How Scheduling Software Helped a Fire Department Become More Efficient

As the call center industry continues to become more competitive, there is one factor that is an overriding issue for each organization: proper scheduling. At first glance, this might seem like an insignificant factor compared to the larger picture, however, efficiently scheduled agents are a critical part of a call center. According to Monet Software, a provider of call center solutions, as much as 60 – 80 percent of ongoing call center expenses are related to staffing.

Proper scheduling, however, can not only be applied to call centers, but rather other important industries like health, retail and most the most recent sector to make headlines, emergency departments. After implementing a SaaS (News - Alert) (Software as a Service) system, a fire department was able to reap the benefits of an online employee scheduling system to replace its spreadsheet method.

The M&M Fire Department in McConnelsville, Ohio has 23 full-time and 12 part-time employees who had to either call in or drive to the station to check their schedules, then the staff would have to be contacted again every time the schedule changed.

According to Terry Robison, Squad Lt. at M&M Fire Department, McConnelsville, Ohio, the spreadsheets were time consuming and mistakes were made often, which took even more time to fix. If employees e-mailed him about schedule changes there would be a mass confusion, as some were missed and others were sent to spam.

“With EMS Manager our staff can just get online or use the mobile Web app on their smartphone to log-in to the system," said Robison. “They can easily sign up for shifts, view the events calendar and join in on our forum. Both our Chief and myself use the mobile Web app for shift coverage information on a regular basis."

The new EMS Manager feature also has texting abilities that helps connect the department with its employees and volunteers, letting them know which areas are covered, greatly increasing the levels of safety throughout the county.

With the heightened sense of importance being placed on call center scheduling, companies of all kinds are creating an array of solutions for this issue. For more information about how to implement a scheduling soltuion into an organizations daily operations, please visit Monet Software.


Edited by Rachel Ramsey