Call volume without available data

[Saramencia]

I am starting a Call Center project at a Bank and would like to know how to calculate an estimated call volume. I just know we have 450,000 active clients who do not have calling support culture, specially because my bank has more than 10 years in the market and never has had a telephone attention center.

Is any one there that could give me a hint of how to calculate call volumes in first stage without any historical data.?

I will really appreciate your help.

[kistaitis]

I currently work for an outsource provider of call center solutions and would welcome an opportunity to discuss your needs on how to measure call center volume.

You can either respond back with your contact information or give me a call at 800-814-5875.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Jody

[OwenIIC]

There is much to consider when starting a banking support center. You must first look at customer interaction in the branches and the type of day to day transactions/support that takes place there. You will them have a handle on the type of call volume you will recieve.

Determing the actuall call volume depends on how you plan to market your call center to your customers and what type of support you are going to offer.

I have a number of years of experience on this, feel free to email me or call to discuss.

Owen
800-800-8442 ext.412
owen@iic.com

[Frank A. Engle]

Hello Saramencia!

In my opinion, the last thing you want to do is launch a call center and then either be overstaffed, creating a major expense, or understaffed and injure your bank clients perception of your service. The other difficulty is that no industry benchmark will necessarily be able to accurately predict volume in your unique situation.

I came across an interesting bit of information recently:

Speech interaction reduces the time of a banking call by 35% compared to a touchtone call, according to a benchmark study on bank call centers by the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University. The Purdue study on banking call centers also states that agent-assisted calls in banking cost almost $4 per call compared to 45 cents per call for automated speech recognition. Agent-assisted calls can last almost five minutes, have an abandon rate of almost 6% and an average hold time of about 37 seconds. (Purdue University, 12/2001.)

Based on this information, my suggestion is. as step one, to set up a speech interaction IVR and then forward calls to a live agent group, using an outsource call center for overflow. You could begin with an outsourced IVR solution (call me and I can refer you to a couple) that charges you only for usage.

Once you build some historical call data, you can then fine tune the process to maximize service while minimizing expense.

Hope this helps...Good Luck!!

Frank Engle
Pivotal Connection