Workforce Management Featured Article
Should Call Center Management Use Technology for Training?
Job training – how many of us have both fun and boring stories of the different trainings we’ve received throughout the years? There’s the one-on-one training that happened in the retail world. The supervising manager would show the new employee – in this case, yours truly – how to operate the register, where to store your clear plastic purse assigned by corporate and how to effectively close the store down at night.
This was in the days before a lot of technology was present and our backroom had nothing more than a 10-key calculator and a refrigerator. There were training tapes on VHS that walked you through the perils of sexual harassment, but nothing as exciting as interactive displays and scoring systems now available to call center management. While some may still view training in the call center as boring, there are few who would fault it for being void of technology.
To reach set goals in the call center industry, however, call center management has to bring their A-game to the training process. Monet Software recently published a blog on the topic, highlighting the importance of the front-line employee. If they aren’t trained according to quality interactions to meet customer expectations, interactions will fall short and the bottom line suffers. At the same time, the agent feels they are missing the mark, doesn’t get the desired satisfaction from the job and leaves.
Data published by the Everest Group Research suggests that the 500-person call center can lose as much as $2 million in one year when attrition is high. The goal for any in call center management should be to keep agents for the long-term, not just a few months. But training isn’t always at the forefront. According to Ventana Research, just 37 percent of survey participants have established targets for the amount of coaching time each agent on staff should receive.
Making this investment in the agent base is something call center management cannot afford to miss. Given the role technology plays in the call center today, effectively managing training should be a given and not the exception. Management has access to real-time information that shows the best time to schedule training with a specific agent so as to avoid idle time and help them boost their capabilities in areas where they are lacking.
Monet Software suggests that call center management who are focused on innovation will embrace training opportunities as a way to improve the business. When combined with proven technology, such as real-time workforce management solutions, the forecasting, scheduling and adherence data provides clear insight into areas that need improvements and areas where agents need to be acknowledged. When done correctly, you not only enjoy better trained and more satisfied agents, but also happier customers.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi