The Ascent Group conducted research to better understand how companies are monitoring call quality and other customer transactions. We asked companies to share their call monitoring experiences to help us identify the practices that make or break a quality monitoring process. We also asked them to provide their plans moving forward as well as lessons learned along the way.

Detailed case studies featuring companies examine current monitoring practices, lessons learned, challenges overcome, plans for the future, and business practices that have led to "big wins".

Call Quality Practices profiles the monitoring technologies in place within these companies, provide an analysis of monitoring approaches, including frequency, quantity of calls, monitoring objectives, responsibilities for monitoring/feedback, timing of feedback, communication techniques, calibration approaches. For those companies with dedicated Quality Assurance groups, we also look at how time is spent, ways to improve credibility, skill requirements, and feedback techniques. We take a look at how coaches are selected and trained, how coaching performance is measured, and coaching certification programs. Finally, we explore the successes achieved as a result of our participant's call monitoring efforts.

Analysis & Graphs included in this Report

• Finding & Observations
• Recommendations for Improvement
• Innovative or Winning Strategies
• Countries Represented
• Industries Represented
• Call Centers per Participant
• Hours of Operation
• Representatives per Center
• Total Inbound Calls Offered
• Total Outbound Calls
• Percent Outbound Calls
• IVR Success Rate
• IVR Success Rate by Industry
• Average Span of Control
• Channels Monitored
• Calls Monitored per Rep Per Month (by Industry)
• Calls Monitored per Rep per Month
• Primary Objectives for Monitoring Process
• Call Monitoring Approaches
• Type of Monitoring Conducted
• Split of Side-by-Side and Remote
• Supervisor Monitoring Responsibility
• QA Group Monitoring Responsibility
• Monitoring Frequency
• Call Monitoring Sample Size Determination
• Supervisor's Time Spent Monitoring
• Supervisor's Time Spent Providing Feedback
• Monitoring Feedback Provided to Representatives
• Monitoring Results Feedback Process
• Monitoring Results Part of Employee Performance?
• Agents Hear Monitored Calls?
• Peer Monitoring
• How is Peer Monitoring Used?
• Use Automated Call Monitoring Software
• Automated Call Monitoring Software Vendors
• Monitoring Software Challenges
• Conduct Regular Calibration Sessions
• Frequency of Calibration Sessions
• Typical Calibration Session Participants
• Dedicated Quality Assurance Group?
• Quality Assurance Skill Requirements
• Quality Assurance Analyst Time Breakdown
• Drivers of QA Credibility
• QA Program Benefits Reported
• Measure Coaching Performance?
• Coaching Performance Measurement
• Coaching Skill Assessment
• Coaching Certification Program?
• Coach Training Process
• Team Leaders Augment Supervisors
• Team Leader Responsibilities
• Quality Monitoring Benefits
• Lessons Learned
• Challenges to Monitoring Process
• Plans for Improvement
• Participant Successes