What is Workforce Optimization (WFO)?
With all the moving pieces on a day to day basis, Workforce Optimization (WFO) is a call center strategy that increases customer satisfaction while decreasing operational costs. There are many reasons a company needs this, ranging from quality management to CRM integration.
What Are The Benefits of WFO in Call Centers?
Workforce optimization helps organizations in various ways depending on their goals. However, there are common key components that make up this type of a solution including quality management and call recording, workforce management, interaction analytics, and performance management.
Quality Management
Contact center supervisors, similar to live agents, need the right tools to evaluate different scenarios and team members to give the proper feedback. Multichannel evaluations, real-time agent desktop monitoring, and automated scoring selection cover these needs. Learn more
Interaction Recording
Another reason for workforce optimization is the ability to record more than just the call itself. Interaction details might include what channels of communication they had before and after the call, how long they were on the call, and if their issue was resolved. This accomplishes a better overall experience in the long term. Learn more
Workforce Management
Having the right balance between customer satisfaction and contact center efficiency is always going to be a challenge. This is where Workforce Management (WFM) helps achieve that balance, with the right number of agents that qualify with the right skills being available. This is possible through forecasting, scheduling, adherence, intraday, portal, mobile, and CRM. Learn more
Interaction Analytics
Being able to measure interactions with analytical reports that have relevant metrics is just as important as the recording itself. Interaction analytics provides data for both voice and digital channels, along with insight on where breakdowns happen, how to avoid them, and where to improve. Examples include speech and text analysis, automatic topic identification, root case analysis, query analysis, and automated quality management. Learn more
Performance Management
Overlapping with quality management, performance management works towards goal alignment, transparency, and collaboration within a call center and its teams. Role-based dashboards, real-time data, automated alerts, customizable KPIs and metrics, and wallboards are some of the main features. Learn more
CRM Integration
Having a great CRM is only part of the process. Seamless integration with a call center’s existing software is another major part of the process of leveraging your company’s existing investments. Larger CRM vendors such as Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft, and Zendesk are usually a sure bet to offer pre-built integrations, while some providers even allow for customizations such as a rich framework for REST API, reference UI, and additional tools. Learn more
Now that you know why you need Workforce Optimization, learn more about The Benefits of Workforce Management.
About The Author
Reneir Cruise, a graduate of California State University, Fullerton Communication Program, has been a Digital Marketer and Content Creator since 2012. He has worked with a variety of clients including Toyota, J.D. Power, and Hyatt, and currently manages SEO for Five9, which is a call and contact software company based out of San Ramon, California.
