Service Agreements

[reekablaine]

Hi,

We're setting up a call center for our company. We plan to outsource in the future and I'd like to know how service level agreements are made.

I would also appreciate help on how much should we charge for our services. Should we charge per hour, per agent, per sale or closed transactions?

[Rebecca Oettinger]

Hi Reeka.

Our firm works with a very good contact center outsourcing company called Productivity Point International. They would be a good source for specific answers to your question. However, hopefully I can provide some insights. The industry typically designs SLAs on a per transaction basis with detailed ranges for acceptable metrics including closed transactions. For example, $11 per call based on answering 80% of the calls in less than 20 seconds, first call resolution over 90%, etc. Obviously the cost and specific metrics depend on the type of calls handled.

The problem with SLAs degined around per hour or per agent measures is it does not encourage outsourcers to be as productive as possible. Per sales measures may be good but if not designed correctly cause agents to focus on sales versus customer service. Again, which SLA you select often depends on the type of call center you operate and your business objectives.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Good luck!
Rebecca

Rebecca Oettinger, Consultant
Sibson Consulting, The Segal Company
p: 609.520.2779 f: 609.520.0369

[Frank A. Engle]

Reeka-

You will find in the outsourcing world that some clients have a very clear idea of what they want in SLA's and others don't know and sometimes don't care. The best advise I can give is to calculate the optimum "universal" SLA's for your firm based on cost to deliver, vertical markets served, and capacity of your center and then seek out business that closely fits your model. You will always have to adjust based on client need, but it really helps if you know at what SLA point you need to start when contract negotiations begin. The more the client varies from you "sweet spot" SLA's, the more it will probably cost them...unless their standards are significantly less stringent than yours.

As for charging by the hour, agent, sale or transaction...the type of market and the way you serve it will generally dictate the industry standard method to charge. Once your business plan has detailed your target clients and services offered, it should be easy to identify your charging method.

Hope this helps-