Workforce Optimization Technology Markets to 2007

As a broad range of industries feels the effects of a tight economy, call center managers are under increasing pressure to get greater value out of their agents. Given that two-thirds of call center costs are directly related to the agent, simply put, companies want to get more "bang for their buck" out of each agent.

However, getting more bang for the buck is no easy feat in today's market. The contact center agents' job has become increasingly complex, partly because of increased use of CRMCRM applications and partly because of the proliferation of multi-media contact centers. The agent's responsibility has been expanded from simply answering telephone calls to include the following: Alles zu CRM auf CIO.de

Add to this that retention levels are steadily decreasing (according to Call Center Compensation Survey, blended inbound/outbound customer service and sales agent turnover in North America increased to 94% in 2001, up from 61% in 2000), one can understand that getting more bang for the buck becomes an increasingly difficult prospect.

Faced with concerns over agent retention and customer satisfaction, combined with the growing recognition that contact center agents are the personal voice of the business, an increasing number of companies are turning to agent efficiency applications, such as quality monitoring (QM) and workforce management (WFM), to enhance contact center performance.