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Call Center Reporting Guide for Businesses

February 8, 2024   •   9 min read

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While trained frontline call center agents adeptly handle customer interactions, manager and leader roles have become a delicate balancing act — ensuring that call center operations remain efficient while positively impacting the bottom line. To navigate this, they employ call center reporting—a systematic process for collecting and analyzing call center and agent performance data, typically presented through dashboards.   

Today, call center reporting has become indispensable for ensuring seamless operations and meeting customers' elevated expectations.    In this blog, learn everything about call center reporting — key metrics, formulas to calculate them and how call centers interpret this information. Also, explore the tangible benefits of call center reporting and best practices to elevate your approach to customer service excellence. 

What is call center reporting?

How does call center reporting improve customer service, call center reporting vs. call center analytics  , key metrics to monitor for call center reporting, i. agent performance reports, ii. service level reports, iii. call volume reports, iv. customer satisfaction (csat) reports  , top benefits of real-time reporting in a call center  , 7 call center reporting best practices  .

Call center reporting is the process of collecting, analyzing and presenting data related to call center performance and customer interactions. The data is gathered through various customer service channels, including reports, dashboards, scorecards, analytics tools and performance summaries.

It's a bit like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. You collect data from different sources like your automatic call distribution, IVR and workforce management systems, and then covert that raw data into user-friendly reports to create the overall picture. The reports rely heavily on visual aids like charts and graphs for quick comprehension.

Effective call center reporting plays a crucial role in ensuring top-notch customer service. Here's how it contributes:

2. Issue identification Call center reports help identify recurring issues or bottlenecks in the customer service process, so you can so you can adopt a proactive approach to problem-solving. These reports typically represent issues visually, helping supervisors prioritize and address them efficiently.

3. Resource allocation By analyzing the report's data, you can ace call center scheduling and optimize resource allocation for peak times. Customized reports also offer real-time insights, which means you can make instant adjustments to ensure the right number of agents are available at a given time. This dynamic approach enhances efficiency, syncing call center workforce management with customer demand.

Good to know: Modern workforce management software uses AI to predict future case volumes, handling times and SLAs accurately across all channels based on historical data, with added flexibility to model events as adjustments.

Though sometimes mistaken for the same thing, call center reporting is different from call center analytics. Both terms have distinct purposes and focus areas. 

  Read More: Customer Service Analytics – A Comprehensive Guide  

To leverage call center reporting effectively, businesses must monitor key metrics and KPIs such as:

Average handle time (AHT)

AHT is the average time an agent spends handling a customer interaction, including talk time and any related after-call work.

Ideal interpretation: The lower the AHT, the better. As this indicates efficiency in resolving customer issues.

First call resolution (FCR)

FCR is the percentage of customer issues resolved on the first interaction without the need for follow-up.

Ideal interpretation: A higher percentage indicates effective problem-solving and customer satisfaction . 

Call quality score

These are scores assigned to evaluate the quality of interactions based on predefined criteria.

Formula : Typically determined through a scoring system based on agent performance criteria

Ideal Interpretation : Higher scores indicate better adherence to quality standards.

Adherence to schedule

This refers to the percentage of time an agent adheres to their assigned schedule.

Ideal Interpretation : Higher percentages reflect better schedule adherence.

Read More : Important Call Center Agent Performance Metrics to Track [+Optimization Tips]

Service level

Service level is the percentage of calls answered within a specified time frame.

Ideal Interpretation : Higher percentages indicate better service levels.

Average speed of answer (ASA)

The average time it takes for calls to be answered by agents.

Ideal Interpretation : The lower, the better as this indicates faster response times.

Abandoned call rate

Call abandonment rate is the percentage of calls abandoned by customers before being answered.

Ideal Interpretation : Lower percentages are preferred, indicating better customer patience and service levels.

Occupancy rate

The percentage of time an agent spends actively handling calls or other productive work.

Ideal Interpretation : A higher percentage indicates better call center agent utilization .

The average time callers spend waiting in the queue before an agent answers.

Ideal Interpretation: The lower, the better, indicating shorter hold times for customers. 

Must Read: How to Measure Call Center Productivity  

Inbound and outbound call volume  

This is simply the total number of incoming and outgoing calls during a specific period. 

Formula : Straightforward count 

Ideal Interpretation : It depends on an organization's goals and capacity planning. 

Learn More:  Inbound vs. Outbound Call Center: Which is Right for Your Business?    

Peak call hours

Peak call hours are specific time periods with the highest call volume. 

Formula: Not applicable (based on observed call patterns). 

Ideal Interpretation: This data is useful for optimizing staffing during high-demand periods.

Bonus Read: How Voice Bots Can Help Manage High Call Volume in the Contact Center   

Call forecast accuracy   

This refers to the accuracy of predicting call volumes compared to the actual number of calls. 

Ideal Interpretation: A lower percentage indicates better forecast accuracy. 

Read More: What is Call Center Forecasting?

Average wait time  

The average time a caller spends waiting in the queue before being connected to an agent. 

Ideal Interpretation: The lower, the better, indicating shorter customer wait times.  

CSAT scores  

Customers assign CSAT scores based on their satisfaction with the service received.  Formula:

Typically determined through a scoring system based on customer feedback.

  Ideal Interpretation: A high CSAT score signifies that a substantial number of customers are satisfied with their experience. 

Net Promoter Score (NPS)  

Net promoter score (NPS) indicates the likelihood of customers recommending the company to others. 

Ideal Interpretation: Higher NPS values indicate a higher likelihood of customer advocacy.   Good Read: How to Improve the Net Promoter Score of Your Brand    

Customer effort score (CES)  

A metric evaluating the ease with which customers can achieve their goals. 

Formula: Typically determined through a scoring system based on customer feedback.

Ideal Interpretation: Lower customer effort scores indicate lower customer effort and higher satisfaction. 

An actionable, insight-rich call center report must serve as the call center's pulse point. Decision-makers should be able to study the report and make dynamic, split-second changes in their operations. Here's why real-time reporting is so crucial:  

Quick response to trends and patterns 

Real-time reporting enables call center managers to identify emerging trends and patterns in customer interactions instantly. 

This allows for immediate adjustments in strategies, resource allocation or training to address changing customer needs. 

Timely responses to trends ensure that the call center remains agile and responsive to changing customer expectations. 

Proactive issue resolution  

With real-time reporting, call centers can proactively identify and address issues as they arise during customer interactions. 

Immediate awareness of potential challenges allows for timely intervention, preventing problems from customer escalation . 

Proactive issue resolution contributes to a smoother customer experience and helps maintain high service levels. 

Learn More: Tips for Creating a Proactive Customer Service Strategy  

Enhanced performance monitoring (Whisper, Barge-In)  

Real-time reporting provides enhanced performance monitoring through features like whisper and barge-in. 

Whisper allows supervisors to provide real-time guidance to agents during customer calls without the customer hearing, improving agent performance. 

Barge-in enables supervisors to join live calls to address issues or provide assistance directly, enhancing training opportunities and service quality.  

💡 Do you know: With advanced AI-powered analytics and reporting software , you can monitor end-to-end customer journeys and analyze customer interaction data using multi-level drill-downs. 

To maximize reporting effectiveness, you should follow best practices that ensure accurate data collection, meaningful analysis and actionable insights. Here are seven best practices with the highest impact on call center reporting: 

1. Define clear objectives 

Before implementation, define clear objectives and goals. What do you want to achieve with your reporting efforts? Building well-defined objectives ensures you collect and analyze data relevant to your business's priorities. 

2. Choose the right software  

Invest in software that aligns with your business needs and goals. Look for a solution that offers customizable dashboards, real-time reporting capabilities and the ability to integrate with other systems. 

Editor’s Pick: Top 11 Call Center Software for 2023-24  

3. Standardize metrics and KPIs  

Standardize the call center KPIs and metrics to ensure consistency in data collection and reporting, making it easier to compare performance over time.  

4. Conduct regular training  

Ensure that your customer service representatives and call center managers are well-trained in using the reporting tools and understanding the metrics. Training helps agents make data-driven decisions and leverage reporting effectively. 

Read More: 13 Call Center Skills for Agent Success   

5. Implement data quality checks 

Regularly audit and validate your data to ensure its accuracy and reliability. Data quality checks help prevent errors that can lead to misguided decisions. 

6. Establish data governance  

Implement data governance practices to ensure data security, compliance with regulations and proper data handling procedures. Protecting sensitive customer information is paramount. 

Addressing data security concerns head-on, Sprinklr AI+ provides robust protection by masking critical information, including dates, times, email IDs, URLs, IP addresses, driving licenses and medical license numbers. Our regex masking capabilities further tailor data protection to meet specific customer requirements.   

7. Foster a culture of continuous improvement  

Encourage a culture of continuous improvement within your call center. Regularly review performance data, identify areas for enhancement and implement changes based on your analysis. 

Know More: Top 13 Call Center Quality Assurance Best Practices  

Ace call center reporting with Sprinklr Service  

In the ever-evolving landscape of customer service, the challenges posed by outdated reporting systems — inefficiencies, blind spots and missed opportunities — are all too familiar. As we've explored the intricacies of call center reporting and best practices, it's clear that modern challenges demand modern solutions.  

Enter Sprinklr Service , your answer to streamlined and efficient call center reporting, providing real-time insights into agent and customer behavior. 

Through advanced conversational analysis and comprehensive dashboards designed for agents and supervisors, Sprinklr Service empowers you to enhance your ability to provide swift and effective resolutions and pinpoint and address underlying issues at a granular level.   

Sprinklr Service is available for a 30-day free trial to explore the platform at your own pace. If you want a customized product walkthrough for your team, schedule a demo and our team will be happy to assist you.

Frequently Asked Questions

To create a call center report, gather relevant data from call center software, choose key performance metrics and format the report with graphs and charts for easy interpretation. Use software tools like Excel or specialized call center reporting software.   

Businesses should review call center reports regularly, typically on a weekly or monthly basis. This will help them identify trends, monitor performance and make data-driven adjustments to improve customer service.

Yes, compliance considerations are crucial when generating call center reports. Businesses must adhere to data protection regulations, ensure confidentiality and comply with industry standards to safeguard customer information and maintain legal and ethical standards. 

Related Topics

Article Authors

Surbhi Nahata

Jayadeep Subhashis

Senior Content Specialist , Sprinklr

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A Guide to Call Centre Reports – with Examples

For more information on this podcast, or alternative ways to listen, visit Podcast – How to Improve Your Call Centre Reporting

We define call centre reporting, before sharing some examples of key reports and great tips to best use them in your operation.

What Is Call Centre Reporting?

Call centre reporting is defined as the process of stripping key insights from within contact centre systems into specific reports. This will typically include your ACD system.

Your ACD system will automatically create reports for you – both historical and in real time.

Your ACD system (Automatic Call Distributor) will automatically create reports for you – both historical and in real time. These include agent activity reports, agent status reports and call detail records – to name just a few.

These reports will contain lots of great information, which we can turn into graphs and charts in order to spot key trends. There are reporting tools that will do this automatically for you.

However, these days, it is not just the ACD system that will provide you with key reports – although this will still be the key place to go for most reporting.

For example, your CRM system will also give you great sales reports. So, don’t limit your reporting to just your ACD system, also take a look at the other metrics that contact centre systems may provide you with.

The Top 7 Examples of Call Centre Reports

Here are the top examples of call centre reports that include some interesting insights. Each of these can be taken from your contact centre’s ACD system.

1. Agent Activity Reports

An agent activity report is typically historical and will contain a whole host of information regarding an advisor’s daily “output”. This is sometimes known as an agent detail report.

The report provides a summary of individual activity and includes statistics such as:

• Number of calls handled
• The total handle time for those calls
• Average handling time
• Shortest and longest handle time

Nowadays, it is possible for these reports to be accessed in real time, and they may also show which channel each agent is handling at the time of viewing.

An agent group report that does this can be found below:

In this report, we can also see the number of inbound calls answered and emails that have been responded to, as well as the number of held calls now.

2. Agent Status Reports

An agent availability report is a real-time report. It gives the names of individual agents and their user IDs, while also showing their ACD state.

Agents will typically be in one of a number of ACD states. These include:

• Busy (Handling a contact)
• Wrapping up
• Unavailable / Idle

Alongside this, the report will also show the leader how long the agent has been in each state – which will make it obvious when an advisor may need additional support.

An example of an agent availability report can be seen below:

Historical agent availability reports can also be accessed to see when agents signed in and out and how long they were in each state. This enables us calculate schedule adherence and occupancy .

By having this view of how long agents were in each state we can also check to see if agents were playing tricks to avoid working – such as taking tactical toilet breaks or extending wrap time.

Historical agent availability reports are also known as “trace reports”.

Find out more sneaky agent tactics and how to spot them, in our article: 7 Tricks That Call Centre Employees Play

3. Call Abandon Reports

Call Abandon Reports are very useful in that they show you the percentage of calls that abandoned and details of the time before abandoning.

While these are the standard features of a call abandon report, some reports will also show the average wait time for a call to be abandoned, along with the longest a customer waited before they abandoned their call.

The beauty of these reports is that they provide data which allows us to create call abandon curves, just like the example below.

Find out how to plot an abandon curve in our article: How to Bring Down Your Call-Abandon Rates

These abandon curves will enable us to assess whether our service level is appropriate, by identifying where you are losing the majority of customers.

For more on the relationship between call abandons and service level, read our article: How to Predict Call Abandon Rates Based on Service Level

4. Call Detail Records

Most ACD systems will generate individual reports for every call. These are often referred to as “call detail reports”.

Call detail reports give the start time and end time of a call, how long it was in the queue and also the details of the caller – if they were recognized through Caller Line Identification (CLI), as well as if the call was abandoned.

Put simply, these reports will contain information regarding:

• When the call took place
• Who called (through caller ID recognition)
• How long the call was “on hold”
• How long the call lasted

Some modern ACD systems will also provide details as to whether the call was transferred and may even automatically report the cost-per-call.

When agents also enter a disposition code into the ACD regarding what the call was about, this will also appear in the call detail record.

Contact centres can use these to analyse contact reasons, repeat calls and transfer rates – while other departments can also find use in them.

For example, the billing department can use these to record how funds are spent, log the use of the telephone system and, most importantly, resolve disputes.

5. Call Transfer / Call Direction Reports

These reports are key to helping you to understand your contact centre demand…

These reports are key to helping you to understand your contact centre demand, highlighting how many inbound and outbound calls are made over a specified period of time.

However, these reports may not only show your inbound and outbound demand, but also how many internal calls are made to other departments.

Across these three call directions or “channels”, you will be able to see a whole host of other statistics, including:

• Total number of calls received/made
• Total call duration
• Average call duration
• Longest call duration

Combining these statistics with reports from other systems will show you your channel mix and how that is changing. This is an important consideration for contact centre forecasting.

6. Inbound Call Summary

This is an important one for all of you workforce planners, as this report takes you through inbound call statistics, across various time periods. This includes:

• Months of the year
• Days of the week
• Hours of the day

Once you start to map these out, you will notice key trends and seasonality statistics. This is the bread and butter of contact centre forecasting.

For instance, here is an example of a call arrival pattern, which you can create from these reports, in order to see demand across the day.

From this chart, we can see how our staffing needs to vary across the day and we can build our agent schedules to match this pattern.

In addition, inbound call summary reports will also allow you to split contact volumes between different agents and groups, which can be useful when reviewing your resource planning success across different departments within the contact centre.

Just like with inbound calls, there is also an “outbound call summary”.

7. Queue Activity Reports

These reports give insights into customer behaviour when waiting in different queues, for a timeframe that you will likely be able to set within the ACD system.

Insights from these reports include the average wait time before calls were answered and the longest wait time before a call was answered.

To add context to this information, the reports will also likely include how many calls were handled across each queue.

Some systems may also present even more information in their queue activity reports, such as total calls that met service level – an interesting metric for those in resource planning.

For more metrics that workforce planners may want to look into, read our article: Which KPIs Do I Need for Contact Centre WFM?

What Is the Difference Between Standard and Custom Reports?

“A standard report is a compromise for the many, while a custom report is focused on the individual contact centre and its team,” says Colin Gil, Head of Product and Solutions at Akixi.

That is not to say, however, that a standard report doesn’t have its benefits, as they are created by the vendor to create visibility and efficiency for each user.

Yet with custom reports you can create original reports and make edits to standard reports. This means that they are defined by you and focused on the individual needs of your business.

The best approach therefore might be to start with standard reports, but to customize them as you go.

Eventually, you will get to the point where you have easy-to-use reports that are different for key user groups. These might be team leaders, the WFM team and wallboards – each displaying relevant organizational goals and targets.

Here’s an example of what you might customize your wallboard to look like:

7 Tips to Be Successful in Your Call Centre Reporting

Here’s some great advice for extracting more value from your reporting.

1. Benchmark Key Statistics

When you look at these numbers and key KPIs, they need to have context, so we need to be monitoring and measuring our key statistics.

To do this well, we will likely have to set internal benchmarks and evaluate our performance against that benchmark. This will allow us to better manage performance.

2. Check for Agent Well-Being

Reporting should be used to get a glimpse of agent behaviour. But we shouldn’t only be looking out for negative behaviours. We need to ensure that advisors aren’t being overwhelmed – especially as more contact centres turn to remote working.

We shouldn’t only be looking out for negative behaviours. We need to ensure that advisors aren’t being overwhelmed…

Colin recommends looking for patterns, such as: “Are agents taking frequent breaks? Are they making sure they are taking the right breaks? We’ve got to keep occupancy at a reasonable level and schedule adherence on the right track.”

3. Customize Your Dashboards

Try and build multiple reports onto the same screen, so you can monitor agents, queues and active contacts in real time, in order to get a sense of how your contact centre is performing at a quick glance.

You can also use this to monitor the activity of home agents, compare different groups of agents, and maybe you can move them across channels, to better meet live demand.

Martin Hill-Wilson

4. Get a Real-Time Understanding

What matters to customers occurs in real time over the course of a contact or a case, and whether we can understand that fast enough is a key part of customer experience. Our reports should be showing us how well we do this.

