Call Center Management Featured Article
Workforce Software an Essential Component to Call Center Management
Payroll cost is the single largest piece of a call center’s budget, which is why effective management of your call center operation is so essential. By ensuring that your agents are being used as effectively as possible, you stand to save a considerable sum.
But this can’t be done at the risk of customer service. To ensure the utmost care is being offered to your customer, you need to carefully balance the number of agent on hand with the volume of phone calls expected on any one given day. Too many idle agents means you’re wasting money, too few and customer are faced with long hold queues or personnel rushing to get to the next call.
There are a number of strategies that can be incorporated to remove these issues. Agents with overlapping skills that can handle multiple roles are one. Flexible scheduling that lets you send unnecessary staff home is another. But probably the best way to handle the unknowns surrounding efficient call center staffing is a solid workforce management system.
A WFM can take into consideration factors that would be difficult to determine by hand, offering insight into the best ways to staff your communications operation. Predictive faculties can give estimated call volumes weeks in advance, allowing you to plan for all your seasonal peaks and valleys. WFM software can also automatically handle scheduling based on the skill set of an agent. Perhaps most important, however, is the fact that a good WFM system will gather historical data as it goes, allowing it to plan more efficiently for future scheduling needs.
Though these tasks can be handled by a call center manager using a spreadsheet and knowledge of staff, WFM solutions offer forecasting nearly impossible with this method. For the most efficient use of your team, WFM software is absolutely essential to you call center scheduling strategy.
Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Janice McDuffee