Automate the numerator
- •Pull weekly payroll, temp invoices, and answering service fees.
- •Allocate manager + IT support hours spent on call coverage.
Operations KPI•Staffing & coverage
Cost per Answered Call Today
Gives operators a live dashboard number using current payroll and volume—no modeling required.
Pair this KPI with the finance-grade version so COOs can show week-by-week progress as AI flexes coverage. It reminds teams that every overtime hour and answering service minute inflates the per-call cost immediately.
Expressed as dollars per answered call using trailing 7-day data.
Healthy range
$5.50–$7.00/call
When overtime and temps are minimal.
Stress signal
$9.00+/call
Usually indicates backlog, sick calls, or manual rework.
Refresh the denominator
- •Use telephony exports to count answered calls (exclude <15s).
- •Update every Monday so leaders can see trendlines alongside backlog.
Assumptions
What this KPI assumes
Accurate time tracking
Payroll data includes overtime and coverage stipends.
Clean call logs
Routing platform tags answered vs. abandoned consistently.
Supporting proofs
Share with finance + ops partners
Want a live KPI feed?
We’ll wire your payroll + telephony data into a shared Looker Studio board so everyone sees cost per call in real time.