Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Call Center Scheduling to Handle Surprises
The dynamics within the call center keep every day more exciting than the last, but you don’t want that excitement to stem from poorly planned call center scheduling. When volumes fluctuate throughout the day, you still have to effectively manage the call center. How do you keep scheduling on track while balancing changing challenges?
This recent Monet Software blog addressed the everyday challenges of call center scheduling. Common questions that can easily arise in your environment include – how do you update the forecast? How do you create a new schedule? And, how do you effectively staff for changes throughout the day?
You may also wonder if there is an effective plan for your different scenarios. Typically, two scenarios can arise when trying to pin down the proper call center scheduling. First, there are events that the call center manager should have anticipated when completing call center scheduling, but failed to do so for various reasons. He or she may not have been informed about a campaign, didn’t plan for an event or simply failed to look at the calendar. Fortunately, much of the call volume-related impact can be avoided with the right planning.
Second, there are events that take place – most often driven by external forces – that cannot be planned for in even the most efficient of call center scheduling activities. These can include weather, sudden product issues, catastrophes or more. When call volume fluctuates due to these events, you need to have constant monitoring in place to ensure quick action. This will lower the impact on service levels and increase customer satisfaction.
To overcome the challenges presented in these two scenarios, you can anticipate and plan, or monitor and act. When you anticipate and plan, you spend time and effort to achieve a more accurate forecast so you can minimize surprises in your call center scheduling. In the process, learn from the past and anticipate events that can cause call volume fluctuation. It helps if you stay in constant contact with other departments to avoid surprises in your volume.
You also need to analyze your call history so you can spot triggers and anticipate any factors that could impact your call volume. Keep in touch with support, sales, marketing and other departments to ensure you know about events in advance. Also, educate these departments on the impact on service levels and customer satisfaction when surprises occur.
To monitor and act, establish a dashboard or program alerts so you receive notification when unusual or fluctuating call volumes occur. When you notice the actual call volume is different from what you used in call center scheduling, you should analyze the deviation and trend lines for average handle time and call volume. Next, apply this trend to the next period or the remainder of the day by recalculating the forecast. Keep in mind you may need to move things around within your call center scheduling to handle the changes.
Finally, Monet Software suggests you identify the cause for the deviation and learn from it so you can be better prepared for next time. You may even be able to build it into your call center scheduling to avoid problems in the future.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Chris DiMarco