silent monitoring
Home > CRM Definitions - Silent monitoring
SearchCRM.com Definitions (Powered by WhatIs.com)
EMAIL THIS
LOOK UP TECH TERMS Powered by: WhatIs.com
Search listings for thousands of IT terms:
Browse tech terms alphabetically:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

silent monitoring



Word of the Day
Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us    Add to Google


DEFINITION - Silent monitoring refers to the practice of call center managers or senior agents listening to the interaction between an incoming caller and an agent. Silent monitoring is generally used in training and, on an ongoing basis, to ensure that customer service and productivity goals are being met. While a disclaimer must be offered to the incoming caller to inform them that their call may be recorded, often for "quality assurance purposes," the agent often will not know if the interaction is being monitored or not.

The practice of silent monitoring is useful in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of agents, effectively capturing customer interactions that can be played back for training purposes or highlighted in performance reviews. Typically, agents are measured by metrics like:

  • average handling time
  • adherence to scripts provided by call center management for different scenarios
  • ability to successfully respond to and mitigate caller objections or complaints
  • enthusiasm, tone, manner or other demonstrations of a positive attitude
  • instances of upselling or initiative displayed in bringing up product or service features or benefits
  • confidence, calmness and courtesy, especially when confronted with problem callers
  • clarity and pace of speech.

While less common, silent monitoring can also refer to the practice of secretly tracking the Internet use of children, prison inmates or users of public Internet terminals, as in libraries. While controversial and potentially damaging to familial relationships due to the perceived betrayal of privacy, silent monitoring in this context can discourage or eliminate peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing of copyrighted material, access to pornographic Web sites or other activities that are undesirable to the owner of an Internet access point. A keylogger, in this context, is a silent monitoring device.

LAST UPDATED: 25 Jun 2007

Read more about silent monitoring:
- Judd Humpherys explains how silent monitoring contributes to agent training at TelemarketingSuccess.com.
- The British Dental Journal published an article that found that silent monitoring improved the clinical performance of dental undergraduates.
- Cisco explains how to implement silent monitoring in Cisco Supervisor Desktop (CSD).


Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know.
Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com


Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us    Add to Google


RELATED CONTENT
Team building games for call center employees
This chapter includes three team building games for call center employees. These activities can be used to encourage team building in call centers and...
Cell phone activities for call center teams
This chapter outlines a few cell phone activities call center managers can use to introduce new employees to the call center team and break the ice in...
Office poker games to break the ice in the call center
This chapter excerpt gives step-by-step instructions for starting an interactive game of office poker with your call center staff.

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS
Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary
call center agent  (SearchCRM.com)
A call center agent is the person who handles incoming or outgoing customer calls for a business.
Erlang B  (SearchCRM.com)
Erlang B is a modeling formula that is widely used in call center scheduling... (Continued)


About Us  |  Contact Us  |  For Advertisers  |  For Business Partners  |  Site Index  |  RSS
SEARCH 
TechTarget provides enterprise IT professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing their organizations' IT projects - with its network of technology-specific Web sites, events and magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Reprints  |  Site Map




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2000 - 2008, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy
  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts