Workforce management: at the heart of the contact center

The pressure to deliver higher levels of customer service with a lower operating budget is often intense in contact center organizations. Workforce management (WFM) technology specifically addresses this crucial area. Once considered only a forecasting and scheduling tool, WFM should be embraced as a necessity for balancing cost-driven operational efficiency and customer-focused service delivery.

This paper will explore the unique qualities of workforce planning and the importance of depth of functionality as well as system flexibility for meeting contact centers’ unique operational requirements.

At The Core

Beyond core telephony equipment, workforce management technology is arguably the most important system in the contact center. Ensuring voice calls can be made and received is paramount. Ensuring the right agents are in the right place to handle the contacts is the next biggest challenge.

The core of WFM is found in three areas of functionality:

• Forecasting – Providing a longer term plan for the agent resources necessary to keep the contact center running efficiently. Like scheduling, forecasting can range from the relatively simple, to extremely complex involving multiple variables;
• Scheduling – The physical allocation of agent resources to meet the requirements of the contact center. This can range from simple scheduling focused purely on agent numbers, to more complex scheduling involving skill groups, multiple sites, different cost allocations and so on;
• Reporting – Schedules and forecasts are extremely valuable: tracking contact center performance against plan ensures this value. A WFM system that provides historical information 24-hours later about where the plan might have went wrong is a good learning tool. But a WFM system that reports in near real-time allows the problem to be tackled as it occurs.

While different contact centers have unique requirements, all of them need a reliable method to ensure service goals are met. Managing to set objectives involves a complex set of often tedious and time-consuming tasks. The center must build forecasts and set schedules that take contact volumes, agent preferences, training needs, off-phone activities and much more into consideration.

The time-consuming nature of manual WFM activity makes it nearly impossible for centers with more than 50 agents to consistently perform to set objectives without an automated system. Placing WFM technology at the center of the contact center will help ensure the organization efficiently and effectively meets operational goals on a consistent basis.

Need for a strong foundation

The foundation of contact centers is formed by the number of interactions (voice, e-mail, chat, etc.) handled and how long it takes to handle them. Factors like the quality of interaction, costs, revenue and a whole host of others are also important, but at the most fundamental level it’s about handling the interactions with an appropriate resource level. It is no coincidence that providing the right resources starts with the call volume forecast from the WFM solution, and like building a house, if the foundation isn’t strong, the house won’t be either. This raises two important points:

• If the WFM solution currently employed is poor then the performance of the overall contact center will also be poor;
• Efficient contact center operations are central to providing the right service levels. If contact center management is not already doing so, the organization should re-focus its thinking to determine how the center can place WFM at the heart of its contact center processes.

THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

When it comes to making a case for investing in WFM technology, the business benefits must be clear. Improving the efficiency of resource planning is certainly a key element. However, there are feature/functionality differences which should be considered when assessing competing WFM solutions.

Efficiency is the starting point

The case for making contact centers more efficient is clear cut. Too few agents and service levels will not be met. Too many agents and costs will be un-necessarily high. This is really the first point to assess when it comes to improving efficiency using WFM tools to forecast requirements, schedule resources and then monitor performance against plan. Agents are by far the largest cost in the contact center and better resource planning will provide instant gains against this cost item.

Contact centers are not, however, getting simpler. Multisite operations are increasingly common (often a result of consolidation) and cost pressures from the business may mean the use of outsourcers to meet new requirements placed on the contact center. For example, this may be 24/7 support, different skill needs, or just be an exercise in reducing costs through the use of off shoring.

Effectiveness is the next step

Efficiency is generally measured by ‘hard’ metrics. Things like agent costs, average handle time and queuing times. Effectiveness can be harder to measure as it’s usually based on ‘soft’ metrics, like customer satisfaction. However, effectiveness is a very important part of the WFM business benefits case.

