Why Cloud - Better Forecasting, and Scheduling - Technology Benefits Contact Centers

Every business leader will tell you he or she wants to deliver great customer service. But the leader of just about every organization also wants to control business costs. The good news is that automated and on-demand software-based solutions now enable these leaders to do both. Those solutions may also help businesses attract and retain the best workers.

We’re talking here about cloud-based contact center and business communications and collaboration offerings. Organizations that use such solutions, which live in the cloud, lower their upfront costs. Using these solutions also help businesses decrease their system maintenance and upgrade costs over time.

Cloud-based solutions support remote work strategies. That’s because they allow any authorized party with a broadband connection, a computer, and the right credentials to log into the cloud system. That means greater flexibility for workers. And it can equate to more engaged employees.

For employers, that flexibility translates into a broader pool of employee candidates from which to choose, the ability to call on workers as needed based on demand, and lower overhead costs. That’s because businesses don’t need to do overstaffing to make sure they can meet spikes in demand. And they can avoid some or all of the overhead involved with leasing or buying office space; heating and cooling that space; furnishing employees with chairs, desks, and computers; and having site insurance.

Gaining the greatest benefit from such on-demand talent calls for organizations to employ software that does automated, intelligent forecasting, scheduling, monitoring and measurement, and adherence and intraday tracking and prescriptive adjustments. Advanced forecasting and scheduling solutions also can help organizations better prepare for the future by accurately accessing what kind of talent they’ll need when.

That way, businesses will know how many agents to hire (or contract) and train. And they’ll understand what other resources they will probably need based on their forecasts.

Edited by Maurice Nagle