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Posted by John Gray on February 22, 2007, 11:23 pm
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> f/fgeorge wrote:
>> Warren I see we are just going to have to disagree here. I worked in a
>> City that had over 100,000 people. I have been to areas that have over
>> 400 square miles, I have been to Cities that have well over a million
>> people, they ALL operated exactly the same way. Not a one had a plan
>> that put fewer dispatchers on duty during any percieved "slack time".
>
> That's very interesting.
>
> Such a waste. Did they schedule police officers the same way? Just as
> many on during slow periods as busy periods? Or was such lazy, wasteful
> scheduling only in the call center?
>
> Good, reliable workforce management software for call centers has been
> available for over a decade, and there are not any private sector call
> center I know of that doesn't do so. But then again, if they waste
> money, it comes out of the bottom line. If your experience is common for
> publicly funded call centers, then it is a very sorry testament for how
> our tax dollars are wasted.
>
> Now if we're talking about a call center that has only one person
> answering the phone, of course workforce management software isn't going
> to help. But as the call centers get bigger, and in my state, state law
> (backed by state funding) strongly encourages only one 911 call center
> per county, so in the counties with large urban population, there can be
> anywhere from 5 to 25 operators on duty at any given time -- depending
> upon the shift.
>
> Do the math. How much would it cost to always have 25 operators on duty
> when call volume on that shift never indicates a need for more than 5
> operators on duty. How much money is that a week? How much for a year?
> How can a call center manager justify NOT using workforce management
> software? And these call centers certainly must have ACD switches that
> can provide more than enough historic data to get the best results from
> workforce management software. Set the parameters for a 100% service
> level with zero wait time, and it's still going to come out with a more
> economical scheduling model than just staffing the same way all the
> time, and perhaps cut the call center's required budget by 25-50%. And
> that doesn't count the savings in training by right-staffing instead of
> over-staffing the center. That money could go towards better things,
> like more officers on the street (at the times they're needed.)
>
> This is elementary call center management theory. It's not some
> new-fangled, untested idea. It's the way private sector call centers
> HAVE to operate (because they don't have an endless stream of taxpayer
> money.) And in a big city, the effect is going to be well into six -
> maybe even seven - figures a year. Taxpayers should be outraged if this
> basic way of managing labor costs is not employed in their area.
>
But then, private sector call centers keep people on hold until a live
person is available to talk to them. In a life threatening emergency, the
person in need could easily be dead after being on hold for even a short
time.
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