Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
3 Things That Must Be on Your Contact Center Wish List for 2016
Are you making a list and checking it twice? For many of us, these last few weeks before December 25th are filled with final shopping, parties and a few things to add to our own lists. We all have an idea of what we would like for Christmas or something that would be a nice change for the new year. If you’re responsible for call center scheduling in your contact center, your list may be very specific.
Call center scheduling solution provider, Monet Software (News - Alert) recently covered this topic in a company blog post. While many of us complete our lists with things that would be ideal, but maybe not realistic, the focus of any operation at the end of the year should be to complete a list of achievable goals for 2016 before the end of 2015. It’s an opportunity to reflect on what was right and wrong about 2015 and move forward with a new plan.
Perhaps your focus will be on more accurate forecasts. You may have found call center scheduling to be a frustration for 2015 as call volumes were either much higher or much lower than anticipated, leaving your staff either frustrated that they couldn’t get a break or bored because there wasn’t enough to do. Both situations can cause poor morale and are important to avoid in 2016.
Maybe your focus for the new year will be on the accuracy of your call center scheduling. You may have found 2015 to be frustrating due to constant schedule changes. You’re being rated on schedule adherence and those agents who aren’t abiding by the rules are actually making you look bad. It’s not always their fault – they may be called into training sessions due to a new product launch or simply because they aren’t meeting expectations. If you have access to this information sooner, you can adjust your schedules accordingly.
Is one of your goals to better automate tasks and allow agents to request changes online? A hosted workforce management solution may be in your future, yet you won’t be able to find it in Santa’s bag. Instead, consider what Monet Software can do for you, especially beyond these key capabilities. What if you could enable screen recording to better track activities and schedule according to performance? What could you measure with access to speech analytics? Would desktop analytics give you better insight into activities and the best placement for each agent?
With the right tools at your fingertips, you can take the guessing game out of call center scheduling and focus instead on performance. If this isn’t a goal for 2016, it may be time to rethink your wish list to drive measurable improvements for the new year.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi