The Most Direct Path to Improving Call Center Service Levels

In the contact center, managers struggle with a seemingly contradictory set of directives from operations: keep your service levels high but keep labor costs down. You can’t overstaff – that would cost too much – but you’re under pressure to raise service levels. What do you do?

Understand Why Service Levels Are Low

Before you can solve problems with service levels, you need to know what causes them. While there are many potential causes, some of the most common include the following:

• Calls are taking longer than planned because of product issues, training issues, unexpected events, or awkward desktop applications;
• The forecast was inaccurate, so agents are encountering higher call volume or different call patterns;
• The schedule wasn’t prepared properly to include all activities or flexibility to deal with unexpected issues;
• Call fluctuations during day that could not be planned for;
• Low schedule adherence by call center employees; and
• Exceptions such as unscheduled meetings or absenteeism.

Build Better Schedules

One of the best ways you can improve service levels without adding staff is by building better schedules and forecasts. Forecasting through workforce management data should make certain that the workload (calls, emails, chats, etc.) gets forecasted as accurate as possible and the required staffing in in place throughout the day (and help eliminate instances of overstaffing as well). At the same time it’s important that schedules are created with the flexibility necessary to accommodate unforeseen circumstances.

Use a Better Scheduling and Forecasting Tool

Call center solutions can have a major impact on service levels. Platforms that are difficult to navigate, don’t integrate well with other business tools, don’t have an efficient call routing system, have less-than-optimal waiting queue configurations or don’t include real-time reporting can cause even your best agents to be less efficient and effective.

Solutions like those from Monet Software (News - Alert) can build better flexibility into the call center schedule and allow managers to track schedule adherence in real-time, and monitor intra-day activities such as lunch breaks, training sessions and changes in call volumes helps to maintain service levels.

In addition, Verint Monet’s cloud workforce management for contact centers can help businesses build better forecasts. When the right number of agents are at their desk and can handle call volume without long wait times, customers are more likely to provide positive feedback. Forecasting through workforce management data should make certain that the workload (calls, emails, chats, etc.) gets forecasted as accurate as possible and the required staffing in in place throughout the day (and help eliminate instances of overstaffing as well).

Edited by Maurice Nagle