A contact center that isn’t continuously improving is falling behind.
Self-audits are how the best operations stay ahead.
Here’s how to run one:
Step 1: Baseline everything.
Ask your contact center leader for the last ~12 months of data. Make sure you get attrition, average handle time, and absenteeism. Trend all of it and look for outlier months.
How fast your leaders can produce these numbers is already telling you something.
Step 2: Benchmark against your industry.
Go to ChatGPT or Gemini. Tell it about your industry, your call types, your patients or customers. Ask what metrics you should be watching and what the averages are for your space.
It’ll pull published benchmarks and give you a starting point for comparison.
Step 3: Pick 3-4 leading indicators.
Once you’ve got your baselines and benchmarks for every metric, identify the 3-4 that will most directly drive performance improvement and build your improvement plans around those specifically.
Lastly, avoid framing this as a punitive audit. If people think you’re there to catch them doing something wrong, the process tends to break down. Keep the focus on improvement, and people are much more likely to actually engage with it.
The best-run contact centers aren’t doing this once a year. They’re doing it all the time.
When was the last time your contact center data was audited?
I’m Mark Danielson, and I help healthcare leaders reduce support costs while improving patient satisfaction.
Follow me for practical insights on cutting contact center costs, improving service quality, and modernizing operations without the tradeoffs.
