How 80/20 framework does work wonders for outsourced call centers?

Many industry experts will agree to the fact that call center industry has undergone dramatic changes in the last several years. The industry has indeed gone under the knife and has witnessed dramatic changes, primarily in the methods through which call center executives interact with the prospective and current customer base. The younger generation is oblivion to the times when the only way to contact a business conglomerate was by personally visiting the organization in person or calling the company via a landline phone.

It is important to note that despite all the changes in the system, many of the significant aspects have remained the same. The process is more or less the same, people make calls, wait in queues, call is connected to a professional customer service executive and the queries are resolved in majority of the cases. Majority of the metrics pertaining to call center service that were relevant some time back are just as relevant in today’s scenario. Despite the usual metrics to evaluate performance, the quality of service has evolved dramatically. This is one of the major reasons as to why business entities go ahead with the services of outsourced call centers so that they can fulfill their dream of becoming a service leader.

Service level quality: Meaning

The quality of service levels can be elaborated as a pair of numbers, it refers to the percentage value and a value of time that is evaluated in minutes. To quote an example, an “80/20” level of service actually means that 80% of the calls that reach the call center via an inbound channel are answered within a range of 20 seconds. It also needs to be noted that that this has emerged as a benchmark or evaluation mechanism for the industry as a whole.

How “80/20”became the mechanism for evaluation?

Surprisingly, no single individual has been able to derive a decisive evidence behind the emergence of 80/20 rule. But, it also needs to be understood that that the benchmark has been ingrained in the functioning of industry as a whole. But, according to a study conducted by a leading institute some years ago, customers who made the effort to call up a call center used to hang up the call after waiting in the queue for merely 20 seconds.

Drawbacks of pre-determined service levels

In a scenario where a business entity decides to go ahead with professional services of proficient outsourced call centers, and a call center entity tends to pick up a service level and then tries to achieve as per the pre-defined benchmarks. It is important to note that a business entity runs the risk of their resources being allocated in a wrong manner, resulting in repercussions never experienced before.

Despite the fact that call center entity decides to pick up a level of service after due consideration and in-depth analysis, there is another drawback that needs to be taken care of. The very premise of customer service yardstick and much debated plan that usually hides behind a variance that can be harmful. For example, if an executive meets 80/20 framework during the entire regime, the management would be rest assured that 80% of the calls are actually getting responded in below 20 seconds. But, the only drawback would be that the management would fail to establish exactly how bad the rest of 20% actually were.

It is imperative to understand the variability aspect as well. Another drawback that might emerge over a period of time is that people with varied skill sets operate at the same time in outsourced call centers. It is a recommended practice to measure different group of people with different barometers. The only bad part is that the management of an organization is that it leaves the management with a lot of numbers to make use of. The disadvantage involved is that number crunching plays a role in dividing the personnel into separate groups with varied skill-set.