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MARKETS » NFV Pandemic Tech News
April 08, 2009
Four More Tips to Improve Call Center ManagementBy Patrick Barnard, Senior Web Editor, TMCnet In these challenging economic times, call center managers are under intense pressure to keep their centers running efficiently while at the same time providing excellent customer service.
It’s been well-established that software and systems help call center managers achieve this goal. Workforce management software, in particular, is now being viewed as essential to effective call center management. Offered on a hosted or on-premises basis, these systems not only help call center managers ensure that agents are properly adhering to the schedule, they also ensure, through their forecasting capabilities, that the right number of agents are on hand to field incoming contacts. Paradoxically, companies are now starting to cut back on IT investments -- which in some cases can limit the efficacy of call center manager. Many of these companies fail to see that by upgrading their systems, they can reduce operating costs and achieve ROI while at the same time improving service levels. To help its customers improve certain aspects of call center management, Monet Software, which offers hosted and premises-based WFM systems, recently published a set of ten tips for 2009 which mangers can use to keep their call centers running efficiently. Two weeks ago we presented tips 1-3 and last week we presented tips 4-5. Here are the final four tips the firm recommends for achieving effective call center management: 7. Keep top talent on your team
Accommodate scheduling needs and provide schedule visibility to your call center team members. Top agents will be more likely to stay loyal and productive because of their understanding of how their requirements and your schedule can match up. 8. “Check out” your spreadsheets
Call centers that still use spreadsheets to manage their workforce pay dearly due to inefficient schedules, overstaffing or missed service levels. Spreadsheets might enable effective call center management for 5 to 20 agents based on a fixed shift model. However, as soon as you want to realize the benefits of a flexible shift model, reduce shrinkage and improve and track schedule adherence, you need a more flexible and accurate call forecasting and scheduling solution. Here is what you should look out for when evaluating WFM solutions: --Ease-of-use: Using a WFM solution should be easier and faster, not harder --Complete functionality: Forecasting, flexible scheduling, roster, intra-day management, reporting, agent collaboration and real-time adherence
--Time-to-implement: Get a realistic picture of how long it takes to go live
--Cost: Compare total-cost-of-ownership including purchasing, implementation, internal costs, operations and upgrade and maintenance costs when comparing offerings
9. Think big for small or medium size centers It may be ironic, but smaller or medium-size call centers are more difficult to manage because every agent and every call has more effect on the overall performance. For example, if you have a 20-agent center and one agent does not show up you have a “5 percent resource problem” immediately. However, this is an important opportunity for positive improvement, such as more accurate forecasting, a flexible schedule and better schedule adherence, which will have a huge positive effect on costs, services levels and service quality. Analyze where you can improve and use appropriate tools or software solutions and you will realize major call center management improvements. 10. On Demand solutions reduce cost and risk 2009 is the year of extremely tight budgets and the mandate “to do more with fewer agents.” Specifically, small to medium-size centers have shied away from workforce management software because of the capital expenditures and resource requirements. Fortunately, the software-as-a-service model enables companies to trial WFM solutions for very low up-front cost. This enables companies to improve call center management without the capital investment, IT resources and long and painful implementation times. With SaaS (News - Alert), you can “try before you buy” a WFM solution. Today’s hosted solutions can be live in a few days, allowing you to realize benefits after a couple of weeks – something that traditional software implementation could not offer. Monet Software claims to provide the most cost-effective WFM solution for small and medium-size call centers. Its WFM Live on-demand offering enables effective call center management through its ability to accurately forecast call volumes and effectively schedule, and manage the performance of, call center agents. This, in turn, results in increased service levels and reduced payroll costs.
For more information about Monet WFM Live, visit www.monetsoftware.com. Patrick Barnard is a contributing writer for TMCnet. To read more of Patrick’s articles, please visit his columnist page. Edited by Patrick Barnard |
