Integrating Workforce and Quality Management

The centrality of customer satisfaction is a given in today’s ultra-competitive environment. However, the focus on service quality in contact centers slows behind the rest of the business world because these organizations were developed primarily to serve customers in a cost-effective way. Even today, contact centers have become familiar with complex quality management systems designed to drive customer service but have yet to achieve the right balance of efficiency and service quality.

And so at first, contact centers focused on KPIs such as average call handle time (AHT), agent occupancy, agent adherence and efficiency of resources. Agents were evaluated on speed rather than building their company's relationship with customers, and management lacked a complete picture of their contact center’s performance.

Integrating QM and WFM Systems

On the surface, integrating service quality and efficiency may appear to present a conundrum. Efficiency requires speed, but service quality demands more time to understand and meet the customer’s needs. When the principles of cost control still likely to predominate and return the focus to efficiency, so how can contact centers reconcile the two? The best way involves integration of workforce management (WFM) and quality management (QM) systems used by contact centers to drive both efficiency and service quality.

The Areas of Integration

Here are some key areas open to integration between WFM and QM systems:

*Forecasting

*Integration of call classification data, call volume trends and improvement programs avoids unnecessary and repeat calls by enabling increased accuracy within a fluid, changing and more effective contact center environment.

*Scheduling

*Through integration of skill levels based on QM evaluation of agents, the WFM system can be used to schedule more skilled agents for complex call requests.

*Quality Measurement

*Integrating agent schedules with the QM system helps supervisors choose the best calls for evaluation.

*Allocating Training

Often, QM training is scheduled with little regard for the agent’s other commitments or changing service levels during the course of the day. As a result, agents may be penalized for lack of adherence during training, or for failure to improve if they skip the instruction. Training can automatically be scheduled at appropriate times by integrating the two systems – giving agents input to improve their skills without negatively impacting WFM service levels.

Eventually, each organization must determine the best way to retain and grow its customer and revenue base while keeping expenses in check. An integrated view of all drivers will prove essential for management to make informed decisions in this area.