Everything you need to know about SLA in call centers

SLAs in call centers take time and effort to get right, and you should update them at regular intervals. When they're working for you, they enhance customer experience and provide decision-makers with unparalleled data about performance and productivity. What's more, an SLA provides an opportunity for managers and employees to work together to set accurate, actionable KPIs.

In this article, we'll define the term service level agreement and explore the best ways to calculate and set SLAs in call centers.

What are slas in a call center?

A service level agreement is a contract between a customer service department and customers that promises a specific level of quality. One of the most popular call center SLAs is committing to answering 80% of all calls in 20 seconds. If agents meet this target, they're within SLA, and if they miss it, they're outside of SLA.

That particular metric is pretty lofty and not necessarily realistic for high-volume contact centers, but it's ideal for some small businesses and multinationals. However, setting metrics to measure availability, responsiveness and quality that are easy to measure and record is a great way to maximize the success of your call center.

How is service level calculated in a call center?

To decide on the SLAs you measure, you need to know everything there is to know about your call center, clients, team and suppliers. Without an in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of each, you won't be able to set realistic SLAs. Once you've decided on your metrics, there's a generic call center SLA calculation formula you can use to measure performance:

Service level = [within SLA] / [within SLA] + [outside of SLA]

How to set high-performing slas in call centers

Let's take a look at best practices with regards to defining service level agreements in call centers.

Collaborate

One of the best ways to implement SLAs is for managers to work directly with agents. By involving employees in the process, you drastically increase engagement and empower them to hit targets.

Do plenty of research

Every team works slightly differently, and every company's customer base has different demographics. As such, there's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to setting SLAs. You'll need to know your business inside out to implement effective, meaningful service level agreements.

Manage expectations

You've probably heard the old customer service saying "under promise and over deliver," and it still stands. Demanding that your team meets unreasonable targets might work for a couple of weeks, but motivation will quickly dissolve. By setting realistic but ambitious goals, you can get the most out of your workforce.

Prioritize customer experience

While targets are an essential tool for improving productivity, you must always ensure they're aligned with customer expectations.

Keep in mind that the most effective SLAs in call centers are carefully fine-tuned to the specific needs of the organization they serve.

Improve your contact center's service level today

Technology is the best tool decision-makers have to ensure agents hit their targets and adhere to SLAs in call centers. Automatic call-back, predictive modeling and re-routing are just a few ways 8x8's contact center solution can help you improve key performance metrics.