The KPI Podcast

“AI will replace your agents” is one of the biggest lies in contact centers today. In this episode of The KPI Podcast, we sit down with Jim Iyoob, a 35-year CX veteran and Chief Customer Officer at eTech, to break down what real AI success looks like. We cover:• Why “next best action” is the most overlooked metric in AI• How to measure ROI beyond buzzwords• Using AI to reduce attrition, close skil...

On the latest KPI Podcast,  Irina Hollatz digs into what really causes tech rollouts to fail and why it's not always the vendor's fault. Irina is the Founder of RightWFM and Host of WFM Unfiltered Podcast. Don’t have time to listen? Here are the key takeaways: Most failures stem from mismatched expectations. Buyers don’t know what to ask, and vendors don’t probe deep enough. Accountability matters...

We know adopting new tech, especially AI, can be daunting. That's why we asked Jessica Lockhart, Business Intelligence Director at Jeff Coat Law Firm, to break down her process for getting teams to buy into new tech. What she covers in this jam-packed 20 minutes: How to get leadership and ethics teams on board early Why experienced team members are often the hardest to convince (and what to do abo...

Ali Joseph is the Founder of Savvy Service Pro and has over 15 years of contact center experience. On this episode she dives deep into operations and her specific Perform Framework that helps leaders set KPIs and improve agent performance. Step 1: Prioritize Metrics Identify which metrics you should measure that will drive growth/impact the company. Just because you've always been measuring CSAT s...

Jerry Ellis, a call center guru, believes that agent attrition is a foundational KPI that is often glossed over. It's just baked into your numbers, not many companies try to implement changes to improve attrition rates. But Jerry believes there is one thing that can drastically change this KPI. That's Engagement. Take the long way to the break room. Take extra time each week to connect one-on-one...

Scott Hamilton, CEO of ARM Tech Advisors, joins us on The KPI podcast for the first episode of season 3! And we're talking fatal flaws in tech solutions. But first, you have to address the people and process aspects of the business. Some great advice from Scott: 1) The way companies dive into voice analytics with technology is flawed. The words or phrases that companies choose to search for ar...

Tonia Brown, VP of Compliance at First Credit Services, gives you the top 5 compliance requirements in the latest episode of the Contact Center KPI Podcast! If you don't have 20 minutes to listen or watch, here is a sneak peek at those requirements: 1. You need a knowledgeable compliance person in-house 2. A Compliance Management System (CMS)  3. Executive leadership and oversight 4. Documented po...

In the latest episode of the Contact Center KPI podcast, we dive into a powerful shift in one's mindset: moving beyond KPIs and focusing on  dream outcomes  for businesses. Adam Saad, Founder & CTO of Tech Stack Advising, teaches you not only how to approach dream outcomes, but how to achieve them. Here are two things Adam says you can do right now: 1) If you're having trouble getting buy-in o...

Daniel Foppen, Head of Product & Product Marketing for Convoso, has over 20 years of CX experience and joins the Contact Center KPI podcast to share his predictions about outbound contact rate. Prediction #1: Customer service teams will be doing outbound dialing in the near future. Outbound is not just for sales teams.  Customer service teams will be asked to do outbound dialing to customers t...

Ready to look in the mirror? Mike Cowguill, Director of Consumer Engagement & Strategy at Capio, joins us on the most recent episode of the Contact Center KPI podcast to dive into leadership principles. Mike shares some valuable lessons he's learned along the way and we promise they will help you become a better leader. All you need is 20 minutes :) If you don't have 20 minutes, we suggest lis...

Hannah Steiman, President & Chief Strategy Officer at Peak Support, joins us to talk all about Quality and why it should be a top priority. Quality starts with the best agents and people. But you still need processes and technology to achieve those high scores. At Peak Support, they focus on root cause analysis. Their 5 level analysis lets them get to the root cause of the issue so they can co...

Another Contact Center KPI episode has dropped and Peter Ryan is this week's guest! Peter is the Founder & Chief Analyst at Ryan Strategic Advisor and has over 20 years of experience in the contact center consulting world. Company culture discussions seem to be missing within the contact center community and Peter is here to help you set the foundation to help you get it right.  Here are 3 thi...

Berny Miller, who has over 20 years of experience in contact centers, joins us to focus on agent attrition. But this conversation dives into so much more. It was hard to narrow down which three points we wanted to share! If you like what Berny has to say below, we HIGHLY suggest listening to this, even if it's on a drive. 1) Step back and listen before you make any changes. This means being on...

Jon Ellsworth, Chief Revenue Officer at ApexCX and over 25 years of experience in the call center space, joined us on the latest episode of the Contact Center KPI podcast. And we dove head first into AI with a new KPI called AI First Resolution. Here are two things you'll learn from this episode: 1) Change management is hard. People want to be told the truth on what is happening when you implement...

Jordan Fleming, CEO of smrtPhone, joined us on the Contact Center KPI podcast for a phenomenal episode on agent performance and his steps to coaching & training. Here is what you're going to learn in this episode:  1) Three steps to agent coaching & training: I do you listen, you do I coach, you do I listen.2) The above steps won't work because you expect it to happen quickly. You need to...

Have you heard of GigCX?  Well Nate Nammour, Director of Partnerships at ShyftOff, joined the Contact Center KPI podcast to discuss the gig economy for contact centers.  Nate discusses the productivity stats of traditional W2 agents vs. 1099 gig workers. The results are fascinating. If you're looking to move towards a gig model or hire an outside agency, Nate shares his secrets on what steps you s...

Today's guest on the Contact Center KPI podcast is Oliver Catt, Founder of The Cattalyst. We talk all about agent attrition. A touchy subject in the contact center world. Here are three things you'll learn from Oliver's episode:1) It can cost 105% of an employee's salary to replace, recruit, and train and new person to replace them. 2) It has been normalized to expect higher levels of attrition in...

Brian Jeppesen, Director of Contact Center Operations at Landry's Restaurants, has over 30 years of contact center industry experience. Today he is sharing that experience with you. We're focusing on the customer and the return on the experience. If you want to learn how to make it easier for customers to do business with you, you need to hear how Brian breaks it down. Plus he gives you details of...

Clayton Drotsky joins us on the latest episode of the Contact Center KPI podcast! With 18 years of contact center leadership experience, Clayton is taking a different approach in today's episode. We're discussing the big picture and how leaders should approach KPIs! KPIs are usually decided on at the higher levels and then are communicated down the ladder.  But there is usually a communication bre...

This week's guest is Dan Smitley, 20 year workforce management industry expert, and he is diving into service level and occupancy. Service level is focused on the customer experience. Occupancy is focused on the business & agency experience. This is why they have to be measured together to get the best results! Most contact centers only measure one of the two. Biggest piece of advice from Dan...

Aaron Slavin, a compliance call center expert with over 10 years of experience, joined us on the Contact Center KPI podcast to share his secrets on balancing employee safety with operations. Key takeaways from the episode that you don't want to miss... 1) Have a threat matrix in place. Know exactly when to escalate incidents. 2) Put safety before sales. The two factors to consider when a threat ha...

Eric Sims, CX cowboy at Leading Edge Connections, joins us on the Contact Center KPI Podcast to discuss the highly requested topic - customer retention and churn. You'll come away with Eric's top action items when it comes to improving retention. One of his secrets starts right with your agents. Your agent's happiness directly impacts customer retention as they are a representation of your busines...

This episode is a MUST LISTEN.Why? Chris Crosby, Founder & CEO of CX Ventures, joins us to talk about why KPIs today aren't worth much and how each one can be "gamed". He took a different perspective on KPIs and how companies should be focusing on the fundamentals instead. If you're focused on the fundamentals of your operation like...Are your agents showing up on time? Are they handling calls...

We had Rob Bayer, President & COO of Anomaly Squared, join Greg Reffner to talk all about SLAs. Why SLAs? Because it's the definition of a true partnership and critical in creating overall customer satisfaction. What's one thing that most contact center leaders overlook when it comes to positively impacting SLAs? Asking agents for their feedback. Simple, yet often forgotten about. Your agents...

Sean Moss, Co-Founder & VP of Scoutnet and StellaNStone.com , joined us on the Contact Center KPI podcast! Our KPI for this episode is Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). CLV is often complicated and most companies aren't focused on it. They are focused on average handle time, first contact resolution, or other "leading" indicators. Sean says, "Keep it simple". First, recognize that CLV is a KPI wo...