Call Center Management Feature Article

September 22, 2011

Call Center Management at Ease with Forecasting, Scheduling

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Call center management takes on considerable responsibility in the active call centers of today. Not only do these individuals need to motivate agents to achieve performance standards, they also need to effectively manage a dynamic environment that can be both exciting and frustrating. With the right elements in place, however, call center management can celebrate more excitement rather than dealing with frustration.

This recent Monet Software blog focused on call center management, providing a list of practical tips, tricks and best practices that can be easily integrated into the call center to drive results. This first in a series of helpful blogs offers methods for improving forecasting and scheduling within the call center.

When addressing forecasting, call center management must overcome some very specific challenges, including the inaccuracy of historical data. New campaigns and consumer trends can change the call volume of any call center, demanding the use of a solution that will capture all variables, including historic data, and automate the forecasting step. The use of simulation tools can help in the process.

Call center management must also determine how best to forecast for special days. If the call center functions as a division for a retail establishment or online store, the day after Thanksgiving can prove to be one of the busiest and most exciting days of the year – if they can forecast for volume effectively.

Intra-day forecasting is also critical for call center management as there are different activities taking place throughout the day that can contribute to the overall volume. Don’t forget the very obvious challenge of forecasting for multiple channels, an activity that demands a software-based approach to ensure no campaign, channel anomaly or customer preference is missed in the forecasting activities.

Once accurate forecasting is in place, call center management can move on to scheduling. The key here is to make a schedule that works for the call center staff. All agent activities must be included in the scheduling to ensure all calls can be covered when an agent is out of his or her seat. Full/part-time and flexible schedule workers must be scheduled according to their needs, availability and capability.

Scheduling spreadsheets are a common approach in the call center, but can be prone to error and consume too much time. Automated approaches, such as workforce management, enable call center management to eliminate the manual task, while allowing online access for all agents and employees. This approach is ideal for the flexible shift model where a number of different start and stop times are taking place within the call center.

Overall, call center management can benefit greatly by leveraging key technology solutions that streamline forecasting and scheduling activities, allowing them more time to focus on customer satisfaction.

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