What is efficiency in the context of Call Centre Security?

Efficiency is the cost side of a call centre security process, and one of its three measures of performance with usability and security. The direct cost is easy to see. The larger costs are usually hidden.

Where the cost comes from

• Handle time. The agent time spent identifying and authenticating callers, plus the time spent explaining what to do next to callers who fail. Looking up references, repeating answers and waiting for systems all add up, and security often takes a bigger share of each call than managers expect.
• Lost self-service. A caller who cannot be authenticated automatically has to wait for an agent, even for a task the automated service could have done for them.
• Keeping credentials working. Resetting forgotten PINs and passwords, sending new ones out and unlocking accounts that have been locked.
• Complaints. Callers who are refused or delayed complain, and handling a complaint costs many times more than the call that caused it.

How it is measured

Two figures cover most of it: the average time each call spends on security, and the share of callers who are authenticated without an agent and so can use self-service. Calls that finish in automation make a useful baseline, because the difference in talk time between them and the calls that need an agent is mostly the security process.

The voice biometrics calculator and the network authentication calculator estimate both from your own volumes, rates and times. For ways to improve them, read Improving the efficiency of your call centre security experience. Chapter 3 of Unlock Your Call Centre covers efficiency in depth.