Accurately Scheduling Fewer Agents is a Greater Call Center Management Challenge

If you think workforce management software is only for larger-sized call centers, you better think again.

In this tough economy, a lot of companies are down-sizing their call centers -- and asking their agents and managers to pick up the slack. This is particularly true for merchants, in both the consumer and B-to-B segments, which in general aren’t seeing the call volume they were a couple of years ago. It’s a tough reality – and it’s definitely hard on those involved.


Call center managers, in particular, are under intense pressure, as they are responsible for scheduling the proper number of agents to handle the forecasted call volume. Many of them are managing fewer agents than they were just a year ago – but that doesn’t make the job any easier: On the contrary, scheduling the proper number of agents is actually more difficult when there are fewer of them. That’s because every agent -- and every call -- has a greater effect on overall performance.

For example, if you have a 20-agent center and one agent does not show up, you suddenly have a “5 percent resource problem.” And 5 percent can make a huge difference in overall call center performance.

The problem becomes even more complex when you consider that most call centers today are actually multi-channel contact centers – meaning they also handle email and Web chat in addition to phone calls. Very often some agents are better trained (or more adept) to use these new channels than others -- therefore most call center managers strive to have only those agents which are “best-trained” to handle a particular channel, working on that channel each shift.

So, if your top agent for handling email suddenly falls ill, you’re going to have a much more difficult time replacing her if you only have a small pool of agents trained to handle email to draw upon.

 

This is where today’s workforce management solutions offer a key advantage. First and foremost, these systems typically include analytics capabilities which enable call center managers to forecast, with surprising accuracy, how many agents are needed for a particular shift. This is achieved through integration with the call center ACD, or automated call distributor, as well as the call center’s email and Web chat servers. The workforce management software can draw upon the historical data captured by each of these systems and use it to predict, or forecast, what the volume will be for any particular channel, for any given shift. This gives call center managers the ability to accurately schedule to proper number of agents – which is critically important since labor is the single biggest cost facing any call center.

What’s more, today’s WFM solutions are increasingly Web-based – which means the software can be accessed through the Internet, using any computer with a browser and high speed connection. In fact, many of today’s WFM solutions offer a Web-based portal where call center agents can “swap” shifts, often without a manager’s approval.

By this same token, an agent can use the portal to notify the manager – and the other agents – that he or she isn’t feeling well and can’t make it in. From there, the system can send out a scheduling alert to the other agents, notifying them that a seat (whether for phone, email or Web chat) needs to be filled. The result is faster reaction time and improved flexibility to get shifts covered quickly in the event an agent can’t make it in. in general it is a better solution than forcing the agent to get on the phone and call everyone on staff to notify them and get the shift covered. Using this method, by the time a replacement is found, it is too late and service levels have already been impacted.

In conclusion, with today’s Web-based workforce management solutions, call center managers gain more accurate forecasting and improved schedule adherence, while agents gain better schedule flexibility, which in turns helps drive agent satisfaction. In combination this can have a huge positive effect on costs, services levels and service quality. As such, today’s Web-based workforce management solutions can help organizations realize major call center management improvements.