Complete the complimentary survey today and receive an Instant Benchmarking Report, Instant Gap Analysis, and an Emailed PDF Report!

BenchmarkPortal, a leading call center consultant, is conducting a survey for Inbound and Blended Sales Centers. All participants will receive the results of this survey immediately after they have completed it.

 

Call centers will now have the opportunity to participate in a study for inbound and blended sales. Online surveys conducted by BenchmarkPortal are available for anyone to complete at http://benchmarkportal.inbound-sales-survey.sgizmo.com/s3/.

This is BenchmarkPortal’s fifth year of collecting metrics for call centers involved in inbound and blended (inbound and outbound) sales. This competitive market intelligence is not available anywhere else and is BenchmarkPortal’s way of showing their appreciation for their customers input.

Participants will receive the following:

• Instant Benchmarking Report – Call centers can find out how their operations stack up against up-to-the-minute averages on all reported metrics for the inbound sales industry.

• Instant Gap Analysis – Call centers can find out where to direct business resources and how to get the biggest returns by identifying a center's performance gaps.

• Emailed PDF Report – Find out where to direct call center resources and get the biggest returns by identifying a center's performance gaps.

 

Click the following link to access the Inbound and Blended Sales Survey.

“This survey is intended for call centers that primarily handle inbound and blended sales calls," said Crystal Robertson, BenchmarkPortal's marketing director. "Please complete the survey and forward the survey link to other appropriate contact centers. Participation in the survey should take no more than 20 minutes and responses are confidential. Participants will receive an online Benchmarking and Gap Analysis report at the close of the survey, and a pdf version via e-mail, at no cost.”

BenchmarkPortal’s benchmarking surveys are the easiest way for a call center to benchmark themselves against peers in their database of thousands of call centers. BenchmarkPortal, has collected key performance indicators from thousands of contact centers worldwide, creating the world's largest database of best practices statistics.

About BenchmarkPortal

BenchmarkPortal’s founders pioneered the first contact center benchmarking study in 1995. Now custodian of the largest database of contact center metrics in the world, BenchmarkPortal is a leader in certification, training, consulting and research for the customer contact industry. Its team of professionals has gained international recognition for expertise and innovation in best practices. BenchmarkPortal’s mission is to help management optimize the performance of their center in terms of both cost and quality, encourage customer loyalty and build enterprise value. For more information on BenchmarkPortal, call 1-800-214-8929 or visit www.BenchmarkPortal.com.

Have You Benchmarked This Year?

Benchmarking is an essential tool for optimizing the performance of your contact center, and no one has more experience in contact center benchmarking than BenchmarkPortal. Through benchmarking, managers can pinpoint areas of opportunity for improvement, and identify initiatives that will result in the best ROI for the center and organization. Benchmarking answers the question, “How good is good enough?” and allows managers to stay competitive within their industry and against industry peers. BenchmarkPortal has the world's largest and most respected database of contact center metrics, and provides reports which set the industry standard.
 
Click here to take our complimentary 18-KPI Benchmarking Survey: 
http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-benchmarking/call-center-benchmarking-surveys

This complimentary 18-KPI benchmarking survey report will provide your organization with a quick snapshot of your company compared to the industry you have selected. Once we receive the information, we will verify the data and set up a 40-minute benchmarking Readout with a Certified Contact Center Expert! After the review, you will receive a copy of the 18-KPI report and the benchmarking presentation to share internally with your organization.
This benchmarking survey comes with the following:

• 18-KPI Benchmarking Survey Report
• Complimentary 40-min. report readout with a BMP Expert
• A copy of the analysis PowerPoint presentation

26 Days Left To Enter The 2014 Top 100 Call Centers Contest Entry Deadline: January 31, 2014

26 Days Left To Enter
The 2014 Top 100 Call Centers Contest
Entry Deadline: January 31, 2014

Enter By Completing One Of The Following Surveys:
(Please note that we will notify winners via the email provided along with the data submission.)

16-KPI Benchmarking Survey:
Click Here To Download and Complete the Complimentary 16-KPI Benchmarking Survey

40-KPI Benchmarking Survey:  

Click Here To Purchase and Download The 40-KPI Benchmarking Surey 

40-KPI Benchmarking Survey: $999. The 40-KPI in-depth survey will provide your organization with an even deeper dive into the current state of your contact center. All certification and assessment clients will automatically be entered. 

To pay for success celebrations for the winners, nine cash awards ranging from $500 to $2000 will be given to the highest-ranking entrants in three categories of call centers: small, medium and large.
 