“How long does it take us to find out if we have the right skill-mix of advisors that have turned up? How long does it take before something unexpected happens? The clues will ideally be in our real-time reporting,” says Martin Hill-Wilson , Founder of Brainfood Extra .

Hilary King

5. Put a Price on it

With reporting, we can easily look over statistics like call abandons and forget the cost of that. But we can also estimate the cost of abandoned calls and report that too. If this is projected onto a wallboard, this can emphasize the value of meeting service level.

“You’ve got two different angles to look at reporting. First there is agent productivity metrics, but then also in terms of whether customer service and revenue metrics are being met,” adds Hilary King , Head of Marketing at Akixi.

6. Simplify Things Where Necessary

Often the problem with call centre reports is that we are simply overwhelmed with information. So, let’s weigh this up and consider what percentage of our reports are data and what percentage are insights.

Don’t get sucked in by the numbers. Try to get to the root cause and understand how different statistics relate to each other. Focus on getting actionable and find your signal:noise ratio.

7. Understand What’s Important

Within our contact centre systems, there are lots of metrics that we can measure and track. It will take a lot of time to focus on each statistic, so we need to focus on which metrics are important, not just how we present them.

Richard Snow

“What’s important will often depend on which department is measuring performance. Metrics that are used in finance will be quite different from those used in sales – so we need to understand what’s important in each area,” adds Richard Snow , a retired contact centre expert.

This again highlights the value of customizing reports for different departments, but we also need to ensure that there aren’t any conflicting business aims within this.

5 Mistakes to Avoid With Call Centre Reporting

Unfortunately, reporting isn’t quite as easy as it may at first seem and there are lots of key pitfalls that are easy to fall into.

With this in mind, Colin Gil shares his top five call centre reporting mistakes below and shares advice for how to avoid them.

1. Creating Biased Narratives

Reporting isn’t just about gathering numbers; there is a reason behind these numbers and why one day they are different to another, so we need to look to wrap a context around it.

But we need to avoid coming into review sessions with our own ideas and looking at the data to confirm our biases. That is not good reporting, as we cannot substitute storytelling for analysis.

We can’t get carried away with average scores because they may just be one point in a wide variation.

2. Ignoring Trends in Data

It’s easy to look at a metric in our reports, find the average statistic within your ACD system and take that at face value only. But we can’t get carried away with average scores because they may just be one point in a wide variation.

Then there’s the data that we already have stored away. While new figures have their value individually, combining them with historical insights allows us to conduct some great customer data analysis.

3. Failing to Consolidate Data Across Your Contact Centres

If you have multiple call centres, compare the data that is collected within your contact centre reports.

Your organization’s fellow contact centres are the best operations to benchmark with, as they share your internal processes and customer base.

Then you can look for discrepancies in your reporting and ask a very valuable question: why?

4. Over-Complicating Reporting Data

With so many informative reports now available, across a whole host of contact centre systems, it can be easy to get lost. This highlights the value of visualizing the data through charts, as discussed earlier. But that’s not all.

Think about what is being displayed on your wallboards. Is all of that information helpful to the agent in doing their job? If not, take it off.

Also, we don’t have to look at every statistic in our reports. As well as the average, look at the spread across quartiles and your outliers. This can provide you with some golden information.

5. Skipping the Review Phase Altogether

There is a lot of emphasis at the moment on doing the reporting, collecting the data and being seen to do the right thing – but then not actually taking the time to review that data.

At the end of the day, if we don’t analyse the numbers, we can only take them at face value. This means that we don’t get the business insights that are the whole point of collecting the data in the first place.  

Find more pitfalls to avoid in our article: 9 Mistakes to Avoid… Contact Centre Reporting

The Top Ten Contact Centre Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Call centre reporting enables us to harvest important KPI results that help us to measure and evaluate our performance.

In the contact centre, we will identify which KPIs we actively wish to track, so we can analyse our success in meeting organizational goals.

So the KPIs that you assess within your call centre reports will vary from operation to operation.

However, as outlined in our article “ The Top 10 Most Important Call Centre Metrics “, the most popular KPIs to track throughout the industry are:

• Customer Satisfaction
• First Contact Resolution
• Quality Scores
• Service Level
• Advisor Satisfaction / Employee Engagement
• Customer Effort
• Net Promoter Score
• Forecast Accuracy
• Sales Volume

What we can see here is that most of these KPIs cannot be pulled from the ACD system, so it’s important to extend your reporting across multiple contact centre technologies.

Final Thoughts

Call centre reporting involves collecting key metric data from within contact centre systems – like the ACD system – and looking for key insights.

These reports provide you with important information to best inform your forecasting models, scheduling plans and queue strategy – to name just a few key uses.

In fact, there are many reports that can provide you with data that you can simplify, benchmark and assess to bring real value to the contact centre.

Just be careful not to over-complicate things, create biased narratives or skip the review phase altogether. These are easy traps to fall into with your reporting.

For more on the topic of call centre reporting and tracking the right things, read our articles:

• Contact Centre Metrics: Are You Measuring the Right Things?
• The Best KPIs to Use in Your Call Centre
• 24 Ways to Improve Your Contact Centre Measurements

For more from Colin Gill on call centre reporting, listen to the following episode of The Contact Centre Podcast :

The Contact Centre Podcast – Episode 31:

How To Improve Your Call Centre Reporting

Published On: 25th May 2020 - Last modified: 24th May 2024 Read more about - Technology , Akixi , Colin Gill , Contact Centre Reporting , Hilary King , Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) , Martin Hill-Wilson , Metrics , Richard Snow , Wallboards

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A Complete Guide to Outbound Call Center Reporting and Analytics

April 28, 2022 | convoso, share this article.

By now you’re surely well aware of buzzwords like “big data” and “analytics,” but is your call center actually keeping up with the times in its business model?

Move beyond the buzzwords and learn how your business can harness its data and take actions that improve performance, drive efficiencies, manage costs , and unlock profits. In this comprehensive guide to call center reporting and analytics, we cover:

• What is call center reporting and how is it different from analytics?
• 3 best practices you need to reap the benefits of contact center reporting
• Essential KPIs to include in your customizable dashboard
• 6 outbound call center reports you can’t afford not to have

Are you ready to make the most of your data? Then this guide to reporting is for you.

What is Call Center Reporting?

Call center reporting is the process of gathering the raw data created by call center activities into simplified summaries. These summaries are what we know as reports. With the right reporting tools, a call center’s reports can offer summaries of performance within virtually any aspect of a call center’s business, whether it’s agent activity, list or lead performance, or a range of important KPIs.

In essence, call center reporting takes all the bustle of your call center and boils it down into an easy-to-understand snapshot of activity, typically in the form of a simple graph or chart. Of course, to make your business activities even easier to understand—-and, above all, to be able to take action based on those insights—you’ll want to rely on a contact center analytics solution with real-time and historical reporting .

Contact Center Reporting vs. Analytics

While contact center reporting and analytics are often used interchangeably, there’s actually a subtle difference between the two. And relying on a reporting tool that’s actually an analytics tool might make all the difference in taking your call center’s performance and efficiency to new heights. 

So, what is the difference between contact center reporting and analytics?

Reporting is the first step in understanding, improving, and ultimately scaling your call center operation . A call center report provides an overview or summary of call center performance data. Managers can analyze those reports to understand what’s behind changes in performance. On the other hand, analytics does much of that analysis for call center teams, eliminating the need for managers to spend time making sense of the data.

Analytics gives call center managers and owners the essential tools to improve operational efficiencies and ROI while managing call center costs .

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Data Analytics and Real-Time Reporting for Outbound Call Centers: 2022 Trends for Lead Generation and Sales

Call Center Reporting Benefits and Best Practices

To uncover these new efficiencies, reporting needs to be rolled out in the right way. Follow these steps and best practices to make the most out of your reporting and analytics technology. 

1. Start with the Right Reporting Tools

Particularly for businesses in the outbound and lead generation space, call centers primarily rely on the reporting and analytics tools provided by their dialer software . Of course, it’s important to note that the differences in offerings can vary wildly from dialer to dialer. 

For instance, “free” dialers like VICIdial may offer reporting capabilities, but these basic tools may end up costing call centers with their lack of insights. To evaluate reporting tools and find software that your business can rely on to drive transparency and growth at your call center, look for the following aspects.

Granularity and precision

While it’s one thing to show high-level, top-down metrics of call center activity, that’s only the minimum you should be asking for from your reporting tool provider. These days, the best in call center analytics tech can slice and dice your data, offering previously unheard of levels of granularity. 

Speaking at Contact.io 2021 in Denver, Convoso CEO and Co-Founder Nima Hakimi said that outbound call centers need to be able to analyze performance precisely—right down to the individual list level. That’s because by analyzing data list by list, managers can improve lead management and see which sources are performing, turn individual sources on and off depending on how well they’re working, and maximize ROI.

Real-time and historical reporting

This sort of granularity only becomes more powerful when it’s combined with real-time call center reporting. Expert and industry veteran Heather Griffin told Convoso that missing out on real-time list management strategies is “one of the biggest mistakes that people can make.” 

“What you need to do in list management,” she says, “is understand which list is converting [and when].” By first using list-level reporting to understand after what outreach attempt conversions drop off, then using real-time reporting to see the moment of the day that performance begins to wane, you can make much greater use of your costly leads.

Of course, in addition to this real-time reporting, you’ll still need to be able to rely on robust historical data. Not only will historical reporting help you benchmark your real-time metrics as they roll in, but it will also help data and dialing managers identify important trends over time.

Omnichannel reporting capabilities

In order to better reach their leads and customers, more and more call centers are relying on omnichannel solutions . But if your reporting tool doesn’t provide cross- and omnichannel reporting to match your outreach methods, then attribution can be a nightmare. And in the end, without being able to correctly attribute success to the right channel, your newfound successes will only be harder to replicate.

An array of automated reports

These omnichannel reports should come standard with your reporting tools, along with a wide array of automated reports that take the legwork out of understanding how your call center operation is performing. We’ll cover some of these must-have types of reports below, but regardless of which reports you use, it’s also important to have the ability to schedule the automatic sharing of reports. Rather than manually pull reports, use a dialer that can save time and increase efficiency by scheduling reports to be run and emailed to decision-makers automatically.

2. Enlist the Right Expertise

While stepping up to the right reporting software can make a world of difference, your reporting will still ultimately be only as good as the people you have using it and improving it. Sometimes outsourcing services are exactly what a business needs. Unlock the full benefits of call center reporting and analytics by making sure you—or the BPO call center you enlist—have:

A support team to match your dialer

At the end of the day, innovation is an ongoing process. However, if your current dialer doesn’t already offer a report or insight you need to improve performance, how sure are you that it will in the future?

If you can’t answer this question confidently, then you might not be getting the customer support you deserve. More importantly, you might not be getting the support you need to make the most of reporting data. 

A dedicated data analyst

The potential of powerful call center reporting is clear. However, especially for larger contact centers, data analysis can easily be a full-time job. That’s why Thrive Marketing’s John Gallagher says you may need to support your data and reporting operation with a dedicated employee. 

“Once you have that data, you can quickly pull out the information that tells you what changes you need to make,” he said. “You might need a full-time person, you might not. You could use a consultant who could grab that information, do a quick analysis, and guide you on a way to make changes. A full-time person is nice because you can look at it in real-time and say, ‘This is what’s going on.’”

3. Make Reporting and Analytics Insights Accessible

With the right tools and talent, it’s time to tailor your reporting to your operation’s particular goals. Call center reporting can help deliver improvements in agent performance. It can optimize lead costs. It can help you fine-tune dialing cadences, redial rates, and even your sales scripts . 

However, it’s important to remember that reporting is only the beginning and not the be-all end-all of call center efficiency. That is, reporting is about improving awareness—the action that delivers results is up to you and your team. Supporting your reporting capabilities with effective communication to make insights widely available across your operation can help ensure that improvements to agent and lead efficiency are achieved—and that these reporting-driven successes are sustainable.

16 Essential KPIs for Outbound Call Center Profitability

A Manager’s Best Friend: The Customizable Call Center Dashboard

Call center reporting and analytics aren’t just capable of supercharging agent and lead efficiency at modern call centers. They’re also capable of driving increased efficiency for call center managers. 

Automated analytics capabilities save time by delivering insights without requiring extra work from managers. Plus, a customizable reporting dashboard can be tailored to make sure those need-to-know insights are always at their fingertips. After all, what good is real-time reporting if it takes managers too long to find that actionable data?

Are You Tracking These Call Center Metrics and KPIs?

Of course , the existence of the custom call center dashboard begs an important question: With so many options, what should you include in that dashboard?

6 Outbound Call Center Reports to Keep a Close Eye On

As we mentioned above, call center managers will want to choose a dialer that offers access to a variety of ready-made, automated reports that help them track important aspects of performance. 

The following reports are essential to improving agent, lead, and manager efficiency in today’s call centers—and can help managers understand the underlying causes of their operations’ performance against those KPIs we outlined above.

Agent Reports

1. agent performance report.

Understand who are your business’s top-performing agents and make informed decisions about coaching with a comprehensive view of agent performance. Use an Agent Performance Report to compare agents’ daily, historical, and list-by-list performance in metrics like Talk Time, Wait Time, Pause Time, Wrap-Up Time, and more.

2. Agent Campaign Report

Zoom into a view of agent productivity and performance at the campaign level with the Agent Campaign Report. Having ready access to this report can help your call center improve the way calls are routed. By ensuring that agents are more often routed to their best campaigns and lead sources, you can optimize performance and boost profitability.

3. Agent Revenue Report

In addition to understanding individual agents’ influence on the business’s CPA and ROI, the Agent Revenue Report offers managers a simple way to create leaderboards and incentivize increased performance with friendly competition.

Lead and List Reports

1. contact rate report.

Contact rate is a vital metric for any outbound call center. The Contact Rate Report can help managers understand the effectiveness of their outreach techniques, as well as adjust call cadences, dial rates, and more. 

2.  List Conversion Report

Last but certainly not least, the List Conversion Report is an automated report that every call center should have in their arsenal. This powerful report gives managers the real-time data they need to determine their true CPA and calculate ROI on a list-by-list basis. 

3.  Lead Penetration Report

Are you calling your leads enough? The Lead Penetration Report can easily help you find an answer. See if you’re dialing through your lists quickly enough and compare performance between lists to inform and adjust your outreach approach with ease.

Your Complex Contact Center, In Full View

The modern contact center is no simple operation. Developing a robust approach to call center reporting and analytics is all about shedding light on all that complexity. With the approach to reporting—and the reports themselves—covered in this guide, your call center can bring newfound visibility to all aspects of its business and find the efficiency required to scale a business in today’s competitive environment. 

Learn more about how your contact center can do just that by partnering with Convoso. Discover how our leading contact center software and reporting solutions can help you unlock profits and growth by requesting a demo today.

Related Articles

16 essential outbound call center kpis & performance metrics for profitability, outbound call center contact rate vs. connection rate: how to increase your contact rates for more sales.

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What is call center reporting?

What is the difference between reporting and analytics, real-life application, key features of ringcentral contact center reporting tools.

Considered the main hub of contact center data, the dashboard is where you can view and use your data. This customizable tool gives you a quick, real-time look at your center's performance. It also allows you to customize the information and reports you see, offering quick updates and support for urgent decisions.

Pre-built reports

Pre-built reports offer insights on commonly used contact center metrics, such as average handle time, average wait time, and first call resolution. These can help you save time by giving you the basic information you need to keep your contact center running with just a few clicks.

Custom reports and metric builder

Templates can be used to build custom reports suited to your specific company’s needs. Personalization means you can define all the details, including the metrics, parameters, and recipients. You can also organize custom reports using unique categories and headers.

Real-time and historical reporting

Real-time and historical data tells you how your operation is doing now and how it performed previously. Some solutions only offer one type of data, but you need both. Real-time reports help you make critical decisions quickly, while historical data helps you understand what has changed in your contact center and why.

Rich omnichannel reporting

These encompass data from all of your efforts, across all of your channels. Armed with this information, you can better understand how your channels are performing and accurately identify the costs of every engagement.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics uses your historical data to predict future trends. This way, you can proactively prepare for changes in call volume, customer demands, and other areas of your call center operations with reports that look at what’s coming next.

Common contact center KPIs

Agent occupancy.

This refers to the percentage of time agents take handling incoming calls—including hold time, wait time, and wrap-up—compared to the time spent waiting for calls to come in (idle/available time). It is a common measure of how busy agents are: too low can lead to unengaged reps, while too high can mean burnout or unsatisfied customers.

Average call abandonment rate

This evaluates the rate at which inbound calls end prematurely. Because abandoned calls can be caused by many factors—varying from long hold times to personal emergencies—they typically reflect the performance of the contact center as a whole and not the performance of a specific agent. Either way, a high abandon rate is a cause for concern and requires immediate steps for improvement.

First contact resolution (FCR)

This measures how frequently your contact center agents resolve customer issues, questions, and needs on first contact. This can be through calls or any communication channel your call center supports, including social media, SMS, online chat, and more. An excellent FCR score often means higher customer satisfaction, so striving for a high rate is a must.

Adherence to schedule

This calculates how much call center agents stick to a schedule across a workday. It is measured by dividing the total time an agent actually worked by the time they are scheduled to work, while also taking into account time spent doing non-call-related tasks (breaks, meetings, and similar). Monitoring adherence to schedule is a great way to drive agent performance up while keeping costs down.

Service level

This metric measures agent productivity in real time based on the percentage of calls answered within a specific number of seconds. Consistency in service level ensures that customers are given the same quality of assistance every time they reach out to you, regardless of which agent they interact with.

Forecast accuracy

This presents how accurately your contact center predicts the volume of customer contacts (calls, messages, emails, or other forms of communication) and the number of agents needed to handle this volume at a given period of time. Inaccuracy in this aspect can lead to unbalanced scheduling, which further leads to unnecessary additional staffing expenses.

