The At-Home Agent Model is rapidly changing call center operations. Approximately 30% of U.S. companies currently utilize at-home call center agents and that number is predicted to increase to 80% by 2013. The benefits of using remote agents make a compelling case for companies who are looking to streamline operations, provide improved customer service, decrease call center costs, and […]

The current economy is driving financial decisions and it is more important than ever for companies to ensure they receive the most benefit for dollars allocated to technology implementation or upgrades. Although most top vendors have complete product offerings and their models have improved to account for multiple skill sets, locations, time zones, and channels, they cannot all offer […]

Many arguments have been made regarding the decision to purchase software from best-of-breed versus end-to-end vendors, including workforce management providers. There are valid points on each side of the discussion. Many best-of-breed companies have been absorbed by larger entities who promise a tightly integrated and seamless solution for all of your software needs. The packaging is attractive and the […]

Any call center manager knows that the profitability of their company can be greatly impacted by under- and over-staffing in the call center. If your forecasting or scheduling system is not sophisticated enough or if you’re doing too many processes manually, you are leaving money on the table by failing to staff your center properly. […]

Software as a Service (SaaS), also known as hosted, enables software to be delivered over the internet and has been available for over ten years. It has gained wide acceptance in the marketplace. Its popularity and benefits are well documented. Research has found that over 90% of SaaS users are satisfied with their solutions. In today’s competitive marketplace many […]

Most contact centers today are researching — or have already implemented — a workforce optimization (WFO) solution. Satisfied with their call delivery infrastructures (PBXs, ACDs, etc.), contact centers of all shapes and sizes are now implementing software-centric workforce optimization solutions to tackle critical business issues, such as improving agent retention and effectiveness, increasing customer satisfaction […]

Authored by Dick Bucci, Senior Consultant, The PELORUS Group and Sponsored by Pipkins, Inc. Understanding hosting Have you thought about hosting? No, it’s not about throwing a party for your top agents. Hosting is a delivery model that allows you to secure needed contact center applications now – not “when the economy turns around,” or “when budgets free up.” Hosting goes by a […]

Accurate workforce management forecasting is the most important component of any workforce management (WFM) software suite, and call centers are inherently susceptible to the inaccuracies of call volume forecasting. Over-staffing can lead to wasted labor expense while under-staffing can result in lost sales due to abandoned calls and a longer average speed of answer. In […]

Try these three simple strategies to optimize contact center agent adherence for improved service levels. There are many reasons why agents fall out of adherence and it is an inherent problem for call centers. When agents arrive late or leave early, log in to the wrong queue, take unscheduled lunch and breaks, or get tied […]

The usefulness of the staff schedule created by workforce management software will rise or fall on the reliability of the predictions it makes about the expected volume of incoming work. Without the right assumptions about the workload to be handled, the software’s ability to accurately calculate staffing needs is doomed. The effect on the bottom […]