Service level

Few numbers shape daily life in a contact centre as much as the service level. It answers a simple question: how many people reach us fast enough? And it is the target that forecasting and scheduling work towards.

#The formula

Service level = contacts answered within the target time ÷ all contacts offered. It is usually written as a pair, such as 80/20: 80 per cent of calls answered within 20 seconds.

The right value depends on industry, channel and request. There is no universal target. An emergency line needs different goals from an order hotline.

#How abandoned contacts count

Do abandoned calls belong in the denominator? Are callers who hang up after a few seconds, perhaps because they misdialled, left out? That definition changes the result considerably. Write it down before you compare figures.

#Target times per channel

#What the service level hides

A daily figure of 80 per cent can hide a morning of long waits if the afternoon was quiet. So measure per interval and per queue, and look at the longest wait of the day as well.

And the service level says nothing about whether a request was resolved. Answered quickly but not helped is a common pattern. That is what first contact resolution is for.

#Service level in Univerx

Scheduling builds shift plans that meet the service level target. Contact centre reporting shows the value per queue and interval, with the same logic for every channel.

Why a callback often achieves more than extra staff is explained in Callback instead of hold.