Percentage of calls blocked

This measures the percentage of inbound calls that are met with a busy tone or call blocking. This is typically due to a lack of available agents (all call queues are full) or your call center software being unable to handle the volume of incoming calls. No matter the reason, a high percentage of calls blocked means many customers are left with unresolved issues, resulting in poor customer experience.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, NPS enables businesses to gauge customer experience and see how loyal to and satisfied they are with an organization. It aims to collect customer feedback through a 0-10 scale paired with the question, “How likely is it that you would recommend this service/company to someone else?”

Call setup success rate (CSSR)

The sheer number of calls that contact centers handle on a daily basis is immense, and as it goes, not all inbound or outbound calls are guaranteed to be successful. CSSR measures the percentage of call attempts that result in a connection to the dialed number. This enables managers to better allocate agents/resources and achieve more successful answered calls.

Benefits of call center reporting

Improve customer experiences.

• Customer success
• Customer effort
• Customer demands, such as omnichannel customer support
• Customer sentiment

Elevate agent performance

• Speech analytics
• Text analytics
• Interaction analytics
• Self-service analytics
• Omnichannel analytics

Optimize costs

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• Create customized views of your data for every team member with widget-based, real-time dashboards.
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• Build and share report templates customized to your specific needs with our wizard-based “point-and-click” interface.
• Give secure data access to your company’s analysts, allowing them to use point-and-click tools to quickly build powerful pivot tables and integrated, custom reports.
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Dharvi Sharma

• February 22, 2024

What is Contact Center Reporting and How Does it Matter?

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Unlocking the power of contact center reporting

In the ever-changing world of business, you probably know that keeping your customers happy is the key to success. 

A recent stats reveals that a significant 73% of business leaders say that there is a direct connection between the quality of customer service and overall business performance.

Now, you might be wondering, “What’s their secret?” Well, it’s not a secret at all. It’s a powerful tool called contact center reporting. 

Do you work in the contact center industry? Want to increase your sales or improve your customer service? 

If you’re searching for smart ways to keep an eye on how well your team is doing and make your customers even happier, you’re landed on the right place!

In this article, we’ll show you how it works, why it’s so important, and how it can help you make your business more successful.

In this guide, you’ll find:

• What is contact center reporting?
• call center reporting- importance, best practices
• How does Enthu.AI give you 100% call coverage and reporting?

A. What is contact center reporting?

Contact center reporting is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data related to customer interactions within a contact center.

The primary goal of contact center reporting is to gain insights into the performance and efficiency of the contact center , ultimately to improve customer service and overall operations.

Imagine you’re a contact center manager.

With contact center reporting, you can delve into a treasure trove of data about every customer interaction.

It allows you to track metrics, such as call volume, response times, resolution rates , and customer satisfaction. 

By understanding these key performance indicators (KPIs), you can make data-driven decisions to enhance your team’s performance and boost customer satisfaction.

To understand the full potential of your contact center reporting, you can consider exploring the contact center software that offers ready-made dashboards and personalized reports to gauge your advancements in meeting customer satisfaction goals.

These user-friendly dashboards act as visual guides, enabling you to spot patterns and gain a holistic view of your business’s performance with just a glance. 

Here is what contact center reporting typically includes:

Data collection: The foundation of reporting involves gathering data from various customer interactions and channels, including calls, emails, chats, and more.

Key performance indicators (KPIs): Identifying and tracking specific KPIs that align with your customer service goals, such as response times, first-call resolution rates, and customer satisfaction scores .

Dashboard and visualization tools: Utilizing user-friendly dashboards and visualization tools to present data in a clear, accessible format for easy interpretation.

Customizable reports: Creating reports tailored to your unique business needs and objectives, allowing you to focus on specific KPIs or performance areas.

Real-time monitoring: Continuously monitoring customer interactions in real-time, enabling immediate intervention when necessary and facilitating prompt improvements in service quality.

B. Importance of contact center reporting

The importance of contact center reporting cannot be overstated in today’s business landscape.

It serves as a vital tool that enables organizations to gauge, monitor, and enhance their customer service operations in several crucial ways:

1. Enhanced customer service

The ultimate goal of a contact center is to provide exceptional customer service.

Reporting analytics play a pivotal role in gauging how well this goal is being achieved. 

By analyzing the data, you can identify areas that require improvement and implement changes accordingly.

Metrics for enhanced customer service:

• First-call resolution rate: This metric indicates the percentage of customer issues resolved during the initial interaction. A higher rate suggests that customers are getting efficient and effective support.
• Average response time: T his measures the time it takes for agents to respond to customer inquiries. Faster response times lead to improved customer satisfaction.
• Customer feedback score: Collecting feedback from customers and calculating scores, like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), provides insight into the quality of customer service.

2. Efficiency and cost savings

Reporting provides insights into the effectiveness of your contact center’s operations.

It allows you to optimize processes, reduce response times, and allocate resources more efficiently, which can lead to significant cost savings.

Metrics for efficiency and cost savings:

• Average handle time (AHT): AHT measures the average time an agent spends on each call, including talk time and after-call work. Lower AHT indicates more efficient call handling and potential cost savings.
• Service level: This metric evaluates the percentage of calls answered within a defined time frame. Meeting service level targets ensures efficient resource allocation and customer satisfaction.
• Agent utilization: Agent utilization measures how effectively your workforce is being used. It helps ensure that resources are allocated efficiently, reducing operational costs.

3. Customer satisfaction

Your customers’ opinions matter, and with contact center reporting, you can monitor customer satisfaction levels.

This information helps you make informed decisions to keep your customers happy and loyal.

Metrics for customer satisfaction:

Customer satisfaction score (CSAT): CSAT measures how satisfied customers are with your service on a scale. A higher score indicates higher customer satisfaction.

Net promoter score (NPS): NPS measures customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend your service to others. A higher NPS reflects greater customer satisfaction.

Customer retention rate: This metric tracks the percentage of customers who continue to use your services over time. A high customer retention rate is a sign of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

4. Quality assurance

Call monitoring is a crucial aspect of contact center reporting. It allows you to evaluate the quality of interactions between your agents and customers. This is instrumental in maintaining high service standards.

Metrics for quality assurance :

• Call Monitoring score: Supervisors evaluate calls and assign scores based on agent performance and adherence to quality standards. Higher scores indicate better quality.
• Compliance rate: This metric assesses the degree to which agents comply with company policies and industry regulations during customer interactions. High compliance rates ensure quality service.
• Escalation rate: The rate at which customer issues are escalated to higher-tier support. A lower escalation rate signifies that frontline agents are effectively resolving customer problems.

5. Data-driven decision-making

Contact center reporting arms you with data to make informed decisions. It eliminates guesswork, allowing you to focus your efforts where they will have the most impact.

Metrics for data-driven decision-making:

• Trend analysis: Analyzing historical data to identify patterns and trends in customer interactions, helping in proactive decision-making.
• Performance variance: Comparing actual performance with predefined benchmarks or goals to pinpoint areas that need attention.
• Resource allocation: Assessing data on agent availability, call volume, and response times to optimize resource allocation for peak efficiency.

C. Best practices for contact center reporting

To make the most of contact center reporting, you need to follow some best practices:

1. Define clear objectives

Before you start gathering data and generating reports, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve with your reporting efforts. 

What are your specific goals and objectives? Do you aim to reduce response times, boost customer satisfaction, increase first-call resolution rates, or achieve other specific outcomes? 

Knowing your objectives provides a roadmap for your reporting process. It helps you align your efforts with your organization’s broader strategies and ensures that you collect and analyze data that is directly relevant to your goals.

2. Select relevant key performance indicators (KPIs)

Not all Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are equally important for every contact center. It’s essential to choose KPIs that align with your specific objectives. 

For example, if your primary goal is to enhance customer satisfaction, metrics like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) become pivotal. 

By selecting KPIs that directly relate to your objectives, you can ensure that your reporting efforts are focused on measuring what matters most to your business and its customers.

3. Implement a quality assurance program

Regularly monitoring calls and interactions is a cornerstone of maintaining high service standards. This involves systematically evaluating customer-agent interactions to ensure they meet quality benchmarks. 

Speech analytics and conversation intelligence tools can be valuable in this regard.

These tools automatically transcribe and analyze calls, examining factors like keywords, sentiment, and even tone of voice. 

By employing these technologies, you can consistently assess the quality of your customer interactions, identify areas where improvements are needed, and take proactive steps to maintain and enhance service excellence.

4. Regularly review and adjust

The contact center environment is dynamic and subject to change. What works today might not be effective tomorrow. 

It’s essential to regularly review your reporting metrics, strategies, and goals. Periodic assessment helps you adapt to evolving customer needs, industry trends, and operational changes. 

Being flexible in your approach allows you to stay agile and responsive, making necessary adjustments to your reporting processes when required.

5. Training and development

The insights gained from your reporting efforts should not only identify areas that require improvement but also guide you in providing targeted training and development opportunities to your agents. 

Utilize the data to recognize skill gaps and areas where individual agents or the entire team can improve.

Tailored agent training and development programs can help enhance performance, boosting overall customer service quality. 

This iterative process ensures that your team remains skilled and capable of delivering exceptional customer service.

D. How does Enthu.AI give you 100% call coverage and reporting?

Enthu.AI is reshaping contact center reporting with its 100% call coverage approach. Unlike traditional methods, Enthu.AI transcribes and analyzes every call using speech analytics . 

This ensures you receive complete data, real-time insights, data consistency, scalability, and remarkable time and cost savings, making it a game-changer in customer experience analysis.

In a world where customer satisfaction is the ultimate differentiator, contact center reporting is your secret weapon. It empowers you to provide exceptional customer service, optimize operations, and make data-driven decisions.

Enthu.AI takes it a step further by ensuring 100% call coverage and reporting, allowing you to unlock the full potential of your contact center. 

So, if you want to stay ahead in the competitive world of customer service, embrace contact center reporting, and see the difference it can make.

Q1: What is the role of interactive voice response (IVR) in contact center reporting?

IVR systems play a significant role in contact center reporting by providing valuable data on the initial customer interactions. This data can include call routing, self-service usage, and more, which can be analyzed to improve the customer experience.

Q2: How can speech analytics tools benefit a contact center reporting process?

Speech analytics tools can automatically transcribe and analyze calls, providing insights into customer sentiment, keywords, and more. This helps in quality assurance , identifying issues, and improving agent performance.

Q3: Can contact center reporting benefit small businesses as much as large enterprises?

Yes, contact center reporting is valuable for businesses of all sizes. It allows small businesses to compete on the same level as larger enterprises by providing insights and tools to enhance customer service, which is vital for growth and success.

Dharvi sharma has deep understanding of sales, contact center management and new AI technologies. She is passionate about writing to empower customers with the insights of the business world.

You can find Dharvi Sharma on Twitter & LinkedIn

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Contact center reporting – How to make the most of it?

The key to data-driven decision-making? Smart reporting. In this article we give you tips on how to make the most of contact center reporting and present some of our most used reports. Learn how to make the most of your data!

Are you working in the contact center industry? Are you eager to boost your inbound or outbound sales? Are you looking for efficient ways to track your contact center metrics and monitor customer service performance? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have come to the right place!

In this article we will give tips on how to make the most of contact center reporting, walk you through reporting best practices, and give you advice on how to use the reporting tools of the LeadDesk contact center software.

Feel free to read through the entire article or skip straight to your topic of interest.

In this guide:

Why contact center reporting matters Contact center reporting best practices Reports for different needs Top 6 LeadDesk reports and why they make your life easier

Why contact center reporting matters

Call centers have evolved far from their early days. In today’s omni-channel contact centers monitoring performance can be challenging.

Contact center monitoring challenges include:

• Channel expansion
• Multiple systems across multiple locations
• Vast amounts of unstructured data

To tackle these challenges, contact centers need smart reporting solutions and well-organized reporting practices.

But what is contact center reporting, exactly? Simply put, contact center reporting shines light to what is happening across your contact center. It converts the raw data coming into the contact center into key performance indicators (KPIs) based on criteria you’ve set up according to your strategic goals.

Reporting shines light to what is happening across your contact center.

Reporting gives you real-time dashboards, historical reports, customer journey insights, and predictive analytics. With it you can track performance, optimize processes and make changes based on data.

Reporting is the key to data-driven decision-making.

Tracking KPIs and boosting business performance

Reporting practices should always be aligned with your overall business strategy. Which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you focus on should be determined strategically based on your business goals. Tracking the KPIs most relevant to your business is crucial for optimizing contact center performance and it is the basis on which deeper business insights are built on.

Reporting allows you to track your set KPIs and metrics and boost your business performance. Be it time in queue, the number of dropped calls, handling times or customer satisfaction, efficient contact center reporting gives you both real-time and historical data on your KPIs.

Read how LeadDesk’s customizable reporting solutions have helped boost Media Telemarketing’s outbound sales.

Enhancing the agent (and customer) experience

According to our report, Five Megatrends for Contact Centers in 2021 and Beyond , one of the biggest challenges the contact center industry is facing right now are agent experience and performance. Reporting helps you track agent performance, but also enhance the agent experience – thus lowering employee churn. Good reporting provides agents with clarity on their performance goals and helps them feel engaged.

Reporting can also help you spot issues in the agent experience early on. For example, if a team leader notices that an agent’s handling times have gone up, they can get to the root of what’s going on. Early detection can help individual agents but also reveal issues that could turn into bigger problems in the future.

As great customer experience and high employee satisfaction go hand in hand, it is crucial for businesses to take care of the agent experience. Reporting is an important part of this.

Read our blog post: 4 ways to improve agent experience in contact centers .

Why contact center reporting matters?

Enables data-driven decision-making Tracks KPIs and helps to boost business performance Helps to keep track of both the agent and customer experience

Contact center reporting best practices

Reporting requires data, but that is no issue in the contact center industry – there is plenty of data and each interaction adds to it. The challenge is how to make the most of it. Collecting data does no good to anybody if you’re not using it in a way that gives you clear, actionable insights.

Efficient contact center reporting practices are crucial for making the most of the data you collect. Here are five tips on how to create reports that can help your organization to reach its goals.

1. Focus on the KPIs that matter the most

Each organization has to determine their own focus KPIs – the most important metrics that can help you reach your business goals. Though you might track many, many KPIs inside your organization, you need to be careful not to get lost in the amount of data. Focus on what matters the most and keep those metrics as your guiding light throughout your reporting practices across the organization.

2. Consolidate data to get the complete picture

In today’s world you need to be able to get data from all customer journey and agent experience touchpoints to get a comprehensive picture of your business performance. It’s also important to combine data from different channels and systems. Smart contact center reporting solutions break down data silos and make consolidating data easy by having all channels as part of the same solution.

Read our blog post: Why ignoring an omni-channel approach will cost you sales and customer satisfaction .

3. Make reports easy to run, easy to read, and accessible

Reporting should make tracking metrics and using them to manage your call center easy. If your reports are hard to run or read, or if they are not accessible when needed and to who needs them, they are not serving their purpose. Showing relevant information in an easy-to-read format is the key to successful reporting practices.

The right contact center software is crucial in creating reports that are both easy to create and easy to understand. Read how AI solutions and reporting automation save time and improve the quality of your reports

4. Customize reports with relevant information

Contact centers have heaps of data, which is why it’s important to customize your reports to focus on relevant information. Only include KPIs that matter and keep your reports as simple as possible. Keep in mind that not everybody needs the same information. Make use of the customization possibilities of your contact center software and create personalized reports for different purposes, departments, and groups.

5. Take care of reporting security

Call centers handle vast quantities of personal data. At the same time people are becoming more and more aware of their privacy and regulation is tightening. It’s important to make sure all your reports and reporting practices are created with security and privacy regulations in mind. Secure your data and reporting tools and make sure the data is only visible to those who should have access to it.

Read our blog posts: How ethics is changing how companies are looking at privacy  & Call center compliance is the single biggest risk factor for new call center entrepreneurs .

Reporting for different needs

Different organizations have different reporting needs. Best call center software gives you plenty of options on how and what kind of reports to create – from super easy pre-built ones to more demanding custom reports.

Pre-built reports

Pre-built reports are the report templates you can find ready-made in a contact center software. While customizing is an important part of making the most of reporting, some basic metrics are always useful. Pre-built reports are great for basic reporting needs – they save time and are easy to use.  

Pre-built reports are great for basic reporting needs – they save time and are easy to use.

At LeadDesk we have done our best to create pre-built reports to benefit most of our customers. When you combine our user-friendly interface with these pre-made templates, reporting is fast and easy. We already offer more than 20 pre-built templates for you to run whenever you need them or to schedule for your convenience – and more are being added constantly.

Custom reports

Once you have the basics of reporting down, it’s time to dig a little deeper. Customizing reports for your business’ specific needs as well as for different purposes and groups, is the key to really using contact center reporting in your business development.

Customize yourself

With LeadDesk’s Custom report tool you can customize reports easily. Create reports that include the metrics you want without any unnecessary information and customize the order in which the information is presented. After creating the report, you can find it with the pre-built templates. Custom report tool is great for mixing and matching exactly what you need from the basic contact center metrics.

More complex custom reports

During 2020 we released a new tool for building advanced and complex reports easily without extensive coding skills needed. Get deeper access to your LeadDesk reporting database, explore schemas and write SQL queries with intuitive and modern analytics tool and query editor. You can create and visualize easy-to-read reports, widgets, and mini-reports and build interactive dashboards. Our new reporting tool allows you to explore, analyze and share your data easily to make data-driven decisions.

We customize for you

When you have more demanding reporting needs, we can customize the reports for you. Whatever you need on your report, we make it happen. With this customization option, we can calculate data according to your wishes and your business needs. Maybe you prefer seeing your average agent wait time to include ringing time also? Or maybe you want to sort your call ending reasons by queue?

All custom order reports can be scheduled to be delivered to your preferred email at your convenience. This is a great option for creating reports that match your exact business needs.

We can calculate data according to your wishes and your business’ needs.

Replica Server for data integration needs

Consolidating data is at the core of successful reporting practices. To use contact center reporting efficiently, it must be combined with data from other business operations. This is why good contact center software provides options for data integration.

LeadDesk Replica Server is a duplicate of all the data in your contact center software and it serves two purposes:

• With the Replica Server you can build your own custom reports.
• With the Replica Server you can integrate contact center data with other systems, such as CRM and Business Intelligence (BI) tools.

Take a look at the Replica Server and other reporting tools in our LeadApps store.

Top 6 LeadDesk reports and why they make your life easier

Here are some of LeadDesk’s most used reports:

1. Agent Queue Status

Real-time status of your customer service actions with one glance:

• All logged in agents and their current activities
• Queue names (such as incoming calls)
• Public callbacks
• Missed, answered, and dropped calls
• Maximum wait time
• Calls in queue
• Active calling

The intuitive green and red color-coding on this report makes monitoring easy.

2. Agent Performance Report

Real-time status of your individual agent’s actions with one glance:

• Number of calls, answered calls, and finalized calls
• Orders/bookings total and orders/bookings per hour
• Sales total and per hour
• Commission in euro
• Talk, handling, and working times
• Work intensity (talk time in relation to total working time)

This report is especially handy for outbound sales!

3. Productivity Report

Shines light on the team’s overall productivity, from how long it takes to get started in the morning to deals per hour:

• Date and agent name
• Finished contacts total and finished contacts per hour
• Deals total and deals per hour
• Calling and working time
• Calling time to working time ratio
• Login and logout times
• First call start time

This report is perfect for keeping track of sales team productivity.

4. Inbound Calls

Provides an overview of your inbound call queues with one glance:

• Received and answered calls
• Hang-ups before answer
• Diverted calls and divert falls
• Answered calls percentage
• Average waiting time and maximum queuing time
• Service Level Agreement (SLA) count 10s
• Service Level Agreement (SLA) hang-ups count
• Service level percentage
• Call talk time and call wrap time
• Call talk time ratio and call wrap time ratio
• Callback count, callback call time and callbacks handled

This report is great for detecting customer service accessibility issues and enhancing the customer experience.

5. Campaign Performance Report

Gives insight into how a specific campaign is going:

• Deals, deals per hour, and success rate
• Sales in euro and in euro per hour
• Talking, handling, and working time
• Calling time in relation to total working time

This report is great for monitoring and reporting campaign profitability.

6. Agent Activity Report

Comprehensive overview of agent activities, from coffee breaks to time spent on prospecting:

• Total working time
• Coffee and lunch breaks
• Email handling
• Preparing offer
• Prospecting
• Receiving calls
• Team meeting

This report is an easy, customizable tool for employee monitoring and time tracking.

In conclusion

• Track and boost your contact center performance.
• Enhance agent and the customer experience.
• Make well-informed, data-driven decisions to meet strategic goals.

If you have any questions about contact center reporting, don’t hesitate to contact us or book a demo!

Related posts.

Your call center’s business- and campaign strategies rely on relevant information being collected, measured, reported and reviewed.

A virtual call center has many things in common with any other call center, with one significant difference: The call center agents do not need to be located in one central office. Since the agents use a virtual call center solution to connect, they can work from wherever they are.

The vast majority of people have smartphones and use several different channels for communication: web, mobile web, SMS, calling, apps, bots, email etc. Consequently, you should be prepared to serve them in the channels they want to be served in.

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• Contact Center Reporting
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Home » Contact Center Reporting

A Complete Guide to Contact Center Reporting

It is both more critical and more challenging than ever to answer the question, “What is happening in my contact center?” That’s because today, no matter your business, your customer experience (CX) is your business: it’s your signature offering, your differentiator and your key revenue generator. And the contact center is the home of CX. This puts contact center performance under the metaphorical spotlight and microscope, as business leaders expect to have a clear, deep and near-real-time understanding of how contact center performance is helping (or hurting) their business.

But as the simple call center has evolved into the modern, multi-channel contact center, it’s become increasingly difficult to gain a firm grasp on performance. The challenge isn’t just just channel expansion. It’s multiple versions of multiple systems spread across multiple locations. It’s unstructured data that’s unusable in its raw form. It’s correlating organization-wide data. In short, it’s the need to make sense of a trove of data that grows in size and complexity every day.

Facing this challenge, one thing is becoming clear: Most contact centers need a better, smarter reporting solution. They need reporting that breaks down silos to give full visibility across the contact center—and across the entire organization. They need reporting that is faster, more efficient and more accurate than manually managing endless “spreadmarts.” Finally, they need reporting that is more intuitive—with KPIs and data visualizations that anyone in the organization can easily understand.

This guide will give you an end-to-end look at the current challenges and future potential of contact center reporting and analytics solutions, including:

This Contact Center Reporting Guide Will Cover:

• What is contact center reporting?

What is the difference between reporting and analytics?

• Top 10 KPIs your contact center should be tracking
• The problem with current reporting systems—the need for better reporting
• Two paths to transforming your contact center reporting
• Five steps to planning & implementation of a contact center reporting solution
• Continuously improving your contact center reporting program

What is Contact Center Reporting?

In the simplest sense, reporting shows you what is happening in your contact center. Reporting takes the many streams of raw data flowing into your contact center—from your ACD, IVR and WFM systems, for example—and transforms that data into key performance metrics (KPIs). Common KPIs include:

• First Contact Resolution (FCR) • Adherence to Schedule • Customer Effort Score • Net Promoter Score

In today’s technologically advanced world, just about any reporting tool has the capability to turning the raw data into KPIs. However, the art of reporting lies in two factors:

1) How the data is orchestrated into KPIs: This is the formula, so to speak, that a reporting tool uses to calculate a KPI. A better formula leads to more accurate KPIs. More accurate KPIs offer more relevant and usable information.

2) How KPIs are presented to the end user: If the point of reporting is to make raw data easy to understand, then success depends on how KPIs are visualized. End users should be able to understand KPIs at a glance—and immediately recognize when KPIs signal the need for further analysis.

The second point is even more critical today, as business leaders outside the contact center take an increasing interest in contact center performance. Traditionally, the users (or consumers) of contact center reporting have been supervisors, WFM analysts and contact center leaders. But as organizations increasingly elevate the customer experience (CX) as the core of their business, they’re recognizing that the contact center is the home of CX. Executives and other non-contact-center leaders expect to see clear, accurate metrics of contact center performance—and tie contact center data with other data streams to produce customer-centric, business-wide KPIs.

Reporting and analytics are increasingly discussed in tandem. In fact, they’re often used almost interchangeably. The first thing to understand is that reporting and analytics are not the same thing.

As you can see, reporting and analytics are distinct, but interrelated. In a forward-thinking contact center, reporting and analytics feed a continuous improvement loop:

Legacy reporting products are product-specific and fail to deliver the omnichannel and organization-wide visibility you need. But relying on ad hoc reporting—Excel data dumps that turn into out-of-control “spreadmarts—is inefficient and error-prone. Modern, multi-channel contact centers need modern, integrated reporting and analytics solutions that are built to answer complex questions and deliver detailed insights.

The Top 10 Contact Center KPIs

While every contact center has unique reporting needs that depend on their line of business, the structure of their organization and the markets they serve, there are several essential KPIs that just about every contact center should be measuring:

First Contact Resolution (FCR): FCR is the percent of contacts that are resolved on the first interaction with the customer. For live calls or web chats, this means that the customer’s issue is resolved before they hang up the phone or end the chat session. For email, the most common standard for FCR is resolution within one business hour of receiving the original customer email. FCR is one of the most important factors in determining overall customer satisfaction.

Adherence to Schedule: Schedule adherence is measured by taking the total time a call center agent is available and dividing it by the time they are scheduled to work, expressed as a percentage. This metric may take into account time spent on breaks or doing non-call related work. Most call centers define a target schedule adherence percentage allowing for cushion time beyond the scheduled break times. Adherence to schedule is, by far, the biggest factor in achieving an ROI from a WFM platform. Ensuring agents are doing what they are supposed to do—when they are supposed to do it—keeps contact center costs down while driving up other performance metrics up.

Customer Effort Score (CES): CES measures the customer experience with a product or service. Customers rank their experience on a seven-point scale ranging from “Very Difficult” to “Very Easy.” This determines how much effort was required to use the product or service and how likely they’ll continue paying for it. In other words, CES demonstrates how easy your organization is to do business with—one of the best predictors of customer satisfaction.

Agent Occupancy: Agent occupancy refers to the percentage of time that call agents spend handling incoming calls against the available or idle time, which is determined by dividing workload hours by staff hours. It is a statistic used in calculating the productivity of a call center. This metric has a direct correlation to both customer and agent satisfaction. Occupancy that is too low leads to unengaged agents and lower customer satisfaction, whereas occupancy that is too high leads to agent burnout as well as low customer satisfaction.

Service Level: Service level measures how accessible an organization is to their customers—defined as the percentage of calls answered within a predefined amount of time, or target time threshold. Consistent service levels are one of the first things customers notice when doing business with an organization.

Forecast Accuracy: Forecast accuracy shows the percent variance between the number of customer contacts (calls, texts, emails, chats, etc.) predicted to arrive during a given period and the number of contacts that the contact center actually receives during that time period. An accurate forecast leads to accurate schedules with the proper levels of staffing. An inaccurate forecast leads to inaccurate schedules, which lead to missed service levels and/or unnecessary staffing expenses. In essence, forecast accuracy is the first step in ensuring you have the right people in the right place at the right time in your contact center.

Abandoned Call Percentage: Abandoned call percentage, also called abandon rate, is the percentage of tasks that are abandoned by the customer—either before speaking with an agent or before completing the intended task. This metric shows the level of frustration your customers have with your organization. High abandoned call rates mean high levels of customer frustration.

Average Call Transfer Rate: This a metric that monitors the percentage of calls transferred to another department, a supervisor, or a different queue. Average call transfer rate also predicts customer frustration, as customers who are transferred frequently will be more frustrated and have lower customer satisfaction.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Predictive NPS: NPS is a measure of how loyal customers are to an organization. Customers are asked how likely they are to recommend (or promote) an organization to others, giving a rating between 0 (not at all likely) and 10 (extremely likely). NPS provides a direct way to measure contact center performance—and demonstrates the direct connection between the contact center and the overall brand perception. While NPS is typically measured with a select number of random customer surveys, Predictive NPS uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide an NPS value for every customer and every interaction.

Quality Score/Predictive Quality: Quality scores show you how are you agents performing against your own internal metrics. Predictive Quality uses AI-powered analytics to automatically evaluate 100% of interactions. This metric, along with the underlying quality form data, should drive your coaching and training programs throughout the contact center.

To learn more about these critical KPIs—including best practices for calculating them, as well as common mistakes and misconceptions that lead contact centers off track—download Calabrio’s quick-read eBook: A Guide to Measuring—and Using—the Top 10 Contact Center KPIs

The need for better multichannel reporting: Why should contact centers change

The first call centers emerged in the 1960s. These early call centers used simple reporting to understand performance—a balance of quality and efficiency—by answering basic questions, like:

• How many calls are we handling every hour—and every day?
• How long are these calls?
• How many customers are calling back for the same issue?
• How many calls result in additional sales?

These questions are the roots of key performance metrics (KPIs) that are still essential to contact centers today.

But a lot has changed in the last 60 years. The simple call center has evolved into the multi-channel contact center. Modern contact centers record much more than calls, capturing data on every aspect of contact center operations. That data is increasingly connected with other critical data streams across the organization. This reality requires the use of multiple systems and applications, including:

• Automatic Call Distributor (ACD): a telephony software system that answers incoming calls and routes them to a specific agent or department within a company.
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR): an automated telephony system technology that interacts with inbound callers, gathers the required information and routes the calls to the appropriate recipient.
• Workforce Management (WFM): a software system that helps a contact center manage staff scheduling to maximize performance metrics including service quality and operational efficiency.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): a system that helps an organization manage and improve relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): software that allows an organization to integrate and automate business processes and business process management of various functions related to technology, services and human resources.

The basic goal remains the same—contact center performance still boils down to balancing quality and efficiency. But the factors that drive performance have grown exponentially more complex. Moreover, the modern contact center already has all the data it needs to understand performance. The challenge today is how to transform that raw data into meaningful metrics—and how to do it accurately, efficiently and as close to real-time as possible.

The problem with current reporting systems

As organizations refocus on the customer experience, the contact center becomes a hub of business intelligence. Reporting questions come in constantly—from within the contact center and across the business—and those questions continue to grow more complicated. In the face of these increasing demands, the shortcomings of current reporting systems become glaring flaws:

Out-of-the-box reports don’t meet requirements

Typically, most contact centers begin with the standard reports included in their ACD, IVR and WFM systems. However, these out-of-the-box reports usually only cover the basics and likely don’t reflect a given organization’s unique measurement needs based on industries and markets served, customer needs or geographical/cultural differences.

The data is siloed

When it comes to reporting and analytics, each of the systems and applications a contact center uses (ACD, IVR, WFM, etc.) creates islands of data. Each has a dedicated database optimized for doing one siloed job and generating one set of insights. To further complicate things, many contact centers are managing multiple locations, and each many have a distinct brand or version of ACD, for example, creating yet more silos.

Siloed data requires manual extraction

An ACD’s standard reports are designed to show how the contact center is performing only from the ACD’s point of view. They don’t take into account, for example, how agent scheduling (managed in a WFM system) will affect ACD metrics. In other words, siloed information makes it difficult to answer simple questions, such as, “Are break schedules negatively impacting service levels?” To resolve the situation, most contact centers turn to the trusty old spreadsheet. It’s easy to see why; spreadsheet software (usually Microsoft Excel) is the main tool most managers use to crunch numbers or present data. It’s the tool they know. If contact center managers are lucky, the application or system they’re using kicks out data in a .CSV format, so it can be uploaded into a spreadsheet. If not, it requires manual entry or a laborious cut-and-paste process. This is all to create one single, siloed report. To determine how agent sheduling is impacting service levels, for example, at least two reports must be generated, and data from each laboriously merged manually in a spreadsheet—a time-intensive process that also fraught with opportunities for error.

Reporting expands into messy “spreadmarts”

Business intelligence isn’t a static concept. Leaders don’t want a one-time answer to their questions; they want an ongoing, dynamic look at key CX metrics. So reporting needs that were once handled by a manual, ad hoc report turn into daily reports. Then, weekly, monthly and quarterly reports are tacked on. To save time, the manager just rolls daily reports into a weekly report, weekly reports into monthly reports, and so on. Pretty soon, quarterly contact center metrics are being referenced in annual organization-wide performance reports. Spreadsheets built on spreadsheets that are ultimately built on spreadsheets—each of which has to be manually updated.

Requests pile up, one-off reports turn into daily tasks, the cross-referencing gets more convoluted, and before they know it, contact center managers find themselves overwhelmed by the “spreadmart”—a mind-numbing and costly proliferation of spreadsheets attempting to do the job of a dedicated data mart or data warehouse. In addition to being tedious to produce, the spreadmart does not provide the predictive and prescriptive analytics that every organization craves today. Contact center leaders end up spending the majority of their time updating spreadsheets and manually creating metrics—instead of focusing on how to use information and insights contained in those reports and metrics.

Data quality and integrity suffers

As errors proliferate in these patchwork-quilt spreadmarts, contact centers begin to lose trust in their stats. Data integrity can also erode as underlying business rules change, or as call flow/call handling protocols are reconfigured, resulting in changes to how calls are pegged in the ACD. A common result is “dueling spreadsheets”—reports ostensibly covering the same metrics, but with different data values suggesting different conclusions.

Changes to operational systems disrupt everything

A replacement, upgrade or reconfiguration of any component of the contact center environment might change the way underlying operational data is logged, with ripple effects on all dependent reports. Adding new technologies (for social media tracking, for example) introduce new silos generating new data that must be incorporated into performance reports.

Disconnects arise between strategic goals and contact center operations:

Changes in management or organizational direction will likely necessitate significant and sometimes immediate changes in the contact center, and thus its reporting requirements. Evolving goals within the contact center itself also shift reporting requirements. For example, as workforce engagement emerges as a top strategic goal in many contact centers, new metrics and reports are needed to quantify agent engagement If these changes aren’t made quickly, fundamental disconnects can create constant, unproductive internal struggles between the contact center and upper management. These clashes can occur over anything from a perceived lack of progress to claims’ conflicting goals and inconsistent direction.

Transforming Your Contact Center Reporting System

When faced with one or more of these challenges, contact center leaders often struggle with what to do first in improving contact center reporting and analytics. Fortunately, this is not uncharted territory—there are established best practices that define two clear paths to transforming your reporting system. The best option depends on the specifics of your contact center, but both options are a dramatic improvement on the status quo.

Option one: Start with what you know

Reporting frustrations can make a fresh start—building a new reporting system from scratch—an appealing option. But that’s not necessarily the right strategy for every organization. Sometimes key stakeholders are reluctant to begin a process that could eventually lead to sweeping changes down the line. There are several common sources of resistance:

• IT personnel or analysts: Those individuals that spent days, weeks or even months creating and maintaining complex, macro-heavy spreadsheet reports may have aa hard time turning their backs on the sunk cost of these reports (the time and wages spent making them). They often argue that the incremental cost of making piece-meal adjustments to these reports will be less than a wholesale replacement. While this may be true in the (very) short run, it ignores the significant potential savings of automating current labor-intensive reporting practices.
• Contact center managers and supervisors: Already feeling overwhelmed by the technology they manage and under constant pressure to meet daily, weekly and monthly performance goals, these managers are understandably reluctant to focus on initiatives that may require them to evaluate and implement new technologies—even if these promise to make their lives easier in the long run.
• Executives: Many organizations see contact centers (particularly customer service ones) as a necessary cost of doing business, but a cost nevertheless. Costs must be minimized, and senior managers may fear that adding new technologies will squeeze already-tight budgets.

Understandable as all these viewpoints may be, the fact remains that as time goes on and the contact center expands, piece-meal manual reporting becomes more costly and error-prone. The implicit cost of getting good data will ultimately break budgets, and bad data will confound efforts to improve contact center performance.

The good news for all these stakeholders is that you can leverage your existing reporting system to build a new, better, smarter system. In this approach, your current spreadsheet-based reports are re-purposed—not tossed away. Despite their flaws, spreadsheet reports have the virtue of being a very accurate reflection of your contact center’s current reporting needs. As such, they make excellent blueprints to guide the next evolutionary step in the process—eliminating manual effort through automation of data collection and consolidation.

