Ask the Experts – September 06

Centralizing/decentralizing workforce management?

Question: “What are the pros and cons of centralizing/decentralizing workforce management functions within multiple centers?”

Expert Response:

There are a number of ways that workforce management is administered in call centers. The most prevalent being excel spreadsheets, though most larger and multi-site centers today employ some sort of workforce management (WFM) system (Aspect, IEX, Blue Pumpkin(Witness), Pipkins etc.).

Where a WFM is present it is generally a part-time activity to manage a centers’ schedule as a result many organizations have moved to centralized scheduling model where the scheduling is completed by a single team for all centers. This has the advantage ore efficient as well as providing a single view of the call center infrastructure and resource requirements (that can be linked to budgets etc.). This also is valuable where all centers share traffic (through a virtual ACD or follow the sun model), as well this provides the ability to view a single workforce capacity and compare it to the single demand view, the forecasted volumes.

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