Examples of effectiveness improvements associated with WFM are an excellent way of demonstrating some of the changes being seen in modern contact center operations:

• Automating processes was the foundation of IT operations for many years. The same practice can be applied to many of the people management issues found in the contact center environment. Using rules-based management of agent schedule bidding/swapping and vacation bidding for example is a good example of automating a process to make it more efficient (quicker) and effective (enabling agents to match their needs with those of the contact center). Automating processes like these also removes the potential agent/manager conflict which can arise over scheduling issues;
• Skills-based routing of interactions requires up to date information regarding skill groups available at a particular time. This is information an advanced WFM solution can provide. Effectively dealing with customers often means matching the right agent with the right call;
• Using outsourcing resources is not just a cost/efficiency issue. Similar to skills-based routing, outsourcers may provide expertise which the contact center cannot currently provide its customers; for example, multiple languages. Sharing information with an outsourcer, or even directly managing resources, is advanced WFM functionality and not often found in less advanced solutions.

WFM: INVEST 1% TO IMPROVE 70%

The contact center industry knows, and understands, that its biggest expense is typically the people. In fact, depending on local conditions, agents and other staff represent some 60-70% of the total contact center bill. The benefits of WFM which can be felt in the business have already been discussed, harder to measure – although no less important – is the impact a good implementation of advanced WFM can provide to the people who make the contact center work.

People make contact centers work. WFM is the tool used to schedule those people.

It can be easy to forget just how many people are employed by contact centers globally. The difference between number of agent positions and employees (generally higher) is also often not considered. Millions of people work in contact centers. Organizing their day-to-day working lives, when they take their breaks, what hours they work and when they can take vacation all rely on the WFM solution employed. Meeting service levels and hitting the right KPIs can be a compelling reason to pay careful attention to the WFM solution used; however, the impact it can have on people is huge and should not be underestimated.

Improved efficiency and effectiveness = happier agents

It is clear the effect modern WFM can have on metrics and the operation of contact centers in both efficiency and effectiveness. A very important side effect of these improvements can be improved agent job satisfaction and morale. For example, if a contact center does not have enough agents to satisfy the call demand, customers will spend a longer time in the queue and agents will suffer with extremely high work loads and potentially frustrated customers. Other examples are numerous:

• Skill-based routing based on WFM data should ensure the right interaction is matched-up with the right agent. An English speaking agent is unlikely to be able to help a Spanish speaking customer, for example;
• Agents who are given the ability to influence their working lives with schedule preference input, through shift bidding and swapping as well as online time off planning tools, are likely to be more satisfied and willing workers.

Happier agents = happier customers

Providing excellent customer service is at the heart of contact center operations. Superior service is commonly seen as a differentiator in many industries, for example wired/wireless carriers, Internet service providers (ISPs), cable companies and retail banks. Average handle time (AHT), adherence to schedule, cost per call and many other KPIs may be at optimum. Yet the quality of the customer interactions can entirely depend on the responsiveness and willingness of the agents to provide service. Effective workforce management is critical to improving the quality of service delivered.

ROI from a people perspective

Similar to effectiveness improvements, improved agent satisfaction and morale is very important, but hard to measure. It is not, however, impossible to quantify the benefits associated with improving the working environment. A significant part of the costs associated with agents comes from an extremely common contact center problem, agent attrition. Agent costs are not just their pay. They include significant costs associated with hiring and training and therefore represent an investment by the contact center in its service provision. Losing agents is an expensive process.

About the Authors

Tom Pringle is an industry analyst with Datamonitor where he is part of the Call Centers and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Team. In this role, he covers CRM solutions, workforce optimization and call recording. Mr. Pringle is the author of a number of industry reports. He recently complete research research in the analytical CRM market, the SMB and hosted CRM market and workforce optimization technologies. Tom also authors the industry-leading Recording Industry Quarterly (RIQ) – tracking financial performance in the recording market. He holds a BSc. in Economic History from the London School of Economics. Mr. Pringle can be reached at tpringle@datamonitor.com.

Art Olender is the Managing Director of the European division of IEX Corporation, a subsidiary of NICE Systems Ltd., a global leading provider of workforce management and optimization technology. Mr. Olender has nearly 20 years experience in the contact center industry. Throughout his tenure at IEX, he has helped contact centers of all types and sizes maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations with TotalView, the company’s award-winning workforce management system. He can be reached at art.olender@iex.com.