Leveraging Workforce Management Software

Workforce management helps Organizations deal with problems arising in companies, especially call centers, whether big or small. Call center workforce management deals with issues such as how to exceed service levels while at the same time controlling payroll costs.

Forecasting, scheduling and real-time compliance will make daily workforce management more effective. This also helps avoid over or under staffing and improves service levels by making sure that agents are putting in their best efforts when needed.

Workforce management software or solutions can be leveraged by small to large companies in a wide range of industries and verticals. The suites of applications include all or some of the following features: quality assurance and recording, speech analytics, surveying, performance management and e-learning.

Organizations will be able to enhance call center operational efficiencies and customer service. These systems feature advanced analytical capabilities, which are fast and simple too. Call center managers will be able to forecast accurately the number of agents that will be required to man a shift. By calculating the call volume from the historical data captured, workforce management solutions help decide on the number of agents that will be required to serve customers most efficiently.

Advantages of Workforce Management Software

Irrespective of the size of the call center, workforce management is a challenge. Organizations may want to evolve from spreadsheets to a Web-based workforce management systems. The Web-based system will need computers and an Internet connection and the software is also available on a subscription basis for small companies, eliminating the need for downloads.

It is imperative to correlate the number of agents in the call center with the call volume, otherwise there may arise a situation where there are more agents and fewer calls or more calls and an insufficient number of agents. Both give rise to monetary loss owing to customer dissatisfaction due to longer hold times or idle agents.

Workforce management software can work for small companies too. Fewer agents does not mean easy scheduling and it has been proven to be more difficult to optimally schedule with fewer agents. The call center performance will be affected greatly as even the absence of one agent makes a big difference when the total numbers are less.

Most call centers function as multi-channel contact centers, as they handle e-mail and Web chat besides phone calls. In a small call center, only two or three will be trained for specialty services. If one of them is absent it creates a void in delivering services to the customer’s satisfaction. Such shortcomings prove beyond a doubt that workforce management software is essential for small organizations as well.

Here, also, the software leverages the historical data collected to predict and forecast the volume for each channel for each shift and will recommend the number of agents who have to be scheduled for that particular shift with accuracy.

Managers in call centers have to make sure that agents stick to their schedules, otherwise there will arise problems like customer dissatisfaction due to agent inefficiency. Agents should also be encouraged to follow time, whether in reporting for work or while leaving. Other activities like training and coaching should also be scheduled from time to time and agents must also follow those schedules diligently.

With the recession fading in some parts of the world and still going strong in others, managers should know how to derive maximum benefit from the resources they may have. With cost cutting comes a reduction in the number of employees/agents in a call center. Needless to say, this translates into more work for those who were fortunate enough to remain. But this may lead to fatigue owing to an increased workload.

To avoid such a scenario, cross-training agents is a must. All of the agents are trained to handle more than one contact type including Web chat, e-mail and phone. Mixing up the tasks each agent is responsible for helps them overcome burnout or boredom and also helps in enhancing individual performance. This reduces the drudgery of monotony and increases productivity.

In successful models, agents are made to deal with even unrelated tasks such as checking order invoices, packing orders and others, depending on the type of company the call center serves. This uses the free time during low call volume and improves efficiencies.

The process of scheduling agents for different activities without affecting the service levels for any of the channels is accomplished by using workforce management systems. These can help ensure accurate scheduling of cross-trained staff covering the whole day, effectively cutting down on agent burnout and increasing productivity as a whole.

The management software is capable of finding out how many agents are required for a particular shift by integrating with the call center database and the company’s CRM system.

The workforce management system can forecast call volume from historical call volume patterns, time of season and past customer activity. The software is flexible enough to accommodate external or internal events that will impact call volume like a recently launched marketing campaign or other activities both inside and outside of the company.

Also, in case an agent fails to switchover to the next task according to the recommendation of the workforce management software, an alert is raised which will inform the manager so he or she can take immediate action to rectify the situation. In previous methods when spreadsheets were used, it was not possible to detect such a flaw until it was too late.

Mobile Workforce Management

Having a mobile solution integrated with scheduling offers realtime, ongoing optimization of what is going on in the field when the mobile workforce is on duty. Real-time decision making is facilitated as engineers in the field can give feedback regarding on-the-ground realities. This shows that workforce management software is not only for a call center-type of environment.

Service managers will have greater visibility of the field force and it will ensure higher levels of resource utilization. Also, field personnel can be assigned one or two jobs at a time instead of giving all the jobs he has to complete that day in one go. The manager will know if a job is taking a longer time than scheduled or if the job has been completed early and the engineer on duty has more capacity or time left.

Cloud-Based Workforce Management Solutions

Many companies are in favor of “on-demand” solutions such as cloud-based call center software. Outsourcing workforce management has its advantages such as easy and rapid implementation, simple integration and less risk.

Such Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or cloud-based call center solutions help companies reduce the time and costs involved, as the vendor will take care of the hardware, network infrastructure and performance of the system.

Other advantages include greater scalability and better integration. Call centers will benefit from the advanced solutions which will be automatically implemented by the vendor. This eliminates the need for periodic upgrades and expenses on new software. As such services are made available on a subscription basis, companies can trial the software and check out its suitability for their purposes. If suitable, it can continue with the solution or else go for another.

DMG Consulting released a report on the future of the call center software solutions’ market saying that it will grow by 35 percent in 2010 and 20 percent in 2011. The reason given was the recession, which has driven companies to leverage cloud-based call center solutions to economically make use of the latest technology.

Besides reducing call center operating costs these SaaSs or cloudbased solutions help managers increase schedule adherence, reduce shrinkage, increase agent satisfaction and also improve performance and productivity along with the regular scheduling capabilities.

Companies in Asia-Pacific

Rostima Asia Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia develops and supplies enterprise workforce management solutions. These solutions help organizations to optimize their staff schedules by matching workload to staff resources so as to increase operational efficiency, reduce staff costs, improve service levels and retain staff. Rostima provides unique algorithms that help transport companies find the optimal plan and roster while meeting workplace rules cost-effectively.

Rostima caters to the gaming, ports, aviation, transportation, retail and service sectors. The company leverages the services of business professionals with operational experience in planning and management and uses their practical experience to serve customers optimally. The solutions are designed to offer real and tangible financial savings and benefits from the implementation of enterprise workforce management solutions.

Indian company Ramco Human Capital Management’s workforce management consists of a central repository for employee information. This self-service capability provides a portal for employees to manage personal information. The components of the system includes employee information, HR administration, employee assets, grievances and disciplinary action.

VQ Alert is a workforce management solution developed by Sydneybased Call Design. Aspect, a unified communications solutions provider, and Call Design, a contact center provider, are marketing VQ Alert. This is an agent adherence solution, which, along with Aspect’s workforce management capabilities, provides call-center agents with real-time notifications of changes in work schedules.

These alerts are programmable and can be sent to agents or agent groups, creating a positive work culture in the call center. VQ Alert is being leveraged in call centers in the Asia-Pacific region by American Express and St. George Bank.

All over the world, workforce management solutions are being used increasingly to tackle labor problems. It helps companies arrive at actual required labor strength so that they are not understaffed and so all workers are fully engaged. Besides helping organizations optimize output from all employees, the workforce management solution also prevents employee burnout.