What is After Call Work (ACW) in Call Centers?

After Call Work (ACW) is the tasks agents perform after a call with a customer, such as updating and documenting customer records. It is carried out to maintain accurate customer information that is helpful for campaign planning, future use, or analysis.

For example, a customer calls a telecom company about an internet issue. After the call, the agent logs the details, categorizes the issue, creates a support ticket, and schedules a follow-up if needed.

Right after completing the call, agents document the customer's details and take any necessary actions, such as follow-ups or reporting issues.

1. Update Customer Records: Adding any new or updated information about customers relevant to your business or for general marketing purposes.
2. Document the Call: Summarizing key points from the conversation, including customer concerns, resolutions, and any important notes for future reference.
3. Schedule Follow-Ups: Setting a reminder to ensure that any unresolved issues, customer requests, or commitments made during the call are addressed on time.
4. Call Outcome or Resolution: Updating whether the issue is resolved or tracking unresolved issues that require further action.
5. Analyze Customer Feedback: Reviewing customer responses and their sentiment to identify areas for improvement and assess satisfaction.

ACW is an essential call center metric as it minimizes agent burnout, increases agent productivity, and ensures follow-up within a targeted timeframe.

1. Accurate Customer Records: Direct contact with the customer allows the agent to gather accurate details, which is essential for personalized service in future interactions.
2. Better Decision-Making: The collected data from after-call work helps analyze past interactions with customers and recent preferences, enabling the implementation of effective strategies.
3. Enhanced Customer Service: Detailed post-call notes ensure that customers' preferences are recorded, allowing agents to provide services they expect.
4. Enhance Data Analysis: The recorded data helps identify market patterns, trends, and areas for improvement, enabling businesses to develop effective marketing strategies.
5. Improved Average Handle Time: ACW enables agents to access customers' details more quickly, delivering personalized and efficient resolutions that reduce the average handle time (AHT).

ACW can be optimized in call centers by enhancing agent training and CRM integration, as well as automating repetitive tasks to improve efficiency.

Train agents to identify and document only the most important details with appropriate keywords and tags for easy retrieval from each call. This helps them complete after-call tasks more quickly and avoid spending time on irrelevant information.

IVR systems handle routine inquiries, such as balance checks and appointment bookings, without any agent interactions. It eliminates the need to ask basic questions, allowing agents to address the issues directly.

CRM integration automates call logging, updates customer records instantly, and reduces the need for manual data entry. Additionally, you can access a comprehensive history of calls and chats, making it easy to retrieve details without needing to contact customers repeatedly.

AI tools help auto-generate call summaries, fill forms, and categorize interactions based on the context of the conversation. This ensures that essential information is accurately recorded, minimizing errors and helping agents to be prepared for future calls and interactions.

Sentiment analysis tools detect the caller's emotions and the intent of the conversation. It automatically tags calls as positive, neutral, or negative, reducing time spent manually reviewing call outcomes.

After-call work involves tasks such as updating records or logging information, which are done once the interaction with the client has ended. These tasks typically consume more time, delaying an agent's ability to focus on the next call or customer. You can optimize ACW by automating repetitive tasks and providing proper agent training for improved operational outcomes.

ACW ensures that all necessary post-call tasks are completed and maintains accurate customer records, with timely follow-ups.

According to industry standard benchmarks, the average ACW time in the call center is approximately 45 seconds.

Employees' calls after work hours depend on the company's policies, with some companies having on-call shifts, while others respect strict work-life boundaries.