Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Workforce Management beyond Simple Scheduling and Forecasting
Most companies today don’t have money to throw around when it comes to technology purchases. All new solutions must be scrutinized carefully, their benefits weighed against their costs, and vendors need to be examined carefully to be sure they will deliver what they promise. It helps, then, when a technology serves multiple purposes and improves operations in a multitude of ways.
The purpose of workforce management in the contact center, of course, is to optimize human resources in the organization, ensuring that all channels of communication have sufficient coverage with the right people and the right skills at all times. It uses historical data and up-to-the-moment information to create forecasts of expected call volume and other media channels, and then uses these forecasts to build an effective schedule that accounts for skill sets, staff availability, holidays, breaks and service levels.
The basic technology, implemented properly, accomplishes these things, but many solutions have even more to offer, which makes workforce management one of the most compelling purchases in the contact center, according to a recent blog post by Monet Software CEO Chuck Ciarlo.
Intraday management is one of those features, and it allows managers to use workforce management to plan down to 15-minute intervals.
“Scheduling an agent for a shift is not enough – WFM should provide a graphical display of variances in agents’ schedules during the workday for breaks, lunch and other exceptions,” wrote Ciarlo. “Real-time updates allow managers to compensate during surpluses or shortages for each time period.”
In addition, many solutions offer exception planning features that allow managers to account for time spent on non-call activities such as training and time off. And for companies that operate more complex customer support programs – think multiple sites in different time zones, for starters – a modern solution will be ready to handle these complexities, according to Ciarlo.
“WFM should adjust to your call center regardless of how it is organized,” he wrote. “Choose a system that lets you build an unlimited number of center splits or agent groups with separate service objectives and guidelines. Use WFM to manage multiple sites and time zones, and set service level goals down to 15-minute intervals.”
Finally, any solution being considered should offer robust reporting and analytics that allow managers to keep an eye on the health of the contact center at a glance, either on dashboards or in real-time alerts. Given how broad the advantages of a workforce solution can be, in the contact center of today, the technology is a necessity, not a luxury.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi