Achieving First Call Resolution 2008: Improving Measurement, Usage, and Customer Satisfaction - Market Research Reports - Research and Markets

Printer Friendly

Printed from http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/597254

Achieving First Call Resolution 2008: Improving Measurement, Usage, and Customer Satisfaction

Description:

The Ascent Group conducted research early in 2008 to better understand how different companies and industries are measuring and tracking First Call Resolution. This is our third study of first call resolution.

We asked companies to share measurement strategies and experiences to identify the practices that lead to higher first call resolution and ultimately to higher customer satisfaction. We also asked companies to provide their plans moving forward as well as lessons learned along the way.

Achieving First Call Resolution 2008 shares measurement approaches, lessons learned, challenges overcome, plans for the future, and practices that have led to improved First Call Resolution performance. In addition, we provide detailed results and analysis from the survey itself and detailed "best practices" demonstrated by our participants.

Extract from the Report:
First Call Resolution (FCR) is a critical determinant of customer satisfaction—whether your systems and policies make this possible or not. Customers expect to bring a problem or question to your attention and have it resolved in a timely manner. Not all inquiries can be resolved immediately or on the first contact. However, advances in technology, increasing employee empowerment, and scrutinizing evaluation will increase the number that can.

An 80% FCR rate sounds good. Yet with an 80 percent FCR, 20 percent of callers require multiple contacts with your company to achieve resolution. That 20 percent represents repeat calls, increased call volume, inflated operating expenses, and most importantly, dissatisfied customers.

First Call Resolution is perhaps the most powerful call center metric. A focus and improvement in FCR brings the best of both worlds—an improvement efficiency and effectiveness. You don’t have to worry that you are sacrificing quality because you are reducing costs, or vice versa. When you improve FCR you’re improving quality, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction, all at the same time.

How many of your customers’ calls are resolved on the first contact? You don’t know until you measure it. It sounds easy enough however many companies have found it difficult to define first call resolution, much less measure it consistently. Tactics to measure FCR vary greatly from company to company. Our survey confirms this. While some companies are measuring first call resolution, many are not and would like to. Those that are measuring FCR are dealing with the challenge of selecting the best measurement approach for their organization.

Once you have a good idea of your FCR performance, you can drill down to identify the call types that are not being resolved consistently in one contact. Then decide if it’s even possible or desirable to resolve these types of calls or contacts in one call. If so, root cause analysis and process streamlining or re-engineering will boost your first call resolution performance, reduce repeat calls and rework, and ultimately reduce operating costs.

Can you tell how frequently your customers contact your company? Can you identify repeat calls? Can you segment FCR by type of contact? Can you ask your customers if they think their concern was resolved and how many contacts were required? This is the type of information you’ll need to effectively measure First Call Resolution.

Find out if your customers think their issues and questions are being resolved on the first contact. After all, your customers are the ones calling you.

Benchmark Study of First Call Resolution
To better understand how companies and different industries are approaching First Call Resolution, the Ascent Group conducted its fourth annual benchmarking study to evaluate First Call Resolution performance and measurement. Thirty-two companies from nine industries, representing nine countries, participated in the research. The following pages summarize the study’s objectives, findings, and recommendations.

The main objective of the study was to evaluate the various approaches to measuring First Call Resolution and to identify best practices or opportunities for improvement. Secondary objectives included understanding:

-The range of First Call Resolution performance by company and by industry,
-Strategies for driving improvement in First Call Resolution,
-How first call resolution factors into individual, team, and center-level performance objectives and compensation, and
-How companies are promoting the importance of first call resolution throughout the organization.
-Participants were asked to share the history of their first call resolution measurement approaches, as well as identify any improvement in performance. -The study also asked companies to include considerations, successes, and plans moving forward.

Study Findings
Study participants range in size from 30,500 calls per year to as many as 48.6 million. Industries represented in the study include:

-Financial Services
-Government
-Insurance
-Manufacturing
-Retail
-Services
-Technical Support
-Telecommunications
-Utilities

Participants report first call resolution rates from 51 percent to 97 percent, indicating varying degrees of maturity and complexity in call type by company and by industry. The bulk of participants (54 percent) have been measuring first call resolution for 3 years or less, indicating the relative immaturity of this measurement technique across industries. The majority of participants (71 percent) measure first call resolution through internal approximation—call statistic calculations, agent logs, and/or call monitoring interpretation. Only twenty-nine percent of participants routinely rely on customer satisfaction feedback to determine first call resolution.

Only fifteen percent rely on two or more measures of first call resolution.

Within our participant group, we found 4 primary ways of measuring first call resolution:

-Call statistic calculations (internal measure)
-Agent-driven call logging or tick sheet (internal measure)
-Call quality monitoring (internal determination)
-Customer satisfaction surveys (external measure)

The majority of participants rely on a single measure to gauge FCR (85 percent). However, 15 percent reported measuring FCR through two or more different measurement approaches.

