By Susan J. Campbell, Workforce Management Contributing Editor

The call centers of yesteryear were very different from the contact centers of today. When this department of the enterprise first emerged, live phone calls were the only channel of interaction, and typically each company had only one call center.


Fast forward to today and not only are contact centers multi-channel, they are also often distributed across different locations. Many companies have gone national or even global, increasing the need for distributed operations. What’s more, due to the advent of the Internet, customers today have several mediums through which they can do business with company – including phone, email and chat.

The things is, customers have certain expectations when it comes to customer service and they care very little if the center they are interacting with is not at the company headquarters or elsewhere -- they still expect the same level of service.

As such companies today must rely heavily on their technology partners to provide the solutions they need to manage all data, performance measurements and reporting from all centers in one place.

With the integration of an IP-based network in the corporate environment, companies today have the ability to manage their distributed contact centers from a central location.

Web-based workforce management solutions, for example, deliver considerable value to companies with distributed contact centers. Such solutions allow for all workforce data to be captured, organized and structured so it can be used for consistent improvement.

Agents and supervisors can check schedule adherence, ACD log on time and other performance metrics against the distributed team. What’s more, managers can capture this data from all centers and use it for creating reports for upper management, or, in the case of outsourcers, for the client.

 

As cost pressures continue to rise in a sluggish economy, contact center managers are under intense pressure to improve efficiency, streamline processes, boost productivity and do more with less. Today’s Web-based WFM solutions, such as Monet Software’s WFM Live offering, have become critical tools for helping managers accomplish those things.

The market is full of WFM solutions from a variety of providers. Some offerings are pre-packaged, off-the-shelf solutions while others are completely customizable -- making it difficult for contact center managers to find a solution that fits their environment and their needs. In working with Monet Software, contact centers can lean on a company that takes a consultative approach to outfitting their environment with the right solution to fit their needs.

Understanding the contact center environment and the type of solutions necessary to deliver on expectations is a challenging task. When working with a proven leader such as Monet Software, contact center managers have access to the solutions they need without the pressure and extras that have no place in the process.