A lot of organizations have cut their call center staffing to the bone and are therefore looking for new ways to increase agent productivity, while at the same time maintaining, if not improving, customer service.

One way organizations with “lean and mean” call center staffing levels can improve customer service is by adopting the “informal call center model.” This is where phone calls, emails, Web chats and SMS messages can be routed to other “knowledge workers” outside of the main center for the purpose of delivering specialized customer service.

The informal call center model is ideal for when complex interactions -- whether informational or transactional -- need to be escalated to “subject matter experts” who bring a higher level of knowledge or skill than a regular call center agent.

Take, for example, an ecommerce company that sells educational kits for children. A father who is trying to build a radio from scratch using a “do-it-yourself” electronics kit with his middle-school aged son might hit a problem with a certain step in the assembly process – however, the first-line call center agent might not have the knowledge base or skill needed to help resolve the problem. In this case, the agent can transfer the call to a technician with a higher level of knowledge who can help the customer resolve the issue.

Many organizations are tapping into the informal call center model for business continuity purposes as well. As mentioned, many companies have cut their call center staffing to the bone, due to the recession, but they still need the ability to react to ever fluctuating call volumes. With the informal call center model, calls and other contacts can be automatically routed to other workers outside of the main call center (including home-based agents)  in the event call or contact volume suddenly spikes beyond a certain threshold.

With the informal call center model, a company could, for example, tap into its pool of back office workers and have them handle call overflow in the event call volume suddenly spikes, resulting in increased hold times. Some companies have had great success using back office workers to fill-in as “pseudo” call center agents during periods when they aren’t that busy. Most of today’s call center systems include intelligent switching that enables specific types of calls or contacts to be routed to individual workers during certain times of day (so as to not be disruptive during the hours when these back office workers are really busy).

Helping to facilitate the informal call center and make it work to companies’ benefit are today’s unified communications call center systems. Two features that make these systems ideal for the informal call center are “presence” and “click to dial.” “Presence” is the ability for the agent to see who is available on the network to take calls or contacts at any given time – and “click to dial” is what enables the agent to transfer calls to other knowledge workers quickly, without requiring operator intervention or putting the customer back on hold.

Zeacom’s call center software platform, Zeacom (News - Alert) Communication Center, delivers true unified communications features and functionality – including presence and click-to-dial – and thus is an ideal solution for organizations looking to tap into the informal call center for cost savings and improved customer service.

With ZCC’s intelligent ACD, all contacts – whether phone, email, Web chat or SMS – can be accurately routed to the appropriate agents based on their skill sets, knowledge base, hours of availability and other criteria. With its advanced unified communications capabilities, ZCC can significantly improve your call center’s overall performance – its intelligent routing, presence and click-to-dial capabilities alone will help increase service levels, improve average speed of answer and drive down abandonment rates.

The ZCC system also offers mobility; advanced reporting; simplified integration with leading CRM systems, conferencing and more. To learn more about how Zeacom’s call center software can improve your call center operations, click here.