Tech Terms: Key Performance Indicators
by Amanda Dingus
September 09, 2025
Every modern contact center has goals… but how do you know if you’re hitting them?
Why Contact Center KPIs Are More Critical Than Ever
That’s where Key Performance Indicators – or KPIs – come in. KPIs are the measurable values that show how well your team is performing against its more critical objectives: customer satisfaction (CSAT), resolution speed, operational efficiency, and more.
For contact centers, KPIs have long been the foundation of quality assurance (QA) and performance tracking. But today, KPIs are evolving shifting from static reports to real-time signals that help leaders make faster, smarter decisions.
Moving Beyond the Dashboard
In the age of AI-powered customer experience, contact centers are more than just support channels – they are real-time intelligence hubs. Every call, chat, and ticket hold clues about satisfaction, loyalty, churn risk, and revenue opportunity.
But are you listening to all of it?
The 5 KPIs That Power Modern Contact Centers
With ElevateAI, all of that changes.
With our AI-powered transcription, widget-based dashboards, and GenAI-enhanced context, your KPIs aren’t just numbers. They are a competitive advantage.
Let’s break down the five KPIs that matter most – and explore how to elevate each one with AI.
1. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
What is it? CSAT measures how satisfied a customer feels after an interaction. It is usually collected via surveys asking questions like, “How would you rate your experience?”
Why does it matter? A consistently high CSAT score means your team is delivering experiences that meet or exceed customer expectations, while low scores highlight gaps in services, training, or processes.
How does ElevateAI improve CSAT?
- Get real-time CSAT insights without waiting for survey responses
- Surface dissatisfaction via tone of voice, sentiment, and escalation triggers
- Use ElevateAI’s AutoSummary or Summary Detail output to identify specific points of friction within the call.
📉 Don’t guess at what’s going wrong let your AI surface it for you.
2. First Call Resolution (FCR)
What is it? FCR tracks how many customer issues are fully resolved during the first interaction. No follow-up required.
Why does it matter? High FCR equals happier customers – and fewer repeat calls. FCR also reflects agent readiness and knowledge depth.
How does ElevateAI improve FCR?
- Automatically identifies repeat topics and unresolved issues
- Flags interactions requiring escalation or follow-up
- Helps leaders pinpoint knowledge gaps through topic clustering
🎯 Better FCR doesn’t just save money. It builds trust.
3. Average Handle Time (AHT)
What is it? AHT measures the average time that an agent spends handling a customer interaction, including talk time and After-Call Work (ACW).
Why does it matter? Lower AHT means higher throughput – but only if quality doesn’t suffer. The goal is balance: delivering fast, effective support that still feels personal.
How does ElevateAI improve AHT?
- Transcripts and AutoSummary reduce the time spent on ACW, like writing notes
- Coaching tools help agents resolve issues more efficiently
- Real-time insights flag inefficiencies without micromanagement
🕒 Save time, not quality. AHY + AI = the new sweet spot.
4. Service Level
What is it? Service Level tracks the percentage of calls answered within a target time frame – e.g., 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds.
Why does it matter? Service Level directly impacts customer perception. If customers wait too long to reach you, their experience is already in trouble.
How does ElevateAI improve Service Level?
- Maps service level data to customer sentiment and call outcomes
- Enables smarter workforce planning via historical and real-time data
- Detects when wait times are leading to churn or escalation
📲 A high service level keeps customers happy – and competitors out.
5. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
What is it? NPS measures how likely customers are to recommend your company to others. Based on their score (0 – 10), customers are tagged as Promoters, Passives, or Detractors.
Why does it matter? NPS correlates with retention, referrals, and long-term revenue. A drop in NPS is often an early warning of deeper customer experience issues.
How does ElevateAI improve NPS?
- Links call data and NPS scores, uncovering root causes of churn
- Surfaces common traits of promoters vs. detractors
- Connects customer loyalty to agent performance and resolution quality
📣 Happy customers talk. Unhappy customers? Talk louder. Know the difference, for your business.
Acitivating Your Insights
Once you’ve identified the right KPIs, the next challenge is turning them into action. That’s where ElevateAI Explore comes in.
EAI Explore is a no-code, widget-based dashboard tool that gives teams instant visibility into performance trends across every channel. No spreadsheets, no complex queries – just insights that anyone can understand and act on.
ElevateAI Explore lets you:
- Upload and filter custom metadata
- Build dashboards and custom reports
- Track KPIs by team, region, customer type, or topic
- View 100% of interaction data, not just samples
And yes, it’s included for free with every transcription.
Want to Dig Deeper? Add GenAI to the Mix
ElevateAI doesn’t just track performance, it explains it. With our built-in Generative AI-powered feature suite, you can:
- Generate summaries of customer interactions
- Ask questions like: “Why is CSAT dropping this week?”
- Surface coaching moments and QA flags, automatically
You don’t need a data science team – you just need a question. ElevateAI gives your KPIs the voice they’ve been missing.
Shifting from KPIs to Competitive Advantage
KPIs have always been core to contact center success, but now, they’re no longer optional or one-dimensional.
With ElevateAI, your team can:
- Measure 100% of what matters
- Spot trends before they impact performance
- Automate the insights that fuel coaching, QA, and CX strategy
- Deliver results across the contact center, marketing, and executive teams
It’s not just about tracking KPIs. It’s about elevating them – and using them to drive business transformation.
Ready to Measure YOUR Performance?
Get more value from every interaction – every call, every chat, and every customer touchpoint.
- Dig into the documentation
- Double-click into the 5 KPIs to Track
- Visit the ElevateAI Glossary
- Explore ElevateAI Explore
- Read the LinkedIn Post >> Tuesday Terms: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (09/09/2025)
- Get started today: elevateai.com/getstarted
Measure what matters – and scale what works.
Photo Source // Unsplash: Mark Owen Wilkinson Hughes
