MAXIMIZING HOME-BASED AGENT EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH INTRADAY AUTO-OPTIMIZATION

Transcription

1 wor k fle x s o l u t i o n s MAXIMIZING HOME-BASED AGENT EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH INTRADAY AUTO-OPTIMIZATION Many studies have shown that utilizing home-based agents can deliver superior performance at a lower cost than traditional Brick & Mortar implementations. Some of the key drivers include: Eliminate Physical Facility Costs Less Time/Cost for Agents for Commuting More Flexible Working Hours Ability to Work Part Time Call center virtualization technologies such as IP-call routing, web-based training and automated call recording have enabled companies to successfully deploy home-based agents. However a number of challenges remain for companies looking to truly exploit the inherent power of work at home including: How do I know agents might be available for extra hours or voluntary time off? How can I ensure that I can quickly agents when I need to contact them? How can I quickly identify the agents to address intraday staffing imbalances? How can I quickly identify and address employee performance issues agents? This whitepaper outlines how workforce auto-optimization technologies can be leveraged to address these issues and ensure that companies maximize the benefits of home-based agent deployments. WORKFLEX SOLUTIONS WHITEPAPER

2 Business Drivers for Home-based Agent Deployment One of the original business case drivers for home-based agents was capital cost avoidance. Simply put, if you can have 300 agents working from home, you can avoid the cost of a physical call center. In some cases, additional capital costs and expense can be avoided if the employee purchases the PC versus the company and/or provides their own high speed internet access. The development of low cost virtualization technologies, notably Voice over IP (VoIP), has largely eliminated any cost premium associated with sending a call to agent versus a call center. More recently a number of other business drivers for home-based agents have come to the forefront including the following: Expanded Pool of Resources One of the reasons why call centers tend to max out at about seats is that the hiring radius for agents tends to be in a 20 mile radius around the contact center beyond that range the cost of the agent commute becomes a significant barrier to employment. If the size of the call center gets too large, it becomes difficult to find enough employees, particularly in situations where agent attrition is high. Homebased agents effectively eliminate this radius barrier, increasing the availability pool. More Flexibility in Staffing By eliminating the commuting time delays, home-based agents enable companies to schedule more flexible shifts, which can be particularly appealing to people wishing to work part time. Improved scheduling flexibility also can attract a more diverse labor pool, including highly educated people who are looking at call canter jobs as a means of supplementing their income (e.g. 2nd job, or at-home parents). In turn, this can drive higher productivity. IIncreasing staffing flexibility also enables more flexible compensation, whereby companies can offer lower wages in return for higher scheduling flexibility. A 2009 survey by World at Work confirmed this with more than a third of those with virtual-work compatible jobs saying they would take a pay cut in exchange for the ability to work at home just two days a week. Extremely Targeted Scheduling Michele Rowan, President of At Home Customer Contacts, has done research on benefits of self-scheduling modules in two-hour increments. Companies are finding that staffing in brief, staggered periods throughout the day (mirroring arrival patterns of calls, and social media channels) is providing tremendous relief from should labor typically carried in bricks and mortar centers. Simply put, actual head count per ½ hour is coming in much closer to actual requirements. And this is delivering cost savings as material as facilities reductions for many organizations, says Rowan. The game changer, she says, is that home workers are happy to work brief staggered shifts they toggle back and forth between care giving, school, or whatever their primary focus may be. Improved Employee Satisfaction/Reduced Absenteeism The ability to work regularly from home can help employees achieve a better work-life balance that can lead to improved overall morale. When an illness, childcare or other emergency makes it impossible for an employee to be in the office, homebased agent capabilities ensure employees can stay connected and productive, ultimately reducing the number of absences. According to the findings of the 17th annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey, the largest employers in the U.S. estimate that unscheduled absenteeism costs their businesses more than $760,000 per year in direct payroll costs, and even more when lower productivity, lost revenue and the effects of poor morale are considered. BLR, a compensation and compliance services vendor, found that of the companies they interviewed with work at home programs, 64 percent confirmed they had seen improvements in morale. Enhanced Disaster Recovery. Having agents work out of their home minimizes the potential for single fault conditions (e.g. fire and weather) to have a major impact on ability to offer service. The United States Office of Management and Budget estimated that one day during the 2010 snowstorms cost $70 million in lost productivity. Page 2 of 6

