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Customer Contact
October 2000
Carol Drzewianowski  

The WFM Evolution

BY CAROL DRZEWIANOWSKI

Go Right To: 
Customer Contact News
Improve Your Call Center Management -- Bring In The Experts
When I was in high school, I held a part-time job as a cashier at a local pharmacy. Every Thursday the schedule for the following week would be updated, and I'd find out how many hours I could count on working. My manager would write the names of all employees down the side of a white board, and the days of the week across the top. In the middle he filled in the hours and who was working during that period. Informative, yes. But also tedious.

Good thing contact center managers don't have to resort to such antiquated tactics to schedule 20, 50, or more than 100 people. No, today's workforce management (WFM) software makes it easier than ever to manage contact center staff. After all, it is critical to the contact center's success to get the right number of people in place to respond to calls, e-mail, and chat sessions. If a manager overstaffs, the contact center spends dollars needlessly. But if not enough agents are staffed, then there are problems with low service levels, low morale, and high turnover. It could also turn away customers who feel they are waiting too long to get a response to their inquiry.

That's not to mention the changing face of the "traditional" call center. More often than not, if I have a question about a product or service, I send an e-mail. That is my preferred form of communication. As call centers morph into contact centers, agents must be available to handle the various means of contact. Of course, many people still hold the ideal vision of the person who can do it all -- talk to a customer on the phone while alt-tabbing between an e-mail response and a text chat session. Realistically though, a contact center needs to manage agents who are skilled in each particular area in order to answer queries in the manner that will get customers questions answered quickly and completely.

Scheduling software has benefited from customer input as companies like Blue Pumpkin, Witness Systems, and IEX continue to improve their products. Newer companies, such as Hiho Technologies are also putting themselves on the computer screen, as it were.

Companies are even adding wireless technology to their offerings so that contact center managers can schedule employees even when they are not on site. For example, Intermec Technologies and Centura Software have expanded an alliance that will provide mobile workers using Intermec's new ArciTech mobile workforce management system visibility to customer information.

Scheduling and workforce management has certainly evoled from the simplistic white board, which was my first exposure. This is evidenced even further by the announcements made in this section.
-- Carol Drzewianowski

Customer Contact News

TASKE Technology Intros TASKE 7.1
 TASKE Technology has announced the release of TASKE Call Center Management Tools version 7.1. TASKE 7.1 answers the need to efficiently handle increased e-business call traffic while offering superior customer service by providing a simple, affordable management solution. Drawing on client input for new features, TASKE 7.1 includes multiple site management through TASKE Enterprise Supervisor, seamless integration with Blue Pumpkin Software's PrimeTime Workforce Management solution, a chat communications utility, and other enhancements.
No. 525, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

Journyx Releases WFM Technology For Virtual Organizations
Journyx announced that the 4.0 version of Journyx Timesheet is now generally available. Journyx Timesheet 4.0 allows companies, employees, and third-party supply chain partners to share information to better manage projects, tasks, time, and expenses over the Internet, while preserving their existing investments in back-office hardware and software. "At SRDI (a technical staffing firm), one of our goals is maximizing the productivity of our extended workforce because it enables us to consistently provide superior service to our clients," said Dean Score, SRDI CEO. "Journyx Timesheet 4.0 is an invaluable productivity enhancer that helps us to achieve that goal. It offers us the flexibility to customize time, expense and project tracking to meet the explicit needs of each individual client and project, while making time entry fast and convenient for our consultants and approval via the Web easy for client managers."
No. 526, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

IEX Enables Multimedia Contact Centers With TotalView Version 3
IEX, a Tekelec company, announced the release of TotalView Workforce Management version 3. TotalView version 3 adds multimedia planning and scheduling to the industry leading workforce management solution. It provides contact centers a single integrated tool for forecasting, scheduling and managing customer contacts, regardless of which communication media a customer prefers. Advancements in communications technology, in particular the internet, now provide customers around the world an unprecedented choice of contact media -- phone, mail, Web chat, Web video, fax, and e-mail, among others. These advancements are driving traditional call centers to become multimedia contact centers with agents available to handle any form of customer contact at any given moment.
No. 527, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

Aspect Announces eWorkforce Management 2000
Aspect Communications announced Aspect eWorkforce Management 2000 -- a contact center staffing tool built upon market-leading technology developed by TCS Management Group, which now supports and develops the software as Aspect Communications. Aspect eWorkforce Management 2000 dramatically reduces the complexities of staffing for the multiskill, multimedia, and multisite contact center. This integrated, automated software suite will also offer the advanced Aspect eSchedule Planner 2000 module, a new release of Interactive Agent that allows contact center agents to use a Web browser to view and request changes to their work schedules and automatically receive "accepted," "declined," or "wait-listed" responses.
No. 528, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