Entry in the Top 100 Call Center Contest is free and will close on January 31, 2014. Winners will be determined by the comparison and ranking of key performance indicator data. Centers are benchmarked against other industry peers first, and then are ranked against other centers of a similar size.

As part of the contest, BenchmarkPortal offers a complimentary expert review of the data to show each center the performance gaps and associated costs.

As a Participant In The Contest You Will Receive The Following:

• A complete copy of your 16-KPI Benchmarking Survey - RealityCheck™ report and a full readout with a certified expert ($650 Value). During the readout, the expert will explain how the report works and review performance gaps compared with your industry. This will indicate what you are doing well and will identify areas to improve. It will also provide an idea of the money you could save by eliminating your negative performance gaps.
• Entry into contest for Most Improved Call Center (2014)
• BenchmarkPortal will announce the top 3 winners from each category in a press release sent to national media outlets
• Cash prizes are awarded to the top 3 winners in each category
• All Top 100 companies from each group can purchase a trophy to commemorate the achievement.
• All Top 100 companies from each group will be able to use the Top 100 Seal on all marketing pieces including: Web site, social media, advertisements, print ads and press releases
• BenchmarkPortal will be celebrating the Top 100 participants and Top 3 winners in each category at the annual Call Center Campus in Las Vegas. Organizations that placed in the Top 100 will receive a certificate and trophy announcing their accomplishment.

Winner Announcement: The results for The Top 100 contest will be announced by March 31st, 2014.

Visit The Top 100 Call Center Contest Page For More Information   »

Government Sector Performance Solutions Initiative

BenchmarkPortal is embarking on a new government sector initiative that will help government contact centers optimize their operations in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, utilizing statistically validated analysis and best practices. 

Our government performance solutions include the following activities, which can be tailored to meet the specific needs of individual agencies:

• Benchmarking.  Benchmark your operations against the world’s largest database of contact center metrics.  Compare your performance to other government centers as well as to centers in the private sector.  We will work with you to turn your benchmarked metrics into actionable management information.
• Assessment Services.  Our on-site assessments provide managers with findings, recommendations and improvement roadmap within four to six weeks, thanks to our automated benchmarking systems and our staff of top-rated experts.
• Audit and validation services.   BenchmarkPortal can be your neutral third party to validate the operating results of your internal operations. If you need oversight, validation or audit of your outsourced operations, BenchmarkPortal is your ideal partner.  You can engage us directly or have us engaged through a prime vendor.  In either case, we will put our analytical knowledge, industry experience and benchmarking database to work to achieve your objectives.
• Executive Order compliance.  BenchmarkPortal knows federal contact centers are obliged to comply with EO 12862, which requires centers to benchmark against private sector centers, and EO 13571, which requires centers to improve performance in a measurable way by implementing new technology.  BenchmarkPortal can provide the metrics and the expertise you need through its innovative Fed S.I.R.V (Federal Service Improvement and Results Validation) offering.  This offering provides exceptional value andqualifies for simplified acquisition due to its modest price point. 
• Training.  Our College of Call Center Excellence provides training to all levels of contact center personnel. 
• Custom Consulting and Other Assistance.  Whether you want a close look at your IVR or quality management systems, or if you need to outsource an entire operation, we welcome the opportunity to talk with you.

To date, BenchmarkPortal has assisted numerous government call center operations, such as the IRS, VA, DHS, USPS, SSA, FBI, Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, and the military, as well as the State of North Carolina and many other state, provincial and municipal operations. These public sector operations join over half of the Fortune 500 companies in leveraging BenchmarkPortal offerings to increase quality and lower costs, which in today’s economy is something both our government and industry partners strive to achieve.

BenchmarkPortal has been benchmarking and analyzing government sector contact center data for over a decade, and is committed to helping improve the performance of government contact centers at the federal, state and local levels.  We are confident that this program will allow government contact centers to save money that can be spent on other important and necessary unfunded requirements. 

BenchmarkPortal is a small business entity, is registered on SAMS and has a GSA contract through the GSA IT 70 Schedule (GSA Contract # GS-35F-0401Y). 

To spearhead our new government sector initiative, BenchmarkPortal is collaborating with Ms. Caylee A. Drucker, a Business to Government Subject Matter Expert.  She brings over 27 years of government experience and understanding of the culture through her time in the military, as a federal employee and as a government contractor.  Ms. Drucker was a member of the BenchmarkPortal team over 13 years ago. We are excited to have her back to lead this new initiative.

New Multi-Channel Benchmark Survey

BenchmarkPortal announces the launch of its continuous Multi-Channel benchmarking, which represents a major improvement over previous efforts to benchmark multi-channel contact centers.

