How can a contact center improve internal workforce management?

Running a contact center is challenging. There are many moving parts—and contact center managers can’t let anything, or anyone, fall through the cracks. From ensuring that agents are scheduled appropriately to handling unexpected contact volume surges, the complexity of workforce management requires precise coordination and foresight.

Contact center managers need workforce management tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. These tools enable them to optimize staffing and scheduling decisions, ensuring that the correct number of agents are available when needed without overstaffing or leaving gaps during critical periods. Workforce management software can also reduce administration efforts and enable businesses to deliver a better agent experience.

This article answers the question, “What is workforce management?,” explores the core processes of contact center workforce management, and explains what a workforce management solution looks like.

What is workforce management (WFM)?

Workforce management, often called WFM, is how contact center managers plan, schedule, track, and manage employees’ work to ensure the right number of agents are available to meet current demand. Effective workforce planning is vital to managers’ success, enabling them to maximize their team’s potential.

Workforce management allows managers to forecast outreach volumes, meet service leverage agreements, track agent performance, and create appropriate schedules.

Workforce management also improves agent experience. Using WFM, managers will better understand the volume of contacts. As a result, they can provide agents with more predictable schedules and ensure agents aren’t overwhelmed, which can lower agent stress and turnover rates.

With a solid workforce management strategy and the right workforce management software, managers can focus more on strategic initiatives and less on administrative tasks with the confidence that their contact center is running smoothly.

WFM is essential to balancing the business’s needs with the workforce’s, leading to a more engaged, satisfied, and efficient team and, ultimately, a more successful contact center.

What are the core processes of contact center workforce management?

Contact center workforce management isn’t a one-and-done process like technology integration. Like revenue management, it’s an ongoing cycle that requires close monitoring and the willingness to pivot quickly when necessary.

The five main steps of contact center workforce management are:

• Forecasting. Contact centers can estimate their future query volume using historical data, including everything from year-over-year trends to seasonal spikes.

• Staffing. Staffing involves determining the number of agents needed to handle the estimated query volume while meeting service level agreements, keeping customer satisfaction rates high, and avoiding overstaffing.

• Managing performance. Contact center managers also need to monitor agents’ real-time performance and make adjustments to ensure individual agents—and the contact center as a whole—meet productivity goals and service standards.

• Scheduling. Once contact center managers understand the expected query volume and know their staff members well, they can carefully schedule agents’ shifts based on their skills, length of service, performance, hours, and availability.

• Reporting and analytics. Contact center workforce management also involves analyzing performance data to identify trends, measure effectiveness, and make informed decisions for continuous improvement.

What does a top-tier workforce management solution look like?

Many workforce management tools offer basic functionality, but the most effective ones leverage advanced technologies like AI to drive exceptional results and simplify contact center managers’ lives. With the help of AI, businesses can optimize every aspect of the contact center operation.

AI allows for more accurate incoming contact volume forecasting, allowing contact center managers to schedule the appropriate number of agents at any given time. It can also continuously analyze data and make data-based recommendations, helping them make decisions quickly when faced with sudden spikes in demand or agent absences.

Additionally, AI can provide seamless omnichannel experiences, allowing agents to access and manage customer interactions across various channels with ease. This ensures that agents can deliver personalized and consistent service, regardless of how or where the customer engages with the company.

AI can also improve agent training and development on an individual level by providing tailored insights and recommendations based on individual performance. This personalized approach boosts agent skills and helps them deliver higher-quality service, ultimately driving better outcomes for both the agents and the business.

Here are some of the relevant software features of an AI workforce management solution.

Performance management.

Performance management features enable managers to get the most out of every single agent. Measuring and tracking individual agent performance, viewing team performance, and comparing their operations to benchmarks at a glance is a straightforward task using easy-to-understand dashboards. Managers can then take action and provide agents with personalized coaching at the right time, whether that’s rewarding top performers or helping struggling team members achieve their full potential.

Quality management.

Quality management features allow businesses to ensure that agents consistently deliver high-quality service by monitoring and evaluating interactions across all channels. With automated tools that assess call recordings, chat transcripts, agent screen activity, and other communications managers can quickly pinpoint areas for improvement and give agents actionable feedback, supporting continuous agent improvement.

Seamless integration.

The best WFM solutions should also seamlessly integrate with existing systems. This enables businesses to have a unified platform where they can access all relevant data and tools in one place. This connectivity also allows the workforce management solution to work in harmony with CRM, scheduling, and other critical systems streamlining operations, improving data accuracy, and reducing the complexity of managing a contact center.

Interaction recording.

Some WFM solutions feature interaction recording, allowing them to capture inbound and outbound calls and even synchronize voice and screen recordings to give additional context to the interaction. Having this much information available makes it easier for businesses to take their contact centers and agents to the next level.

Knowledge base.

A knowledge base provides agents instant access to accurate and up-to-date information, reducing the time spent searching for answers during customer interactions. This streamlines the resolution process, leading to faster response times and improved customer satisfaction, which in turn optimizes agent efficiency. Additionally, some knowledge base features have dashboards that offer insights on key knowledge management metrics as well as control over user permission levels.

Put award-winning AI for workforce management to work.

AI for workforce management brings unparalleled value to contact centers by enhancing agent accuracy in customer resolution strategies and improving overall efficiency. With  AI-powered workforce management solutions, contact center managers can handle forecasting, staffing, managing, scheduling, reporting, and analytics with ease. Plus, AI enables contact center managers to provide agents with real-time insights, information, and recommendations so they can resolve issues faster and perform at their best.

Talkdesk offers a powerful WFM solution that can improve agent productivity, making it an essential tool for any contact center looking to optimize performance. Companies can ensure that their agents are not only more efficient but also more satisfied with their roles, leading to a more effective and resilient contact center overall.

Ready to help your contact center achieve its full potential? Discover Talkdesk Workforce Engagement Management.