Witness Systems, eGain Integrate Multimedia Contact Center Solutions
Witness Systems and eGain Communications announced the integration of their multimedia contact center solutions. A key part of the overall alliance is designed to help contact centers deliver superior customer service across multiple communication channels, including the telephone, Web, and e-mail. For joint customers, the integration provides a complete system to effectively manage on-line customer service and ensure consistent, high-quality responses across all touch points. When customers contact companies via e-mail, text chat, Web collaboration, or voice-over-Internet, the eGain Commerce platform automatically routes inquiries to the appropriate sales/service representative, suggests personalized answers, and tracks all interactions.
No. 529, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

Blue Pumpkin Software Announces Open Integration Platform
Blue Pumpkin Software has announced the release of PrimeTime Exchange, a new open integration platform that will seamlessly bridge its PrimeTime forecasting and scheduling solutions with industry-leading multi-contact communications technologies. This new platform supports Blue Pumpkin's overall integration initiative to deliver open, easy to implement solutions that support the rapidly changing technology environments of today's multi-channel contact center. Blue Pumpkin's complete solution includes the new integration platform plus out-of-the-box integration plug-ins developed jointly by Blue Pumpkin and its communications partners.
No. 530, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

Pipkins Announces Vantage Point
Pipkins has announced Vantage Point, an enhancement to the company's Maxima Advantage workforce management software. Vantage Point enables companies to tailor Maxima Advantage's robust feature set to each individual user's unique set of recurring tasks. Users can learn only those tasks they will be performing, adding new tasks as necessary, without being distracted by unused features. Instead of the traditional toolbar, the user sees his own personalized "task" bar consisting of icons which represent only those tasks that have been defined by the user. Vantage Point 'memorizes' the sequence of commands for recurring tasks, enabling the user to enter only variable data, such as dates. The icons call the related functions in the software releasing the user from having to navigate through a complicated series of steps each time a recurring task is performed.
No. 531, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

IBM, Kana Form Global Strategic Alliance
 IBM and Kana Communications announced that the two companies have formed a global strategic alliance to integrate Kana's Web-architected relationship management solutions with IBM's middleware, hardware, and services e-business capabilities. Together, IBM and Kana will deliver comprehensive e-business solutions for managing online interactions and relationships among customers, business partners and the enterprise. The IBM and Kana solutions will deliver many benefits to companies, resulting in enhanced revenue opportunities through the acquisition, retention and development of customer and partner relationships. "The solutions we're now able to provide with Kana will enable companies to manage customer interactions via the Web. This alliance is driven by client demand for assistance in developing e-business strategies and Web-architected solutions," said Stephanie Hahn, general manager of IBM Customer Relationship Management Solutions.
No. 532, comsolmag.com/freeinfo

[ Return To The Top ]
[ Return To The October 2000 Table Of Contents ]
Improve Your Call Center Management -- Bring In The Experts

BY JEAN KELLY

Computer-telephony integration (CTI) and the Internet have fostered improvements in call center technology and given customers more access options. Customers can call a toll-free number, give a voice response to several options, and be routed to a representative through enhanced call routing technology, or they can log on to a company's Web site and click to communicate with a representative through Web-enabled technology. In today's environment where strictly using voice isn't enough, does all this new and improved technology result in improved contact center performance?

In addition to providing Web call center technologies, companies that offer consulting services to help clients evaluate center management from top to bottom, improving productivity and strengthening operations.

Bringing in an expert can help facilitate better management and help the transition from call center to contact center. Consultants can provide solutions regarding workforce development, quality management, facilities, vendor management, network planning, and center consolidation or growth. There are many measurements consultants can assist with to evaluate performance and help make your center(s) more effective. Among them, management should consider:

  1. Workforce development consulting -- provides clients with solutions to improve employee performance levels. Consultants work to restructure or revitalize hiring practices, compensation packages, training/recognition programs and internal communications programs. Evaluation can determine customer satisfaction and performance levels.
  2. Quality management consulting -- gives companies tools to boost productivity and reduce costs. Consultants observe contact center employees, interview staff and analyze statistics to evaluate the site's productivity. Consultants then recommend plans for improving the center to achieve optimum service levels, improve productivity levels, increase sales, reduce costs and enhance customer satisfaction.
  3. Facilities planning consultants -- advise companies on the best location for a new site and ensure the building is constructed on schedule and within budget.
  4. Consolidation and growth management consultants -- assist clients in determining the right number of centers required to meet business needs. All aspects of the contact center are addressed and the best architecture is built.

Consulting services are an effective tool for businesses to evaluate their contact center performance. It takes a well-managed contact center, not just a technologically advanced center, to provide customers with effective services around the clock and around the globe.

Jean Kelly is director of Customer Interaction Solutions Consulting for WorldCom. WorldCom is a leading provider of Web call center solutions technology and consulting services to help companies create profit-based contact centers.







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