Why Spreadsheets Are Costing - Not Saving - Call Centers Money

Using spreadsheets to do call center forecasting and scheduling costs and doesn’t save businesses money.

That’s the word from Monet Software (News - Alert), which debunks the cost-saving theory about spreadsheets in this paper.

Many small-to-medium-size call centers use spreadsheets to forecast and manage call center schedules and workforce planning. They assume this method is a good way to go for environments with fewer agents. However, just the opposite is true, according to Monet Software, which goes on to explain why.

It’s because individual agent’s behavior has a bigger impact on call center performance. The fact that fewer agents need to multitask makes skill-based scheduling more complex, Monet Software says. Plus, spreadsheets make it harder to correct schedules when changes are needed due to unexpected events.

The company notes that staff is the biggest cost for call centers. It accounts for more than half (60 to 80 percent) of the budget, Monet Software says. That means even a 1 percent increase in productivity can have big impacts on the bottom line.

Monet Software goes on to detail how Monet WFM Live is superior to spreadsheet-based approaches.

Spreadsheets limit schedule flexibility, resulting in higher shrinkage and overstaffing, it says. However, Monet WFM Live allows for flexible start, end, and break times. That reduces agent idle time, and can improve service levels.

Operations relying on spreadsheets have limited or no ability to use call history data. That means less accurate forecasting and more time-consuming work for those attempting to leverage call history. Meanwhile, WFM systems can serve up real-time and historic ACD call history. That allows for more accurate forecasting and quick schedule adjustments.

Another benefit of WFM systems over spreadsheets is an improved ability to track schedule adherence. WFM also can consider staff exceptions and desires, and decrease the time to set schedules.

Edited by Mandi Nowitz