First Call Resolution performance varied from industry to industry—averaging 63 percent FCR for Tech Support to 93 percent for Retail. FCR goals stretched from 71 percent for Tech Support to 100 percent for Services. All industries averaged 75.4 percent First Call Resolution performance.

What Did We Learn?
Most Companies Actively Measuring First Call Resolution Are Experiencing Improvement. Seventy percent of companies measuring FCR performance reported improvement in their performance, while only 4 percent reported no improvement. The remainder, 26 percent were unable to determine. Those reporting improvement ranged from 2 to 15 percent with an average annual gain of 8 to 9 percent

Improvement in First Call Resolution is Most Closely Tied to Root Cause Analysis, Process Improvement, and Training/Coaching. Those reporting significant improvement in FCR performance also indicated that they had recently implemented focused initiatives aimed at increasing FCR awareness and improving performance. In addition, companies reported using root cause analysis and process improvement to effect real change in the way calls are handled, thereby increasing the opportunities for achieving first call resolution. Indeed, most survey participants confirmed that first call resolution performance was a key driver of continual improvement efforts.

continued…

Contents:

List of Report Analysis & Graph Exhibits
-First Call Resolution Findings & Trends
-Recommendations for Improvement
-Innovative or Winning Strategies
-Industry Comparisons of First Call Resolution
-Call centers per Company
-Hours of operation
-Countries represented
-Industries represented
-Total inbound calls
-Abandoned Calls
-Agents per Center
-Average span of control (reps per supervisor)
-FCR Mesurement Framework
-FCR Measurement Basis
-Measurement Approach by Industry
-Years Measuring First Call Resolution
-First Call Resolution Performance by Industry
-Top 5 Ways to Promote First Call Resolution
-Improving First Call Resolution
-Participant Successes
-First Call Resolution a Component of Agent Performance?
-First Call Resolution a Component of Supervisory Performance?
-First Call Resolution a Component of Managerial Performance?
-First Call Resolution a Component of Overall Center Performance?
-Ask Callers if Issue Resolved?
-Methods to Track Customer Responses to "Issue Resolved"
-Pros & Cons of Asking Callers if Issue Resolved
-Top 5 Ways to Achieve First Call Resolution
-Lessons learned
-List of Participants

Ordering:

Order Online - visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/597254

Order by Fax - using the order form below

Order By Post - print the order form below and send to

Research and Markets,
Guinness Centre,
Taylors Lane,
Dublin 8,
Ireland.

Page 1 of 2
Printed 23/11/2008 09:52:02

Fax Order Form

To place an order via fax simply print this form, fill in the information below and fax the completed form to the number at the bottom of this page. If you have any questions please email help@researchandmarkets.com

Order information

Please verify that the product information is correct and select the format you require.


Product Name:
Achieving First Call Resolution 2008: Improving Measurement, Usage, and Customer Satisfaction
Web Address:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/597254
Office Code:
OCIEHJPNTWS

Report formats

Please enter the quantity of the report format you require.

	Format	Quantity	Price
	Electronic (Online Access) - Single User		€337.00
	CD ROM		€357.00 + EUR€ 50.00 Shipping/Handling *
	Hard Copy		€393.00 + EUR€ 50.00 Shipping/Handling *

* Shipping/Handling is only charged once per order.

Contact information

Please enter all the information below in BLOCK CAPITALS.


	First Name:	Last Name:
	Email Address:
	Job Title:
	Organisation:
	Address:
	City:
	Postal/Zip Code:
	Country:
	Phone Number:
	Fax Number:

Please fax this form to:
(646) 607-1907 or (646) 964-6609 - From USA
+353 1 481 1716 or +353 1 653 1571 - From Rest of World

Page 2 of 2
Printed 23/11/2008 09:52:02

Payment information

Please indicate the payment method you would like to use by selecting the appropriate box.

Pay by Credit Card:

	American Express
	Diners Club
	Master Card
	Visa


Cardholder Name:

Expiry Date:	/

Card Number:

CVV Security Code:

Issue Date:	/ (Diners Club only)

Pay by Check:

Please post the check, accompanied by this form, to:

Research and Markets,
Guinness Centre,
Taylors Lane,
Dublin 8,
Ireland.

Pay by Wire Transfer:

Please transfer funds to:


Account number:	83313083
Sort code:	98-53-30
Swift code:	ULSBIE2D
IBAN number:	IE78ULSB98533083313083
Bank Address:	Ulster Bank, 27-35 Main St, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

If you have a Marketing Code please enter it below:
	Marketing Code:

Please note that by ordering from Research and Markets you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/info/terms.asp

Please fax this form to:
(646) 607-1907 or (646) 964-6609 - From USA
+353 1 481 1716 or +353 1 653 1571 - From Rest of World