In the midst of some global natural disasters, including the Turkey earthquake, US snowstorm, and something closer to our hearts the Bangkok floods, my deepest condolences goes out to all those who have been affected by these unexpected events.
Whilst we’re on unexpected events... quite often contact centres are impacted by unexpected events – these not only include natural disasters, but also controllable events such as marketing campaigns and changes in Government policies that are not communicated to the contact centre beforehand.
As per the FIfth Quadrant Australia and New Zealand Workforce Management Market Report, here are some common ways the industry handle unexpected peaks in contact volumes:
- Offer staff overtime/shift extensions/additional shifts (80% of organisations in Australia/NZ use this method)
- Minimise off-phone activities such as meetings and trainings (62%)
- Multi-skill agents to be prepared for unexpected peaks (45%)
- Use off-phone staff (39%)
- Call in part-time/casual staff/temps to assist (32%)
A combination of the above methods will assist in handling the extra load.
Now delving into each of the points above...
Which leaves me to the last point:
Obviously these are reactive methods of handling unexpected peaks. With the controllable events, such as marketing campaigns there is opportunity to work more closely with marketing and allow the contact centre to be involved in planning throughout campaign development. So have a process in place, and reduce the likelihood of unexpected controllable events occurring.
The business will benefit and so will the customer.
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