“As always, we wanted to do much more than just put interesting numbers side by side,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Our Multi-Channel benchmark reports include a statistically advanced Performance Matrix and provide the ingredients for in-depth discussions on strengths, weaknesses and ways to reduce costs and improve quality.”

The survey is unique in that it is continuously updated under BenchmarkPortal’s patented benchmarking process, which feeds the world’s largest database of contact center metrics.

Contact center managers who are familiar with benchmarking will find the new Multi-Channel survey format visually attractive and user friendly. Users of BenchmarkPortal’s RealityCheck™ and In-depth RealityCheck™ surveys will see the same questions they have provided in the past for their voice channel, plus questions for chat, email, social media and other.

For managers who want to benchmark for the first time, the format and glossary of terms have been tailored to simplify the process. BenchmarkPortal experts are also available to assist with any questions.

“A major challenge was dealing with issues of efficiency, especially issues of agent time utilization in a multi-channel environment,” added Belfiore. “Our research and technology team, led by John Chatterley, David Raia and Jeff Grossman, did a superb job in putting the puzzle pieces together. We are very excited about the results.”

As an added feature, users of BenchmarkPortal’s Multi-Channel surveys will receive interpretive “read-outs” of their individual reports. These read-outs are given by BenchmarkPortal’s certified experts through a WebEx-style interactive presentation. These are designed to provide useful analysis and discussion of best practices solutions. With over 40 industry verticals (including government and non-profit), the Multi-Channel surveys ensure apples-to-apples comparisons.

The new Multi-Channel survey will be used in BenchmarkPortal’s well-known Center of Excellence certification program, as well as in its Center Assessment offerings.

Those interested in the new Multi-Channel™ Surveys should visit their website.

Complimentary RealityCheck 16-KPI Multi-Channel™ Survey

In-Depth RealityCheck 40-KPI Multi-Channel™ Survey

http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-benchmarking/call-center-benchmarking-surveys

BenchmarkPortal 2013 Top 100 Call Centers Contest Ends on January 31, 2013

BenchmarkPortal ranks the top call center operations in North America based on operational and financial metrics. Deadline to enter contest is January 31, 2013.

BenchmarkPortal, (http://www.benchmarkportal.com) a leading call center consulting services group, announces the 2013 Top 100 Call Center Contest entry deadline is January 31, 2013. Participants submit performance data on key operating metrics, using BenchmarkPortal’s 12 KPI (RealityCheck) Call Center benchmarking survey.

Completion of the survey not only grants entry in the contest but also provides a baseline from which to improve your operation and save your company money. Once the survey is completed and submitted, BenchmarkPortal will schedule a “readout with one of their certified experts, who will review the data and organize it in a personalized webcast. During the readout, the expert will explain how the report works and review performance gaps compared with others in the industry.” This unique benchmarking process allows managers to see how they compare to others in their industry sector. The key performance indicators “KPI’s” that will be collected are metrics such as abandonment rate, hold time and average call time.

This BenchmarkPortal contest can be a valuable tool for your organization. Benchmarking will provide companies with best practice standards and provide an opportunity for managers to show off all the hard work they’ve put into their call centers --, they can find out more on where they can improve the process.

Contestants must complete the survey by January 31, 2013. Winners will be broken down into three subdivisions for small (100 agents and under), medium (101-249 agents) and large call centers (250+ agents). The winners in each category will have the highest statistical values for efficiency and effectiveness. To pay for success celebrations for the winners, nine cash awards, ranging from $500 to $2000, will be given to the highest-ranking entrants in three categories of call centers. BenchmarkPortal will release the results of the contest by March 31, 2013.

In addition to identifying the best in the business, the contest will also rank call centers that have made the most significant improvements since 2012’s contest. Enrollees this year will be automatically entered in the category for Most Improved Center in 2013.

Top 100 Call Center Contest  participants will be given the option to use the award seals in marketing programs, on product packaging and product support materials, as well as for internal/ external recognition programs. Past participants have used the Top 100 seals in various marketing pieces including: Web sites, social media, advertisements, print ads and press announcements with great success.

To find out how your center ranks among your peers, visit the Top 100 Call Center Contest page; find out more about the 12 KPI Call Center Benchmarking Survey (RealityCheck) and enter the Call Center Top 100 contest.

BenchmarkPortal Improves Call Center Evaluation Through Automation

Bruce Belfiore from BenchmarkPortal explains how automation helps deliver better and more timely benchmark data on call center metrics and performance.

TMC.net Interviews Bruce Belfiore about iBenchmark

CEO, Bruce Belfiore was recently interviewed by TMC.net to discuss Benchmarking automation. Watch this video to learn about how automated benchmarking can help improve your center.