3 Challenges in Implementing a Home-Based Agent Model Although Workforce Administration typically encompasses a number of functional areas including long range planning, forecasting, scheduling and intraday management, it is typical that intraday management can consume 70% or more of workforce administration resources. The key drivers of intraday resource utilization are staffing adjustments to address intraday overages/underages and monitoring/timely intervention to intraday performance management issues (e.g. operating metrics / schedule adherence). Companies that have attempted to deployed home-based agent models utilizing the same policies, processes and tools (e.g. workforce management system) they use for their Brick & Mortar call centers have discovered that their intraday management resource challenges become magnified due to a number of factors, including: Home-based agent versus call center agents Full versus part time Flexible schedules versus fixed Existing workforce administration tools need to be enhanced to support a more dynamic scheduling model including: Fragmented Shift Scheduling (e.g. breaks in daily schedule) Automated Scheduling to Address Intraday Variances Flexible Employee Communication (e.g. phone , SMS, IVR, Facebook) Automated Performance Monitoring and Real-Time Intervention Regulatory/Contractual Compliance Assurance (e.g. Overtime, Seniority) How do I know agents might be available for extra hours or voluntary time off? How can I ensure that I can quickly agents when I need to contact them? How can I quickly identify the agents to address intraday staffing imbalances? How can I quickly identify and address employee performance issues agents? Addressing these challenges requires modifications to existing policies, processes and tools that were designed around a Brick & Mortar agent model. For example, policies related to pay structure need to be refined to include: To fully exploit the inherent benefits associated with homeagent, companies need to address these management challenges. The key to this is through enhancing the available workforce administration tool set to include the following: An Agent Availability and How-to-Reach Me Repository A Multi-Channel Agent Communication Engine A Rules Engine for Ensuring Regulatory/Contractual Compliance An Automated Intraday Scheduling System An Automated Intraday Agent Performance Monitoring and Management Alerting System Figure 1 - Workforce Administration Resource Utilization Page 3 of 6

4 Auto-Optimization The Key to Maximizing Home-Based Agent Effectiveness The formula for maximizing home-based agent effectiveness can be found by taking a closer look at the manufacturing Industry. Instead of Call Center Administrators and Home- Based Agents, think of a Production Line with Remote Part Suppliers. In the production line case, if an order is cancelled or a new order comes in, the issue is automatically identified, rules are invoked for which suppliers are to be contacted, the suppliers are contacted automatically, part shipments are expedited (in the case of a spike in demand) or postponed (in the case of a cancelled order), and the production schedule is automatically updated. Parts suppliers are automatically monitored for quality and adherence, and alerts are sent to management if performance issues are detected. This optimal just-in-time manufacturing model is enabled by real-time supply chain processes that are supported by real-time supply chain tools. Maximizing home-based agent effectiveness can be achieved by adapting real-time supply chain methodologies to the call center. This can be done by interaction of the following capabilities with existing workforce administration tools: Agent Web Portal This portal enables agents to identify preferences for how they would like to be reached (e.g. phone, SMS, , Facebook) and what their availability is for Extra Hours (EH) and Voluntary Time Off (VTO). Agent Database A single repository that contains all relevant data for agent management (e.g. proficiency, seniority, past responsiveness, hours worked, etc.) Rules Engine Accessed via an Administration portal, the rules engine Workforce Administrators to configure thresholds for action (e.g. staffing gap, schedule adherence issue), and what actions are to be taken (e.g. extend hours, alert supervisor,,,). This rules engine also enables workforce administrators to ensure regulatory and compliance. Figure 2 - Home-Based Agent Auto-Optimization Elements Multi-Channel Communication Engine This provides the capability to communicate with agents and supervisors through the methods above or via screen pop (if they are logged in). Automated Dynamic Scheduling Achieved through direct interface to existing workforce scheduling system. Page 4 of 6