Advantages of the “Start Small” Approach

Under this gradual, “start small” approach, the only major decision is choosing the proper enabling technologies to completely eliminate the need for a human to cut and paste data into these reports. In fact, limiting the scope of an initial project to this simple goal alone has two advantages:

1. It’s clearly understood by all stakeholders 2. The resulting benefit in saved time and money is easily quantifiable

With the right technology, these quick wins can be achieved easily while providing the foundation for even bigger gains from a more comprehensive review.

Another benefit of building on your existing foundation is giving analysts and managers breathing space to re-examine and refine metrics and calculations used in existing reports, evaluate whether these need to be adjusted, and to fine-tune report formatting. With new technology eliminating human error from the data consolidation process, managers can even take a retrospective look at previous reporting periods with fresh, accurate data to revise any assumptions or conclusions that may have been made based on erroneous information.

How to Audit Contact Center Reports

A comprehensive review also provides the opportunity to test existing reports’ relevance to the contact center and its stakeholders. Some reports may have outlived their usefulness. For each existing report, ask some value-testing questions:

• To whom does this report matter? Do those stakeholders agree it matters? Do they understand it?
• What actions do we take based on this report? How does it help meet our goals? What would happen if we didn’t get it?
• Do we need to manually match this report with another report to answer the questions we’re asking?
• Is the information in the report formatted in a way that promotes understanding and action, or is it just showing some numbers? Would graphs or charts help?
• Are we getting this report often enough? Too often?
• Are we seeing cumulative data (e.g., quarterly, calendar/fiscal YTD, etc.) expressed in terms that are useful to our particular needs?
• Do I have to run this same report multiple times for different contact center sites?
• How are we getting this report (email, web, a photocopy left on office chairs every night)? Is there a better distribution method?
• What other ways can this report be improved?

These questions can be asked not only of existing reports, but also for the measurements they contain: Metrics, formulas, custom calculations and even system calculations should be validated in this way to make sure all stakeholders agree on their ongoing value and accuracy. Though the verbal definition of service level—x percent of calls answered in y seconds—will be familiar to all concerned, its underlying formula has a half-dozen or more known variations. While it’s not necessary that every stakeholder understand how it’s calculated, it is important that a single formula be applied universally.

Even if you’re an outside-the-box thinker stuck in a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race organization, rest assured that this conservative approach can lead to strong long-term results. With smart technologies powering their current reports, analysts and managers will inevitably discover the richness and variety of new information available in the contact center’s underlying operational systems. Reluctant stakeholders will realize that all the tools they need for broader and deeper reporting and analysis are already at hand; all that’s needed is the determination to take the next step: a formal review.

Option two: Start by setting an end goal

Some contact centers don’t have the luxury of time required to take the first, more conservative approach. Often, the impetus for the contact center change is a much more time-sensitive issue, such as:

• A key operational system is added, replaced or upgraded
• A second agent site is added
• A corporate merger leads to a sudden and urgent integration of two completely different call center architectures
• Senior management prioritization/initiative to increase productivity or cut costs

Whatever the reason, managing a more time-sensitive reporting transformation requires an approach focused on a defined end goal. This approach requires more upfront planning and a structured, top-down process centered on key goals that drive every subsequent leg in the journey.

Five Steps for Planning Contact Center Reporting

Whether you’ve arrived at a comprehensive review as part of your time-sensitive, strategic initial transformation, or as the next phase following a more conservative, build-on-what-we-have approach, the process is the same. In general, there are five phases in a complete review of contact center reporting and analytics. First, the scope of the project itself must be clearly established. Second, requirements must be gathered and defined. Third comes the design process, which will likely have several iterations. Fourth comes the crucial technology selection, followed by the fifth and final phase: implementation and review.

Step 1: Determine the project scope

To stay on track, any formal project needs scope—big or small. A project can be defined as narrowly as “merge average-speed-of answer stats from these three different ACD systems into a line-graph report,” or as broadly as “build agent, team and company-wide scorecards on seven key performance indicators, to be refreshed hourly in an at-a-glance dashboard.” Other aspects to include in project scope include:

• Timeline: Identify a timeline for completion. Open-ended projects tend to eventually sputter to a standstill without the urgency and structure of deadlines.
• Key stakeholders: Agents, supervisors, IT staff, executives and, in some cases, customers or partners need to be identified at this stage as well.
• Budget: Financial resources are often allocated at this point—or this may come later, when enabling technologies are evaluated.

Pick your team captains

There are three critical roles that should be clearly assigned at the outset of the project:

• Project champion: To be successful, such a project should be driven by a data-savvy champion—someone who knows the value of data integrity and believes that technology can be applied successfully to the challenge of automated reporting and analytics in a complex contact center environment. Often, this champion is a senior executive in operations or IT who can make the business case, secure the funding and appoint the right people to manage and execute the project. Note that the role of champion is different from the role of a hands-on project manager. If the champion is the driver—keeping the foot on the gas and the car on the road (and upright!)—then the project manager is the navigator that ultimately keeps the project in scope, on deadline and on track.
• Project manager: A project manager tracks tasks and deliverables along a fixed timeline and keeps all stakeholders focused on the ultimate outcome. Those stakeholders will include people actively involved in the contact center (agents, supervisors and analysts) and those indirectly involved, such as system administrators, database developers and other IT specialists. All have a mixture of priorities and motivations. Without a project manager keeping an eye on alignment, a review of even modest scope can drift off track.
• Data interpreter: Besides the champion and the project manager, there is another crucial role to be filled in a review of contact center reporting: the data interpreter. Some key stakeholders (agents and their supervisors particularly) will define key reporting metrics in business terms. Others (contact center systems and database admins) will define these metrics from a “data” viewpoint. There is often a gap between these two definitions that goes undetected as each assumes the other shares the same assumptions. This disconnect may persist through the design, development and implementation stages and ultimately lead to frustrating and time-consuming review and re-work. The data interpreter—usually an IT resource who understands the operational systems and their underlying databases—can help the project avoid this problem by bridging the gap: translating the required key performance indicators from “business speak” into “data speak” that can in turn be embedded in the new reporting solution.

Step 2: Gather and Define Requirements from Stakeholders

By definition, a review of contact center reporting and analytics is a reassessment of key stakeholders’ requirements. It’s also a great opportunity to make sure the contact center is conforming to the goals of the organization as a whole. The most powerful way to accomplish this is to derive the contact center’s top-level requirements from strategic targets and goals set by the organization’s leaders.

An hour spent with the vice president of sales and marketing, the chief financial officer or the CEO can go a long way towards defining what needs to be accomplished. While this may sound daunting, most high-level strategic goals can easily be boiled down to specific, measurable actions in the contact center.

For instance, if a financial institution’s strategic goal is to move into a new market category (say, home insurance), then the contact center’s goal may be to improve metrics and reporting for cross-selling by customer service agents handling mortgage inquiries. Similarly, for an online retailer of computers that wants to win market share from competitors through better post-sale customer service and technical support, the contact center goal may be to improve customer satisfaction metrics and reporting.

In many cases, strategic goals lie partly or completely outside the contact center’s control. Stakeholders in other functional areas of the organization—marketing, product development, finance, human resources and other back office departments—should be consulted on what feedback or metrics they need from the contact center to refine their own plans and programs.

Finally, there are the contact center’s internal operational goals. Some contact centers want their agents to be more productive, so reporting will have to gather and consolidate accurate data on handle time, talk time or after-call work time. Some want to be more effective in the interactions agents have with customers, so first-contact resolution or customer satisfaction ratings will be key metrics. Most will want to gauge how all the moving parts of the contact center—agents, management and technology—are working together, so service level, average in queue and/or on hold times, average speed-of-answer and abandons will be critical.

Gathering Reporting Requirements

When gathering requirements from stakeholders, it’s important not to shackle their choices to lists of known or existing metrics or reports. Rather, ask each stakeholder group to compile a prioritized list of information, expressed in business terms, which they would like to see from the contact center. Not all of these “wish-list” items will be achievable, but the lists will help clarify each stakeholder’s needs and suggest new metrics or measurements that may be possible with new reporting technologies.

Such user-driven consultation also helps with stakeholder buy-in. Asking for requirements to be expressed out loud in business terms—or just plain old English—is useful in another way. Consider the difference in the two questions below:

“Can I get a daily report that shows Not Ready Time, Talk Time, Idle Time and Break Time?”

This question is all too easily answered with a canned report showing each of these metrics in hours, minutes and seconds. These metrics then have to be compared (often manually) to shift times (from another report) before they are of any use.

“How are my agents splitting their time among the various activities that they do within their shifts—whether it’s assigned work or not?”

This question, expressed in plain English, could easily be answered by a single, more meaningful report with trended data shown as proportions (say, 60% inbound, 20% breaks, 10% training, 10% unaccounted for) which a supervisor or coach could understand at a glance—no assembly or decoding required.

Eliminate redundancy

Look for ways to consolidate many reports into a few—or just one. If users currently receive multiple reports summarizing the same data (by skill set, queue or application, or by time or geography), make eliminating this redundancy a key requirement of the review. The right reporting solution will provide ways to interact with a report to show (or hide) data as needed, and to navigate through standard hierarchies of data (year/month/week/day) within the same report. It will also allow your contact center’s unique hierarchies (site/team/agent, or custom geographies) to be represented as well.

The requirements list should also include any custom or unique calculations that users or analysts may be performing by hand or in spreadsheets. Every contact center serves a unique customer segment, market, industry and/or geography, and “standard” lists of metrics can never capture everything a given organization needs to measure. A new reporting solution should automate these custom formulas and apply any constants (cost-per-interaction data, loaded labor rates, occupancy or service level targets, or other performance objectives) needed in their calculation or presentation.

Expand requirements

Don’t be restricted by the old limits on reporting imposed by operational data silos. If supervisors or coaches need an agent scorecard combining data from ACD, screen capture, quality management and workforce optimization or workforce engagement systems, then add a mock-up report to the requirements. It’s the reporting solution’s job to tap into the relevant data silos as needed—and to present that scorecard as though it came from a single, all-knowing system. Similarly, if analysts have struggled in the past to build end-to-end call audits from raw ACD and/or IVR data, then this should be a determining requirement for a new reporting technology.

Step 3: Create a comprehensive mock-up of your new call center reporting system

With complete requirements and stakeholder buy-in, it’s time to begin designing actual reports. Again, spreadsheets are a useful tool to create mock-up reports. Most stakeholders have the skills to view and at least make cosmetic changes to spreadsheet mock-ups. These should circulate to a design team with at least one representative from each stakeholder group. A report should only move to the implementation phase when all affected stakeholder reps have signed off on it. Each contact center’s report mock-ups will be different, but here are some key guidelines that should pertain to all templates passed to the design phase:

1) Document sources: Beyond layout and formatting, these mock-up reports should include notes about from which operational data systems each metric should be drawn—ACD, IVR, WFM, WEM, CRM, etc.—and which custom formulas or calculations need to be applied in the presentation in the report itself. Cumulative metrics should also be highlighted along with any special rules governing them (fiscal YTD, etc.).

2) Note calculations from source systems: Remember, many of the metrics pulled from operational systems like the ACD are actually calculations, with formulas underlying them. If a new metric is created from the combination of two or more calculated statistics, the operational source of each constituent metric should be noted along with their respective formulas or calculations. This is particularly important in mixed-vendor environments, where a standard metric like service level may be calculated differently by different systems.

3) Check your frequency: Note stakeholders’ required frequency for each report refresh (intraday, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly,e tc.) and whether previous editions of each report should be maintained separately (i.e., not overwritten when updated) and kept accessible for future reference. Your reporting solution should give you the option of filtering report data based on date, making a historical archive of past reports redundant.

4) Determine distribution and scheduling: Each report mock-up should note who will be receiving or accessing the report and through which distribution channel. Some users may simply require a PDF or spreadsheet attachment via email; others may require access to a web portal for more interaction with report data. Avoid sending reports to stakeholders who don’t need them.

5) Keep it simple: Don’t try to include too many metrics in a single report. Each report should support a single management action or decision, or a group of related decisions. For instance, scorecards used to coach individual agents should include metrics that are under the agent’s control (not-ready time, average talk time, attendance, etc.) and relevant independent variables like calls per hour, but not top-line measures like calls offered, agent utilization or abandon rates.

6) Avoid dueling metrics: Some contact center measures clash with others, pulling managers in multiple directions. If managers decide that first call resolution is a customer service priority, then setting low targets for average talk times will actually hinder agent and team performance. Arbitrary call-time targets will also hamper sales-oriented centers that reward higher revenue-per-call or conversion rate (the percentage of inbound or outbound calls converted to a sale). Avoid this conflict by keeping reports relevant to one actionable decision or group of related decisions.

Step 4: Finalize your contact center reporting and analysis architecture

The first three phases of a comprehensive review of contact center reporting and analytics can—and often should—be completed before meeting with vendors to select enabling technologies. The goal is to define your needs—your ideal list of reports and metrics—and then find a solution that enables you to meet those needs. If a vendor is introduced into the review process too early, their technical limitations may inherently limit the report requirements and design, and the whole project may ultimately fall short of its potential.

There are three solution categories that have evolved to meet the challenge of better reporting and analytics in the contact center:

1. Report extension tools

Sometimes called point-to-point tools, report extension tools are offered by many of the same vendors who manufacture the contact center’s operational hardware and software. These systems almost always feature built-in, standard, “out of the box” reports for a given system like the ACD, as well as report-authoring tools that analysts can use to create their own custom reports. In skilled hands, these tools allow data to be imported from other systems and data stores. Similarly, vendors of real-time dashboard, workforce optimization, workforce engagement and quality management software offer reporting tools that may be used to access other data sources.

2. Performance management suites

These solutions usually offer reporting services as part of a much wider array of applications, including workflow management, coaching, contact type profiling, agent recognition and compensation.

3. Business Intelligence (BI)

BI is a software architecture designed specifically for reporting and analysis of information from operational data systems of any kind—point-of-sale, manufacturing, banking and finance, sales and marketing, or any other computerized system with an underlying database logging transactional data.

Step 5: Implementation, testing and review

Defining your reporting architecture and selecting a vendor is just the front half of the process of transforming your contact center reporting system. An intensive testing and review process is still critical to a successful implementation—even if your vendor takes full responsibility for installing and configuring all the required software, as well as developing all content based on your mocked-up reports.

The Testing and Review Process

Testing and review is typically an iterative process:

Develop Alpha Reports

Early “alpha” versions of each report will be generated with smaple data and distributed to internal analysts for data validation.

Hone Calculations & Formulas

Alpha reports get recirculated back to report designers for corrections in calculations or formulas.

Report Formatting/User Experience

Once the numbers are right, designers move on to report formatting tasks like adding charts and graphs, improving the look of tablets and generally improving the user experience.

End-User Testing & Review

Once reports have achieved a certain polish, it’s time to expand the resting and review process to include end users. These reviews should consider how the reports look, how their interactive features work, how they print out and most importantly, how useful they are.*

Stakeholder Approval

Usually it takes a few testing and review iterations with all stakeholder audiences before reports are ready for implementation and day-to-day use. As with report mock-ups in the design phase, represtatives of each stakeholder group should (literally) sign off on each report before it is put in production.

Ongoing Refinement

Once reports go live in the wider contact center, stakeholder should still expect one of two hiccups as final configuration issues are worked out. Representatives from each stakeholder group should document any errors or unpredictable behavior they experience in using the new reports.

* NOTE: Involving these stakeholders too soon in testing can be a mistake. Non-technical users typically can’t add much value to early data validation, and it can be difficult for them to shake a bad first impression made by a report containing ratty or nonsensical data. It’s best to wait to solicit end-user feedback until all they’re reviewing is the day-to-day utility of reports.

Function should define form

If your software vendor is tasked with report design, don’t let their enthusiasm for fancy new technology take your project off course. Just because they can show 16 different metrics represented as speedometers in a dashboard with a 15-minute refresh doesn’t mean they should—unless your requirements process identified that need. The same rule applies to internal “power” users with advanced skill sets who may be understandably excited about what their new tools can do. There will be time enough for groundbreaking innovation once the first wave of reports meet documented requirements.

Continually Improving Your Contact Center Reporting Program

Whether your contact center takes the build-on-what-you-have approach or immediately undertakes a comprehensive review and rebuild, the ultimate sign of success is the same: when you’re getting the reports you need, filled with accurate data that’s useful to you, in a timely fashion—without being burdened with manual work to patch gaps. At the very least, following the guidance provided here should lead you to a point where you are free to spend more of your time and effort on improving your contact center’s performance, rather that chasing bits of data down dead ends.

But though re-engineering your contact center reporting program will deliver significant and ongoing benefits, there is no true endpoint to this process. The contact center ecosystem continues to expand in size and complexity—with emerging channels like social media, new switching technologies like SIP and new innovations in performance management techniques. This evolution isn’t just constant—it’s accelerating. And these changes will bring new reporting needs and create new challenges in meeting those needs. Fortunately, these future challenges won’t be all that different from those currently facing many contact centers: bringing together disparate data streams, harmonizing those data streams, and orchestrating that integrated data into relevant, usable reports and KPIs that show you what is happening in your contact center.

To that end, the best practices covered on this page will remain the best practices for tackling the contact center reporting challenges of the future: defining project scope, identifying stakeholders, gathering requirements and creating mock-up reports that express them, choosing a reporting architecture that can meet reporting needs now and in the future, reviewing, testing, and finally implementing a solution. Follow this guidance, and you’ll be on your way to more accurate, more usable reports—and more time to focus on using those reports to drive the performance of your contact center and the success of your business.

More Resources

Want AI in Your Contact Center? First You Need the Cloud.

