Staffing Software Helps Call Center Managers

As the current economic recession has caused many companies to cut call center jobs, managers at those call centers could greatly benefit from staffing software (Click here).

Managers often face the challenge of how to accurately schedule the correct number of agents based on call volume. That means company money is wasted if the manager schedules too many agents and there are not enough calls coming in. At the same time, customer satisfaction can decline if there are not enough agents and hold times increase.

While it is difficult to predict what call volume will be, managers also must find the right agents to fill positions in each shift. Most call centers today handle phone calls, e-mails and Web chats, and some agents are better at handling one technology than the others, so it is important for managers to assemble a team that represents a good balance of skills.

All of these factors make the task of scheduling agents tedious and time-consuming, but managers and companies can benefit by using staffing software to make the process easier. According to an article by TMCnet.com, most staffing software is quick and easy to install, not to mention affordable, and includes advanced analytics that allow managers to accurately predict how many agents will be needed for each shift.

Good staffing software is capable of increasing schedule adherence, reducing decreasing employee numbers and improving customer service by setting a better schedule for agents. In addition, it is estimated that using staffing software reduces the amount of time a call center manager spends scheduling agents by up to 25 percent.

Managers who use staffing software save a considerable amount of time by not having to manually input information, as they would with spreadsheets or other scheduling tools, because the software automates the scheduling process.

Another plus is that many staffing software programs have Web-based agent and supervisor portals that allow agents to swap, bid on or cancel shifts, which prevents managers from having to deal with last-minute scheduling changes or finding an alternate worker.