How to Improve Contact Center Workforce Management

If you want to improve your contact center workforce management, you should know that the modern customer demands quick and efficient contact center service across multiple channels.

In fact, over half of retail customers with urgent issues prefer phone support, and most call centers aim to answer 80% of calls within 20 seconds. Around 62% of Millennials and 75% of Gen-Z customers prefer self-service options, even when human customer support is available.

With nearly half of users contacting a brand on social media expecting a response within 60 minutes, it’s clear that optimizing your workforce across all channels is vital to meet customer expectations, which is where Contact Center Workforce Management (WFM) comes into play.

Here, we discuss Contact Center WFM in detail, diving into the best ways for you to improve your WFM and deliver outstanding customer experience.

What Is Contact Center Workforce Management?

Contact Center Workforce Management is an approach to aligning your staff and resources to meet your business objectives. You do this by optimizing scheduling and performance based on several critical factors to ensure that your contact center runs smoothly and efficiently, such as:

• Agent availability: Agent availability means having the right number of agents available at the right times to handle customer inquiries and support requests. Accurately forecasting contact volume based on historical data ensures you have enough staff to meet demand without overstaffing and incurring unnecessary costs.
• Forecasted contact volume: By analyzing past data and trends, you can predict how many customer interactions you’ll have in the future. This allows you to plan ahead and adjust your staffing levels accordingly. Forecasting helps you avoid understaffing, which can lead to long wait times and frustrated customers, as well as overstaffing, which can result in wasted resources and increased labor costs.
• Revenue targets: By strategically scheduling your top-performing agents during peak hours or for high-value interactions, you can maximize your revenue potential. This may involve considering factors such as agent skills, experience, and performance metrics when creating schedules.

The ultimate goal of Contact Center WFM is to make sure that you have the right number of agents with the right skills available at the right time to handle customer interactions efficiently and effectively. This means striking a balance between meeting customer needs and expectations while also optimizing your workforce to control costs and maximize productivity.

Related: How to Build a High-Performing B2B Call Center

How Contact Center WFM Works

So, how does Contact Center workforce management actually work? Let’s break it down into its key components:

Forecasting

Forecasting is the foundation of successful WFM. It involves analyzing historical data to predict future customer interactions accurately. By examining past call volumes, email inquiries, chat sessions, and other contact types, you can identify patterns and trends that help you anticipate future demand.

Effective forecasting takes into account various factors, such as:

• Seasonality: Consider how your contact volume fluctuates during different times of the year, such as holidays or peak sales periods.
• Business changes: Account for any planned promotions, product launches, or other initiatives that may impact customer contacts.
• External factors: Monitor external events, such as weather conditions or economic changes, that may influence customer behavior.

By creating accurate forecasts, you can ensure that you have the right number of agents available to handle the expected volume of customer interactions.

Related: The Complete Guide to Call Center Forecasting

Scheduling

Once you have your forecasts in place, the next step is to create schedules that optimize your workforce resources. Agent scheduling involves assigning agents to specific shifts and tasks based on their skills, availability, and the anticipated workload.

During your scheduling process, consider the following factors:

• Agent skills: Identify the specific skills and knowledge required for each type of customer interaction and ensure that the right agents are scheduled for the appropriate tasks. For example, if you have a high volume of technical support inquiries, schedule agents with strong technical knowledge during those peak times. Your WFM team must reflect your customer needs, and WFM software solutions help give you this insight.
• Availability preferences: Consider agent preferences for shift times, days off, and break periods. When possible, accommodating these preferences can improve agent satisfaction and reduce turnover.
• Service level agreements (SLAs): Ensure that your schedules align with your SLAs, which define the expected response times and resolution targets for customer interactions. For instance, if your SLA requires 80% of inbound calls to be answered within 20 seconds, your schedules should reflect the necessary staffing levels to meet that goal.

Optimized schedules balance meeting customer needs, optimizing agent workflows, and controlling operational costs.

Related: Nextiva Workforce Scheduling: Where Automation Meets Optimization

Intraday Management

Even with the most accurate forecasts and well-planned schedules, unexpected events can disrupt your contact center operations. Intraday management involves monitoring real-time performance and making adjustments as needed to ensure that you meet your bottom-line service level objectives.

Some common intraday management activities include:

• Monitoring call volume and other key metrics in real-time to identify any deviations from the forecast.
• Adjusting agent breaks and lunches to ensure adequate coverage during peak periods.
• Redeploying agents from one channel to another to handle unexpected spikes in volume.
• Offering voluntary time off or overtime to agents based on real-time staffing needs.

By proactively managing your contact center operations throughout the day, you can maintain a high level of service quality and responsiveness while also meeting employee satisfaction goals.

Performance Management

Contact Center WFM goes beyond ensuring that the right number of agents are available at the right times. It also involves managing and optimizing agent performance to deliver the best customer experience.

Performance management in a contact center typically includes:

• Setting clear performance goals and expectations for agents based on their roles and skill levels.
• Monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) such as average handle time, first-call resolution rate, and customer satisfaction scores.
• Providing regular feedback and coaching to agents to help them develop their skills and improve employee engagement and your employee experience.
• Identifying top performers among your contact center agents and recognizing their achievements to boost morale and motivation.
• Implementing training and development programs to enhance agent knowledge and capabilities.

By continuously monitoring and managing agent performance, you can ensure that your contact center consistently delivers high-quality customer service, like Nextiva:

Reporting & analytics

You need access to comprehensive reporting and analytics to make informed decisions and continuously improve your call center workforce management processes. By collecting and analyzing data from various sources, such as your automatic call distributor (ACD), customer relationship management (CRM) system, and quality monitoring tools, you can gain valuable insights into your contact center performance.

Some key areas to focus on in your reporting and analytics include:

• Forecast accuracy: Compare your forecasted contact volume and handle times to actual results to identify areas for improvement.
• Schedule adherence: Monitor how well agents adhere to their scheduled shifts and identify any patterns of absenteeism or tardiness.
• KPI trends: Track key performance metrics over time to identify trends and opportunities for optimization.
• Customer feedback: Analyze customer satisfaction surveys and other feedback channels to gauge the effectiveness of your WFM strategies in delivering a positive, unified customer experience.

Related: How to Spot Call Center Absenteeism and Fix It

Contact Center vs. Call Center WFM

You may be wondering how Contact Center WFM differs from traditional Call Center WFM. 

While there is some overlap, there are also key differences:

Component	Contact Center WFM	Call Center WFM
Scope	Encompasses all customer interaction channels (calls, emails, chats, social media, etc.)	Focused solely on managing phone interactions
Scheduling	Involves scheduling agents across multiple skill sets and channels	Primarily concerned with scheduling call center agents
Technology	Often requires a unified platform to manage all channels effectively	May use standalone tools focused on call management
Metrics	Tracks a broader range of KPIs across all channels	Primarily focused on call-related metrics like average handle time

As you can see, Contact Center WFM takes a more holistic view of customer interactions, while Call Center WFM is more narrowly focused.

Benefits of a Unified WFM Solution

So, why should you consider a unified Contact Center WFM solution? There are several key benefits:

Improved efficiency

You can streamline processes and centralize data management by managing all your customer interactions through a single platform. This eliminates the need to toggle between multiple systems and reduces the risk of errors or missed information.

Enhanced visibility

A unified WFM solution provides a bird’s-eye view of your entire contact center operation. You can easily see how all your channels are performing and identify areas for improvement.

Optimized resource allocation

With a unified platform, you can schedule the right agents with the right skills across all channels. This helps optimize your resources and ensures customers receive the best possible service.

Reduced costs

Implementing a unified WFM solution can help reduce costs by eliminating the need for multiple systems and licenses. You can manage your entire operation more efficiently with a single platform.

Improved agent experience

A unified WFM solution provides a consistent omnichannel experience for your agents, regardless of which channel they’re working on. This can help improve agent satisfaction and retention by providing clear expectations and performance management across the board.

Making Contact Center WFM Work for You

As you can see, Contact Center WFM software is a powerful tool for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your customer service operation. By forecasting accurately, scheduling optimally, managing in real-time, and tracking performance, these workforce management tools help ensure you provide the best possible service to your customers.

Implementing a strong WFM strategy can help you:

• Reduce wait times: By ensuring the right number of agents are available at the right times, you can minimize customer wait times and improve satisfaction.
• Improve resolution: By having the right agents handle the right interactions, you can improve first-call resolution rates and reduce the need for follow-ups.
• Boost operational efficiency: Forecasting and scheduling automation through call center software will save time and resources, allowing your team to reduce queues, and focus on serving customers.

And with a unified workforce management software like Nextiva’s, you can accomplish all of this and more. Our all-in-one communication solution includes built-in WFM tools to help you optimize your contact center operation. From intuitive scheduling to real-time analytics, Nextiva provides everything you need to manage your workforce effectively.

So why wait? Start optimizing your Contact Center WFM today and see the difference it can make for your business. With the right strategies and tools in place, you can provide exceptional service to your customers while boosting efficiency and reducing costs.

Modernize your team with Nextiva’s Workforce Engagement Management solution: One platform for customer and employee satisfaction.

Related: Mastering Workforce Management in Your Call Center