Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

June 2021

15 Key Outbound Call Center Metrics to Track in 2021

Outbound call center managers must ensure that all operations are constantly optimized to run at maximum efficiency. However, to improve something, you need to measure it first. And you can do this by tracking outbound call center metrics and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). But with hundreds of metrics out there, which ones should you track? In this article, we’ll cover 15 essential metrics that you can track to improve agent efficiency and call center profitability.

Top 11 Call Centers Best Practices You Should Implement Today

The call center industry is highly competitive, with each company striving to keep customers satisfied. To stay ahead of the competition, you need to implement call centers best practices. These practices help you streamline your operations, increase productivity, deliver the best service and customer experience. In this article, we will cover eleven best practices you should implement in your call center today.

Tips and Tools to Create Effective Call Center Dashboards

All call centers strive to keep their customers happy and operations profitable. And they do this by tracking relevant call center data like metrics and KPIs (key performance indicator). Call center dashboards are visual reporting tools that use powerful analytics features to help you monitor these key metrics. They help you gain actionable insights to make the right decisions.

How to Perform Call Center Benchmarking (Step-by-Step Guide)

If you want to know how your call center is really performing compared to your competitors, call center benchmarking can help. Benchmarking involves measuring your call center against global standards to analyze its performance. You’ll be able to identify what areas you need to improve on and take the required steps to boost performance. In this article, we’ll explain what call center benchmarking is and provide a step-by-step guide for it.

What is Call Center Stress and How to Manage it (2021 Guide)

Call center work can be demanding, especially for a customer service agent. They have to handle several calls, resolve customer issues, meet targets, and more — while ensuring high customer satisfaction levels. This can create stressful situations, which negatively impact agent productivity. Fortunately, there are several effective ways to deal with call center stress. In this article, we’ll cover what call center stress is and six common stressors.

15 Important Inbound Call Center Metrics You Should Track Today

An inbound call center acts as the link between the customer and the company by handling incoming live calls for customer service. That’s why it’s necessary to ensure that your call center agents perform well on all calls. A good way to do this is to measure their performance regularly using certain inbound call center metrics. In this article, we’ll discuss fifteen inbound metrics that can give you insights into your call center’s performance.

Call Center in the USA: Service Providers, Types, Pros, Cons

Whether you’re a large business or a startup, working with a call center in USA can help improve your customer service. Sure, it may not be as cheap as other foreign locations like India or the Philippines. But from strict data security measures to better communication, call centers in the USA offer several benefits to businesses. In this article, we’ll highlight three top call center providers in the USA.

How to Run Effective Call Center Campaigns (Types, Pros)

While handling numerous calls and improving customer service continuously sounds like a good call center strategy, it lacks a definitive goal. That’s why you need call center campaigns that help you conduct focused activities based on defined milestones. In this article, we’ll cover what call center campaigns are, their two types, and their key benefits. We’ll also go over seven effective tips to help you run a campaign with ease.

The 2021 Guide to Omnichannel Contact Centers

Today customers value convenience. They want to interact with companies using their preferred channels, such as social media, phone calls, email, or live chat. And that’s where an omnichannel contact center comes into the picture. An omnichannel contact center can integrate multiple communication channels into a single platform for efficient customer service. With features like quality management and omnichannel routing, you can streamline the customer experience with ease.

7 Tips and 5 Tools to Succeed at Virtual Sales

According to the Harvard Business Review, Covid-19 has made the sales leaders, managers, and salespeople more receptive to change. The pandemic has forced sales managers to regroup and ask important questions such as: In this article, we will cover all this and more so that you can sell smart, remotely. Let’s jump right in.

Why is Customer Sentiment More Valuable Than NPS and CSAT?

When you talk about measuring customer experience, which one is the best? Thoma Laird explains why customer sentiment is a more valuable metric than NPS or CSAT. It might be one of the most important metrics that any call center can track. Watch the full video to find out why!

Remote Employee Engagement: How To Keep Your Team Inspired

Over the past year, many companies have noticed that working remotely isn’t quite like working in the office. Remote employee engagement is more important now than ever before because working from home introduces new distractions and detachment. Remote employee engagement is complex, but far from impossible. In this post, we’ll dive into what remote employee engagement actually looks like. We will also cover how you can leverage it to strengthen your remote team.

Coffee or Tea: Which One Is Boosting or Sabotaging Your Productivity?

