Call Center Management Feature Article

March 19, 2010

ICMI Launches 2010 Call Center Workforce Management Practices Survey

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Now in its 25th year, the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) has launched its 2010 Call Center Workforce Management Practices survey. All survey questions are sent to call centers and vendors around the world in email solicitations.

The survey is designed to capture extensive industry data in order to produce the most comprehensive analysis of call center best practices.

It will also explore the greatest challenges in forecasting and scheduling, while also evaluating how workforce management (WFM) technology is bring embraced. At the same time, it will also examine various staffing strategies and their impact on the call center’s ability to manage a dynamic workload. A similar survey was conducted in 2007.

The most recent Contact Center Operations Report from ICMI polled more than 430 contact center professionals throughout the world, each of whom represented a range of industries and professions. Roughly 25 percent of respondents planned to invest in workforce management system technologies/enhancements. More than half, however, reported that they did not use an automated tool.

'Our survey will reveal the types of investments contact centers have made and how they're paying off,' said Layne Holley, ICMI's Director of Community Services, in a statement. 'We'll also learn how organizations are approaching workforce management from a strategic as well as a tactical perspective.

'Are they considering or embracing such alternative workforce or sourcing strategies as home agents, outsourcing and staff sharing? How are they managing the multichannel environment? And what's their level of adoption and use of more sophisticated WFM tools?' added Holley.

To help boost participation, ICMI has offered an opportunity to be entered into a drawing to win free registration for its four-day Workforce Management Boot Camp for all respondents who complete the survey by March 25, 2010. This award is considered to be a $2,895 value. The winner will be announced in ICMI's e-newsletter Call Center Insider on April 15.

Those who complete the survey before April 9 will also be entered into a drawing to win a free all-access pass to ACCE 2010, a $2,495 value. The winner of this drawing will be announced in Call Center Insider on April 29. All participating respondents will receive a copy of the survey data. This is an anonymous survey; individual responses will remain confidential and will not be shared or stored.

A free white paper on the survey results will be posted on www.icmi.com in June 2010. The complete research report, with cross-tab analysis and expert commentary, will also be available for purchase. On June 15, survey findings will be shared with call center directors and executives at ICMI’s Executive Roundtable.

Earlier this month, ICMI announced the second annual ACCE 2010 Video Contest which will focus on the theme of sharing, 'The Best Practices That You're Most Proud of within Your Contact Center.'

Call Center Management Featured Articles »