Webinar on Technology Improving Contact Centers - iBenchmark - The First Automated Benchmarking Technology!

Please watch this complimentary webinar about the hottest innovation in benchmarking technology - iBenchmark!

In this webinar, you will learn how iBenchmark will:

• Greatly improve customer service and pinpoint areas of potential cost savings
• Automate the data entry process for benchmarking - leaving you more time to manage and improve
• Provide monthly reports comparing your center's metrics to the industry and averages over a one-year period
• Uncover performance gaps compared with the industry
• Quantify and monetize gaps to show impact
• Point toward issues and insights regarding people, processes, technology
• Provide basis for improvement roadmaps and goal setting
• Help you determine the competitive impact of improvements in metrics before you invest time and money (using the unique interactive "Sandbox Tool")
• Provide hard evidence of value you bring to the enterprise

​...and this all comes with a BenchmarkPortal expert! The low price includes one hour of analysis, tracking and discussion each month with your own expert.

iBenchmark automated benchmarking puts technology and advanced processes to work for contact center managers without the hassle of finding and inputting the metrics manually. Thanks to secure, easy-to-install technology that is hosted and managed by BenchmarkPortal, iBenchmark provides managers with a powerful, actionable tool, operated with our patented benchmarking methodology. View iBenchmark Website

Duration: 1 Hour
Presenters: Bruce Belfiore, CEO, BenchmarkPortal & Chris Rouse, Marketing Director, Symmetrics

BenchmarkPortal and Symmetrics Presents a Live Webinar on iBenchmark, The Latest Innovation in Call Center Benchmarking Technology

The BenchmarkPortal and Symmetrics live webinar entitled “iBenchmark - Latest Innovation in Call Center Benchmarking Technology” will be available by registering here - iBenchmark Webinar Registratrion.
iBenchmark, is an automated benchmarking product that puts patented technology and advanced processes to work for people who manage contact centers, providing benchmarking reports every month without the aggravation of manually finding and inputting a long list of metrics.
Participating centers receive easy-to-install software that transmits their ACD metrics securely and automatically to BenchmarkPortal's database, the largest in the world of contact center metrics. Managers are then able to access a series of useful, benchmark-related reports via their own, password-protected area of BenchmarkPortal's website.
The service includes time each month with a BenchmarkPortal certified expert, who is trained to help interpret the benchmarking results and guide managers through a process of discernment, decision-making and execution of improvement initiatives. This includes tracking the company’s metrics and calculating improvements in terms of costs, quality and customer satisfaction. In this way, iBenchmark will become a valued management tool on a continuing basis.
In this webinar, you will learn how iBenchmark will:

• Greatly improve customer service and pinpoint areas of potential cost savings
• Provide monthly reports comparing your center's metrics to the industry and averages over a one-year period
• Help you determine the competitive impact of improvements in metrics before you invest time and money (using the interactive "Sandbox Tool")
• Uncover performance gaps compared with the industry
• Point toward issues with people, processes, technology
• Quantify and monetize gaps to show impact
• Assist with decision-making and provide management with insights
• Provide basis for improvement roadmaps and goal setting
• Become a key element in your manager’s toolbox
• Provide hard evidence of value you bring to the enterprise

"iBenchmark represents a major step forward", noted Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal. "By automating the data collection process and providing a trained expert to help with interpretation, discernment of gaps and identification of practical solutions, iBenchmark is an exceptional management tool. Also, the ease of installation and monthly payment model makes it user friendly and extremely affordable. We can guarantee a positive ROI for those who use iBenchmark."

Monitoring call center performance on a monthly basis allows managers to make decisions and select improvement initiatives that will have measurable impact on the financial and operational performance of the contact center.

Join the CEO of BenchmarkPortal, Bruce Belfiore, as he explains how automated benchmarking can help you and your center. He will be joined by Chris Rouse of Symmetrics, creator of the secure software that powers iBenchmark. Chris will highlight the benefits of automation and the importance to management of accurate, timely data.

Register here for BenchmarkPortal’s complimentary webinar on Thurs., May 31, 2012 at 10am PT/11am MT/12pm CT/1pm ET.

BenchmarkPortal Introduces iBenchmark - Automated Benchmarking Tool The Latest Innovation in Call Center Technology Best Practices

BenchmarkPortal announces the launch ofiBenchmark, (http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-benchmarking/ibenchmark). This automated benchmarking product puts patented technology and advanced processes to work for people who manage contact centers, providing benchmarking reports every month without the aggravation of manually finding and inputting a long list of metrics.

Participating centers receive easy-to-install software that transmits their ACD metrics securely and automatically to BenchmarkPortal's database, the largest in the world of contact center metrics. Managers are then able to access a series of useful, benchmark-related reports via their own, password-protected area of BenchmarkPortal's website.

The service includes time each month with a BenchmarkPortal certified expert, who is trained to help interpret the benchmarking results and guide managers through a process of discernment, decision-making and execution of improvement initiatives. This includes tracking the company’s metrics and calculating improvements in terms of costs, quality and customer satisfaction. In this way, iBenchmark will become a valued management tool on a continuing basis.

iBenchmark reports can become key components of presentations to senior management; they will show the progress managers are making and the value they are adding.

"iBenchmark represents a major step forward", noted Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal. "By automating the data collection process and providing a trained expert to help with interpretation, discernment of gaps and identification of practical solutions, iBenchmark is an exceptional management tool. Also, the ease of installation and monthly payment model makes it user friendly and extremely affordable. We can guarantee a positive ROI for those who use iBenchmark."

Monitoring call center performance on a monthly basis allows managers to make decisions and select improvement initiatives that will have measurable impact on the financial and operational performance of the contact center.

iBenchmark Can Empower Call Centers in the Following Ways:
●     Uncovers performance gaps compared with the industry
●     Points toward issues with people, processes, technology
●     Gaps can be quantified and monetized to show impact
●     Assists with decision-making and provides management with valuable insights
●     Provides basis for improvement roadmaps and goal setting
●     Key element in manager’s toolbox
●     Produces hard evidence of value brought to the enterprise by the contact center

The Advantage of Expert Advice – BMP’s Certified Experts:
●     Have years of contact center experience
●     Are recognized leaders, instructors and authors
●     Provide monthly updates via WebEx-style conference call
●     Are available for on-site assistance
●     Provide just the right level of support for managers’ individual needs
●     Can demonstrate savings and ROI - even EPS calculations

Monthly Technology Solution
BenchmarkPortal will provide call centers with the iBenchmark data connector that allows the ACD (and eventually IVR and Workforce Management Systems) to automatically encrypt and transmit metrics to BenchmarkPortal's secure database. To do this, BenchmarkPortal partnered with Symmetrics, creator of proven software that is simple to install and which makes the transfer of data easy and secure. Currently iBenchmark is available for Nortel, Avaya and Cisco ACDs. Connectors for other ACDs will be made available during the course of 2012. A series of useful reports turns your metrics into rich management information that will allow you to monitor your competitive performance and make important decisions on improvement initiatives for your center.

Security of Data
BenchmarkPortal has been the trusted repository of confidential contact center data for over a decade. BenchmarkPortal takes their responsibility in this regard very seriously. The software developed with partner Symmetrics Business Intelligence maintains and enhances this tradition of data security.

For additional information on iBenchmark, visit: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-benchmarking/ibenchmark

BenchmarkPortal Announces The 2012 Top 100 Call Centers Contest Winners

BenchmarkPortal Announces The 2012 Top 100 Call Centers Contest Winners

BenchmarkPortal, (http://www.benchmarkportal.com.) a leading call center consulting services group, recently announced the winners of its 2012 Top 100 Call Center Contest. Participants submitted performance data on key operating metrics. The three winners in each of three categories had the highest statistical values for efficiency and effectiveness, as computed by BenchmarkPortal's expert formula, using the world’s largest database of call center metrics.

The highest ranking centers in the large center (250+ agents) category are: Cigna (first place); Affinion Group (second place); and Regions Bank (third place). Medium-size center (100 to 249 agents) winners, from first to third place, respectively, are: the City of Edmonton (Alberta), BMO Harris Bank, and New York Life Insurance Co., AARP Operation. Small-size center winners (5 to 99 agents) are, from first to third place: Delage Landen, Neill Corp., and Delta Dental of Wisconsin.

“BenchmarkPortal salutes the winners – they are definitely leaders in the call center industry,” said Bruce Belfiore, BenchmarkPortal CEO. “Our Top 100 Award places a contact center among the best in the industry in terms of quality of service and cost efficiency. Their key metrics were benchmarked against our database – the largest in the world of contact center metrics. This is a great accomplishment.”

The contest participants were judged on their key performance indicators – including first call resolution, cost per call, call waiting time, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction. Each participant received a complimentary 22-page customized report benchmarking their company against their peers, as well as a confidential web-based readout of the report with a certified BenchmarkPortal expert.

“The award process is based on actual performance,” stated Belfiore. “Recipients of the Top 100 Award have demonstrated, on a very objective basis, that they provide superior service and financial performance as compared with their peers. We congratulate them.”