The Case for Workforce Management

Simon Angove, CEO GMT Corporation

May 5, 2011

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Topics

!  Early indicators of inefficient contact centres

!  The objectives you should set to give yourself the best chances of success

!  Tangible ROI from WFM implementations

!  Common pitfalls to be avoided at all costs

!  Winning agents’ ‘hearts and minds’

!  Best practices in driving centre efficiency

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Balancing service and expense

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Source: YouGov, Plc. Source: ContactBabel

Must deliver better service… …while controlling costs.

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The complex modern contact centre

At home agents

24 x 7

Performance management

Shift bidding

e-Learning

Part-time/full-time

Social media

Multi-skill

Virtual centres

Work blending

Quality management

IVR

Mobility

Chat, web, email, fax

Customer expectations Multi-site

Back office Staff

preferences & fairness

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Ask yourself these questions

We dramatically exceed or miss service levels

Our managers carry an administrative burden managing schedules

and holidays

Our staff are excessively busy and

stressed or under-utilised and bored

We don’t know if staff are performing the

right tasks at the right time

We cannot manage unexpected peaks in demand

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Performance by the numbers Indicative metrics for an inbound customer service centre

Source: Various (GMT, ContactBabel, SWPP, PFF, ICMI)

Metric Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Best Practice

Occupancy <75% 75-80% 80-85%

Adherence <85% 85-90% >90%

AHT >6 mins 5-6 mins <5 mins

ASA >30 secs 20-30 secs <15 secs

Abandonment >5% 3-4% <2%

Staff attrition >20% 15-20% <10%

Cost per call £5 £4 £3

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What went wrong

•  Low agent occupancy •  High cost per call •  Missed service levels •  High abandonment

•  Not matching agent staffing to demand •  Limited leverage of workforce flexibility •  Inability to handle unexpected surges •  Inability to handle unplanned exceptions •  Limited visibility to schedule adherence

•  Excessive overtime •  Too few agents on the payroll •  Right number of agents but at wrong times •  Limited visibility to long range hiring needs

•  High agent attrition •  High absenteeism •  Low agent engagement

•  Stressful, fire-fighting environment •  Lack of flexibility in working •  Perceived unfairness in scheduling

•  High administration •  Manual, time-consuming schedule creation and holiday management

Problem Possible cause

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Microsoft Excel not enough

!  Difficult to produce accurate volume forecasts

!  Can’t support skills-based blended environments

!  Hard to introduce more flexible working practices

!  Manual and time-consuming process !  No advanced capabilities such as real-time

adherence, what if analysis, or self-service

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Role of workforce management

Put the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time performing the right tasks to deliver the better customer service at lower cost

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Essential workforce management

Set service level by channel

Forecast volumes

Schedule staff members

Monitor adherence

& exceptions

Enable employee

self-service

Measure performance

Analyse and improve

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Building the business case

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Example – current situation

Operating Lever Before

Agent productivity

Agent occupancy 75%

Schedule adherence 78%

Operating expenses

Over-time expenses 75 hrs/wk

Schedule administration 50 hrs/wk

Agent attrition 10% p.a.

100 agent contact centre struggled to manage effectively with MS Excel …

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Example – improved situation

Operating Lever Before Improved Now

Agent productivity

Agent occupancy 75% 30% 82.5%

Schedule adherence 78% 50% 89%

Operating expenses

Over-time expenses 75 hrs/wk 50% 37.5 hrs/wk

Schedule administration 50 hrs/wk 50% 25 hrs/wk

Agent attrition 10% p.a. 20% 8% p.a.

Workforce management improved agent productivity and operating expenses

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Improvement in agent productivity

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Before WFM After WFM

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Payback in less than 6 months

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Net Present Value (NPV) of over £1 million over 3 years

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Novacroft case study

!  23% reduction in staff costs !  Over 25% increase in agent utilisation !  Employee satisfaction consistently > 98%

"  Tangible improvements in morale and motivation

!  Excellent feedback from agents with 100% acceptance

!  Improved revenues !  Hitting target service levels within a tightly

defined budget

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How to avoid the pitfalls

Change management

Executive sponsorship

Forecast accuracy

Benefits measurement

Continuous improvement

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What’s in it for me?

Agents •  Fairer schedules •  Visibility to performance •  Easily swap shifts •  More working flexibility •  Less stressful environment

Supervisors •  Accurate plans help meet goals •  Reduce administration time •  Better handle work exceptions •  Less intra-day fire-fighting •  Better view of agent performance

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Trends and best practices

!  Workforce flexibility !  At home agents !  Virtual centres !  Quality monitoring !  Performance management !  “Open WFO” !  User process analytics !  Hosted solutions

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GMT Value Discovery

Data collection

Site visit

Discovery workshop

Gap analysis

Present findings

Study to diagnose current state, identify gaps, recommend changes, and quantify benefits

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GMT Corporation

GMT Europe Ltd Trigate House 210-222 Hagley Road West Birmingham B68 0NP United Kingdom Tel: +44(0)845 080 0350 Fax: +44(0)121 222 5101

Headquarters Six Concourse Pkwy, Suite 3100, Atlanta GA 30328 USA Tel: +1.770.416.6000 Fax: +1.770.734.9000

GMT Australia Ltd St Kilda Road Towers, Suite 230, 1 Queens Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 Australia Tel: +61(0)3 8844 2000 Fax: +61(0)3 8844 2001

www.gmt.com