The Function of Workforce Management Software in a Contact Center

It is not easy to run a contact center. You have got executives keeping an eye on performance measures, irate consumers, while accounting always keeps an eye on your budget. When you are trying to balance all of this, it is easy to see how agent requirements might be pushed towards the less priority section. Although automation is still a term in the IT world, it is also a vital technique for contact centers to increase efficiency. If you are working in Excel, you might be able to construct a basic agent schedule automatically. On the other hand, workforce management software gives a call center an altogether new set of automation choices.

Let’s now know about the role of workforce management software for HR and managers in call centers in detail.

How Workforce Engagement Improves Contact Center Quality

• Workforce Management and Workforce Engagement Creates Agent Performance

An agent does not arrive at the office ready to deal with consumers on the first day.  Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) technology instantly starts functioning for contact centers by offering essential and relevant training resources to set up new agents properly.

Knowledge breeds confidence, and starting training on the right foot is critical to any contact center agent’s success. The exchange of information should not end after the first week. To boost agent morale and your contact center’s adaptability, it is also important to keep agent skills fresh through continuing education and cross-training.

• Let Your Agents Have a Say in Their Work Schedule

Just because an agent has been educated on a certain channel doesn’t guarantee they want to work on it every shift. Agent timetables are no longer prescribed to them all of the time at the contact center. WEM (workforce engagement management) solutions that include workforce management software capability can allow agents to bid on shifts based on their favorite channel, time of day, and other factors. In addition, during the last few years, there has been significant growth in the demand for hybrid work.

When it comes to enhancing team morale, being able to give remote choices to agents may make a significant impact.

• Recognition is Important

While allowing agents to have a say is beneficial to agent engagement, some agents just want to be recognized for their hard work every day. A WEM technology and WFM tool allows management to publicly or privately acknowledge an agent’s achievements and provide them with an award or an incentive for their efforts.

It might be as simple as a gift card or an additional day off, but rewarding and recognizing exceptional work is critical to maintaining high contact center performance.

• Make Engagement a 2-way Path

The topics above are primarily concerned with what the contact center can do to boost agent engagement. But what if the tables are turned on you? Agents who deal with customers every day have some of the finest ideas for enhancing contact center operations. This is because they address issues and increase retention rates on a daily basis.

Provide multiple resources so that agents don’t have to look for the correct contact to get feedback fast and accurately. Email and surveys are useful, but utilizing the built-in communication architecture inside a WEM or WFM system to keep all comments in one place is much better.

Impact of Workforce Management Software on Call Center Automation Strategies

• Scheduling and Forecasting Automation

Workforce management software takes forecasting and scheduling automation to a whole new level. Based on the particular talents of your available agent workforce, the system can draw on months of prior data to provide an accurate projection. The agents can even use an automated shift bidding procedure with numerous rounds to create schedules.

Allowing agents who had strong feedback ratings last month to be in the initial bid group is also a wonderful method to motivate them. They will almost certainly obtain their desired shifts the next time a schedule is prepared if they can put bids early.

• Monitoring of Agent Check-ins and Status with Automation

It takes a long time to manually monitor when agents are functioning and what they are doing. To automate the agent check-in process, more contact centers are including an automated schedule attendance monitor in their workforce management software. With this technology, a WFM admin may rapidly know which agents have come for work and their current work status.

In addition, there is another way to avoid agents going away from their typical work tasks at the same time. The answer here is automation, which you can use to see in real-time which agents are on break or in training.

• Enabling Quick Intraday Changes

In certain cases, automating your forecasting and scheduling is only half the job. A call center schedule must accommodate agent delays or unexpected absences on most days. So, WFM software automates the process so that admins don’t have to start from zero looking for new agents.

Instead, it takes a few minutes to send out a mobile message to all qualified agents that a shift is available. You can do this using automatic schedule adjustment plans. It is a terrific method to save time by allowing you to speak with several agents with just one click.

• Streamline the Time Off Process

Time off management is one of the most recent applications of automated WFM software in contact centers. Gone are the days of exchanging emails with a supervisor before taking time off. The discussions on which days are open and whether or not they can take the days off are officially over.

Instead, WFM software has a color-coded calendar that indicates the chance of a time off request being accepted before filing. Time off bidding is another solution call centers use to provide a fair and balanced approach to time-off requests.

Why Balancing Agent and Customer Experience is Important in Contact Centers

• Happy Agents Ensure Happy Customers

A customer’s experience may begin when they call, send an email, or initiate a chat session. However, the agent’s reaction may make or break their perception of your company. It’s one of the reasons why more contact centers are reviewing agent-centric data instead of monitoring customer-focused metrics. The regular customer metrics are CSAT or NPS (such as adherence, quality scores, and absenteeism).

In addition, agents who are comfortable in their jobs are more likely to stay with the company. This helps in lowering overhead expenses and boosting morale.

• Balance Brings Actionable Changes

When it comes to the agent and client experience, the true value is in what may happen when both thrive, and the appropriate balance is struck. For example, customers who enjoy your business are more likely to be open and honest about how you might improve.

Similarly, agents who you treat with respect and like their work will gather and share feedback with zeal and care. They also ask correct follow-up questions to uncover meaningful nuggets of data. Contact center feedback is essential for driving change inside a company, and obtaining as much relevant data as possible is beneficial.

• Customers Also Need to Be Heard

Focusing too much on the demands of agents, on the other hand, might be harmful in its own right. For example, if each agent set their weekly plan, your contact center would not have nearly enough people to fulfill the daily fluctuations in consumer requests. Customers would be dissatisfied, and income would be lost as a result.

Nevertheless, customers’ requirements remain a significant concern. So, having the proper agents available to solve their problems on their terms may make all the difference. Contact center workforce management software is perfect for ensuring that qualified employees are accessible at specified times of the day to satisfy customer demand while keeping costs down.

Ending Note

Workforce management is an indispensable part of every organization, be it an IT brand or a contact center. You can integrate most sophisticated WFM tools with other management systems. This includes HRMS, payroll management, call center quality assurance software, etc.

However, certain tools, like Mind Workplace from Omind Technologies, offer an all-in-one solution, all-inclusive of WFM, HR functions, payroll, etc. So, what are you waiting for?