Call Center Scheduling

Call Center Scheduling Feature Article

January 02, 2013

Advanced Analytics and Good Reporting Create Real-time Call Center Intelligence

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

If you run or manage a call center, you’ll know that data is one of the few things you lack. In fact, you may be finding yourself swamped with data and feeling a bit nervous: like you know you ought to be doing something with all this information, but you’re not sure what.

You’re not alone. Many call centers are drowning in data. But because they lack the means to use this data in a meaningful way, it becomes noise. While many call centers attempt to measure and track the key performance indicators (KPI) necessary to improve forecasting, staffing, scheduling and adherence, few have the ability to do it in real-time in a way that provides nearly instant feedback on call center operations and, more importantly, how to improve performance on-the-spot.

Performance management is a topic that comes up a lot in strategy meetings of call center organizations today. It’s essential in helping contact centers align people, processes and systems to meet goals and objectives, such as improve customer satisfaction and a better customer experience as well as cost control and revenue goals.

While most companies engage in some kind of performance management program, few of them do it in real-time and even fewer are able to use this rapid-feedback intelligence to improve operations, according to workforce optimization company Monet Software in a recent blog.

Real-time performance management provides call enters with easy access to a unified view of key performance metrics at any time that allow managers and operations executives to quickly adjust parameters such as the forecast, schedule and staffing, or automatically trigger other events. The metrics that can be managed include adherence, service levels, answer and abandon metrics, average handle time, average speed of answer, average talk time, forecast accuracy, labor costs and staffing, shrinkage and absenteeism.

This data, coupled with the right solution for analytics and reporting, can literally put intensely valuable management guidance into the hands of call center operations personnel, who can make changes on the fly to improve operations immediately.

Remember the days when you found out what you were doing wrong two months after you did it? Those should be just a bad memory today…not a continued living nightmare.

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