No or very little multichannel work done
Using the same workforce management tool as for voice
Not scheduled formally, done ad-hoc
Separate scheduling of multichannel activity
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Enabling the contact center to view its activity holistically, through integration with other systems (where the front office, back-office or third-party), is also seen as a vital capability, and the ability for non-technical and more commercially oriented users to get the full benefit from a workforce
management capabilities, can be seen in the relatively high ratings attached to the simplification of administration. Although mobility features are viewed as less important, 22% of respondents still rated as 9/10 or 10/10, a figure which will surely rise significantly in the near future.
Figure 85: Workforce management system requirements
3% 2% 1% 6% 3% 2% 4% 1% 5% 18% 11% 15% 11% 8% 42% 38% 33% 26% 14% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Reporting functionality Usability (i.e. the use of graphical user interface, intuitive design,
use of visualizations, etc.)
Integration with other systems (e.g. QM/CR, CRM, SFDC, email, back office, etc.)
Simplified admin capabilities (e.g. automated tasks, bulk capabilities, drag & drop, embedded functions, etc.) Mobility features of the application (i.e. usage away from main site)
Importance of workforce management elements
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HEADSETSThere are various factors to consider when deciding which headset to purchase for your contact center workforce. If you have many hundreds or even thousands of agents, headset purchase can be a large ongoing capital expenditure that is important to get right. There are many things to consider:
Compliance with health and safety legislation
Total cost of ownership
Durability
Performance
Comfort
Contact center telephony infrastructure
Sound quality.
Contact center agents wear headsets for hours every day, and the cost of replacing or repairing headsets should be considered in the total cost of ownership, requiring good levels of after-sales support and guarantees.
Some contact center agents like having the freedom to move around while on calls, especially in a high- pressure sales environment. Some contact centers may decide they don’t want agents wandering around, but that the supervisor needs to be able to be mobile. Agents with wireless headsets can spend less time putting callers on hold as they can walk to where the information they need is held, taking the caller with them. This in turn reduces the time taken on each call, and improves customer satisfaction.
Headsets and the 'enterprise as contact center'
The newest headsets support the 'enterprise as contact center' model by allowing the agent to involve knowledge workers in a three-way conversation with the agent via Microsoft Communicator, IBM SameTime or VoIP. This allows, for example, a 2nd-line technical support worker to help immediately
with a difficult part of a query without a formal, long-winded escalation process taking place.
The majority of contact centers have implemented Internet protocol (IP) telephony as part of their technology environment. Agents will make and take calls via their PC, so choosing a headset that can adapt to future technology infrastructures is key.
The weight, sound quality, amount of background noise allowed in, comfort and the length of time the headset will be worn should also be considered. Having sound in both ears (binaural) allows noise levels to be lower than is the case with single-ear sound (monaural), although some agents can feel isolated if
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they cannot hear the world around them. In addition, a noise-cancelling microphones filter out the unwanted background noise which can make the conversation harder for a caller to hear. This may be especially relevant for homeworkers, where the background noise (traffic, children, dogs, etc.) may be less easily managed or predictable. Voice tubes can also allow more flexible positioning of the
microphone, with attendant improvements in sound quality.
The effect of headsets upon productivity
There are examples of how improving audio and speech quality can positively impact upon call handling time and overall contact center performance. A Spanish contact center gave some sets of agents headsets with digital audio processors, and some used the more traditional headset. The first group's technology had the effect of 'cleaning up' unwanted noise at either end of the line, allowing the
customer and agent to communicate more effectively. Calls were handled more quickly, fewer mistakes were made with data collection (with the attendant knock-on effect that fewer repeat calls were required), and overall, agents handled an average of 10% more calls per day than did the control group.
In some countries, there has been legislation put in place around noise at work, which detail maximum average and peak noise levels that a worker may undergo, and the maximum amount of time that it is permissible for the worker to experience these sounds. We believe that it is only a matter of time until similar legislation is imposed in all Western contact center industries, and that businesses should be putting procedures in place before they are forced to, which could help agents’ health, and limit the business’s exposure to litigation.
Surveys have seen that only 6% of contact center managers are aware of the level of ambient noise within their contact centers, and only 9% regularly measure it3.
In the UK, “The Acoustic Safety Programme” has developed some simple advice for contact centers to help them meet or exceed legislation and make working life safer and more comfortable for their agents:
Measure contact center noise regularly and record it
Fully understand legislation and create a formal policy so that staff at all levels of a business are aware of it
Make sure that the headsets used are compliant with current legislation, and test them throughout their life
Provide agents with a choice of headsets - monaural or binaural - the latter can help to absorb background noise, but may make the agent feel more cut-off from their environment