What is Service Level and Why Should You Care?
Ever wondered how efficient a call center is at picking up your calls? This is where the concept of Service Level comes in. Imagine you call a customer service hotline and wait for what feels like an eternity before someone answers. Service Level is essentially a metric that measures the efficiency of call centers in answering calls within a specified time frame.
So, why should you care? If you're running a call center, maintaining a high service level keeps your customers happy and coming back for more. It's a key performance indicator (KPI) that can set you apart from competitors. And as a customer, higher service level means less time spent on hold!
How to Calculate Service Level
Calculating the service level is pretty straightforward. Here's the formula:
[\text{Service Level} = \left( \frac{\text{Calls Answered within Time}}{\text{Total Calls Offered}} \right) \times 100]
Where:
- Calls Answered within Time is the number of calls answered within a predefined acceptable time frame
- Total Calls Offered is the total number of incoming calls to the call center
With just these two numbers, you can calculate how effectively a call center meets its call answering goals.
Calculation Example
Let's break this down with an example:
- Determine the time frame: Suppose we want to measure all calls answered within 30 seconds
- Count Calls Answered: 120 calls were answered within 30 seconds
- Count Total Calls Offered: The total number of calls offered was 200
- Calculate:
[\text{Service Level} = \left( \frac{120}{200} \right) \times 100 = 60%]
So, our fictitious call center has a service level of 60%. Some companies aim for an 80% service level within 20 seconds, while others might have different standards.