four things to reconsider - call centre helper · years’ experience in optimising business...

Copyright© 2011, The Call Center School LLC

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Call Centre Helper Webinar

Four Things to Reconsider about Workforce Management in 2011


Speaker Profile - The Call Center School

Penny Reynolds is a Founding Partner of The Call Center

School where she heads up curriculum development. She develops and teaches courses on a wide variety of call center topics, including workforce management, performance measurement, and call center technologies. Penny is a popular speaker at industry conferences and association meetings and a frequent contributor to industry trade publications. Her articles appear in numerous print and online publications as both a guest contributor and regular columnist.

Penny has authored four books: The Power of One, Power Phrasing, Call Center Staffing: The Complete, Practical Guide to Workforce Management and Call Center Supervision: The Complete, Practical Guide to Managing Frontline Staff. She has also co-authored the five textbooks for University of Phoenix’s call center certification program. An honors graduate of Vanderbilt University, Penny was one of the first recipients of Call Center Magazine’s prestigious Call Center Pioneer award.

[email protected] +1 615-812-8410

mailto:[email protected]






Speaker Profile – Invision

Chris Dealy is Sales Director at InVision Software Ltd.,

provider of InVision Enterprise WFM and iWFM.com – the cloud workforce management (WFM) solution.

With a background in Operational Research, Chris has over 30 years’ experience in optimising business processes for blue chip organisations. For the last 10 years, he has focused on Workforce Management, primarily in contact centres and call centres, across Northern Europe, for organisations including John Lewis, the RAC, the NHS, Computershare, H&M and ABN AMRO.

[email protected] +44 7917 772365







Worth Reconsidering in 2011

Measuring forecasting success

Setting and measuring service goals

Increasing scheduling flexibility

Automating WFM tasks


WFM Dilemma 1

How do I measure forecasting accuracy and improve it?


Goals for Forecast Accuracy

What are your goals for forecast accuracy?

• Industry “benchmarks”

• Your current benchmark

Key Concept

Aim for your own improvement,

not someone else’s accuracy level.


Measuring Forecast Accuracy

• Forecast Period:

Monthly

Weekly

Daily

Half-Hourly

Calculation Approaches:

Percent difference

Standard deviation

Correlation coefficients


Calculating Percentage Error

Calculating Forecast Accuracy

Forecast Volume Actual Volume % Error

Monday 3533 3601 .019

Tuesday 2455 2544 .036

Wednesday 2611 2723 .047

Thursday 2990 3111 .040

Friday 2935 3078 .049

Saturday 1028 1103 .073

Total 15,552 16,160 .039


Calculating Percentage Error


Forecast Volume Actual Volume % Error

Monday 3533 3494 - .011

Tuesday 2455 3156 + .286

Wednesday 2611 2854 + .093

Thursday 2990 2647 - .115

Friday 2935 2301 - .216

Saturday 1028 993 - .034

Total 15,552 15,445 - .007


Which is better?


% Error % Error

Monday .019 - .011

Tuesday .036 + .286

Wednesday .047 + .093

Thursday .040 - .115

Friday .049 - .216

Saturday .073 - .034

Total .039 - .007


What to Reconsider

Think differently about …

How you measure forecast accuracy

(variations, not averages)

What intervals you measure

(the smaller the better)

Root cause analysis for variations

(trend analysis versus missing business drivers)

Goals for improvement

(internal, not external benchmarks)


WFM Dilemma 2

How do I set service goals and measure performance realistically?


Service Measures

Service level or ASA

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

The danger of averaging

Other measures:

First call resolution

Schedule efficiency


Service Measurement

SWPP Survey Results

60% use service level; 23% use ASA.

Most common goal: 80% in 20 seconds

44% measure success by daily average;

41% measure success by monthly number.

Only 12% measure success by periods of day.


Analysing and Reporting Service Level

Time of Day Call Volume Daily % SL (in 20 sec)

6:00 – 7:00 85 4.5% 100%

7:00 – 8:00 90 5.0% 95%

8:00 – 9:00 95 5.5% 95%

9:00 – 10:00 145 8.0% 90%

10:00 – 11:00 185 10.0% 65%

11:00 – 12:00 195 10.5% 70%

12:00 – 1:00 165 9.0% 70%

1:00 – 2:00 185 10.0% 65%

2:00 – 3:00 220 12.0% 60%

3:00 – 4:00 210 11.0% 90%

4:00 – 5:00 145 8.0% 90%

5:00 – 6:00 125 6.5% 95%

Average: 82%


What to Reconsider

Think differently about …

Setting a realistic speed of answer goal

Determining interval should you measure/report

Focusing on other measures as primary call center goals


WFM Dilemma 3

How do I get a better match of workforce to workload? How can I

increase schedule flexibility?


Schedule Inflexibility

6 am 10 pm

Pe

op

le

Think of your shifts like LEGO building blocks.

The more sizes and types of blocks, the better you can build your model.


Optimized Schedule

6 am 10 pm

Pe

op

le

The Result:

A better fit with less understaffing and overstaffing


Full vs part-time mix

Different shift lengths

Days on/off mix

Staggered start times

Scheduling Strategies

As you build schedules, expand your mix:

Flexibility is the key.


What to Reconsider

Think differently about…

Mix of full-time and part-time

Variety of shift definitions

“Buying” and “rewarding” flexibility

Virtual “at home” agents


WFM Dilemma 4

How do I accomplish WFM tasks efficiently and cost-effectively?


WFM Software Considerations

As you consider purchasing WFM software for the first time or a replacement of your existing system,

there are 4 Factors to consider:

WFM System Considerations 1. System Features and Capabilities 2. Support Services 3. Operating Platform 4. Cost



1. Features and Capabilities

Data collection

Forecasting

Scheduling

Intra-day management

Real-time adherence

What are your “must have” and “nice to have” software capabilities?



2. Support and Services

Planning and installation WFM team IT/technical support

Training System training/initial and ongoing Workforce management concepts

Support services Ongoing customer support Professional services

User community

What are your internal capabilities and can you access necessary resources?



3. Operating Platform

Traditional premise-based systems Hardware/servers

IT support

Upgrade schedule and process

Ability to size to call centre growth/decline

Is the traditional premise-based system holding you back in terms of

flexibility and growth?



4. Cost

Software cost Upfront license cost

Ongoing maintenance costs

Hardware cost

Capital investment/ROI and payback

Have you done a proper cash flow analysis to evaluate the best use of your money?


The InVision Value Proposition

1. Features and Capabilities

Flexible, full-featured forecasting

Efficient scheduling mechanism with instant schedule views

Multi-activity and back-office scheduling

Comprehensive intra-day pictures

Real-time adherence monitoring and reporting

Training/meeting planner

Standard and custom reports


iWFM Capabilities and Features

Forecast


iWFM Capabilities and Features



2. Support and Services

Easy and fast deployment

Online learning as well as classroom options

Experienced consultants Applications

Call centre operations

Strategic labour consulting

User community



3. Operating Platform

On-Premise Cloud

Capital Expenses

Hardware Costly None

Software license Up-front fee None

Ongoing Fees Annual maintenance Per agent fee

Implementation High effort Simple

Training Variety Variety

Upgrades Complicated, delays Automatic, immediate

Availability Subject to downtime More reliable



4. Cost

per agent per month

No capital investment. Immediate ROI. “Do the math”!


Questions

Penny Reynolds

[email protected]

+1 615-812-8410

Chris Dealy

[email protected]

+44 7917 772365


four things to reconsider - call centre helper · years’ experience in optimising business...

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