The Great AI Paradox for Contact Center Agents

Q&A with Calabrio’s New Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Jones

Q&A with Jim Davies on Choosing Calabrio

Why Most Contact Centers Aren’t Realizing the Potential of Analytics

Level Up Your Contact Center Performance with BI in 2022

Contact Tracing Best Practices: Getting the Most Value from Your Data

Call Center KPIs: 3 Common Pitfalls And How to Avoid Them

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A new law called The Illegal Migration Act 2023 has recently come into force. The Act has brought about significant changes to the UK asylum and immigration system for people who arrive in the UK on or after 20 July 2023. We are in the process of updating the Toolkit to reflect these developments. For now, please be aware that some of the information in the Toolkit may be out-of-date for people who arrived in the UK after that date. To stay up to date with any changes to the Toolkit, please sign up to our newsletter here .

Most people who have applied for asylum or other immigration status and have not had a positive decision have to regularly report at their local Home Office reporting centre or a police station. At every reporting visit, the person is at risk of detention, particularly if their application has been refused, which they may not know until they go and report.

You can find more information about immigration detention on the Immigration Detention page of our guide .

Some people phone a friend when they are entering the reporting centre, with instructions for what to do and who to contact if they are detained. If the friend does not get a call within an hour or two to say they are safe, the friend can call their lawyer and/or support group if they have one.

Signing support groups

In some areas, local support groups have set up systems to help with this. The person going to report will check-in with the group first, who keep a record of everyone’s contact details and emergency instructions of what to do if they do not come out.

Find out more in this video about Bristol Signing Support Group:

A system like this can save valuable time: friends/supporters can start finding out exactly where the person is, what has happened, and what can be done to help straight away.

A signing support system also means that the person going to sign knows people are looking out for them, and that there is a plan in place if things go wrong and they are detained. This can reduce the psychological burden of reporting/signing at the Home Office.

Some starters on setting up a signing/detention support system for your group

(1) Make sure you know when everyone in the group goes to sign

(2) Where are people signing?

(3) Where they will be detained locally, before they are sent to a longer-term detention centre?

(4) Have basic information about the stage that group members’ cases are at. Remember, you don’t need to know everything about someone’s case, and you should only ask for information if the person is comfortable sharing it.

(5) It may help to have a basic form that you use with information such as name, date of birth, emergency contact details including lawyer if there is one, family, health problems etc. Their Home Office reference number may be important for contacting the lawyer/the Home Office. On this form, you can indicate issues that need to be thought about if someone is detained – are there children who need emergency childcare? Is medication needed?

(6) Create a simple consent form for every group member to sign, giving permission for the group or a named representative of the group to speak to the person’s lawyer, or MP, or to enter their asylum accommodation, for example.

(7) How does the group find out that somebody’s been detained? You might want to think about a buddy system (with back-up in case the buddy is away), a telephone tree or email system.

Have an action plan

• Agree in advance with individuals what they want to happen if they are detained.
• Ring their lawyer (if they have one).
• Try and find out about legal aid advice in the detention centre they are taken to.
• If they can’t get legal advice, can your group help them apply for bail?
• Once you know which detention centre they are in, arrange visiting for family, friends, support group members. If it’s too far away, get in touch with the local visitors’ group (see below). You may want to think about fundraising to pay for travel to the detention centre.
• Are there any family members or professionals involved in the case that need contacting?
• Are there other actions to take? Legal support ? Fundraising for legal fees? Contacting the local MP ?

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The comprehensive guide to call center reporting & analytics

Call center reporting converts raw data into insightful reports.

Based on the type of report, you can understand agent performance, evaluate key team performance metrics, and make informed decisions to enhance your customer support. 

Moreover, identifying and resolving issues granuarly can help you build strategies to achieve excellent customer engagement.

This article will cover what call center reporting is, its benefits, and the top eight call center reports. We’ll also provide six practical tips for effective call center reporting.

Let’s get started.

What is call center reporting?

Call center reporting is the process of converting raw data from your ACD (Automatic Call Distributor), IVR (Interactive Voice Response), and WFM (Workforce Management) systems into insightful reports.

These reports are typically based on some key call center metrics like:

• First call resolution (FCR): Measures an agent’s ability to resolve a customer’s inquiry during the first call.
• Adherence to schedule : Determines whether agents are working for the total time they’re scheduled for.
• Average wait time : A customer spends waiting in the selected queue or for a callback.
• Customer satisfaction : Measures how happy the customers are with a business’ services and products.

You can convert these reports into charts or graphs to measure the performance of your business for a specified time range. This can be either done manually or generated automatically through call center reporting tools.

And while you can use any reporting tool to create excellent reports, it’s essential to ensure that the reports:

• Incorporate exact formulas for calculating metrics to provide more relevant and reliable information.
• Represent metrics clearly, allowing managers to identify the metrics that need further analysis easily.

Call center data that uses customer-centric and business-wide benchmarks provide managers with a clear and accurate analysis of their operations. 

But what about analytics? Is it the same as call center reporting?

How is call center reporting different from analytics?

Usually, call center analytics and reporting are used almost interchangeably. 

However, they’re not the same.  

Generating contact center reports is the first step of analytics. The data in the reports will help you derive meaningful insights and make informed decisions to drive up your call center performance. 

Let’s make a more detailed comparison:

Now let’s explore some of the typical reports used by call centers.

8 types of call center reports

Here’s a detailed look at eight standard call center reports:

1. Agent activity report

An agent activity report provides actionable insights about all call center agents. Managers can use this information to ensure that their agents execute their assigned tasks. 

This call center report typically contains historical data and information regarding an agent’s center activity and output. That’s why it’s sometimes called an agent detail report .

An agent activity report can include statistics like:

• The number of incoming calls handled.
• The total handle time for those incoming calls.
• Average handle time.
• Shortest and longest handle time.

2. Agent availability report

An agent availability or agent status report shows the name of each individual agent and their user IDs, along with their ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) state. It also includes how long an agent was in each state.

Some of the ACD states are:

• Signed out.
• Wrapping up.
• Unavailable or Idle.

Historical reports, also called trace reports, can be used to see when contact center agents signed in and out. This helps in calculating schedule adherence and occupancy.

3. Call abandon report

Call abandon reports show the percentage of abandoned inbound calls and details of the time before leaving.

Additionally, some reports can include the average wait time before a call was abandoned and the longest a customer waited before they left the call. This can help you identify where you lose most customers and assess whether the service level is appropriate.

4. Call detail report

A call detail report gives the start and end times of a call, how long it was in the selected queue, and the caller’s details. 

In other words, this report shows:

• When the call took place.
• Total hold time.
• How long the call lasted.

You can use this report to review escalations or cross-check discrepancies in claims by an agent or customer. 

Moreover, quality assurance teams can use this report to review agents. 

They can monitor and track down poor-performing agents, training opportunities, or flawed quality management systems. Taking action based on these issues may ultimately lead to enhanced agent productivity. 

These reports can also help you appreciate and reward high-performing agents that may provide incentives to work more effectively and efficiently. 

5. Call direction reports 

A call direction report, also known as a call transfer report, highlights the number of calls made or received in a direction or channel over a specified period. This report helps you understand the demand of your call center.

The directions can be categorized as follows:

• The total number of inbound calls received.
• The total number of outbound calls made.
• Internal calls made to other departments.

You can also view the following:

• Total call duration.
• Average call duration.
• Longest call duration.

Combining these statistics with other reports can help you with contact center forecasting.

6. Inbound call summary report

An inbound call summary report provides time interval statistics on inbound calls. In other words, this report provides statistics for all the inbound calls made to the call center for any period or interval, like a week or a month. 

It usually includes data like:

• Total calls.
• Answered calls.
• Abandoned calls.
• Agent speed of answer.

This report helps identify trends and statistics— acting as a base for call center forecasting. For example, mapping the call arrival pattern over a day can help you identify peak hours or expected call volume.

7. Queue activity report

Queue activity reports give insight into customer behavior when they’re waiting in different queues within a set timeframe. 

Queue activity reports can also include how many calls were handled across each queue.

Moreover, a few systems may also provide more information, like total calls that meet the service level.

You can even look at key metrics like the average wait time and the longest wait time for an answered call. 

8. SLA (service level agreement) report

An SLA is an agreement between the call center and its client containing the standard of the required services.

Usually, call centers have an 80-20 rule for call pick-up time. This means that they must answer 80% of calls in 20 seconds.

An SLA report allows managers to see how often the SLA was breached, by whom, and during which campaign or queue. This report provides further insight into gaps along with real-time monitoring and dashboards. 

For example, let’s say the call volume is at its peak, resulting in a high wait time, breaching the 80-20 SLA standard. Call center managers can then reshuffle the agents from different campaigns to handle the peak traffic.

Now let’s look at why using call center reporting, and KPIs are beneficial for workforce management.

5 key benefits of call center reporting

Here’s why reporting is essential for your call center operation:

1. Enhances customer service

Real-time call center reports can help you track:

• Customer sentiment.
• Customer demands.
• Customer success.
• Customer support. 

Customer experience impacts customer retention, sales, revenue, center reputation, and more. 

Understanding why your audience acts the way they do will help you understand the customer journey, keep them happy, and encourage them to continue supporting your business.

In other words, the more you understand your customers, the more targeted your efforts will be.

2. Improves agent performance

You can use your call center reporting tools to evaluate customer interaction with your agents, adherence to company guidelines, and overall success. 

You can use daily, weekly, or monthly reports to evaluate critical KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to ensure your agents are reliably meeting the set goals. 

Moreover, suppose you notice an operation-wide problem. In that case, you can use reports to see if agents need access training , like a resource library, or if your system has a problem.

3. Increased call center efficiency 

As your agents improve their work performance and become more effective at dealing with client issues, your call center, as a whole, will become a more efficient entity.

Reports and KPIs like the call abandonment rate, service level, and predictive analytics like NPS indicate the agency’s general performance as a whole. 

Call center reporting may improve agent performance, customer satisfaction, and general overhead costs. 

4. Optimize costs

Keeping call centers operational is not easy, as it’s impossible to look through every area of your center to find small ways to save on costs.

Reporting offers the insight you need to streamline your work from top to bottom. 

For example, if there are too many steps in your call flow, you can save time and effort by simplifying the process. After all, these small inefficiencies can lead to huge costs over time.

5. Manage remote teams 

Remote working has become extremely popular over the past few years, especially in the call center industry. Virtual call centers are now the industry standard. 

Reporting and quality management are the best ways to ensure proper virtual team success. 

Using the data collected from call center reports, you can measure agent efficiency and effectiveness, no matter where they work. 

So, call center reporting is highly beneficial for your organization, but only if you’re reporting effectively. 

7 practical tips for efficient call center reporting

Let’s take a look at a few best practices for your call center:

1. Identify what is important 

With hundreds of call center metrics to measure, it’s difficult and time-consuming to track each one. That’s why you need to focus on which metrics are essential, not just how it’s presented.

However, it’s also important to note that the relevance of each metric will depend on which department is measuring performance. 

For example, quality assurance metrics , like First Contact Resolution, are important to call center agents but not for HR (Human Resources) employees.

This highlights the importance of a custom report across various departments.

2. Set informed goals

Once you have all gathered information using call and contact center analytics and reporting, you should use these insights to set achievable goals. 

Before setting your goals, ask your team questions like:

• How can you enhance customer experience?
• Do agents have access to the call center software they need to work?
• Are they content with our level of workplace satisfaction?
• How can you reduce costs?

You can then use your reporting tool and dashboards to track progress in real-time. It will enable you to identify and address any flaws in your strategy quickly.

3. Benchmark key statistics 

Once you’ve set clear strategic goals, you will need to work with the agents to achieve the goal.

And benchmarking helps you with that.

It enables you to determine whether your call and contact center performance aligns with best practices and standards for the call center industry. You can also evaluate the performance of your agents compared to competitors to see whether your company is on par with its counterparts.

Using your call center metrics dashboard will offer the insight you need to optimize your strategies and reach benchmarks.

Check out our detailed guide on call center benchmarking for more information.

4. Focus on the KPIs 

KPIs, or key center performance indicators, provide unique metrics that businesses can be used to measure the success of their call center operation and create a successful omnichannel customer experience.

Here are a few common call center KPIs:

• First contact resolution ( FCR ) : Measures the percentage of customer contacts that are resolved upon the first call interaction .
• Call arrival rate: Provides information about how many calls your center receives every minute, hour, or day, depending on how you measure it. This is essential for measuring call center activity and helps centers understand how many staff hires they need for the call center. 
• Blocked calls: A blocked call occurs when a customer is redirected to voicemail or told to call back later. This KPI works with the call arrival KPI to provide contact center analytics about staffing and agent availability . 
• Average call duration: Measures the amount of time a customer spends on an answered call with an agent. This KPI helps identify which issues take the longest or shortest time to resolve. 
• Service level: The service level KPI indicates the level of service that customers receive. An example of a service level metric is the 80-20 rule (80% of calls are answered within 20 seconds). The percentage of FCRs is also a service level metric.  
• Abandoned call percentage: Measures how many calls are abandoned by the customer before issue resolution.   The abandoned call percentage is a KPI metric that should be kept low. 
• Average turnover rate : This KPI is solely focused on staffing and recruitment instead of customer interaction metrics. The average turnover rate refers to the number of employee turnovers in the call center. If this KPI provides a high statistic, your organization should look at strategies to retain call center agents. 
• Net promoter score (NPS) and predictive NPS refers to a customer loyalty metric, or how many customers come back to your call center after resolving their first issue. 
• Average wait time: Measures a customer’s wait before an agent takes their call. This KPI is focused on customer satisfaction. Poor customer experience requires implementing  initiatives to decrease the average wait time. 

By focusing on specific KPIs, you can develop a strategy to increase efficiency, decrease overhead costs, and improve customer satisfaction. 

5. Incorporate customer feedback

Your reputation among customers decides if a business is successful or not. 

This is why you should take note of both positive and negative comments while measuring customer satisfaction . It can also help you find possible improvement opportunities and enhance your customer relations. 

To collect customer reviews, you can create strategies ahead of time and form an effective survey to send to customers. But remember, the survey should be short, concise, and specific to the main business goal. 

Customer service reporting will improve your agent’s performance, reduce your customer churn, and increase the satisfaction levels. 

6. Invest in a user-friendly reporting tool

Look for a tool that will help you extract the maximum value out of your data. 

Your contact center reporting tool should include: 

• A user-friendly interface. 
• Interactive visualizations. 
• Unified communications.
• The ability to connect multiple touchpoints of data into one place. 

Though these features are important, what actually differentiates a tool is its advanced analytical features. 

Business intelligence tools offer predictive analytics to identify trends and benchmarks in your data through machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

For example, some business intelligence and reporting tools can predict call volume changes, allowing you to train your agents to tackle it with ease.

Check out this comprehensive list of all kinds of call center software , from A-Z!

7. Make data accessible to agents

Giving a call center agent access to their performance data and allowing them to create their own performance reports will enhance cross-departmental collaboration. 

It can also promote a data-driven culture in your call center. 

You can use a user-friendly call and  contact center reporting software that offers cross-platform availability but doesn’t require analytical skills to extract its full potential. This will make the reports accessible to even novice agents.

Additionally, you should have the option to view reports for any time range and easily share them with center managers or stakeholders.  

Wrapping up

Tracking contact center data is important, but you can’t make much sense of it unless it’s depicted in an understandable form like a center report or graph.

With good contact center reporting, you can track your contact center performance, enhance customer experience, and improve unified communications. This will allow leaders and managers to make well-informed, data-driven decisions to meet strategic goals.

Go through the tips mentioned in this article, and you’ll be able to perform call center reporting with ease.

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• Visas and immigration
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Immigration reporting centres

You may need to attend appointments at an immigration reporting centre if you do not have permission to stay in the UK.

You must only go to a reporting centre if you have an appointment.

Getting an appointment

You’ll get a text message, email or letter when you have a new appointment.

Travelling to your appointment

If you’re travelling to your appointment on public transport, follow the guidance about travelling safely .

What happens at your appointment

If possible, attend your appointment alone.

Arrive at your appointment time. You will not be able to enter the building if you arrive early.

Your identity will be checked during your appointment. You may also be asked to attend a short interview to discuss your current circumstances.

What you need to bring to your appointment

You need to bring:

• your immigration reporting paperwork, such as your Bail 201
• your mobile phone to show security your SMS message at the door

Only carry essential items when you go to your appointment - this will help avoid delays at security.

If you’re bringing a child under 18 to your appointment

You must be able to prove that either:

• you are the child’s parent
• you have got permission from the child’s parent to travel to the centre with the child

You can prove this with evidence such as:

• a copy of the child’s birth or adoption certificate - if you have a different surname, you’ll also need to bring a copy of a divorce or marriage certificate
• a letter from one of the child’s parents to say you have permission to travel with their child - it must include the parent’s contact details

Contacting your reporting centre

Contact the reporting centre by telephone or email if either:

• you’re unable to attend your appointment
• you need to update your details

Make sure any email includes your:

• date of birth
• Home Office reference
• mobile phone number

If you were sent a text message by mistake

Email the Home Office and tell them your reference number (if you have one), name and phone number.

Home Office [email protected]

Reporting centres

There are 13 reporting centres in the UK.

Central London

Becket House reporting centre is now closed. If you were reporting there and have a query about your appointment or paperwork, use the contact details for south London instead.

