Call Center Basics

An Introduction to

Who we are and How we Work?

Yousef Farraj

What is call Center Management ?

…the art of having the right number of skilled people and supporting resources in place at the right times to handle an accurately forecasted workload, at service level and with quality.

Things All Call Centers Must Do

Align to corporate mission and strategy Demonstrate value to organization Understand key performance indicators Support Critical Functions:

• Workforce management

• Quality monitoring and coaching

• Training – initial and recurrent

Agenda

Small Call Center Challenges• Overview of the demands and limitations

small call centers encounter

Key Performance Indicators• Key terms associated with proper

management and staffing

Agenda

CMS (Call Management System)• Tracks information using real-time and

historical reports.

Forecasting• An introduction to how we utilize the past to

predict the future

Small Call Center Challenges

Short staffing by only one or two agents can wreak havoc with the operation

Forecasting variances are also very significant

Agent occupancy* must be lower in small call centers in order to meet your service level goals

*Occupancy-Percentage of time agents spend handling calls vs. waiting for calls to arrive.

Small Call Center Challenges

Coordination difficulties of managing off phone workload in addition to the inbound calls

Resources and options are limited- management must wear many hats

Workforce Management Functions

Forecasting Budgeting/Staffing Models Scheduling Real-time Management Reporting

Planning…

Forecast Agent Availability• Presence – sick, vacation, etc.

• Utilization – training, coaching, meetings, etc.

• Random – occupancy, schedule adherence

Forecast the workload• Call volumes, AHT (Average Handle Time) by

queue, fax volumes and all other workload related factors.

How do we measure up?

Phone referrals make up over 25% of total referrals*

All phone calls are just as important!• Wide-ranging calls that

come through our phone system are just as important

Our phones help boost our faxes!

*Average of total referrals over the last 4 months

Key Performance Indicators Service Level – X% of calls answered in Y seconds

• Dept Goal: 80% in 30 seconds or less.

Average Speed of Answer – Average delay of all calls including those that receive and immediate answer• Dept Goal: >30 Seconds

Abandon Calls – Caller hangs up before reaching an agent• Dept standard: Omit all abandon calls >30 seconds old

Average Handle Time – Average talk time + After call work time• Dept standard: 6 min (set to change in the future)

Key Performance Indicators Telephone Occupancy – Percentage of time agents spend

handling calls vs. waiting for calls to arrive. Dept Standard: 80% occupancy

Adherence - How closely an agent adheres to their schedule

IOT (Indirect Occupied Time) – Shrinkage, Un-accounted for non work related activities

RONA - Redirect on No Answer. Agent was available, call was missed, call gets placed back in queue and agent

is automatically placed in “AUX default mode”

Call Management System (CMS)

What can CMS do for you?• Produce Real-time Status reports

• informs a manager what an agent is doing and how long they have been doing it for

• Various agent and group reports• Volume, talk time, login/logout, ACW, AHT, etc.

How does a caller reach an agent?

ACD – Automatic Call Distribution. Calls that are answered by and agent (not abandoned) are referred to as “ACD calls”

Call assigned to Skill/Queue

Call connects to system

Call is sent to agent with

the highest skill level who has been avail the longest

(on hook and in-service)

Answered

Not Answered

RONA

Real Time CMS

Refreshed every 30 minute interval

Historical Reports CMS

Abandon Rate = Aban Calls/ACD Calls + Aban Calls

3/58+3 = 3/61 = .049 x 100 = 4.9% Abandon Rate

Goal:

<2%

Historical Reports CMSTalk time

After Call work time

-Daily Attendance and workload

-Can Also be broken down into 30 min intervals, weekly, monthly

Extn in/out Time Avail

Calls Answered

Historical Reports CMS

Login/Logout report

Assists in promoting adherence, tracking overtime, etc.

Can be pulled any day for any employee

Talking Numbers…

How many calls does one agent handle Daily?*

MD hotline: 18

General Intake: 32

Weekend: 16 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

MD Hotline Intake Weekend

*Call volume is average of data gathered in each skill.

Talking Numbers…

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

MD Hotline Intake Weekend

How many calls does one agent handle Monthly?*

MD hotline: 414

General Intake: 672

Weekend: 128

*Call volume is average of data gathered in each skill.

Auxiliary Work Codes 1- Break 2- Lunch 3- Meeting 4- Follow-up 5- Clerical/fax (Fax CSR’s only) 7- Triage (nursing staff only) 8- Fax room (fax room staff only) 9- Training After Call Work Mode

Forecasting

Forecasting

Staffing models are critical for:• Providing a basis for the call center budget

• Developing recruiting and hiring plans

• Planning for monthly staff utilization (vacation, training, overtime, etc.)

• Facility planning – when will call center outgrow existing space?

• Technology planning – technology upgrades, self service channel options, IT support planning, etc.

Forecasting Erlang C Average Talk Time (Sec.) : 540

After-Call Work Time (Sec.) : 60

Calls per Half-Hour : 120

Service Level Objective (Sec.): 60

Agents P(0)% ASA DLYDLY Q1 Q2 SL% OCC% TKLD

====== ===== ===== ==== ==== ==== === ==== ======

41 82.3 493.7 600.0 32.9 40.0 26 98 68.9

42 67.1 201.2 300.0 13.4 20.0 45 95 49.4

43 54.1 108.2 200.0 7.2 13.3 60 93 43.2

44 43.2 64.8 150.0 4.3 10.0 71 91 40.3

45 34.1 40.9 120.0 2.7 8.0 79 89 38.7

46 26.6 26.6 100.0 1.8 6.7 85 87 37.8

47 20.5 17.6 85.7 1.2 5.7 90 85 37.2

48 15.6 11.7 75.0 0.8 5.0 93 83 36.8

49 11.7 7.8 66.7 0.5 4.4 95 82 36.5

50 8.7 5.2 60.0 0.3 4.0 97 80 36.3

51 6.4 3.5 54.5 0.2 3.6 98 78 36.2

52 4.6 2.3 50.0 0.2 3.3 99 77 36.2

53 3.3 1.5 46.2 0.1 3.1 99 75 36.1

54 2.3 1.0 42.9 0.1 2.9 99 74 36.1

55 1.6 0.6 40.0 0.0 2.7 100 73 36.0

There is no “bang for your buck” when service level performance is over 90%

SL performance shows the “power of one” – even one agent understaffed has huge impact

Forecasting

6/11/09Thursday

12 2

4 45

45 5 5

4 4 45

45

6

43

2

0

2

4

6

8

An accurate staffing model must have a balance between workload and agents staffed to meet the service level that is expected

Workload Staffing

Service Level

Future Call Center training!

Lets set the foundation for a new standard of call center!

Motivation through example Utilizing the tools we learned Maximizing performance

Q & A / Handouts