Tips for Improving Call Center Performance

Evidence from the business world tell us that a call center’s effectiveness is dependent on the productivity of its agents. In other words, it’s not enough to simply have a call center, you need to ensure that agents are working to a high standard of efficiency. Improving efficiency, however, isn’t something that can be done at the flip of a switch. It’s reliant on a combination of technology and management skills.

But where to start? There are many ways to improve efficiency, but the easiest and most effective include ensuring schedule adherence, improving employee engagement and implementing the most up-to-date software solutions.

Ensuring schedule adherence. It helps to explain to agents how a lack of adherence can have a domino effect that takes the entire call center’s performance out. Managers should communicate clear definitions of phone and non-phone activities (such as after call wrap-up) and how these effect the schedule. It’s important to strike a balance that’s too rigid – not allowing agents sufficient breaks – or too lax. It’s also critical to have an effective forecast that accounts for all agent activities and not just time on the phone with customers. Finally, ensure that you have an accurate way to measure adherence in your workforce management and scheduling solution.

Improve employee engagement. Disengaged employees cost companies a lot of business, and improving engagement can reap benefits across the entire organization. For starters, ensure you’re paying your agents adequately. Below-market compensation can harm morale and drive up turnover. An organization might see that it’s saving money on staffing in the short termwhen in reality, they’redriving up costs by having to continually refill the seats. With high turnover, they’re also losing the sense of community on which employee engagement rests. Training also presents an opportunity to build engagement. Ensure workers are adequately trained on not only the skills they need, but the skill’s they’ll want to build to feel like they’re advancing their careers. Most people are motivated to achieve goals, make progress or enjoy a variety of experience. Recognition of a job well done also goes a long way toward building engagement, as does giving agents some autonomy to do their best to help customers.

Update your software. It’s impossible to succeed in the 21^st century using 20^th century technology. Ensure that your workforce management and scheduling solution is up to par, and venture into using e-learning technology to sharpen skills. Analytics and artificial intelligence can help agents make better decisions and let management know where they need to focus resources and training. Performance management is also a great investment for a call center that wishes to lead – not push – its agents to the next level.

Edited by Maurice Nagle