South London

[email protected] Telephone: 0300 106 5403 Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm Find out about call charges

Lunar House 40 Wellesley Road Croydon CR9 2BY

West London

[email protected] Telephone: 0208 814 5032 or 0208 814 5033 Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm Find out about call charges

Eaton House 581 Staines Road Hounslow Middlesex TW4 5DL

East Midlands

[email protected] Telephone: 01509 220 500 Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm Find out about call charges

10 South Street Loughborough Leicestershire LE11 3EY

West Midlands

[email protected] Telephone: 0121 713 3158 Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm Find out about call charges

Sandford House 41 Homer Road Solihull West Midlands B91 3QJ

South Yorkshire

[email protected] Telephone: 03000 738 248 Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 2:30pm Find out about call charges

South Yorkshire Reporting Centre Vulcan House - Steel 6 Millsands Sheffield S3 8NU

North East & Cumbria

[email protected] Telephone: 03000 739 047 Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 11:30am and 1pm to 3pm Find out about call charges

Middlesbrough Reporting Centre Royal Middlehaven House 21 Gosford Street Middlesbrough TS2 1BB

West Yorkshire

[email protected] Telephone: 03001 065 267 Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 2:30pm Find out about call charges

Waterside House Kirkstall Road Leeds LS4 2QB

[email protected] Telephone: 03000 739 639 Monday to Thursday, 9:30am to 3pm Find out about call charges

Dallas Court South Langworthy Road Salford M50 2GF

[email protected] Telephone: 0151 213 2825 and 03001 065 625 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10am to midday and 1pm to 3:30pm Find out about call charges

The Capital Building Ground Floor 6 Union Street Liverpool L3 9PP

East of England police station reporting

[email protected] Telephone: 01234 421 800 Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm Find out about call charges

South West England police station reporting

[email protected] Telephone: 01275 841 539 Monday to Friday, 9am to 3:30pm Find out about call charges

South central

[email protected] Telephone: 03000 739 037 Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm Find out about call charges

[email protected] Telephone: 03000 739 417 Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm Find out about call charges

Festival Court 2 200 Brand Street Glasgow G51 1DH

Scotland police station reporting

[email protected] Telephone: 03000 739 417 Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm Find out about call charges

Northern Ireland

[email protected] Telephone: 02890 191 005 Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm Find out about call charges

Drumkeen House Drumkeen Complex Upper Galwally Belfast BT8 6TB

[email protected] Telephone: 03000 738 062 Monday to Friday, 9am to 3:30pm Find out about call charges

General Buildings Ground Floor 31-33 Newport Road Cardiff CF24 0AB

[email protected]. Telephone: 01792 314 900 Monday to Friday, 9am to 3:30pm Find out about call charges

E Block DVLA Heol Pentre Felin Morriston Swansea SA6 7HG

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Gunmen kill more than 60 in concert attack near Moscow, Islamic State claims responsibility

• Medium Text
• Camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire at Crocus City Hall
• More than 60 dead, 145 injured - Russian officials
• Russia says it was 'bloody terrorist attack'
• Islamic State claims responsibility
• US official says its intelligence confirms IS claim

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Reporting by Reuters reporters in Moscow, Tbilisi, London, Cairo and Washington; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Andrew Osborn and Maxim Rodionov in London; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Cynthia Osterman, Rosalba O'Brien and Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

As Moscow bureau chief, Guy runs coverage of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Before Moscow, Guy ran Brexit coverage as London bureau chief (2012-2022). On the night of Brexit, his team delivered one of Reuters historic wins - reporting news of Brexit first to the world and the financial markets. Guy graduated from the London School of Economics and started his career as an intern at Bloomberg. He has spent over 14 years covering the former Soviet Union. He speaks fluent Russian.

As Russia Chief Political Correspondent, and former Moscow bureau chief, Andrew helps lead coverage of the world's largest country, whose political, economic and social transformation under President Vladimir Putin he has reported on for much of the last two decades, along with its growing confrontation with the West and wars in Georgia and Ukraine. Andrew was part of a Wall Street Journal reporting team short-listed for a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. He has also reported from Moscow for two British newspapers, The Telegraph and The Independent.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday that they received a report of an incident 33 nautical miles northwest of Yemen's Mocha.

World Chevron

North Korean leader vows never to give up space reconnaissance project

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said space reconnaissance capabilities are crucial for national self defence against enemy threats and the country will never give up the fight to own that ability, state media said on Wednesday.

Russian guided bombs killed two civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Toretsk on Tuesday and heavily damaged two apartment buildings, Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said.

.chakra .wef-1t4fkg7{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:normal;color:#ffffff;display:block;background:#000000;margin:0px;font-size:2.5rem;padding-left:16px;padding-right:16px;padding-bottom:12px;border-radius:0.25rem;border-top-left-radius:0;border-bottom-left-radius:0;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-1t4fkg7{display:inline;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1t4fkg7{font-size:4rem;}} AI - artificial intelligence - at Davos 2024: What to know

'Artificial Intelligence as a Driving Force for the Economy and Society' is a key theme at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting. Image: Unsplash/Damian Markutt

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Robin Pomeroy

• 'Artificial Intelligence as a Driving Force for the Economy and Society' is a key theme at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting.
• Advances in technology have the potential to help us solve global challenges, but innovation and guardrails are essential.
• Read about some of the key sessions, reports and initiatives at Davos 2024 on AI, innovation and technology.
• Check back here for regular updates throughout the week and use the navigation bar on the right to catch up on what you've missed .

If you’d never considered artificial intelligence's impact on your life, 2023 was probably the year that changed that.

From jobs to skills, and regulations and governance, AI permeated conversations like never before.

The impact it will have on jobs is on the radar of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has just released its Staff Discussion Note Gen-AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work .

It finds almost 40% of employment globally is exposed to AI, which rises to 60% in advanced economies. Among workers, those that are college-educated and women are more exposed to AI, but also more likely to reap the benefits, while strong productivity gains could boost growth and wages.

Countries around the world have been exploring regulation and governance around AI, including the European Union, where a draft deal on AI rules was agreed in December.

We also held our own AI Governance Summit , in response to rising concerns about the technology’s impact, released a set of recommendations , and explored the impact of AI and large language models on jobs .

As we look ahead to 2024 at Davos , AI as a driving force is one of our four key themes. Below, we’ll keep you up to date on what to watch, read and look out for.

Live updates on key AI sessions

Dive into the key quotes, tweets and YouTube clips from Davos sessions on AI.

What to know from Day 2

• Generative AI: Steam Engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Speakers from government and business discussed the implications of generative AI following its rapid emergence in 2023, and how we can manage the risks.

But there was also a strong focus on how much it could boost productivity and its possible applications, with Senator Mike Rounds, from South Dakota, US, believing it can transform healthcare.

• Finnovation

Business leaders discussed how to ensure the benefits of AI outweigh the risks in fin-tech.

• The Expanding Universe of Generative Models

Gen AI is advancing rapidly, but what is the latest research and development in the field and what future opportunities will the technology offer?

"AI can solve really hard, aspirational problems, that people maybe are not capable of solving" such as health, agriculture and climate change, said Daphne Koller , Founder and CEO at Insitro Inc.

"We're not done with scaling [LLMs], we still need to push up," said Aiden Gomez , Co-founder and CEO of Cohere Inc.

• A Conversation with Satya Nadella

Microsoft’s CEO on AI and limiting ‘unintended consequences’

The Forum's Founder and Executive Chairman, Klaus Schwab had his annual fireside with the Microsoft CEO, which touched on balancing the risks and "unintended consequences" against the benefits of generative AI.

“The biggest lesson of history is… not to be so much in awe of some technology that we sort of feel that we cannot control it, we cannot use it for the betterment of our people.”

• AI: The Great Equaliser?

We need to bridge the gap between AI's potential and its practical application. How can we ensure equal access to the technology?

"AI will not rescue the SDGs," said Amandeep Singh Gill , the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology.

Rwanda's Minister of Information Communication Technology and Innovation, Paula Ingabire , said AI was more of an opportunity than a challenge for the Global South but digital literacy and the cost of devices need to be addressed.

What to know from Day 3

• Thinking through Augmentation

Much of the potential of AI hinges on its use in the workplace. This session brought together the chief executives of Deloitte, Sanofi, L'Oréal, and Exponential View, to explore the most likely scenarios for jobs and productivity.

• 360° on AI Regulations

Microsoft President Brad Smith joined Arati Prabhakar, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Vera Jourová , Vice-President for Values and Transparency at the European Commission, and Josephine Teo , Singapore's Minister for Communications and Information, to discuss the future of AI governance.

There are diverse approaches to regulating AI, from the US, EU and multi-nationally to date, but Brad Smith said he expects more convergence in the future.

"We won't have a world without divergence, but people actually care about a lot of the same things and actually have similar approaches to addressing them."

Jourová said AI promises "a lot of fantastic benefits for people".

The regulation is the precondition to cover the risks, but the rest remains to be free for creativity and positive thinking - and in Europe we are well placed.

• Ethics in the Age of AI

Philosopher Michael Sandel explored the ethical questions AI poses, beyond jobs, fairness, privacy and democracy to whether technology would affect what it means to be human.

If we can digitally de-age the actor Harrison Ford in the latest Indiana Jones movie, it is OK to bring back actors such as Humphrey Bogart from the dead?

Sandel showed the audience a video interview of him and director and actor Michael B Jordan discussing casting deceased actors.

It boiled down, he said, to a deep human value of authenticity and presence.

He concluded: "Will new technologies lead us, or are they already leading us and our children to confuse virtual communities and human connection for the real thing? Because if they do, then we may lose something precious about what it means to be human."

What to know from Day 4

• Education Meets AI

AI has the potential to change education and the way we learn. Emilija Stojmenova Duh , Slovenia's Minister of Digital Transformation, joined UAE Minister of Education, Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi , Hadi Partovi , Founder and CEO, Code.org, and Jeffrey Tarr , CEO of Skillsoft to explore how we can adapt and adjust to take advantage.

Partovi said when people think about job losses due to AI, the risk isn't people losing their job to AI.

"It's losing their job to somebody else who knows how to use AI. That is going to be a much greater displacement. It's not that the worker gets replaced by just a robot or a machine in most cases, especially for desk jobs, it's that some better educated or more modernly educated worker can do that job because they can be twice as productive or three times as productive."

The imperative is to teach how AI tools work to every citizen, and especially to our young people.

Will copyright law enable or inhibit generative AI?

• Gen AI: Boon or Bane for Creativity?

Generative AI presents a future where creativity and technology are more closely linked than ever before.

Neal Mohan , Chief Executive Officer of YouTube, joined Daren Tang , Director-General, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Almar Latour , CEO; Publisher, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, and Contemporary Artist, Krista Kim , to explore whether prompts should be copyrighted and how we distinguish what is made by humans from machines.

We need to bring all these actors together to talk and share best practice. We will need some sort of interoperability - that's where the world is heading.

• Technology in a Turbulent World

Davos 2024: Sam Altman on the future of AI

As technology plays an ever bigger role in our daily lives, questions of safety, trust and human interaction become increasingly important.

In a key and highly anticipated Davos session, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Marc Benioff , Chair and CEO of Salesforce, Julie Sweet , Chair and CEO of Accenture, Jeremy Hunt , UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and Albert Bourla , CEO of Pfizer, to discuss these issues.

• Hard Power of AI

From diplomacy to defence, AI is markedly changing geopolitics. Shifts in data ownership and infrastructure will transform some stakeholders while elevating others, reshaping sovereignty and influence.

Leo Varadkar , Taoiseach of Ireland, Dmytro Kuleba , Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karoline Edtstadler , Austria's Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, Nick Clegg , President of Global Affairs at Meta Platforms and Mustafa Suleyman , Co-Founder and CEO, Inflection AI, explore how the landscape is evolving and what it means for the existing international architecture.

Clegg highlighted the importance of the political, societal and ethical debate happening "in parallel" as the technology is evolving.

Varadkar said AI had huge potential benefits for the future.

As a technology, I think it is going to be transformative. I think it's going to change our world as much as the internet has - and maybe even the printing press.

Reports to read on AI and technology

Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024

The latest Global Cybersecurity Outlook warns about the threat to cyber resilient from emerging technologies, such as generative AI.

Global Lighthouse Network: Adopting AI at Speed and Scale

This whitepaper explores the impact of machine learning on manufacturing through the lens of the Global Lighthouse Network’s 153 Lighthouses.

Jobs of Tomorrow: Large Language Models and Jobs – A Business Toolkit

How can businesses respond to the changes brought about by large language models on jobs? This white paper, produced in collaboration with Accenture, offers a toolkit for businesses to help their workforces reskill, adapt and take advantage of the potential of the technology.

AI Governance Alliance: Briefing Paper Series

Views from the Manufacturing Front Line: Workers’ Insights on How to Introduce New Technology

Technology is evolving rapidly, and companies, particularly in the manufacturing sector must master the art of introducing emerging technologies to the shop floor. This report, a collaboration with University of Cambridge and constituent members of the Manufacturing Workers of the Future initiative, looks at how technology can be integrated in a long-term, sustainable, human-centric and effective way.

Patient-First Health with Generative AI: Reshaping the Care Experience

How can generative AI help improve healthcare? This whitepaper explores six case studies where companies and institutions are making the promise a reality.

Initiatives and events to know about

AI Governance Alliance

The AI Governance Alliance brings together leaders from across industry, government, academia and civil society to champion responsible global design and release of transparent and inclusive AI systems.

Innovator Communities

The Forum’s Innovator Communities exist to establish relationships with the world’s leading start-ups, some of which will be tomorrow’s big players, and to engage them in the Forum’s work, sharing their insights and, importantly, solutions to global issues we're all facing. The community is comprised of 3 sub-networks: Technology Pioneers ; Global Innovators ; and Unicorns .

Related topics:

Moscow concert attack: More than 60 reported dead; ISIS claims responsibility

This live blog has ended. For the most recent updates, please click here .

What we know about the Moscow concert attack

• Men in camouflage broke into a Moscow concert hall and opened fire, shooting an unknown number of people, Russia’s prosecutor general said.
• The terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility but did not provide proof of the claim, which was made on ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq on Telegram.
• Russia's Investigative Committee said that more than 60 people are dead after the attack at Crocus City Hall. Officials have said more than 100 others were injured.
• A fire also started inside Crocus City Hall, a large concert venue northwest of central Moscow. Firefighters have evacuated about 100 people from the basement of the building and efforts are underway to rescue people from the roof, Russian emergency officials said.
• Russia officials said they were investigating the attack as a terrorist act.
• A popular rock band was scheduled to play what appeared to be a sold-out show at the venue, which has a maximum capacity of more than 9,000 people.

Three children among those killed, state media reports

Chantal Da Silva

Three children were among the more than 60 people killed in yesterday's attack at Crocus City Hall, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Health.

Officials have warned that the death toll connected to the deadly incident may increase as the investigation continues.

Xi sends condolences to Putin

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday after a deadly shooting at a concert hall near Moscow, saying China opposes all forms of terrorism and strongly condemns terrorist attacks.

China firmly supports the Russian government’s efforts to maintain national security and stability, Xi said, according to CCTV state television. 

Moscow bloodshed comes two decades after some of worst attacks in Russia

Phil Helsel

The shooting attacks in Moscow are the latest in a series of deadly terror attacks in the country since the 2000s.

In 2004, militants from Chechnya and elsewhere took hostages at a school in Beslan in southern Russia.

The militants demanded a withdrawal from Chechnya. Hostages were kept in a gymnasium, and 334 died — half of them children — when gunfire and explosions erupted when it was stormed. Hostages’ families were critical of the rescue operation. Russian prosecutors later cleared authorities .

Two years prior, in 2002, Chechen separatists attacked the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow and took more than 700 people hostage. Russian forces used gas, and 129 hostages died. The attackers were killed.

More recently, in 2017 a suicide bomber from Kyrgyzstan killed 15 people as well as himself in an attack on a St. Petersburg subway. In 2013, two bombers killed a combined 34 people in attacks on a railway station and a trolleybus in Volgograd.

The group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attacks Friday at the Crocus City Hall venue.

Putin wishes victims well, deputy prime minister says

President Vladimir Putin is thinking of those injured in today’s attack and thanked doctors, a Russian government official said according to state media.

State media TASS reported that “Putin wished all those injured in the emergency at Crocus City Hall to recover and conveyed his gratitude to the doctors, Golikova said,” referring to Tatiana Golikova deputy prime minister for social policy, labor, health and pension provision.

More than 60 dead, and death toll could grow, Russian agency says

Russia’s Investigative Committee said Saturday that more than 60 people have died in the attack, and warned the number may increase.

“The bodies of the dead are being examined. It has been previously established that more than 60 people died as a result of the terrorist attack. Unfortunately, the number of victims may increase,” according to the Investigative Committee, which is a federal state agency.

Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs and the security agency FSB are continuing to investigate, the committee said in a statement, and weapons and ammunition have been found.

U.S. warned Russia about planned terrorist attack in Moscow, NSC says

Monica Alba

The United States shared information about a potential terrorist attack in Moscow with Russia’s government earlier this month, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia on March 7 warned U.S. citizens to avoid crowds and said it was monitoring reports that extremists might attack large gatherings in Moscow.

“Earlier this month, the U.S. Government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow — potentially targeting large gatherings, to include concerts — which prompted the State Department to issue a public advisory to Americans in Russia,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

“The U.S. Government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy,” Watson said.

Putin recently dismissed ‘provocative’ warning about potential attacks

In remarks that aired three days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of “provocative statements” about potential terror attacks in Russia, and dismissed them.

“I’ll remind you of recent, let’s say directly, provocative statements of certain official Western structures about potential terror attacks in Russia,” Putin said.

“All of this looks like obvious blackmail and an attempt to intimidate, destabilize our country,” he said before the state security agency FSB.

Putin in those remarks did not specify a country or warning. The U.S. embassy in Russia on March 7 warned U.S. citizens to avoid crowds .

“The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the U.S. embassy warned.

Guards at concert hall didn't have guns, state news says

The Associated Press

Guards at the concert hall didn’t have guns, and some could have been killed at the start of the attack, Russian media reported.

Some Russian news outlets suggested the assailants fled before special forces and riot police arrived.

Reports said police patrols were looking for several vehicles the attackers could have used to escape.

U.S. had been gathering intelligence that ISIS could attack Russia

Ken Dilanian

The U.S. had been gathering intelligence for months that ISIS could mount a mass casualty attack in Russia, two U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News.

That information led to a March 7 warning issued by the U.S. embassy in Russia about possible extremist attacks, including at concerts, urging people to stay away from large gatherings, one of the officials said.

That official said the claim of responsibility today by ISIS appears to be genuine, though no final assessment had been made about who was responsible.

Some Moscow concertgoers filmed events as they unfolded Friday night, when gunmen opened fire inside a theater and people ran to take cover in fear for their lives.

Witness says gunfire was first thought to be construction noise

A witness to today’s armed attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall told a state news agency that they first mistook the gunfire for sounds of an installation being dismantled.

