analytics vs. performance management

I was recently asked by Call Center Magazine what I thought the difference between analytics and performance management is so I thought I’d post it here as well.

Latigent defines Analytics as the process and enabling tools for root cause and trend isolation. This can range from call volume drivers, to customer segmentation, to agent performance. You hear a lot about slice and dice and drill-down when it comes to analytics. These are very important; however a well defined analytics product should also let you correlate disparate events together and analyze their impact on each other.

Performance Management ties in broad based metrics to paint a picture of individual performance against company objectives. This is where the idea of the “balanced scorecard” comes into play.

Performance Management and Analytics are often used interchangeable. However, Analytics is more about opportunity and problem identification, where Performance Management is geared towards generating the report card and faciliating the process for improvement.

-Chris