Call Center Management Featured Article
Selecting the Right Workforce Management Solution for Your Call Center
Every call center needs a workforce management (WFM) that provides businesses with solutions they need to capture and analyze customer interaction across all channels and make strategic decisions to increase overall efficiency and effectiveness. But with so many WFM solutions on the market, it becomes even more difficult for organizations to make a decision on which one is the correct fit for their unique call center.
Monet Software, a provider of call center solutions, has its own WFM software that delivers value to call center operations by helping to improve service levels and reduce costs, while simultaneously increasing employee morale through more predictable, flexible and efficient scheduling and staffing. But, in an effort to help organizations make the decision easier and more efficient, whether users choose their own software or not, Monet has created a checklist for evaluating WFM solutions for small to mid-sized business with less than 300 agents, and it looks like this:
1. Key capabilities
Does it accurately forecast call volumes by supporting the use of historical data and real-time ACD integration?
2. Time and resources to implement
How long does it take to implement the solution from start to finish? When can you actually begin to get benefits from the solution?
3. Total cost of purchasing, running and maintaining the solution
Upfront: What are the total upfront costs for software, hardware, integration and implementation?
Ongoing: What are the ongoing monthly or annual costs such as subscription, maintenance, support, and upgrade fees?
Hidden costs: Some solutions have hidden costs that many vendors don’t mention but occur within your company such as your IT people installing and operating the server, which can be avoided when purchasing a cloud-based solution.
4. Usability
Is the solution easy and intuitive for non-IT people to use, making sure that you get the most out of it?
5. Risk
Every solution carries a success risk within a given work environment, and you should evaluate that risk. If, for whatever reason, the solution doesn’t work for you, can you “return it” or “turn it off” with no or limited financial risk?
6. ROI and payback
You purchase a WFM solution to either enhance your ability to grow business or reduce operational costs, or both. So it’s important to clearly understand how long added business or cost savings actually take to recoup the system costs.
These are just methods on how call centers can make the decision for choosing a WFM solution as seamless as possible. For more information, please visit Monet’s whitepaper, ‘How to Select a Workforce Management Solution.'
Edited by Rory J. Thompson