For businesses in many industries, there are periods when incoming call traffic spikes beyond what normal staffing can manage effectively. High call volumes lead to long hold times, missed calls, frustrated customers, and lost opportunities. Having strategies to manage these peak periods smoothly is critical for maintaining service levels and protecting your brand’s reputation.
Call Center Scheduling Tactics
If your organization operates an in-house call center, strategic scheduling of agent staffing is key for cost-effectively matching resources to busy fluctuations. Tactics include:
- Forecasting call volumes based on historical data/patterns
- Cross-training agents to be flexible across queues
- Offering overtime incentives during peak periods
- Bringing in part-time, on-call or temporary agents
- Staggering breaks and lunch periods sequentially
Having workforce management tools and adhering to best practices like these helps balance service levels and staffing costs.
IVR Menu Call Flow Optimization
When heavy call traffic hits, optimizing your interactive voice response (IVR) system and call routing are important for managing volumes. Standard IVR tactics include:
- Filtering out common requests through self-service options
- Enabling consultation/callback scheduling for non-urgent matters
- Prioritizing queues by customer value or issue severity
- Offering automated updates on current hold wait times
- Providing alternative contact channels like chat or email
A well-designed, user-friendly IVR acts as a gatekeeper, maximizing efficiency when agents are overburdened.
Intelligent Call Routing and Distribution
More advanced call center technologies enable dynamic routing interactions based on real-time conditions like agent availability, skills, and queue backlogs. Automatic call distribution (ACD) systems use algorithms to continuously optimizing flows.
Other intelligent routing options include virtual queueing (allowing callers to disconnect and receive a callback), voicemail services sending requests to agents’ desktop, and third-party call handling.
Out-Staffing and Managed Services
Sometimes internal resources simply cannot flex up adequately during certain high intervals. That’s when many businesses leverage external staffing solutions to out-task portions of their call handling. Options include:
- Partnering with an answering service (a call-answering operation like Apello, with 24/7 staff)
- Engaging a call center outsourcer for specific campaigns/queues
- Utilizing call overflow outsourcing just for peak traffic periods
- Contracting dedicated remote agent staffing augmentation
With out-staffing, businesses can quickly scale up or down without carrying extra fixed labor costs.
Conversational AI and Automation
Increasingly, artificial intelligence in the form of virtual assistants and chatbots provides automation managing simple requests and inquiries. Conversational AI allows self-service resolution for basic FAQs, appointment booking, order status checks and more.
More advanced AI systems with natural language processing integrate with agent desktops. They provide recommendations and suggested responses, better equipping agents for more complex queries and scenarios.
Unified Communications and Channels
Offering seamless omnichannel customer support experiences gives callers convenient alternatives beyond just the phone. With unified communications systems, all channels like phone, email, chat, SMS and social media feed through a single agent interface.
Empowering customers to freely shift between interaction modes relieves voice traffic. It allows initiating requests through one channel, then switching as needed.
Digital Self-Service and Automation
Beyond just AI assistants, modern organizations should deploy other robust self-service, automation and knowledge management tools alleviating inbound contact volumes. Examples include:
- Thorough online FAQs, forums, and knowledge bases
- Guided application wizards or diagnostic tools
- Appointment booking, payments, and account self-service portals
- Process automation for workflows like claims, returns and service requests
The more intelligently organizations automate repetitive customer interactions through digital means, the fewer live agents get tied up.
Conclusion
While every business hopes to provide prompt service whenever customers call, it’s simply not feasible to staff for absolute peak periods. Implementing a cohesive suite of solutions like those outlined ensures high call volumes get managed as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible. The right technology, processes and staffing approach means no caller gets left behind.
