Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Employ Successful Forecasting for More Efficient Call Center Scheduling
In terms of call center scheduling, determining what to expect on any given day can be make or break for your business. While there are ways to determine fluctuations by season and month, day to day changes in call volume are much more difficult to predict. Making sure that you are appropriately staffed is essential regardless of the expected call volume, and will workforce management software can assist in this regards there are still elements call center managers need to watch to remain as efficient as possible
Based on a survey by DMG consulting, call center’s biggest forecasting challenges are related to daily call volume fluctuations. Workforce management software provider Monet recommends a few things for call center managers to successfully staff a call center for the right kind of call volume.
First they recommend you spend some time analyzing readily available information to achieve an accurate forecast and minimize surprises. To do this managers can check call history, anticipate factors like holidays which can impact call volume and focus on skill level of the team determining which agents can answer inquiries most successfully and will need to be on the schedule.
If a manager notices that actual call volume is different from what had been forecasted, analysis of the deviation from estimate call volume and average handle time can be used to determine the necessary staff requirements. This makes it easier to acknowledge what you need from agents and make real-time schedule changes to fit the call centers needs. Moving around breaks and training sessions can also give call center management a little bit of breathing room in determining a schedule.
Once all of these things have been taking into consideration it’s important for management to review and find the cause for the deviation. This might help you be better prepared next time, and can even potential be built into an updated forecast.
Considering that an incorrectly staffed call center means either loss of customer service or loss of payroll money, building a proper forecasting solution can net a considerable return on investment.
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 Chris DiMarco