Call Recording Featured Article

Getting the most out of a workforce is a non-stop process of new tools, new policies, and occasionally remembering that these are real people involved. Thus, workforce optimization as a field has brought plenty of new opportunities forward as businesses discover what works and what doesn't with the ever-changing workforces at hand. Carlson Rezidor recently turned to inContact's line of cloud solutions to help get more going on within its own workforce and improve customer experience in the process.

The hotel group turned to inContact for its Customer Interaction Cloud, a system that looks to help Carlson Rezidor with its stated goals of workforce optimization and better customer service, all with a system that provides cost-effective operations. Featuring greatly in this operation will be inContact's automatic call distributor and interactive voice response (IVR) systems, which allow calls to be routed to the best location and, once there, the best-skilled agent for the task at hand.

Such a move would also help not only improve agent efficiency, reports suggested, but also reduce costs. Carlson Rezidor also turned to inContact for specific workforce optimization and quality management tools, allowing for reporting options to track performance and make corrections where need be.

Carlson Rezidor's senior vice president of commercial operations Brad Beakley commented, “Providing a seamless customer service experience is crucial as our customer base continues to grow. It was important for us to find a scalable cloud software solution that delivers the best service possible to our valued guests, while capturing our contact center’s activity through customizable dashboards with both real-time and historical analytics.”

The proper use of an IVR system can go a long way in workforce optimization; by routing only the more complex calls to human beings, a lot of waste is lost. No more “what are your hours” or “what's my bill come to” calls can mean a lot of time savings. That doesn't necessarily mean job cuts, though, as it's worth keeping a certain extra number of people around to handle peak times and unusual surges. Using automated tools can cut down on many points of contact, which is a big help to getting the most out of a workforce. That also helps improve customer experience, and since return business is vital to a hotel chain, improving the customer experience means a better chance at bottom-line improvements.

It's easy to see that Carlson Rezidor has done quite well for itself with this move, and this is likely to pay off in fairly short order. Engaging in workforce optimization is usually a smart idea, and one that means more engagement and happier customers in the end.