businesses were evaluated for service quality excellence on the attributes of customer reception, customer rapport, needs identification, professionalism, product knowledge, cross-selling and closing. The results found that the banking call centers scored higher than the retail cell centers in six of the seven attributes measured. The largest gap occurred in cross-selling, where the banks scored 21.63% against the retail groups' scores of 14.70%. O'Conner & Associates www.oconassoc.com Call Center Magazine, July 1999 Ovum Predicts Continued Strategic Importance Of The Call Center Call centers will remain strategically important to business, and the call center market will continue to grow despite the "Web hype," according to independent analyst group Ovum, Inc. But Web-enabled call centers will become more widespread because they can have a demonstrable positive impact on the bottom line. The findings come in a detailed new report from Ovum entitled Next Generation Call Centers: CTI, Voice and the Web. Ovum cites two reasons for the call centers' continued importance: the fact that companies still believe they can service their customers better in real-time and that customers feel their needs are better serviced by direct interaction with an agent than with self-service media. Call Center Solutions June 1999 1999 Benchmarks According to Purdue University's 1999 Call Center Benchmark Report, 78.3% of inbound calls are resolved by the first agent the caller reaches. The report also found that call center budgets have increased 18.5% from 1998 to 1999 and the average amount allocated to human resources is 56.1% of the total call center budget, down by more than 8% from the previous year. Purdue University, 765-494-9933 Call Center Magazine, June 1999 Call Center Salaries The average salary of a customer service manager of an external call center is $53,900 a year, according to the 1999 Call Center, Telemarketing and Customer Service National Salary Guide by Tele-Management Search. The report gives 22 job description and salary ranges for corporate, service agency and other telemarketing support positions. The guide also finds that managers of outbound external centers earn an average of $56K TeleManagement Search, 212-684-3500 Call Center Magazine, June 1999 DON’T JUST THROW MONEY AT THE PROBLEM Last fall, Boston-based WFD Consulting was called in by a large financial service firm to reduce turnover in two of the company's major call centers. Managers thought the problem was related to money, and that employees were going down the street for jobs that paid 50 cents more an hour. But individual interviews with employees revealed money wasn't the issue -- job stress was. Employees complained of such things as inadequate training, frequent schedule changes, poor new-hire screening, lack of communication, a misguided reward system and a dingy work environment. But they didn't just complain; they also offered workable solutions. Why? "Because we asked," explains Christensen, who left Merck a year ago to work with WFD. By assigning employees to teams devoted to solving these problems, the company was able to identify and implement solutions to the most pressing issues within just three months. The first quarter after changes were implemented, turnover had slowed from 45 percent to 32 percent, and it continues to drop. Shari Caudron, Contributing Editor Workforce, September 1998
		conferences, expos, meetings organizations literature miscellaneous