Workforce Management Featured Article
Keeping Workforce Management Aligned with 2016 Contact Centers
Automated workforce management is being adopted by many industries and corporate functions today, from factory labor to sales to mobile workers. While it can help all these functions increase efficiency and reduce costs, it’s critical to ensure you’re picking a solution that’s matched to the workforce it’s supposed to serve. In the contact center – one of the many functions that can greatly benefit from automated workforce management – it simply wouldn’t make sense to use a solution created for factory workers.
In a recent blog post, Monet Software (News - Alert) CEO Chuck Ciarlo noted that workforce optimization software must function in a way that complements how today’s call centers operate. Contact center business has changed from just a few years ago, and companies won’t be able to change with it if they are burdened by yesterday’s workforce management (WFM) technology. The days of boiler room telephone centers are over, and many agents work in omnichannel communications environments that need to be flexible above all else.
“Agents, particularly those in the millennial age group, grew up in a world of on-demand service, and expect that same option at work,” wrote Ciarlo. “With WFM it’s easier for these agents to manage their schedules, bid for open shifts, request time off or select the shifts for which they are available. While some of this might sound like catering to the whims of people who despise a standard workweek, in the long run it results in happier employees, which is good for customer service.”
Flexibility not only keeps employees engaged, it helps contact centers be more nimble when unexpected call or contact volume spikes. They can, for example, bring online home-based workers who are hired specifically to fill in during times of unexpectedly high customer traffic. With older methods of workforce management, it would be nearly impossible to add and manage these people who work irregular hours and shifts. Modern workforce management also makes it easy to link people at geographically dispersed locations into one workforce.
“Enterprise and other growing entities may require more than one contact center, with locations in different states or perhaps even outside the country,” wrote Ciarlo. “Workforce management makes that single global system possible, integrating all functionality through one common interface. This method is more efficient than the regional siloes it replaces.”
At the same time they’re managing a virtual or remote workforce – or at least a very flexible one – managers using these newer solutions can keep a closer eye on adherence (drilling down to problems with individual agents, if necessary) as well as compliance with industry or company regulations (overtime, for example). It’s also the best possible way to take advantage of complex skills-based scheduling, with is nearly impossible with spreadsheets.
“Today it’s not just about having the right number of agents for each shift, it’s having the right blend of skills and services within that agent pool so that every type of incoming call stands an excellent chance of achieving a positive outcome,” wrote Ciarlo. “With WFM you’ll always know you’re covered, and can plan ahead when selecting additional staff or replacements when certain agents are on vacation.”
When combined with analytics to examine the quality of interactions, trends and metrics, modern workforce management can enable companies to do a great deal more when it comes to support quality with the same or even fewer full-time workers.
Edited by Alicia Young