Warm, caffeinated beverages have become a staple accompaniment to worker’s lives all over the world. With the move to working remotely, many people’s routines may have changed. But it’s almost guaranteed that their beverage consumption hasn’t. Whether you prefer coffee or tea, chances are you are one of the millions who claim they can’t get through a full day of work without a sizable dose of caffeine in your system.

Why Call Center Recording is Important (Tips, Tools)

Call centers and customer-facing businesses commonly engage their customers through inbound and outbound voice channels. And to deliver maximum customer satisfaction over these voice channels, they often use technologies like call recording. Call center recording involves recording the conversation between agents and customers for quality and compliance purposes. In this guide, we’ll cover call center recording in-depth.

Call Center Service Level: Formulas, Standards, Sample Agreement

Tracking call center performance can be challenging due to the varied nature of businesses and different customer profiles. That’s why call center managers use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and metrics to analyze their team’s efficiency. And one such KPI is service level, which considers several factors like the percentage of incoming calls attended in a call center. It can help you measure call center productivity and the quality of customer service.

What Is Agent Utilization and How to Improve It (2021 Guide)

Agent utilization or the ratio of an agent’s work done to their work capacity is an essential metric that represents a call center’s efficiency. It tells you if your call center agents are underutilized or have too much work on their plates. That’s why call center managers must have a clear idea about agent utilization. They should know how to calculate and manage it to boost agent engagement and business growth.

Project Management Methodology: The 2021 Guide

Many organizations face a difficult time choosing the best project management methodology. Choosing the best method from so many exclusive approaches can be very tricky. A few project managers indulge themselves in a certification course to get used to the ways of managing a project. But only some learn the tools and techniques to take up a project and push it towards the finish line.

Top 5 Call Center Monitoring Software for 2021

For any call center, ensuring customer satisfaction is a priority. However, with all the processes a typical call center needs to handle, ensuring if your agents provide the right support can seem challenging. That’s why call center monitoring software can be such a game-changer. With features like advanced reporting and automatic call recording, these tools can help you gain detailed insights into agent performance and call quality.

Top 5 Workday Insights for Employees to Improve Work Performance

Time Doctor is known for providing valuable workday insights for managers and executives. Our thousands of happy customers – almost 10,000 worldwide – have taught us that our tools help employees, too. Employees can use our productivity tools to win trust and earn more flexibility at work. A core focus for Time Doctor is to support and empower employees with the tools and data they need to become more self-directed, accountable, and productive.

Call Center Automation: Types, Pros, Challenges (2021 Guide)

Call center automation helps simplify existing business processes. It’s also a great way to optimize your call center resources to reduce or eliminate unnecessary costs. However, with automation comes a lack of human interaction — which can leave customers unhappy. Then how do you automate processes and provide a great customer experience? In this article, we’ll cover what call center automation is, its types, key benefits, and major challenges.

How to Boost Customer Satisfaction With Contact Center Services

An increasing number of people today prefer to communicate via multiple channels like text messaging, email, video calling, etc., over voice calls. And this is the same for customer service too. After all, nobody wants to wait in a long call queue to talk to customer service representatives. However, with contact center services, customers can easily register their concerns and get their queries resolved through the communication channel they prefer.

Employee Monitoring: Pros, Cons, Types, Tools (2021 Guide)

Employee monitoring can be tricky. You need to strike a balance between your company’s need to monitor employee activity and an employee’s right to privacy. That’s why, while there are several ways to monitor employees, you need employee-friendly solutions that work for your company’s specific requirements. In this article, we’ll explain what employee monitoring is, its benefits and drawbacks, and five types of monitoring solutions.

Contact Center vs Call Center: 5 Key Differences to Know

When a customer contacts your business or brand, they may do so via your customer service. Traditionally, the communication happened exclusively through voice calls in call centers. However, customers can now contact a company through multiple communication channels like emails, website chatbots, social media, etc., managed via contact centers. But what exactly are the differences between contact center vs call center? Don’t worry.

The 2021 Guide to Outbound Call Centers (Tools, Tips)

Call centers can handle all the support services for your business without you having to break a sweat. But there are two main types of call centers businesses can use: outbound and inbound. Outbound call centers make outgoing calls to customers while inbound call centers handle incoming calls. In this article, we’ll cover what an outbound call center is, how it differs from inbound call centers and its key aspects.

What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Virtual Call...

