Don't Allow Technology To Dictate Staffing Strategy By Randy Saunders, Cincom Systems, Inc.

The multi-channel customer is a modern business reality. Customers expect to reach a company through any means of communication that suits them, and they expect each inquiry, regardless of the medium, to be handled with the same degree of competence and professionalism. Businesses then are pressured to field all channels of inquiry equally well, and with equally well-trained staff.

Unfortunately, the very nature of offering multi-channel service has contributed to the unwieldy growth of multiple agent desktop applications. As new channels are added, best-of-breed contact center software solutions have been the first out of the gate to address the unique challenges of dealing with the particular challenges of those contacts. This expansion quickly puts companies in a position where they must either add yet more tools to each agent's arsenal (and invest the necessary time and resources on training for the new application), or split the agent staff into dedicated channel teams, which is not a realistic option for many companies where resources are constrained and multi-channel agents are a necessity.

Rather than allow technology to dictate staffing strategy, technology can be used to take the channel conundrum out of the staffing equation. A coordinated, single-desktop view enables agents to handle multiple contact channels with the same proficiency, because customer data and resolution tools are presented in the same, familiar interface. The unified view makes it much easier to integrate agents into a universal queue that manages incoming and outbound contacts through multiple contact channels. Agents no longer need to manually change applications or nominate themselves for a particular contact queue. All contacts are presented through the same interface and allow the agent to focus on developing customer-service skills, rather than technical proficiency with a dedicated chat client or e-mail tool.