June 30, 2015
With contact centers everywhere looking for any competitive advantage they can find, it’s no surprise that workforce management software is coming under closer scrutiny. And according to a recent blog post, the software is really coming into its own—and for good reason.
“The implementation of a Workforce Management (WFM) program within a call center can be defined as achieving and maintaining operational efficiency,” wrote Gerald Sinclair, WFO Practice Manager at Uptivity, an inContact company. “This is achieved by ensuring that the right agents with the right skill sets are scheduled at the right time. Doing so can lead to lower operational costs, reduced churn, and a better customer experience.”
As such, Sinclair offers some valuable insights that others can learn from. “WFM has four key components,” he notes. “Forecasting customer interaction volume; using the forecasted data to create optimized agent schedules; assigning agents to schedules; and analytics-driven performance management on an ongoing basis.” He then breaks down and analyzes each component:
Forecasting: “”Forecasting is part history, part science, and part insight,“ Sinclair says. ”The principal component enables the contact center to predict future workload based on historical data sets. The more historical data collected, the more accurate the picture of trends, analysis, and patterns."
Scheduling: A WFM solution or scheduler that uses a spreadsheet will determine which shifts, hours, etc., need to be covered based on the forecast. “When thinking about scheduling, average handle time should also be taken into account,” Sinclair notes. “Average handle time (AHT) is calculated differently across many contact centers, especially across various channels. Traditionally, AHT consists of average talk time and after-call work. By taking this into account, you can then determine how many resources will be needed to handle the volume at the target service level and ASA goal.”
Assigning Agents: Shift bidding is a process that can simplify this task by taking into account agent performance, call-handling ability, tenure, and availability to assign agents a specific schedule, but “there are many WFM solutions that will also automate this process,” Sinclair says in his blog. “Shift bidding can sometimes cause agents to feel uneasy, so complement it with shift trading, flexible time off, and work-from-home opportunities,” he recommends.
Analytics-Driven Performance Management: “This step involves reporting daily metrics such as ASA, phone-to-staff ratio/utilization, staff-to-work ratio, adherence, and many others that contact centers track. This data can help ensure more time away from the phone is available for unscheduled activities such as recurring training, coaching, and team huddles,” he notes. Furthermore, it can be used to determine whether demand exceeds the allocated schedule and to decide when to request overtime. This data is collected, reported, and incorporated into future forecasting or used to inform forecasting.
“WFM is ”not an easy practice and can be one of the most complex components of all Workforce Optimization (WFO) solutions,' Sinclair concludes. But implementing it and learning to use it properly can yield significant benefits over time.".