5 Auto-Optimization Use Cases The following are examples of use cases that can leverage autooptimization technology to deliver superior cost-performance in a home-based agent environment. Example 1 - Automated Intraday Staffing Imagine a scenario whereby 300 agents were scheduled for a certain shift, and due to a number of factors (absenteeism, higher than expected demand) a shortage of 30 agents (10%) was determined. With a home-based agent auto-optimization system, the following actions could automatically be taken by the system: Example 2 Automated Schedule Adherence Workforce Administrators could configure their auto-optimization system to automatically notify agents of upcoming schedule breaks to help ensure compliance. Through the rules engine administrators could configure which agents are to receive break alerts (e.g. all agents, new hires, past performance issues, agent requested, etc.) The system would then automatically provide a screen pop reminder for all agents that should be receiving a reminder. (e.g. Your lunch break is scheduled to begin in 6 minutes at 12:00 noon ) Identify agents that are in training or coaching meetings, and reschedule those meetings so that those agents could immediately get back on the phones. Identify agents that are nearing the end of their shift or scheduled to begin their shift later in the day, and determine whether some of these shifts could be extended. Identify agents that have indicated availability for extra hours, and target those agents that best meet the need based on a number of factors including proficiency, number of overtime hours already worked, past responsiveness, seniority, and so on.) In each case agents could be contacted based on preferences they have indicated in the agent web portal (e.g. screen oop, , SMS, and voice call.) Once agents have confirmed change requests, the changes to the schedule are automatically made through the existing scheduling system. Agents that are currently on a call that is not expected to conclude before the break start time could respond to the reminder by requesting an additional 5 or 10 minutes. Based on policies configured in the rules engine, this request is approved. The agent is immediately notified of the change to their schedule (e.g. Your request has been approved Your lunch break now starts at 12:05 pm ) (reducing stress), and the schedule is automatically updated in the WFM system, eliminating the need for manual administrator input. Conclusion Deployment of home-based agents as part of a call center operating model can yield significant benefits in terms of improved cost-performance, significantly closing the gap between on-shore and offshore deployment options. However, home-based agent deployment creates additional challenges in intraday staffing and performance management that are difficult to address with existing workforce administration tools and processes. The introduction of intraday auto-optimization technology can enable call center operators to effectively address these challenges and fully maximize the inherent benefits of home-based agents. Page 5 of 6

6 About At Home Customer Contacts Michele Rowan is the President & CEO of At Home Customer Contacts (www. athomecustomercontacts.com), a Work-At-Home consultancy that assists companies analyze, design, and execute their remote working strategy for customer contacts, mid office and back office. She has helped 500+ companies develop and implement home working strategies. She is former VP of Performance Management with Hilton Hotels, where she led the US and European home working expansion. At Home Customer Contacts conducts workshops, web trainings and customized assessments exclusive to home working in the US, Canada and Europe. About WorkFlex WorkFlex is a venture-backed, Cincinnati-based software company focused on workforce optimization solutions. Founded in 2009, WorkFlex products are deployed to major service providers and Business Process Outsourcers (BPO s) within Canada and the United States. About the Author Larry Schwartz is Chairman and CEO of WorkFlex Solutions. Mr. Schwartz has 25 Years of Executive Management Experience in Large-Scale Operational Streamlining, Enterprise-Grade Software Development, Strategic Planning, Business Transformation, and Outsourced Services including Contact Centers. WorkFlex Solutions, LLC Millington Court Cincinnati, OH info@workflexsolutions.com Phone: