Hi

I have been tasked with providing a Resource function for a call centre that is taking approx 600 Calls per day.

Due to this low daily volume, the calls in the 15 minute intervals are very erratic resulting in inaccurate service level predictions.

Does anybody know or could anyone shed some light as to what the minimum recommended daily call volumes a company must take to warrant having a proper call centre?

Thanks
Wayne

Hi Wayne

I depends on the AHT, service level you want to hit and at this volume the opening hours.

e.g. at 3 mins per call to answer 80% in 30 you'd need 10 FTE to handle 600 calls per day opening 08-18 Mon-Fri. However, if your opening hours are 07-21 Mon-Sun you need 15 FTE.

Any idea on the parameters, AHT, Opening Hours, Service level to hit?

Also, does it have to be stand-alone or can it be mixed with any other work?

Eamon

I agree with Eamons last statement about mixing it with other work. I manage a Contact Centre that takes less than 300 calls per week.

I would be happy to share with you some of the things I have done to ensure our staff are productive and that customers calls get answered within the service level agreements.

Thanks Eamon & Andy for your replies.

I have built a little WFM tool in Excel using the excel add-in erlang formulae which is closely based on Qmax. I use this tool to predict daily SLs for another department taking about 1500 calls per day and the results are approx 97% accurate. My problem is that with a daily call volume of only 600 calls, the calls per 15 minute intervals range from 1 to 10 making my SL predictions very inaccurate.

I know from experience that Qmax was pretty accurate when dealing with daily call volumes that exceeded 1500 per day but not very accurate for anything below that. I was just wondering if there is a recommended minimum daily call volume for using a WFM tool before accuracy is compromised?

Wayne

Wayne

At 15-min intervals you might be in danger of getting too much granularity, agents with individual calls almost. Try forecasting at half-hour or hourly intervals and smooth the forecast over the day.

Eamon

Wayne,

My vote

Go with the 1/2 hr intervals, weighted say 60/40
toward the first fifteen minutes of the interval.


HTH

DaveA

Thanks guys! Will have a go at the longer intervals.

Wayne

We do about 500 a day in an 8hr period with 5 agents, and a 1-3min duration of the average call (blended). We are running at 80% with an average peak queue time (IVR) of 1 min 30 seconds.

I think this really depends on your level of service committment and staff capabilities, not necessarily the numbers. I have seen effective operations with as little call volume as 50 a day even.