Call Center Manager's Survival Guide Provides Helpful Information in Flailing Economy

By Susan J. Campbell

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

The global economy is struggling and companies throughout the world are vying for ways to control costs, reduce spending and discover new ways to drive revenues in tight consumer markets.

Call centers are under even more pressure to produce results and to do more with less. Such an approach requires insight, resourcefulness and a willingness to make sacrifices. To do so successfully, the call center needs help.

 

In response to this growing need, Inova Solutions, a provider of real-time reporting solutions for inbound and outbound call centers, has produced a free booklet: Staying Afloat in a Sinking Economy: A Call Center Manager’s Survival Guide.

 

“Strategic spending and careful use of resources in an economic downturn can actually jumpstart a stagnant operation. When competitors cut back, there’s opportunity to stand out,” said the booklet’s author, Wendy Hubbard, co-founder and Executive Vice President of Inova Solutions.

 

“To do more with less, call center managers must focus on three areas.  First, work from the inside out to streamline core processes and technology. Secondly, leverage your workforce to make the most of both information and resources. Finally, adjust your customer service strategy for the current environment.”

When the economy is in the turmoil that it is currently in, call centers must be able to differentiate between the “nice to haves” and “must haves”. Such decisiveness requires a solid understanding of operational expenses, which can usually run 55 percent to 65 percent of the total call center budget. 

 

Operational efficiency and real-time performances are achieved through proper prevention. Real-time data can identify potential problems before they turn into costly mistakes. Using this data along with historical performance, forecasting data and business goals can help to achieve optimal efficiency.

Gathering this data can be difficult, so it is important that the software programs integrate with ACD, workforce management systems and internal databases to provide a complete picture of real-time, historical and goal data in one snapshot. Such tools enable the call center to make quick, informed operational decisions.

The call center should also work to optimize the workforce. The 2007 Global Call Center report found that placing one agent costs roughly two months of a typical agent’s pay. Lost productivity causes that number to double. Retaining experienced, talented agents and enabling them to self-manage helps to improve employee morale.

Real-time information can be communicated easily to agents by way of basic queue stats on an LED wallboard to detailed data on a desktop. If an agent can tell that an average wit time is excessively high, he or she can speed up current conversations. If they notice calls are waiting, they can improve First Call Resolution (FCR) to increase customer satisfaction.

The call center can also adjust the customer service strategy. Effectively measuring FCR gives valuable insight into customer satisfaction and behavior. Smart call center managers can avert disaster by evaluating key areas of operation and making appropriate adjustments.

It is imperative to the creation of optimal performance to understand what is happening in the call center. Without insight into everyday processes, the call center easily generates more cost than customer satisfaction, wasting valuable resources and failing to perform the duties for which it was created.