Workforce Management Featured Article
Don't Argue for the Contact Center - Justify it with Real-Time Data
Measurement – it’s something every organization has to do to justify spending. In the contact center, it’s especially true. It’s a cost center often viewed as a curse on the company’s bottom line. For that reason alone, leaders are on a constant search for how best to optimize all activities to ensure efficiency. To do so, they have to understand the best metrics to measure, especially when it comes to the workforce.
Like it or not, the contact center is a must-have if you want to drive customer service, loyalty and sustainable revenue. That doesn’t mean you need to be inefficient in operation. It simply means you need to be clear in the elements you’re going to measure, including the cost of the workforce. Fortunately, you don’t have to guess as workforce management solutions are proven to deliver value across the board.
To understand this value, you need to look at the key performance indicators (KPIs) you want to measure. For years, contact centers have measured KPIs like the percentage of calls answered within a certain number of seconds, or the number of orders placed within a certain timeframe. Other KPIs may include the number of abandoned calls, the number of calls a particular agent can handle in a given day and First Contact Resolution. But do these elements help you to effectively determine whether or not you’re making the best use of your human assets?
A recent New Voice Media blog highlights the benefits associated with cloud computing and workforce management. With access to real-time data at any time, contact center leaders can correctly assess the effectiveness of any solution, agent or even process to make changes on the fly. The gap between how the contact center would like to work and day-to-day operations has been bridged. You no longer need an entire team of analysts to understand how activities and data are affecting your outcomes.
This allows contact center leaders to select the right metrics to measure and focus in on improvements. To do so, they make adjustments to forecasts and work schedules so as to better meet customer demand and drive the best outcomes. It’s workforce management at its best, allowing the contact center to truly understand the value of the individual and how he or she can contribute to success or stand in the way.
When it comes to justifying the investments you have in your contact center, make the most of your access to real-time data and workforce management. Once you do, you can spend more time focusing on driving the desired results.