How To Measure Call Quality On Your Service Desk

(1)

How To Measure Call Quality On

Your Service Desk

(2)

- 2 -

Declaration

We believe the information in this document to be accurate, relevant and truthful based on our experience and the information provided to us to date. All information is

provided in good faith, in confidence and in the best interests of SDI and our clients. Please contact Daniel Wood on + 44 (0)1689 889100 to discuss any questions or further requirements or email research@SDI-europe.com

Prepared by Daniel Wood Head of Research, SDI

(3)

Introduction

Service desks continually strive to improve the quality of service that they deliver to their customers. But what exactly do we mean by quality and how can we measure and improve the quality of the service that we provide?

In this guide we’ll look at some common definitions of quality and identify those that are most pertinent to us on the service desk. We’ll also look at how you can improve the quality of service that you deliver to your customers through quality assurance and quality checks.

Quality underpins everything that the service desk does as ultimately; we want to deliver a quality product and service to our customers. The problem arises when we have to quantify what we actually mean by quality and how we can measure if we are delivering a quality service. A large component of understanding quality is by checking, assessing and auditing to ensure that the outputs from our service desk (closing incidents,

communication with customers, overall quality of service) is being delivered.

We might all have different definitions of what constitutes a quality service, but the end goal should always be to deliver the level of service that we want and strive for to our customers.

(5)

Definitions of quality

There are numerous definitions of quality. Some concentrate on the number of defects (or more precisely the lack of them) in products and services. ISO 9000 defines quality as the “Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements.” Peter Drucker asserts that, “quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for.”1

Both of these definitions are useful when we are thinking about the quality of services that service desks provide. Customers do not care (or perhaps do not appreciate) the methodologies and work behind the scenes that it takes to deliver services, but they do care about the quality of the service. They do not care about what is put in to making excellent service, but they do care about the outcome.

Delivering quality service should be modus operandi for any service desk that wants to be successful. Without quality services you cannot expect to receive positive customer feedback or customer experiences. Quality services are not something that happen instantaneously, but instead are the product of years of hard work and dedication. Services evolve over time in response to myriad factors including, but not limited to, customer expectations and needs; technology; budget; competencies of staff and

customers; acquiring knowledge and better ways of working; and the changing demands on the service desk. Taking this into consideration, quality services are those that meet and exceed customer expectations and are designed to satisfy business objectives. They will be services that customers find useful and that ultimately allow them to be

productive and get back up and running quickly. These are the types of things the SDI standards look for when talking about quality services.

1

(6)

- 6 -

How to measure quality

So how do we actually deliver a quality service to our customers?

One of the key ways to do this is to check and audit your service desk to understand what level of service they are delivering. Components of quality include: adherence to process; customer service skills; communication skills; speed and effectiveness; and many other aspects that impact the quality of the service delivered to customers. When you are looking at the quality of incident management, there are two crucial components, call monitoring and ticket/email monitoring.

(7)

Call Monitoring

Call monitoring allows you to understand the quality of your service desk’s

communication skills and the quality of your processes. Communication and processes are essential components of providing a quality service, so it’s important to monitor and assess both of them on a regular basis.

1. Communication

Things to look out for and assess during a telephone call might include:

 Information is logged correctly in the ITSM tool

 Calls should be answered within set timeframe parameters (this information should be included in the SLA, for example within 3 rings, 10 seconds etc.)

 Calls are answered using the standard greeting

 Calls should be answered in adherence with best practice and must maintain excellent standards of professionalism throughout the call. Examples of professional telephone behaviour include:

o Using appropriate language (i.e. professional language) o Empathetic

o Listen to and understand the customer’s description of the incident or service request

o Using open and closed questioning techniques as appropriate for clarification and call control

o Speaking clearly and concisely o Active listening

o Demonstrates knowledge o Polite, courteous and friendly o Flexible

o Efficient

o Calm under pressure o Attention to detail

(8)

- 8 - 2. Call Classification

Once the call has been answered, the next step is to decide if the call should be handled by the service desk. As the single point of contact for many organisations, service desks can receive calls that are not IT related, or are not for services that they support. Some steps to take during call classification are:

 Do we support this customer/is this customer a contract customer?

 Is the call IT related, or are they looking for contact details?

 Do we support this region?

If it is determined that we do support this customer and they are in region then the call should be logged. In fact, all calls should be logged as this enables you to perform trend analysis to understand what type of calls the service desk is receiving, how much time is being spent on calls that are not for the service desk, and can identify how efficiently the service desk is operating.

3. Prioritisation

This step looks at if the Analyst has assigned the correct priority to the incident. Incidents should be assigned a priority based on business impact and customer requirements.

For the prioritisation stage, checks need to be made to ensure that Analysts are fully aware of the contents of SLAs and are able to assign the correct priorities based on this information.

(9)

4. Next actions

This step ensures that the customer understands that their call has been logged and priorities assigned. The Analyst should communicate to the customer what the next steps for the incident will be.

 Customers should be told when they can expect a fix and agree timescales

 The customer should be told what will happen next, i.e. if an engineer needs to visit the customer, or if the incident is to be escalated to another team

 Communicate and share the SLA to establish a contract with the customer In quality terms you are assessing whether Analysts are communicating the correct information to customers and that the customer is aware of the next steps in the incident process. The Analyst also needs to agree target times in order to manage the customer’s expectations as to when they can expect their incident to be resolved.

5. Wrap up

This is the stage that is performed just before the call is closed. It ensures that all of the correct information has been logged and recorded and that everything is

documented that will assist in the timely and accurate resolution of the incident. The specific steps for this stage are:

The detail and information is recorded correctly

Next actions are identified along with escalation points and personnel

Call or speak to other people to make them aware if the incident has a high priority Call is closed

(10)

- 10 -

Reviewing calls

Listed above were the steps that Analysts should take when logging an incident. This is also known as the incident management process. To ensure that the process is followed correctly and that the service desk is delivering a quality service, it’s important to review calls and monitor them to ensure that process is being followed and that the service desk is communicating with customers in the correct way.

Reviewing calls provide both staff and management with an ongoing quality and personal development mechanism. Reviewing calls should ensure excellent customer service and provide a mechanism for continual performance improvement.

 Call reviews are an excellent way to review and develop the quality and consistency of individual staff performance

 They help to ensure that all front line staff are performing at optimum levels and continually updating and developing their skills

 They are also a flexible and positive way of giving staff good constructive feedback on their work in a service environment

 These should be held on a regular basis – depending on experience, e.g. a junior may need monthly reviews whereas an experienced member of staff might only need quarterly or six-monthly reviews

 Managers should ensure that they stick to holding these – even for experienced staff, who may not know new practices where the working environment

constantly changes

 Everyone should also be open to change and development and as long as the reviews are constructive and positive they should be effective and helpful to all

(11)

Methods for reviewing calls

Sit and listen in on calls

This stage can be performed by a manager, line manager or another delegated member of staff. Ideally, call monitoring will be performed by using a facility to listen in on the call so that you can hear both sides of the conversation. If this facility is not available, then it can performed by listening to the Analysts’ calls (although you only hear one side of the conversation this way). Listening in on calls and evaluating them can be a time-intensive process so you will only want to look at a selection of calls (say 5-10) a month.

Assessment

For this stage, you will have set criteria on which you would assess the Analysts’ call handling skills. An example of some sample criteria for call management performance review is included below:

Example: Call Management Performance Review

Quality area Staff Mgr Gap Comments Learning points/

actions

Using appropriate language

Consistency & Facts

Empathy

Politeness, courtesy & friendliness

Flexibility Efficiency

Calmness under pressure Attention to detail

(12)

- 12 -

Remember, these criteria are just for reviewing the quality of the communication skills for your Analysts. In addition you’ll want to consider adherence to process and the quality of information that the Analysts have recorded to ensure that if the call needs to be escalated, or to provide reference and knowledge for future occurrences, that the level of detail and information is included. Making sure that Analysts are following the correct processes is absolutely essential if you want to create consistency on your service desk, as if each step is followed then the customer is guaranteed to receive a consistent service.

How to use the Assessment

Staff and management will write a score for each of the criteria based on how well they thought they scored in each area when the call is played back to them. Any differences in scores will be noted, and reasons given. There will also be room for comments with any bad or good points noted – this will provide evidence and additional information for why the score was given.

From this assessment, action points and learning points can be created that provide an action plan to help improve the scores and overall performance by considering the improvements that need to be made.

In addition:

 Any areas where the scores differ by more than 2 points should be discussed and re-assessed

 Both parties should agree on any areas for learning and development and associated actions to improve skills etc.

 Both parties agree to a final set of scores as an average over the calls – this can then be reviewed for future progress and rolling performance

(13)

Conclusion

Call quality is an essential component of your service desk. Ensuring that customers receive a quality service every time that they contact the service desk sits at the heart of everything that service desks do and what they ultimately want to accomplish. If our quality of communication with our customers is poor, then it undermines all the other good quality services that we deliver. It’s worth remembering that often customers only direct contact with IT is through the service desk so it’s essential that we make the customer experience the very best that it can be. By following the assessment criteria included in this guide (perhaps modifying it to suit your own requirements and needs) we should be able to start improving the quality of information and communication on our service desk.

The other large component of call monitoring is understanding adherence and quality of processes. We want to ensure that the processes that we have created are working effectively and efficiently and that each and every step is being followed correctly. Therefore, it makes sense that in addition to call quality checks we also have a checklist for processes, to make sure that each step is followed and that the quality of information is of the agreed standard. Reviewing and quality checking processes also provides you with an opportunity to modify and adapt processes if you find that there are gaps, if people are taking shortcuts, or if the process is simply not working correctly. As with all good processes, they should be reviewed and revised on a regular basis to ensure that they are working as effectively as possible.

Call quality is an ongoing process that requires time and commitment to ensure that you can derive the maximum benefits. However, for those who do make the investment it will prove invaluable to continually improving your services. If you wonder why customer feedback is not as positive as you would like it to be, call quality may provide some essential clues to really push your service desk forward to the next level.

(14)

- 14 -

About The Service Desk Institute (SDI)

Founded in 1988 by Howard Kendall, the Service Desk Institute (SDI) is the leading authority on service desk and IT support related issues, providing specialist information and research about the technologies, tools and trends of the industry. It is Europe’s only support network for IT service desk professionals, and its 800 organisation members span numerous industries.

Acting as an independent adviser, SDI captures and disseminates creative and

innovative ideas for tomorrow's service desk and support operation. SDI sets the best practice standards for the IT support industry and is the conduit for delivering knowledge and career enhancing skills to the professional community, through membership,

training, conferences, events and its publication SupportWorld magazine. It also offers the opportunity for international recognition of the support centre operation through its globally recognised Service Desk Certification audit programme.

How To Measure Call Quality On Your Service Desk