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the world moved online. Digital software and online shopping became increasingly popular among customers, which intensified the need for excellent customer service. And to match that, several companies like Amazon and Microsoft embraced the virtual call center model. In a virtual call center, agents handle incoming and outgoing customer calls while they work remotely.

Why Management Must Encourage Work-Life Balance in Remote Work Environments

A solid work-life balance is an essential element of employee well-being. If you’re an employer, it’s something you should not only care about but actively encourage your employees to improve and maintain. Study after study has shown that an imbalance of work and life, a work-life conflict if you will, can have a serious negative impact on employees. In the office, it has been associated with poor workplace performance, reduced productivity, absenteeism, and burnout.

Top 7 Virtual Call Center Software for 2021

Due to COVID regulations and virtual call center software innovations, virtual customer service teams have grown in popularity. With cloud-based virtual call center solutions, remote agents can be more productive, and business owners can manage their call virtual center operations with ease. But with several virtual call center tools out there, which one is the best tool for you?

10 Simple Tips to Reduce Call Center Attrition (2021 Guide)

Do you know how expensive call center attrition can be? Voluntary attrition of an employee is never a good thing. When employees leave, businesses have to spend time and money to replace them with new hires. This can drive down efficiency and profit margins. But how do you reduce employee turnover? In this article, we’ll talk about call center attrition, what causes it, and how it affects your business.

7 Simple Steps For Contact Center Quality Monitoring

Contact center quality monitoring is one of the best ways to improve customer service. When you monitor quality, you’ll be able to identify any roadblocks in the process and create an easy pathway to boost customer satisfaction. But contact center quality monitoring isn’t just about recording phone calls between customers and agents or checking if they responded politely to an email query. Rather, it’s about how you evaluate each agent’s interaction and act on them.

Everything You Need to Know About Inbound Call Centers (2021)

In a world dominated by chatbots and text messaging, you might think phone calls are becoming a thing of the past. But many customers still prefer calling businesses over the phone to resolve their problems. As a business owner, answering phone calls may not be your top priority. So it makes more sense for you to invest in an inbound call center instead. Inbound call centers can receive calls on your company’s behalf.

General Electric & 5 Other Examples of Offshoring

As business strategies and requirements change, companies need to adopt different processes that can help them grow. And one of these processes is offshoring. Many large corporations have realized that the benefits of offshoring, such as lower costs and skilled talent, can give them a competitive advantage over other businesses. In this article, we’ll explore one such successful example of offshoring.

8 Best Contact Center Software for 2021

For any company, its customer service is a major driving force behind its growth. And with the right contact center software, you can improve the customer experience while making your support team’s job easier. You’ll be able to resolve queries and reach out to potential customers across multiple channels with ease. But with a wide variety of contact center software available today, which one should you go for?

Time Tracking for Consultants in 2021 (Benefits, Tools)

As a consultant, time tracking should be an essential part of how you do business. It’s the easiest way to ensure you get paid for the hours you put in. For an employer, this means you won’t underpay or overpay your consultants. And from a productivity standpoint, time tracking gives you insights into how long you spend on tasks and how to improve your time management skills.

How to Find and Choose the Best Offshore Accounting Service

Accounting plays an important role in the growth of a business. And if you don’t have an in-house accounting professional with the required skills, you can hire an offshore accounting service. Outsourcing accounting to an offshore company can give you accounting books without any mistakes and an expert opinion on your firm’s finances. But how do you choose reliable offshore accounting services?

4 Successful Nearshoring Examples to Guide Your Business

Nearshoring, or the practice of moving your business to a nearby country, offers several benefits that can help boost your firm’s growth. However, you should determine if nearshoring is right for you before shifting your business operations. Fortunately, from Boeing to Whirlpool, there are many nearshoring examples to help guide companies who want to explore nearshoring.

Everything You Need To Know About Effective Business Communication In 2021 (Tips And Tools)

Communication is not easy. Especially at a professional level, poor communication can ruin relationships and, eventually, entire businesses. It’s hard to communicate effectively even in a small business with a few employees, let alone in an organization of hundreds or thousands. Then how do you succeed at it? Is there any secret? First, you need to learn the real importance of effective business communication. Then, put your best efforts into constantly improving this aspect within your team.

How to Set Up Offshore Companies in the USA (2021 Guide)

Most people know the United States of America as a leader in filmmaking, sports, technological advancements, and so on. But not many are aware that the USA is also a popular destination for an offshore company. From increased credibility to easier access for your products and services to a major consumer economy, there are several reasons to set up an offshore company in the USA. In this article, we’ll explain what offshore companies in the USA are and the requirements for setting one up.

