Of Hurdles
Crossed
The organization is a leading outsourced customer service
provider offering voice and data-based services. Its
customer Contact Center with multi-channel capability
includes voice-based inbound and outbound interactions
and those through e-mail, chat, and collaborative Web
sessions. The Contact Center operates on a 24/7 basis.
Customer contacts average 160,000 calls per week and
the center is staffed with a total of 251 full-time
Customer Service Representatives.
The service provider uses Workforce Management software
to forecast and schedule for a specific campaign. However,
the campaign comprising 251 agents fell short of efficiently
meeting the weekly service goal of 80 percent of calls
in under 20 seconds. The service provider engaged Servion
to conduct its Workforce Optimization program.
As part of this program, Servion recommended changes
in scheduling practices that will improve service levels
while maintaining or reducing operating costs. The alternative
schedules recommended by Servion projected an 11 percent
reduction of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) with an increase
of 4 percent on service levels for a specific unit of
workforce handling a campaign. Employee acceptability
is a key factor in bringing in schedule changes. To
ensure successful implementation, it was also recommended
that the service provider survey employee preferences
and construct work-pay policies conducive to the new
work pattern. |
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