Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Agent Desktops and Wallboards: A Synergistic Solution

There is a synergistic relationship between LCD screens and agent desktops that report call center KPI’s to agents and call center floor. Most often this relationship is ignored and because of that call centers miss an opportunity to improve their efficiencies.  By utilizing both LCD screens and agent desktops to present real time data to the agents call center managers create a more effective and efficient call center environment.



 As a manager have you ever stopped and looked at the LCD screen showing you have calls in queue and agents available? Have you also stopped and yelled will someone please answer the phone (Or at least wanted to yell that out).  This real scenario plays out in many call centers around the world and the reason it happens so often is no one takes responsibility for the metrics on the LCD screen accept the manager.

An LCD screen displays group (split skill) KPI’s to the entire call center. Typical call center statistics that are displayed are:
  •     Calls in Queue
  •     Tickets in Queue
  •     Adherence             
  •   Oldest Call Waiting
  •     Agents Available
  •     Abandon %
  •     Service Level

In addition, thresholds are assigned to the KPI’s to trigger an alert and notify the call center that something needs attention.  LCD screens are a tremendous tool when needing to alert the group. However, the group does not take responsibility.

Agent desktops provide agent specific information about the group (split skill) the agent is logged into. These statistics might include:

  •     Agent Adherence
  •     Service Level        
  •     Calls in Queue
  •     Abandon Rate
  •     AHT
To improve agent efficiency a threshold may be attached to some or all of the statistics to alert the agent that their attention is required.  Agent desktops provide specific information to the agent allowing them to react in a proactive manner.   However, many agents believe that their team leaders and managers are not aware of their current status so they do not react as they should.   

If the call center has just an LCD screen displaying KPI’s agents are able to deny responsibility for KPI’s in threshold by claiming they were not aware. Conversely call centers using only desktops run the risk of managers and team leaders not being aware of the status.

Call centers that utilize both LCD screens and agent desktops improve the productivity of the call center.  Team leaders, managers and agents are all aware of the current status of the call center and they are able to take responsibility for the call center metrics.  Or put another way managers no longer have to yell someone please answer the phone.

Spectrum is a leading provider of Unified Contact Center Reporting.  Contact Spectrum today to learn more about Contact Center Activity Monitoring and Unified Reporting.

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Dan Boehm
VP Sales and Marketing
Spectrum
dboehm@specorp.com
+1 713 986 8839