10 Inspiring Offshoring Examples for Your Business

From WhatsApp to Microsoft, offshoring has helped several businesses save costs and get access to skilled talent from around the world. And while you can use offshoring to increase business productivity and growth, you need to understand it clearly before you offshore your processes. In this article, we’ll discuss ten successful offshoring examples and the unique benefits of the business practice.

How Managers Can Make Time Doctor More Employee Friendly

When organizations implement any new technology or introduce change, concerns and questions are bound to arise. For Time Doctor, one of the most common concerns we hear is how employees will feel about the tool. To help leaders and managers prepare for and get ahead of these concerns, we’ve compiled a list of the most employee friendly settings and features that Time Doctor provides.

How to Choose an Offshore Software Development Company (2021)

An offshore software development company is the first thing that comes to mind for many people when they think about developing software. The reason? Offshoring your software development tasks offers tons of benefits, like high-quality talent and lower rates. Now, you may have several questions — like where to find an offshore software development company, whether they all produce the same quality of output, and how you can distinguish a good offshoring partner from the rest. Don’t worry.

The 2021 Guide to Offshore Outsourcing Software Development

Offshore outsourcing software development is a form of delegation, where you hire a foreign company for your software development projects. These offshore companies provide high-quality custom software development services at lower costs. In this article, we’ll cover what offshore outsourcing software development is and how it could benefit your company. We’ll also tell you how to select the right offshore outsourcing partner and give you some simple tips to help you out.

10 Strategies for Success When Managing From a Distance

Over the past year, remote work has become the norm all over the world. And, according to research data, it’s likely to remain a big part of our lives. The Buffer State of Remote Work 2021 report shows that 97% of people wish to continue working remotely (at least to some degree) for the rest of their careers. Furthermore, PWC states that 55% of employees would prefer to work away from the office at least three days per week once the pandemic is over.

Nearshoring: What It Is, Pros, Cons, Top Destinations (2021)

Global trade has enabled countries to expand their markets for sourcing various goods and services at a lower cost. It has also allowed several companies to opt for business strategies such as nearshoring to boost their growth. Nearshoring involves shifting your business operations to a nearby country. In this article, we’ll talk about nearshoring and how it’s different from business processes like outsourcing, offshoring, and onshoring.

10 Remote Work Influencers and Thought Leaders to Follow in 2021

In 2001, work was strictly in the office. You had your cubicle, your desktop, and your picture of your dog. At lunchtime, you’d share lunch with your coworkers. Sometimes, you had days where you brought your paperwork home, but the next day, you would go back to sitting at your Mac that looked like a space helmet. Let’s speed to two decades later, in 2021, where remote work is the cornerstone of businesses. 4.7 million Americans are working from home, according to the US Census Bureau.

How to Find the Best Country to Set Up an Offshore Company

Whether you own a startup or a large company, setting up an offshore company can help your business grow and reach new markets. Offshoring primarily focuses on saving money by moving operations to a cheaper location abroad. This lets you reinvest the saved money into growing your business. But which is the best country to set up an offshore company? In this article, we’ll answer that question. We’ll highlight the top eight countries you can offshore to.

How to Fill Out a Timesheet in 7 Simple Steps (2021 Guide)

If you want to learn how to fill out a timesheet, you’re in the right place. Whether you’re a business owner looking for a simple way to record your team’s hours or a contractor who needs to track your billable hours for invoicing purposes, timesheets are a valuable solution. Unfortunately, there is a lot of room for error with traditional timesheets. You need to know how to fill them out correctly to save time, streamline processes, and improve payroll accuracy.

The Ultimate Offshore Call Center Guide (2021)

Offshoring your customer service to a call center is a great way to improve your customer experience at an affordable rate. However, you should only select an offshore call center after careful consideration. Your customers may be unsatisfied and could leave you if the service your offshore call center provides is poor. But how do you choose the right offshore call center? In this article, we’ll go over what an offshore call center is, and how to choose an offshore call center.

Nearshoring vs Offshoring: Ultimate Guide (2021)

Globalization has opened up new avenues for businesses to shift some of their operations to a different country. You can nearshore to a nearby country or consider relocating to a far-off one with offshoring. But what are the differences between nearshoring vs offshoring? In this article, we’ll make a comprehensive comparison between both models. We’ll then explore the pros and cons of both nearshoring and offshoring.