“First, we started hearing typical loud pops, but it was impossible to understand that they were gunshots. We thought that something was falling, as exhibitions were being dismantled at that moment, and someone seemed to be dropping something large,” Mikhail Semyonov told TASS .

“Then, the bangs were getting more and more frequent. Suddenly, there was a scream, and the bangs started to be heard as bursts. Then it became clear that it was shooting,” he said.

ISIS claims responsibility for attack but does not provide proof

The terror group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow.

The group, also known as ISIS, did not provide any proof of its claim, which came from ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq on Telegram.

The group’s members have carried out a number of terror attacks, including the 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

Children among the victims, Russia's children commissioner says

Yuliya Talmazan

Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said children were among the victims of tonight's attack.

"Information about their condition is regularly updated," Lvova-Belova said on Telegram. "Any additional assistance will be provided immediately."

She later told Russia 24 TV channel that at least two children had been injured, including one boy with a gunshot wound.

Earlier, Russian officials released a preliminary casualty toll of at least 40 people dead and more than 100 injured.

France, U.K., Germany condemn attack

Officials from France, the U.K. and Germany were among those who expressed their condolences to the victims of the attack at the Crocus concert hall.

"The images of the terrible attack on innocent people in Crocus City Hall near #Moscow are horrific," Germany's Foreign Office said on X . "The background must be investigated quickly. Our deepest condolences with the families of the victims."

"We condemn the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow," the U.K.'s embassy in Russia said . "This is a terrible tragedy."

Meanwhile, France's foreign ministry called for "full light" to be shed on "these heinous acts."

Public events across Russia called off after attack

Several regional leaders across Russia, including in the annexed Kherson region of Ukraine, have canceled public events this weekend over security considerations after the deadly concert attack in Moscow.

Shortly after the attack, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin canceled all sports, cultural and other public events in Moscow this weekend. State news agency TASS also quoted Russia's cultural ministry as saying that mass and entertainment events in federal cultural institutions have been canceled in the coming days.

Zelenskyy adviser speaks out about attack

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser denied that Ukraine was involved in the deadly Crocus concert hall attack.

“Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall (Moscow Region, Russia),” Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on X. “It makes no sense whatsoever.”

No evidence has emerged to suggest Ukraine may have been involved, but Ukrainian officials may be trying to pre-empt accusations, as some Kremlin hawks have already started pointing at Kyiv. 

Asked whether the shooting was at all tied to the war in Ukraine, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said: “There is no indication at this time that Ukraine, or Ukrainians, were involved in the shooting, but again, this just broke. We’re taking a look at it, but I would disabuse you at this early hour have any connection to Ukraine.”

Videos posted to social media appear to show chaos inside Moscow's Crocus City Hall during and after a terrorist attack.

Some videos include what sound like gunshots and show men with rifles, as concertgoers frantically try to exit the venue.

State Department issues warning to Americans in Moscow

Jason Abbruzzese

The State Department said that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow is aware of the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall and that U.S. citizens should avoid the area and follow the instructions of local authorities.

"The U.S. government’s ability to provide routine or emergency services to U.S. citizens in Russia is severely limited, particularly in areas far from the U.S. embassy in Moscow, due to Russian government limitations on travel for U.S. embassy personnel and staffing, and the ongoing suspension of operations, including consular services, at U.S. consulates in Russia," the State Department said in a message posted to its website .

'What a nightmare in Crocus,' Widow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny condolences about concert attack

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died in prison last month, expressed her condolences about the attack Friday.

"What a nightmare in Crocus," Navalnaya wrote on X. "Condolences to the families of the victims and quick recovery to the injured. Everyone involved in this crime must be found and held accountable."

320 firefighters, 3 helicopters working to put out fire

Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said the number of rescue crews responding to the attack is growing and now includes more than 320 firefighters, 130 emergency vehicles and three helicopters dumping water on the burning concert venue.

Moscow regional governor says 40 dead, more than 100 injured

Moscow Regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram that at least 40 people are dead and more than 100 injured in the terrorist attack, confirming figures previously reported by Russian state news.

Putin informed about concert venue attack 'in the first minutes,' Kremlin spokesperson says

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was informed about the shooting at the Crocus concert hall "in the first minutes" of the attack, Russian state news agency RIA reported.

The president is receiving information about what is happening and the measures being taken through all relevant services and is giving necessary instructions, Peskov said according to RIA.

Russian journalist was inside concert venue when gunmen entered

Russian news agency RIA Novosti said on Telegram that one of its reporters was inside the venue when gunmen entered and began shooting concertgoers.

The journalist said that at least three unmasked gunmen in camouflage entered the hall a few minutes before 8 p.m. Moscow time. They shot people point-blank and threw incendiary bombs, according to the journalist.

Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson calls incident 'bloody terrorist attack'

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia's foreign ministry, called the Friday night incident at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow a "bloody terrorist attack" as she called for "strong condemnation" from the international community.

"Now, as the Russian authorities have stated, all efforts are being devoted to saving people," Zakharova said. "The entire world community is obliged to condemn this monstrous crime!"

U.S. national security spokesperson says embassy has told Americans to avoid large gatherings in Moscow

Kyla Guilfoil

National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby addressed the attack in Moscow at a White House press briefing Friday afternoon, calling it a “terrible, terrible shooting attack.”

“The images are just horrible and just hard to watch and our thoughts obviously are going to be with the the victims,” Kirby said.

Kirby added that the U.S. embassy has notified all Americans in Moscow to avoid large gatherings, concerts, shopping malls, etc., and “stay put where they are” for their safety.

Russian media says 40 dead, more than 100 injured at concert attack

TASS, Russia's state-owned news agency, and RIA Novosti are reporting that Russia's FSB security agency has put the preliminary casualty count at 40 dead and more than 100 injured by a terrorist attack on a Moscow-area concert venue.

NBC News has not confirmed those casualty numbers.

Roof of concert venue at risk of collapse, Russian media says

Russian news agency RIA Novosti said on Telegram that the roof of the building near the concert venue's stage has begun to collapse.

Video posted to Telegram by RIA Novosti showed fire continue to blaze inside the venue.

Moscow area governor says more than 70 ambluances at scene of attack

Andrei Vorobyov, Moscow's regional governor, said on Telegram that more than 70 ambulances have been dispatched to the scene of concert venue attack.

“Everything is being done at the scene to save people," he wrote in the Telegram message. "The Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) has been deployed. There are over 70 ambulance carriages near Crocus, doctors provide the necessary assistance to all victims."

Nigel Chiwaya

Russia’s prosecutor general office says number of victims still being determined

Russia's prosecutor general said on Telegram that officials are working to determine how many people have been killed or hurt in the concert attack.

“On behalf of Igor Krasnov, the prosecutor of the Moscow region has gone to the scene of the incident at Crocus City Hall to coordinate the actions of law enforcement agencies," the prosecutor general's Telegram account posted. "Tonight, before the start of the event in the concert hall in Krasnogorsk, unknown men in camouflage clothes broke into the building and started shooting."

"The number of victims is being determined, a fire started in the entertainment center building, and citizens are being evacuated."

Moscow's mayor cancels weekend events

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that he was canceling all public events in Moscow this weekend.

"I have taken the decision to cancel all sports, cultural and other public events in Moscow this weekend," he said. "I ask of you to treat this measure with understanding."

Popular rock band was to play sold-out venue that can hold 9,500

Tim Stelloh

A popular rock band was scheduled to play what appeared to be a sold-out show at the Moscow concert hall where there were reports of gunmen in combat fatigues opening fire.

Picnic, formed in 1978, was to play at Crocus City Hall, west of central Moscow.

The multilevel facility in Krasnogorsk has a maximum capacity of 9,527 people. Booking sites show the event was sold out.

Russia's aviation agency says additional security added to Moscow airports

The Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsiya said that additional security measures are being introduced in Moscow airports

"Due to increased security measures, we ask passengers to arrive at Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports in advance," the agency said on the Telegram messaging app.

Moscow's emergency ministry says it is working to extinguish fire

Moscow’s emegency ministry said it was working to extinguish a fire that began at the music venue.

The ministry said about 100 people were evacuated from the building, and it was working to rescue people from the roof.

Russian media says state security taking action

Russia's news outlet RIA Novosti said that the country's security agency, the FSB, is taking measures to respond to the shooting at a concert hall near Moscow.

Videos posted by Russian media show men with rifles moving through area

Extended rounds of gunfire could be heard on multiple videos posted by Russian media and Telegram channels. One showed two men with rifles moving through a concert hall. Another one showed a man inside the auditorium, saying the assailants set it on fire, with incessant gunshots ringing out in the background.

Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said he was heading to the area and set up a task force to deal with the damage. He didn’t immediately offer any further details.

Russian media reports said that riot police units were being sent to the area as people were being evacuated.

Russian news outlets report gunman opened fire at Moscow concert hall

Several gunmen in combat fatigues burst into a big concert hall in Moscow on Friday and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people, Russian media said.

Russian news reports said that the assailants also used explosives, causing a massive blaze at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow. Video posted on social media showed huge plumes of black smoke rising over the building.

Russia’s state RIA Novosti news agency reported that at least three people in combat fatigues fired weapons. The state Tass news agency also reported the shooting.

U.S. warned of imminent Moscow attack by ‘extremists,’ urges citizens to avoid crowds

Patrick Smith

U.S. citizens in  Moscow  had been warned to avoid large gatherings earlier this month because of heightened fears of a terrorist attack.

The U.S. Embassy in the Russian capital said it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.”

U.S. citizens should avoid crowds, monitor local media for updates and “be aware of your surroundings,” it said in a brief  online update .

Read the full story here.

Israel-Gaza latest: Israel deny targeting humanitarian zone in fresh strikes; US suspend aid deliveries after pier damaged

The Israeli military has denied conducting a strike in a designated humanitarian area in western Rafah. It did not deny a strike took place, but disputed the location of where it hit. Meanwhile, the US has been forced to suspend aid deliveries into Gaza by sea.

Tuesday 28 May 2024 23:30, UK

• Israel-Hamas war

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• IDF denies carrying out strike in humanitarian area in Rafah
• US suspend Gaza aid deliveries by sea after 'damage' to temporary pier
• Weapons stored at location of Rafah strike may have ignited deadly blaze that killed 45 people, Israel says
• 21 killed in new strike on tent area - Palestinian officials
• Israeli tanks reach Rafah's city centre | Rafah rendered 'hell on earth', says UN
• Mark Stone:  America's vaunted temporary pier rendered unusable in 'perfect storm of high sea states'
• Alistair Bunkall: Netanyahu is losing friends - could this be a turning point?
• Live reporting by Lauren Russell  

We will be bringing you live updates again tomorrow. 

Until then, you can scroll back for what happened over the last 24 hours. 

 By Mark Stone , US correspondent 

The American military's much vaunted temporary pier system to supplement the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza has broken apart in heavy seas and been rendered unusable.

Speaking at the Pentagon, Sabrina Singh, the defence department's deputy press secretary, said: "Unfortunately, we had a perfect storm of high sea states, and then this North African weather system also came in at the same time, creating not an optimal environment to operate."

The elaborate system which took months to make operational at a cost of $320m began to fail at the weekend when four small boats which formed part of the operation burst their moorings and washed up on the coast – two in Israel and two in Gaza.

Then today, a portion of the pier also separated from the larger pier structure and was damaged. 

Pentagon officials have confirmed that sections of the pier now need "rebuilding and repairing".

Over the next 48 hours, the entire pier structure will be removed from its position along the Gaza coast and towed back to Ashdod port a few miles north in Israel where US military engineers will conduct repairs, a process that the Pentagon says will take "at least over a week".

A sign of America's failure to pressure Israel

The pier system was announced by President Joe Biden in early April in order to supplement the urgent delivery of aid into Gaza.

Its necessity was a stark reflection of the dire need to get aid in but was also criticised as being reflective of America's failure to pressure Israel to allow more aid in through the numerous land crossings.

Two fully functioning ports exist just up the coast in Israel but America was unable to persuade the Israeli government to use them to accept aid. 

Now, the broken pier is being towed to one of those ports for repair.

The Pentagon spokesperson insisted that the fact the pier was able to get 1,000 metric tonnes of aid into Gaza before it broke apart demonstrates that it can work.

Today, 20 aid agencies released a joint statement describing the humanitarian situation in Gaza as dire. 

"The systematic obstruction at Israeli-controlled crossing points, intensified hostilities, and prolonged telecommunications blackouts have reduced the volume of aid entering Gaza, including food, fuel, and medical supplies, to some of the lowest levels witnessed in the last seven months," the global aid agencies said. 

The agencies added: "Rafah had been shut since 7 May - more than 2,000 aid trucks remain waiting in Arish in Egypt for Israel to allow them entry, with food rotting and medicines expiring as families face heightened levels of starvation a few miles away."

As of 7 May, more than 450,000 people are in the al Mawasi so-called safe area, according to the UN. 

This number has increased since attacks on Rafah have intensified. 

Algeria will propose a draft United Nations Security Council resolution to "stop the killing in Rafah", the country's UN ambassador has said. 

Amar Bendjama told reporters about the resolution - which is a formal expression of opinion or will - after a closed-door meeting of the 15-member body on Gaza.

"Algeria will circulate this afternoon a draft resolution on Rafah," Mr Bendjama said. 

"It will be a short text, a decisive text, to stop the killing in Rafah."

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said he is working with Algeria on "a joint resolution" to push for a ceasefire and address the desperate need for humanitarian aid.

He said French diplomats will work in the "coming hours and days" at convincing "all our partners" over the resolution proposal.

"We are ready to actively work at a peaceful solution, it's reachable with political will," Mr Macron said.

For any action to be passed in the Security Council it has to be voted for by nine or more of the fifteen members.

It also cannot be vetoed by any of the five permanent members - China, France, Russia, Great Britain and USA.

A doctor working in Gaza has told of the "absolute chaos" that broke out at a trauma stabilisation point after an Israeli strike hit a tent camp in the city of Rafah on Sunday. 

Speaking to Sky News' The World with Dominic Waghorn, Dr James Smith, said his colleagues who were working the night shift started to receive patients injured in the Israeli strike just after 9pm local time. 

He said although wasn't at the clinic at the time, his Palestinian counterparts described "really horrific scenes". 

"The colleagues who were working that night shift described absolute chaos. Tens of patients were referred onto field hospitals for surgical intervention to save life and limb," he said.

He went on to say that over the past 48 hours, the situation in Rafah has "deteriorated dramatically" with the presence of Israeli surveillence drones and continued strikes in the direction of the city.

"The violence gets worse day-on-day," Dr Smith said.

"Of course people are anxious, people are fearful, but they are also fatigued and exhausted, they have endured far too much for far too long."

Members of a kibbutz - a type of Israeli settlement - who were recruited as reservists have taken part in a military training session. 

The training took place amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in northern Israel.

The reservists were pictured in military uniform, with helmets and weapons.

The White House has said that the strikes on Rafah both on Sunday and today do not prompt the withdrawal of US military assistance to Israel. 

White House spokesman John Kirby called the strike that killed 45 Palestinians after a fire in a tent camp "heartbreaking" but stopped short of saying the violence crossed President Joe Biden's metaphorical red line.

He did however acknowledge that there is a "real danger" Israel could "become further isolated from the international community because of how they are conducting this operation". 

"We have not turned a blind eye and have raised issues with Israel," Mr Kirby continued.

It comes after various global leaders spoke out about Sunday's strike, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Olaf Scholz.

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said earlier that the scenes coming out of Rafah were "very, very concerning". 

Reacting to the IDF's denial that it was targeting designated humanitarian zones in strikes, Mr Kirby said everything the US has seen supports this.

He said: "Everything that we can see from the Israelis shows they are not moving in with a major ground operation in population centres."

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is working with Algeria on "a joint resolution" on Gaza to push for a ceasefire and address the desperate need for humanitarian aid.

He said France is supporting Algeria after the request for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the situation in Rafah.

The response to the Israel-Hamas war "can only be a political one," Mr Macron said when speaking in Meseberg, Germany, on the third day of a state visit in the country.

"We are ready to actively work at a peaceful solution, it's reachable with political will."

The French leader reaffirmed that recognising a Palestinian state is not yet a "taboo" for his country, adding that the decision must be made "at a useful moment" and shouldn't be an "emotional" reaction to what happened in Rafah.

Mr Macron said yesterday that he was "outraged by the Israeli strikes that have killed many displaced persons in Rafah".

He called for the operations by the Israeli military to stop.

Earlier, we reported that the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that a full incursion on Rafah by the Israeli military could force the closure of the last remaining hospital. 

In another update, WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris said there are only 14 hospitals in Gaza that are officially still functioning - but not accepting new patients. 

"They [the hospitals] have had to limit what they can do, particularly in Rafah," Dr Harris said.

She said the al Helal al Emarati in the city is the only one that remains "barely functional" - as well as five field hospitals, but all are "overwhelmed" and "undersupplied". 

At least 36,100 Palestinians have been killed and 81,150 have been injured since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said.

It said of those killed, 7,823 are children and 4,980 are women.

An estimated 85% of the population of Gaza - 1.93 million people - have been displaced.

While 1.4 million people are seeking refuge at facilities run by the United Nations.

For context:  While some Israeli officials have sought to cast doubt on fatality figures given out by the Palestinian Health Authority in Gaza, a number of independent groups say they have proved to be largely reliable and broadly in line with those later produced by the UN and Israel itself.

Examination of data from previous Gaza conflicts - the Hamas-run health ministry's counts compared with the post-war United Nations analysis - shows that the initial data is largely accurate with, at most, a 10-12% discrepancy.

The US department of defence has said the temporary pier built to carry aid into Gaza by sea will be removed from the coast for repairs.

It comes after officials said earlier that bad weather had damaged a causeway (a type of track) that is attached to the beach in Gaza.

The Pentagon said in a statement that once repairs have been done, the pier will be returned. 

It did not give any kind of timeframe.

The setback is the latest for the $320m pier, which only started properly operating in the last few weeks and has seen three US service members injured and four vessels beached.

However, as of Friday the pier was proving successful, with more than 820 metric tonnes of food aid having been delivered from the sea onto the Gaza beach.

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