Contact Center Traffic Forecasting

Whether you’re a new restaurant just opening its doors, a call center with a new campaign, or a contact center that’s just getting up-and-running, it can be difficult to know how many customers to expect.

People are the linchpin of customer service. So you want to have enough people to serve up meals and customer care. But, on the other hand, you don’t want to deplete your margins by having too many customer service folks on the job when traffic doesn’t require it.

So what do you do?

Well, if you don’t have a history, that makes forecasting demand a bigger challenge. However, you might consider relying on historical data from other companies in similar industries to begin with. And, if you’re a call center or a contact center, you can also test a variety of forecasting models – or use of combination of models to allow for more accurate forecasts right now, and as you become more established.

Averaging, point estimate, and time series are three commonly used contact center models.

• Averaging considers call (and other communications channel) volumes over several years. And it then provides an average call volume, so you’re organization knows what it might reasonably expect and how to staff up based on that.

• The point estimate model, meanwhile, looks at traffic volume based on the day of the year and/or seasonality. The idea here is that you can expect higher call volumes on holidays like Mother’s Day. This type of forecasting can show you just how much higher.

• Then there’s the time series model. In this case, the model focuses on traffic changes over time.

Of course, all of these measures and models can be informative. So you can use all or some of them to get a better handle on what to expect and how to do staffing. And you can test the different models to assess what works best for you.

“Most WFM solutions rely in part on forecasting based on averages. It’s effective, but not sufficient by itself,” explains Chuck Ciarlo of Monet Software. “Find a forecasting tool that goes beyond that, one that can process every piece of data you provide and use it to deliver more accurate forecasts. 

“The more you put into forecasting, the more you’ll get out of it,” Ciarlo adds. “When WFM does most of the work, the result is more accurate forecasts, generated faster than spreadsheets. With the right system performing these critical functions that can grow with your call center’s needs, you can invest with confidence and achieve ROI faster.” 

Edited by Maurice Nagle