Performance Optimisation
Performance optimisation in the context of call centres has slowly come to mean a holistic approach to workforce performance. This centres on the realisation that managers can understand more about their centre’s performance if contact statistics, quality scores and business outcomes can be correlated and analysed together for composite tracking and reporting.
However the practical and technical considerations of getting to that point of operational fluency is deciding where to start and picking the right sequence, given many centres already have some of these components in the form of scheduling, monitoring, recording and multiple reporting applications.
There are three basic vendor options to consider for workforce optimisation. The first is best of breed which allows a solution to be built around existing assets but implies complex integration.
Another option is to single source from a specialist vendor which should bring benefits like unified administration and single support as positives but then presents issues of existing asset write off.
Or the final option could be to choose an interaction hub vendor who has bundled much of the functionality. This can lower costs but probably will fail to meet best of breed feature sets.
Unified Desktops
Another equally important optimisation opportunity lies on the agent’s desktop which typically remains a siloed sprawl of applications. Data quality, call duration, wrap up, 1st time resolution are all severely impacted through this dysfunctional arrangement. Notwithstanding the attention that needs to be allocated during precious induction time for training new recruits on ‘toggling’ skills.
Both workforce optimisation and desktop unification will require systems integration in order to access and standardise data from many sources. This will almost inevitably demand process change to align associated activities with an overall methodology for performance optimisation that in turn will also need developing.
In other words getting the full value out of a performance optimisation initiative needs integrated operational and technical planning to reveal the full extent of the effort and investment required.
These opportunities are more fully explored in the sections below.
User satisfaction with workforce management solutions remains low due to inappropriate selection and a lack of investment in highly skilled resources.
Call logging, quality scores, customer survey scores, e-learning results all need to be brought into a single performance framework to drive optimisation.
Can a unified desktop be economically built and fit enterprise architectures with CRM/ERP extensions or are specialist solutions more appropriate?
In today’s world of enterprise wide systems to what extent are the call centre’s requirements for integrated reporting unique and still require separate solutions?