Can Your Workforce Optimization Program Identify Damaging Knowledge Gaps?

If you run or manage a call center, you'll know that no matter how carefully you design a workforce optimization program or how up-to-date your technologies are, your biggest enemy is “knowledge gaps” among your front line call center workers. While a customer may call and receive great information from one element of your contact center organization the first time, if there's a second call, he or she may not get so lucky. The department or individual who handles the second call may not be so well versed with the customer's needs or issues, and in a flash, you've just handed your customer an inconsistent customer experience.

According to a recent blog on the website of workforce optimization solutions provider NICE, “This variation in knowledge can have a direct impact on the overall customer satisfaction scores and resolution rates for businesses, especially when customers are left feeling frustrated that the adviser didn’t know the answer.”

Hardly the intention of workforce optimization solutions. Addressing these knowledge gaps can be a tricky prospect, however, says NICE. Adviser training plans are often led by operational managers using call listening to determine training needs, as well as adviser feedback. This “one size fits all” approach is not very helpful and can often result in the desired improvements simply not happening. The company offers a better solution.

“At NICE Fizzback we receive over three million pieces of feedback on a weekly basis which helps us assist our clients link-up operational data such as call types with the customer feedback data in order to identify training needs based on the customer experience. With a response rates reaching over 50 percent, the volume of data we are able to analyze allows us to focus on specific ability/focus by drilling down to team and individual levels in order to identify where the biggest gains will be,” blogged the company.

In the end, this more targeted approach approach of using customer feedback to identify knowledge gaps benefits the advisers, the business and ultimately the overall customer experience, says NICE.

Read more on NICE’s blog here.