Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
WFM Live Streamlines Call Center Scheduling
The call center is the perfect dance of call volume, agent availability and productive interactions – at least that is the goal for every call center manager. The challenge, however, is turning those goals into reality when trying to implement call center scheduling tools. Fortunately, Workforce Management (WFM) Live from Monet Software can help.
As highlighted in this Monet Software blog, which includes a great video on the user interface, contact center managers can streamline the call center scheduling process with the WFM Live application.
This solution allows the manager to accurately forecast volumes that allow for proper scheduling to meet the anticipated needs of the center. Plus, managers can schedule ‘what-if’ scenarios that allow for a more in-depth approach to the call center schedule.
The video displays a completed roster for one day. The process of creating and building a daily or weekly roster is actually the final step in the creation of the total workforce schedule. It is in this step that agents are assigned schedules according to their preferences, availability and work rules.
But accounting for time on the phone is not the only important activity for call center scheduling. The normal daily routine includes after call wrap up activities, breaks, lunch hours, coaching, training and more. Agents need to be scheduled for these activities in order to accurately assess their availability against center needs.
By assigning these activities, the manager can easily see who is available at different times of the day. They can also view who has not been scheduled and why. If additional agents need to be called in, the manager can start with those who are not on vacation or didn’t request the day off.
Even with the best forecasting tools, call volumes can change throughout the course of the day, week or month. With clear visibility into the schedule, managers can make changes on the fly. Plus, dynamic changes and agent swapping are easy as the manager simply highlights the individual, selects the preferred option and un-assigns or assigns as needed.
Changes to the roster are unlimited, providing the manager with the call center scheduling flexibility necessary to effectively meet performance criteria. That visibility can be extended out to the agent base so they always know the schedule and can access needed capabilities to request time off, shift changes and other exceptions in advance.
Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli