During this time of economic crisis where UK is officially in recession for the first time since the early 90s, efficient call centre operations will determine the difference between the success and failure of a business. In call centres, the incoming calls make a significantly higher percentage than outgoing calls. Therefore keeping an eye on incoming call statistics is key to measuring the operational efficiency of the organisation and to determine whether the call centre agents are handling calls well and the customers are satisfied with the service that the business provides.

Call Detail Records are a combination of different statistical measures that are otherwise known as "metrics" in call centre parlance, which can be used to assess whether the operations are being run efficiently. Some inbound call statistics carry more weight than the others, but a combination of different metrics is required to get an overall accurate picture of what is happening with the calls that are coming into the call centre.

Different call centres have different areas of focus. The inbound call statistics should be analysed keeping in mind the objectives of the call centre. Some call centres may be interested in providing high levels of customer service through the interactive voice recording menu or IVR, which is an interactive software application that plays pre-recorded messages to customers and responds to the options selected by customers via the key pad. Some others may be more interested in reducing the average handling time of the call or increasing the number of calls that are resolved in the first instance itself.

Irrespective of specific business strategies that are unique to different call centres, the main aim of an inbound call centre is to answer calls. Different metrics can be used to analyse the call centre efficiency. But what is most important is that before anything is analysed or even before the information is collected, employees should be given a clear statement of expectations. There should also be ongoing reviews and training plans to ensure that they are able to perform up to the mark.

The call centre agents are also required to handle some tasks after the call is finished. This time is called "wrap up time." This metric should also be included in the analysis to give a complete picture. If the agents spend too much time wrapping up the call, it may directly impact the number of calls answered and increase the number of abandoned calls.

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