Cross-Training Agents Results in More Flexible Call Center Scheduling

Thanks to the Internet and the advent of social networking, consumers today are increasingly using multiple channels, including email and Web chat, to communicate with the companies they do business with.

As a result, most companies operating in the consumer and B-to-B arenas are expanding their call centers to become multi-channel contact centers. That means these companies not only need to invest in new technology to facilitate these new modes of communication -- they also need to train their call enter agents to use them. After all, the skills needed for delivering good customer service by way of email and Web chat are different from those needed to deliver good service over the telephone.


But migrating from a traditional call center to a multi-channel contact center presents another challenge: Call center managers must also be able to schedule agents based on their unique skill sets. It’s no longer just a matter of scheduling the proper number of agents to handle phone calls – managers must also be able to accurately schedule the correct number of agents to handle email and Web chat as well.

Considering that labor is the single biggest cost facing any call center, it is critical that managers have the tools they need to accurately forecast volume. Schedule too many agents for any given shift and there will be agents sitting around idly, doing nothing, which in turn affects call center efficiency. Schedule not enough agents and hold times will increase, and customer service will be negatively impacted. This applies to these new channels as well.

This is where today’s workforce management solutions are playing an increasingly important role. Most of today’s workforce management solutions include analytics capabilities that allow managers to forecast, with surprising accuracy, how many calls will be coming in on any given day, thus enabling them to schedule the proper number of agents. This capability -- a key advantage over spreadsheet systems -- is critical for achieving accurate scheduling. This forecasting is achieved through integration with the call center’s ACD, or automated call distributor. The WFM software is able to extract the historical call data from the ACD and use it to arrive at accurate forecasts for call volume.

By the same token, most of today’s WFM solutions can deliver accurate forecasting for the email and Web chat channels as well. This is achieved through integration with the contact center’s email or Web chat servers. Typically, integration isn't much of an issue, as most WFM vendors' systems are designed to interoperate with most other call center systems.
 

Some companies prefer to train their agents to handle only specific channels. For example, some agents might be trained to handle Web chat while other are trained to handle email. By the same token, some might be experts at using legacy applications, while others might be more adept at using newer applications.

What’s more, certain groups of agents might be trained only to handle contacts from customers who have purchased specific products or who are using specific services. Or a particular group of agents might be trained for handling “premium” customers while another handles only “new” customers.

Considering there can be all these different groups (let alone individual agents) that are more adept at handling certain channels, certain technologies and certain customers, it’s no wonder that call center scheduling has become such a challenge.

Fortunately, today’s WFM solutions enable managers to schedule agents based on their specific skill sets. For example, using the system’s forecasting capabilities, a manager of a multi-channel contact center can determine not only how many agents will be needed to handle phone calls, but how many will be needed to handle emails and Web chats as well.

 

Although some companies prefer to train their agents handle specific channels, many of them are learning that it pays off to cross train their agents to handle all channels. This way, they gain even greater flexibility in terms of call center scheduling. When this approach is combined with an advanced workforce management system, managers have the upper hand in terms of achieving call center operational efficiency. In other words, they don’t have to concern themselves as much with building a team that is precisely tailored for each shift. As such, new labor efficiencies can be realized, while service levels remain unaffected.

Monet Software, a leading provider of Web-based WFM solutions, recommends that all contact centers cross-train their agents to handle different types of contacts. By having agents cross-trained -- and by using skills-based routing (which is where contacts are routed, by way of the ACD or contact center platform, the appropriate agent with the appropriate skills, based on basic info collected through the IVR, caller ID or other customer data) -- companies can reduce the number of agents needed to handle the forecasted volume. In fact, the company estimates that the productivity gain from giving each agent just two skills can easily be 10 to 15 percent.

The company asserts that call centers which cross-train their agents to handle all types of contact (phone, Web chat, email), sometimes referred to as “universal agents,” have a distinct advantage over centers which train certain agents to handle only specific channels. By having more agents with multiple skills sets, a call center manager can actually get more out of the WFM system.

This same theory also applies to cross-training agents to handle different types of customers (such as “new” or “premium”) over a single channel. As Monet Software points out, the importance of multi-skilled agents is that they form “overlapping groups.” For example, having one group that can handle calls type A and B while another group takes calls type C and D, can be substantially improved by adding a group that is able to handle calls type B and C (or one of the other three combinations). This model provides much greater flexibility and is especially useful in times of fewer resources and changing call volumes and patterns.

As such, cross training agents can be one of the more effective ways to cut costs in the call center while at the same time keeping service levels optimized. Especially when those cross trained agents are being scheduled via a full featured, on-demand WFM system.