Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
As the Contact Center Becomes a More Complex Place, So Too Does Forecasting
In the contact center, it’s vital for managers to be able to accurately predict call volume during certain times of the day. Without this forecasting, managers might have too many agents on staff, which leads to cost overruns and agent boredom, or too few, which leads to poor customer service and agent burnout. Call center managers have engaged in forecasting since the earliest days of telephone-based customer support. Usually, it’s done by examining historical trends and taking into account any special information (a new product or service, a new marketing promotion, for example.)
Technology, of course, has helped with the forecasting process. Once an onerous job of combing through old call records, we now have software that can examine historical records and provide managers with the information they need. Some solutions even offer analytics that can help improve the forecast by taking into account factors that would be too complex for most call center managers to cope with.
Since businesses today understand that the more accurate their forecast, the more effort they should put into the process, smart companies have developed their own “recipes” for forecasting success, according to a recent blog post by Monet Software (News - Alert) CEO Chuck Ciarlo.
“The goal of increasing forecast accuracy has inspired a wide range of strategies, from assessing holidays and other unique days separately to improving coordination between departments (such as marketing and finance) to boosting the precision of the numbers being used,” he wrote.
Skilled managers also learn from past mistakes, and take into account the trouble that, for example, a simple accounting error (missing a zero from the monthly total) can cause, putting too much trust in a client’s forecast or relying on insufficient data. Mistakes will happen, however, and having a good workforce management solution in place can help contact centers bounce back from these mistakes.
“All forecasts also rely on agents being in the right place at the right time – as this doesn’t always happen, contact centers have learned to build more flexibility into their forecasts,” wrote Ciarlo. “This is much easier to do with an automated workforce management solution.”
Having an accurate forecasting in place doesn’t just help retain agents and keep the customer experience high. Good forecasts are also the foundation for staffing decisions in the future, and allow contact centers to do more than just answer calls or other contacts: regular training is necessary to keep agents up-to-date and improve their skills, and this takes time out of the day. Sick days or poor adherence on the part of one or more agents is also a consideration, and contact centers should take steps to be sure they can absorb those problems. According to Ciarlo, these types of common problems have been resolved by producing results that are consistently accurate, and presenting data to management in clear graphical models that are easy to understand.
For better forecasting, look to your workforce management solution and be sure it’s up to the task, particularly if you have other channels you need to be accounting for, such as digital channels, mobile apps and social media. The more complex the contact center becomes, the more complex the forecast will become.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi