As a call center manager, one of your top priorities is making sure your team can handle as many calls as possible during their shifts. However, call center productivity can’t come at the expense of customer satisfaction. A customer who senses an agent is rushing them through a call or not doing their best to address their needs or concerns will likely end up feeling dissatisfied — and may take their business elsewhere.
Recent research from Invoca found that three-quarters (76%) of consumers would stop doing business with a company if they had just one negative customer experience. Given how often the call center serves as the first point of contact for consumers reaching out to a business, it’s clear why finding the right balance between maintaining call center efficiency and delivering a standout customer experience is so important.
The information in this guide can help you achieve that critical balance. We’ll walk through 10 strategies to help drive improvement, examine common obstacles to success, and explain the role Invoca can play in helping you boost contact center performance and productivity.
Call center productivity is a key driver of success in any modern call center. It refers to how efficiently the call center operates, balancing the quality of interactions between agents and customers with the achievement of operational goals. In short, when a call center runs efficiently, it drives performance and profitability.
Your agents are at the heart of your call center’s productivity, and their role goes far beyond answering calls efficiently. They must also deliver high-quality customer experiences consistently, across every interaction. In addition to soft skills like empathy and active listening, your agents need in-depth knowledge of your products or services, a clear understanding of regulatory requirements, and the ability to use call center technology effectively.
This is why training is essential in turning your call center agents into high performers. When you invest in up-to-date technology, continuous learning, and motivational incentives — like career advancement opportunities — you’ll be more likely to attract and retain top talent. And when you have the right agents in place, call center productivity naturally follows.
How can you gauge the productivity of your call center operation? With relevant performance metrics, of course.
Calculating your occupancy rate — the ratio of total time spent on call-related work to total time worked — can be a valuable starting point. It will give you a sense of how much time your agents are actively engaged on calls. The formula looks like this:
Occupancy Rate (%) = (Call-Related Work Time ÷ Total Time Worked) × 100
So, for example, if an agent spends six hours on call-related tasks during an eight-hour shift, their occupancy rate would be:
(6 ÷ 8) × 100 = 75%
However, keep in mind that the occupancy rate only indicates how busy your agents are, not how productive they are. To get a fuller picture of call center productivity, you’ll need to look at a broader set of metrics.
First, you’ll need to decide which metrics will be most valuable in helping you understand your call center’s productivity. Here are key metrics to consider:
You can use any or all of these metrics to determine call center productivity. You don’t have to track all of them, but don’t rely on just one. Reliable results come from tracking multiple metrics.
Once you’ve identified the metrics that matter most, it’s time to start collecting data. The goal? To pull in as much relevant information as possible from a wide range of sources to create a complete, accurate picture of your contact center’s performance.
Start with your most trusted data sources — your customer relationship management (CRM) system and call center software, assuming they’re regularly updated. Don’t overlook your quality management efforts, either. These insights are especially powerful when you automate quality management with an AI-driven tool like Invoca, which analyzes 100% of calls and provides a robust dataset for performance tracking and coaching.
To measure call center productivity effectively, you’ll need to define a formula that fits the goals of your operation. A basic approach is to calculate the number of calls handled per agent, per hour, which will provide a quick snapshot of output.
For a more nuanced view, consider incorporating some of the KPIs we covered earlier, like AHT, FCR, and CSAT. Tailoring your formula to include these valuable metrics can give you a more complete, meaningful picture of agent performance and operational efficiency.
Once you’ve defined your productivity goals and selected the metrics to track, you’re ready to dive into your analysis. Start by evaluating overall call center performance using both quantitative data (e.g., call volume, handle time) and qualitative insights (e.g., call recordings, QA scores).
Look for patterns. For example, do you find that too many calls are being transferred? That could signal a call routing issue — or a broader training gap across the team.
From there, you can drill down to the individual agent level to identify where targeted coaching or workflow adjustments may be needed. The more specific your insights, the more impactful your improvements will be.
It’s important to set internal goals for call center productivity and efficiency, but don’t stop there. Comparing your performance to industry benchmarks helps you understand how your operation stacks up against peers and competitors.
This broader view matters because metrics can vary significantly by industry. Regular benchmarking also keeps you in tune with emerging trends and best practices. It gives you valuable insights into what’s working elsewhere and where you may have room to improve.
Call scoring and quality management can provide a wealth of data about call center productivity. Reviewing call scores can help you spot patterns or recurring issues — whether it’s related to agent performance, call handling, or customer experience.
However, if you’re scoring calls manually, you might be working with too small a sample to identify meaningful trends. Automated call scoring and quality management tools can solve this by analyzing 100% of inbound calls, giving you a much more complete, data-rich view of team performance.
With a broader and more accurate dataset, you can make better-informed decisions and coach your agents more effectively.
Another way to boost productivity is by tracking key metrics over time to uncover performance trends. AI-powered tools like Invoca make it easy to spot patterns across large datasets with speed and precision.
With AI, you can identify subtle declines in performance before they become significant productivity issues. That early visibility gives you the opportunity to make timely adjustments — whether that means retraining agents, refining call routing, or addressing systemic issues — before they impact the bottom line.
Productivity in the call center isn’t just about efficiency — it’s also about delivering a high-quality customer experience. This is why you should integrate CSAT scores and other customer satisfaction metrics into your performance tracking.
This approach ensures that improving call center efficiency doesn’t come at the expense of service quality. By balancing speed with satisfaction, you can build a more holistic, customer-centric view of productivity.
If your data gathering goes well, you’ll likely end up with a large and complex dataset to work with. Visualization is key to making that information actionable. Research consistently shows that people learn faster and retain more when data is presented visually.
Use charts — bar, pie, scatterplots — and infographics to highlight trends, spot outliers, and tell the story behind the numbers. To keep stakeholders informed and engaged, consider building a dynamic productivity dashboard that’s easy to update and share. The goal is to make insights clear, accessible, and ready for action.
Once you’ve built your productivity reports or dashboard, take time to review your calculations carefully, both to validate the numbers and clearly summarize your findings.
This summary will help you pinpoint your team’s strengths and weaknesses and identify actionable opportunities for improvement. For example, if your data shows an occupancy rate below 80% in the mornings but above 90% in the afternoons, it might make sense to shift some agents to later hours to better balance workloads and improve efficiency.
Your aim is to move from data to decisions, using insights to make smart, strategic adjustments that boost agent performance and call center efficiency.
Now that you have more knowledge of how to measure call center productivity, here are 10 strategies you can use to start taking agent and call center performance to the next level.
If the transfer rate of inbound calls in your call center is too high, there’s a simple way to turn it around and put your operation back on the path to productivity. Intelligent call routing uses markers from a caller’s pre-call digital journey to determine likely intent and ensure that calls are directed to the most qualified agent quickly.
Intelligent call routing works across multiple call centers or company branches. If you run customer service for a bank, any call coming into customer service can be routed to the caller’s closest branch based on where they are calling from, or to the right department based on which pages they visited online before picking up the phone. So, if the caller was checking home mortgage rates, the call is automatically routed to the home loan department.
One of the most effective ways to improve call center productivity is also one of the simplest: providing targeted training for your agents. While coaching takes time out of the workday, the ROI can be significant. Well-trained agents are more productive. Plus, they are less prone to burnout and turnover.
AI and software tools can make the coaching process faster, easier, and even self-guided. For example, Invoca’s conversation analytics AI can flag coachable moments — like when an agent veers off the talk track — so you can offer timely, relevant feedback based on real calls.
With the right tools and training in place, your team will be better equipped to perform at their best, day in and day out.
AI technology can also deliver automated quality management solutions to monitor call interactions in real time and provide feedback, taking a significant amount of grunt work off of the call center manager’s plate. In fact, Invoca’s automated quality management captures and evaluates data from 100% of inbound calls, not just a small sampling.
With automated quality management, you’ll get a complete picture of agent performance, including call scores and instant identification of which agent handled which call. This provides plenty of coaching material for onboarding new agents and developing existing staff .
If you haven’t already, it’s time to embrace advanced workforce management tools to ensure your call center is properly staffed. Doing so sets the foundation for evolving into a more efficient, high-performing operation.
Whether cloud-based or on-premises, workforce management software typically includes features for scheduling, forecasting, shift planning, and more. These tools enable you to plan ahead for seasonal marketing campaigns, reallocate staff in response to shifting call volumes, and ensure you’re always optimizing staffing levels to meet demand.
Giving your call center team access to a comprehensive, easy-to-use knowledge base is one of the most effective ways to support productivity. At minimum, this should include a well-organized script repository that your agents can quickly consult while on the job.
In addition to scripts that cover various call scenarios, consider supplementing your online knowledge base with tips for handling common objections, best practices for working efficiently, general details about everyday processes, and other information that your team can use to problem-solve when needed and improve their skills and confidence.
Another best practice for improving call center productivity is to integrate customer sentiment and feedback into your performance data. AI-powered conversation analytics platforms like Invoca make it easy to collect this feedback at scale.
With Invoca’s AI, you can gather sentiment from digitized phone conversations to hear the true voice of the customer — and gauge the sentiment of your agents, too. So, if a conversation with a customer takes a negative turn because of something an agent says, you can pinpoint that moment and provide targeted coaching to the agent to help avoid similar situations in the future.
Giving your agents access to this type of customer intelligence can help them improve their performance and boost customer satisfaction and loyalty, too.
Your agents will be more productive if you foster a positive and engaging workplace.
You can create a supportive workplace culture by establishing agent recognition programs, organizing team-building activities, and clearly communicating your expectations. And you can boost team morale and reduce agent turnover by highlighting wins, providing constructive insight when calls don’t go right, and by fully optimizing staffing levels.
You can also reduce agent burnout and enhance customer satisfaction by offering customers alternatives such as self-service channels and chatbots. These options are ideal for handling simple, routine inquiries, such as asking for a mailing address or booking a standard appointment.
By directing these calls to automated systems, you give customers greater flexibility and faster answers, all while freeing up your agents to focus on more complex, high-value interactions.
You must regularly track and analyze your KPIs to make timely, informed adjustments and drive ongoing productivity improvements. If your data gathering and analysis are robust, you’ll have plenty of meaningful insights to guide you.
Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security, though. Keep a close eye on changes in the metrics so you can move quickly to address issues and implement fixes as soon as trend lines appear in your review process.
Finally, set your agents up for success by giving them the tools to personalize conversations from the very first “hello.” Today’s callers expect personalization, and to deliver it, your agents need the right information at their fingertips.
Tools like Invoca’s PreSense provide pre-call intelligence, including details like who’s calling, where they’re calling from, and insights into why they’re reaching out. PreSense gathers this data from the caller’s digital journey and delivers it to the agent in real time via a screen pop when the call connects.
With access to this level of detail, your agents will be better equipped to start calls with context, have more efficient conversations, and, ultimately, create a smoother, more satisfying experience for every customer.
Improving call center productivity is possible by applying the 10 strategies outlined above, but we don’t want to give the impression it’s easy. There are many challenges that call center managers must face and overcome if they hope to see their call center operation hitting the high bar for efficiency and productivity. Here are some examples:
Staffing is likely the single most expensive part of your call center operation. Labor cost — salaries, benefits, recruitment, training, and human resources — can be 70% or more of overhead. That cost escalates if you’re constantly hiring as a result of agent turnover.
Stress is often at the root of a call center agent’s departure. Call center stress syndrome is a serious issue, and it can lead to absenteeism, health problems, and burnout.
Burnout drives many agents to leave their jobs, pushing up recruitment costs for call centers. You must battle call center burnout head-on, so you can minimize high turnover. Providing ongoing training, meaningful support, and a positive work environment can all help.
One of the biggest obstacles to creating a productive, efficient call center is technology — or the lack of the right kind. Call centers that are either under-equipped or burdened with disjointed, nonintegrated systems often suffer from disrupted workflows and reduced agent efficiency.
When agents can’t access the tools or information they need, it slows down call handling and negatively impacts the customer experience. To avoid this, invest in systems that offer intelligent call routing and provide real-time access to call data. It’s equally important to ensure your technology integrates seamlessly with your CRM and the rest of your tech stack. The right tools, working together, can streamline operations and boost productivity across the board.
Inadequate training limits agent performance and undermines overall operational effectiveness. That’s why comprehensive onboarding and continuous coaching are essential for both new hires and seasoned agents. (Yes, it takes time and effort, but the payoff is well worth it.)
This is another area where the right technology can make all the difference. For instance, Invoca’s conversation anaytics platform automatically records, analyzes, and transcribes every inbound call, creating a rich library of real-world, coachable moments.
You can use these insights to quickly build customized training modules. Meanwhile, your agents can self-coach at their own pace, reviewing their past calls. . It’s a scalable way to keep your team sharp, engaged, and on track for continuous improvement.
Having access to the right data is critical to understanding how to boost productivity in your call center. Inaccurate or incomplete data can lead to flawed metrics and misguided decisions, which can derail your efforts to improve productivity. However, by pulling data from multiple, reliable sources like an up-to-date CRM and using AI to manage and analyze large and complex datasets, you can ensure your insights are accurate and actionable.
If you want your call center to be profitable, productivity has to be a priority — and that starts with empowering your team. You must provide them with appropriate training, accurate performance metrics, and real-time resources so they can do their jobs effectively.
You can achieve all of the above by tracking and optimizing productivity metrics across 100% of your calls, not just a sample. With the right AI and automation tools supporting your call center operation, you can streamline agent workflows, surface coachable moments, and identify performance trends before they become problems.
Invoca’s conversation management platform makes it easy to do exactly that. By delivering analytics at scale and using AI to heighten efficiency, Invoca can help you improve agent productivity, enhance the customer experience, and achieve better business outcomes.
To learn more about how Invoca’s AI-driven quality intelligence tools can help improve agent productivity in the contact center, check out these resources:
Also, why not book a free demo with our team to learn how Invoca can help you help your call center agents be more productive? Reach out to us today.
