Workforce management (WFM) software works better than intuition

Need to make your call center more productive, less wasteful of time and talent and your bottom line closer to your top estimates? Workforce management (WFM) software is your key resource in meeting all three of those goals.

According to a “CallCenter” Magazine piece…

“The most important thing that most call centers can do to improve their WFM processes is to invest in WFM software.”

In fact, nearly half of all worldwide call center enterprises use WFM software, with the larger companies (75+ agents) in North America comprising 70 percent WFM software users.

What WFM software does best is…

While WFM Software packages vary in sophistication and features, what they all have in common is what they do with the call data that is loaded and collected. To wit, WFM software:

• creates work schedules based on the forecasted workload, known agent availability and other factors that affect what service levels are involved. If you’ve ever tried to “pencil-whip” a complicated schedule or work roster, you know that this feature makes the software a particularly valuable work saver.
• forecasts future customer contact demand based on historical call data going back several years so that seasonal trends can be factored.  In fact, according to the article, “ a well-tuned WFM forecasting module will produce more accurate results than will the intuition of a call center manager or scheduler.”
• does “what-if” forecasting. For example, what would be the impact of faster call processing on the seasonal need to increase call handlers? Could you get by with fewer workers? Could you schedule more hours?
• keeps supervisors abreast of daily activity with so-called “intraday” tracking tools. Picture a projected performance and activity line graph superimposed with an actual half-hourly status indicator that tells supervisors how things are going.
• monitors performance of agents and call handlers. This feature allows supervisors to measure agent activities such as adherence to time schedules and actual performance (sales, call length, etc.) versus goals. The results provide a valuable basis for performance counseling and identifying training needs.

What WFM software does best is that it brings together the right combination of people who have the needed skills and puts them at the disposal of your customers during the optimal times and seasons of high-volume demand.

USAN Workforce Management Optimization is what you’re looking for. We have the Workforce Management solution you need to do all the above – and more.  Contact us and see how we can help you optimize your workforce forecasting, scheduling and agent performance.