QUALITY PAPER Empirical benchmarking of virtual service centers' service quality: a case of a large telecom service provider in India centers'

Purpose - This paper aims to present a hybrid approach to measure the efficiency of virtual contact centers (VCCs) started during the pandemic and benchmark them for service performance. The results are used to plot the VCC's efficiency score (performance) and customer perception (Importance) to propose appropriate strategies.Design/methodology/approach - Using the survey method, 854 responses were collected from customers who used VCC services during the pandemic. This data was then employed to assess the performance of VCCs using SERVPERF and DEA methods, followed by the development of the model for performance analysis. Findings - Results reveal the ranking of different VCCs started during the pandemic for the telecom company using SERVPERF and DEA methods. Further, the performance analysis model highlighted the strategies appropriate for each VCCs.Practical implications - The findings add to the body of knowledge on how multiple service units of a large organization can assess service efficiency utilizing a combination of SERVPERF-DEA. The present work also contributes to the performance analysis field by proposing a model to assess the service centers and provide improvement guidelines.Originality/value - The work is one of the first to assess the service efficiency of the VCCs started during the pandemic by using a unique hybrid approach of SERVPERF and DEA. This approach provides a direction to whom to benchmark and to what degree service quality should be improved. Further, the study proposes a unique performance analysis model based on performance scores and customer perception.