Call Center Management Featured Article
Five Important Tips to Manage a Call Center
Monet Software, a provider of call center solutions, recently revealed five of its favorite scheduling tips for organizations to follow so their managers and agents make the most of their time. Efficiently scheduling agents is a critical part of a call center as 60 to 80 percent of ongoing call center expenses are related to staffing.
After much research, Monet found that the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) offered the best advice for call centers, including:
1. Clarity (News - Alert)
Senior management, supervisors and agents all need to be pulling in the same direction. That means clearly delineated procedures and professional values that will guide the schedule-making process, and contingency plans for when a schedule goes awry. Having these conversations first can resolve numerous issues later on.
2. Testing
Sample schedules and dry-run scenarios can be useful in testing schedule accuracy and catching problems before they impact customer service. Experiment with different alternatives until you find one that achieves all of your objectives.
3. Inclusion
Scheduling should incorporate not just calls, but all of the activities and practices associated with that process, as well as other projects that require time from your agents or managers.
4. Conflict Resolution
Scheduling is never immune to issues from agents, new product/service launches, unforeseen changes in shifts and other outside factors. How well a contact center adjusts to these scheduling challenges will indicate whether it is performing well. However, if conflicts become too frequent, that suggests a systemic issue that should be corrected.
5. Flexibility
Related to conflict resolution, scheduling should be fluid but not so loose as to create confusion. Adjust schedule horizons as needed if those created two weeks away frequently prove inaccurate, take agent preferences into account when possible, and have alternatives in place before they become necessary.
Along with scheduling solutions, there are a variety of workforce management solutions that can be utilized by a call center to increase productivity. To learn more ways on how they can benefit the call center, please visit Monet’s website.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey