Call Center Staffing

[marton19]

I am staffing a new call center in the healthcare industry. Our client base is approx. 8,000-10,000. This will be an inbound center. Does anyone know what tools are available to help me properly staff the call center with an adequate amount of csr's, team leaders, supvs, etc., so we can provide the utmost in customer service? Is there a formula such #clients/rep. perhaps?

[CaitlinM]

The type of tool you are referring to is called "Workforce Management". There are many types of workforce management software but they basically allow you to schedule staff members based on volume and other parameters you define. Most simply, you can use an Excel or Lotus Spreadsheet - which works well if you have a smaller call center, but I recommend purchasing or leasing a WFM specific product if you have more than 20 agents, are 24/7 or just want to save some time. "BluePumkin" is generally considered the "Cadillac of WFM" but has a price tag to match, and may be more bells and whistles than you need. For my small call center I have been monkeying around with the free trial of a web based scheduling program called "When to Work" at www.whentowork.com. It is not as dynamic as others I have seen, but it is very economical. Go to your favorite search engine and look up "Workforce Management Software" and research what is out there. There are many companies such as Sprint PCS, Edison, and Experian that have downsized their call centers recently, so there may be many excellent candidates in the job market right now - especially supes, QA and Trainers - so snap them up and you may just get a wealth of talent and know-how from them.

Purdue University is the clearing house for information and research on Call Center trends and technologies. They can help you with call center metrics and budgeting.

[TM1 Stop]

Please call me at 319-631-4666 to discuss.

Anthony Marlowe, President
TM1 Stop, LLC

[Adorno]

In undertaking this effort, I recommend you spend a few minutes at our website to learn about important considerations in staffing to keep employee turnover levels low.

There are an number of articles and information on products that I think you will find relevant and helpful.

Regardless of whether or not you are interested in our particular product, our call center article titled "Understanding and Combating Call Center Employee Turnover" will help you to understand what steps you need to take on the front end to hire the best reps.

We have established partnerships with other test providers who we feel offer the best products on the market. As experts in test development and validation research, it takes a lot to make our list, and you can be confident that our recommendations are founded on scientific research, and cost-benefit utility.

Regards,
Anthony Adorno
Vice President
The DeGarmo Group, Inc.
www.degarmogroup.com
Adorno@degarmogroup.com
(309) 820-1435

[JoeB]

You received very good insight from previous responses regarding staffing, scheduling, turnover, etc. As for you key question – how many CSRs you will need, the answer is straightforward, although the theory is quite complex.

First, no method based on customers per CSRs works, because there is no simple linear relationship between the number of customers and the load (which is not exactly the same as the number of calls) they generate. The commonly used method to calculate the number of CSRs is based on a queuing model called Erlang – there are several variants and additions to the basic model, depending on various factors such as the specific type and structure of the call center, call flow and escalation procedures, call profile, and the desired accuracy. (You can read about the model and how to use it to calculate the number of CSRs in http://www.diagnosticstrategies.com/papers.htm)

The calculation requires some call statistics such as call volume, AHT, and daily call profile, as well as a target SLA. A typical approach is of what-if modeling, where you can try different scenarios to find the balance between customer needs and call center resources.

IÂ’d be happy to answer any questions you might have concerning Erlang modeling and how to use it in your planning.


Joe Barkai
DIAGNOSTIC STRATEGIES
www.DiagnosticStrategies.com
jbarkai@DiagnosticStrategies.com