Call Centre Management at InterBank

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Interbank Call Center ManagementQuestion 1
What is the current capacity and capacity utilization by Susan’s Team?
The Interbank call operations features a total of 8 customer service representatives. One was hired in the year 2010, two employees were recruited in 2011, another two representatives in the first half of 2012, and three in the last three months of 2012. The current capacity of Susan’s team is therefore eight persons working on an 8-hour workday. The occupancy utilization is calculated as;
Occupancy/Utilization = [Total Time on Call + after call Work] ÷ [Total staff time – Total Breaks]
Based on the statistics captured in the table, the total time on call for each CSR is as follows;
Total time on call =
CSR A – 7 hours, 30 minutes
CSR B – 7 hours, 30 minutes
CSR C – 7 hours, 30 minutes
CSR D – 7 hours, 30 minutes
CSR E – 7 hours, 30 minutes
CSR F – 7 hours, 30 minutes
CSR G – 7 hours, 30 minutes
CSR H – 7 hours, 30 minutes
Total Time on Call [for all CSRs] – 60 hours
After call work [ACW] time, [30 minutes for each CSR] = 4 hours
Total Staff Time – [8 hours × 8 CSRs] = 64 hours.
Total Breaks – 16 breaks
Therefore; Occupancy/Utilization = [Total Time on Call + after call Work] ÷ [Total staff time – Total Breaks]
[60 + 4] ÷ [64 – 16] = 1.33
Occupancy or Utilization = 1.33
Assumptions
All the CSRs work for the same hours regardless of lunch, tea-breaks, and off days.
All CSRs receive similar hours for lunch and tea breaks.

The after call work [ACW] time are the tasks and operations performed by representatives when they are disconnected from the call. In the case of Interbank, they include the breaks; both tea and lunch-break.
Question 2
How should Susan Re-organize her division to achieve no abandoned call ((s)?
The Interbank call operations relies primarily on the interactive voice response [IVR] whereby information or data is given to a caller before they are connected to an agent. The interactive voice response works on the principle that callers can have concerns addressed without necessarily communicating to a customer service agent. It is important, however, to note that although the interactive voice response offers significant benefits when it comes to addressing a range of concerns like; statement inquiries, lost or stolen cards, loan and mortgage inquiries, credit card inquiries, and status check, a lot of calls go unanswered. In efforts to ensure the average wait time is not 80 seconds and that customers’ calls are not abandoned, there are a range of strategies that should be adopted. These re-organizing strategies include;
Integrating the phone call system with employees’ personal phones or devices. Most companies that operate on tight schedules serve to ensure service agents have the company phones even during lunch and tea-breaks. By integrating the phone call system with the personally-owned devices of call service reps, it would be possible to forward calls from clients to individual employees outside working hours. The above form of integration improves the contact hours and reduces the number of abandoned calls significantly.
The next strategy to minimize or completely reduce abandoned calls is to arrange and re-organize the calls made with the rate of frequency. Based on the given statistics; the frequency of calls follows as below;

Each customer service representative will be assigned specific area of concern as outlined above. The most skilled, experienced, and talented CSRs will be assigned the most frequented areas to address the workload of increased frequency. New employees or inexperienced representatives will work in areas that feature the least frequencies like; lost/stolen cards, loan inquiries, and mortgage inquiries. The above re-organizing of operations will help to minimize the number of abandoned calls by matching expertise and experience with the nature and the type of the call.
Automatic Call Distribution [ACD] – This strategy involves direct routing of received calls to different departments; which helps to reduce the average call handling time. The automatic call distribution can be adopted by Susan’s team whereby the two departments responsible for receiving calls; the Data Entry Operators [DEO] and the Call Center Operators work together to ensure calls routed to the two departments are answered. The above ACD approach will make it possible to reduce abandoned calls and to ensure that calls made are addressed by personnel or attendants from any of the departments.
The Inter-agent chat facility – The tool is intended to serve clients and to reduce abandoned calls outside the working hours. Inter-agent chat facilities connect virtually every customer representative to a chat database whereby communication and information transfer by customers can reach representatives and get responded in due time. The inter-agent chat facility is a diversification of the models of communication as it serves to ensure there are varied options [other than phone calls] to address similar concerns from customers and callers.
Cloud call Center Software – Despite having a well-dedicated and disciplined workforce, client calls can still be missed if the representative settings are not tweaked to receive individual calls. The cloud call center software makes it possible to get back to customers [or callers] because information is recorded in calls made which makes it possible to re-call specific clients and customers. Above feature is also instrumental as it significantly reduces the number of abandoned calls across the board.
Remote workforce – A remotely situated workforce can attend to overload of calls. This means if the Interbank call center is not in a position to handle increasing amount of phone calls, additional calls can be forwarded and attended by a remote workforce. The only challenge presented by the remote workforce is additional operating cost. However for well-established corporations and organizations like Interbank, improving customer service is a strategic move that demands the inclusion of a remote workforce. As such, it would be instrumental to hire additional 4 representatives who will serve to address the influx of calls that cannot be attended by the initial 8 agents in real-time.
Call recording and redial – The call recording feature serves to ensure the respective missed calls, the phone numbers of customers, physical locations, and other important information is recorded. The missed or abandoned calls are recorded [with respective information] and immediately the influx of incoming calls reduces, agents can immediately call back. The call recording is a counter-active measure or a remedial approach that seeks to ensure Interbank gets back to clients within the same day of the abandoned calls. The above approach is flexible, it minimizes abandoned calls, and seeks to improve the overall customer service of Interbank.
Question 3
What are the pros and cons of the THREE routing strategies, which one would you recommend to Interbank?
In efforts to enhance the customer service and to reduce missed calls, Interbank seeks to invest in a customer interaction center whereby the phone call system is integrate by both live chats and emails. The first routine strategy for the above system suggests that each representative should be assigned to specific medium; either calls, emails, or live chats. In the second routing strategy, representatives would work on task-switching. For example, one representative would exclusively pick calls in the morning hours, and in the afternoon, they work with the live chat medium. The third routing strategy involved full-blended centers whereby employee(s) would work on the queue and there was no specific way of handling employees. The representatives would take on any of the three contact medium; whether call, live chat or email.
The advantage of the first routing strategy is that it creates expertise and enables representatives to work on specific contact mediums. By being assigned to specific medium, representatives would be in a position to learn the dynamics of specific contact forms as opposed to switching from one medium to another. However, one limitation for the above routing strategy is that it may not achieve even distribution of tasks and duties. There are representatives that may receive more calls than others and hence an imbalance in work distribution.
The second routing strategy is advantageous is the sense that it reduces the monotony of working with a specific contact medium. When employees work with two mediums in a day [phone calls in the morning hours and live chat in the afternoon], above model makes it easier to switch tasks, it reduces stress, and enhances productivity. Perhaps the most outstanding limitation of the second routing strategy is that it reduces the time and concentration needed to master and to understand the dynamics of a specific contact medium.
The third routine strategy is important as it makes it possible for workers to interact with all the three medium in no particular order. By working on a queue of customers through whatever contact media, customer service agents have a fair engagement, and above approach is not biased or unfair for any employee or representative. However, the third routing strategy does not provide ordering and proper scheduling and confusion may arise in the course of attending to customers.
Recommendation to Interbank
The second routing strategy is uniquely-positioned for Interbank’s nature of operations and activities. Exposing Customer Service Representatives to two contact media at two different times of the day makes it possible to improve operations and to make communication more flexible. This routing strategy is preferable since agents work on a specific contact medium at the morning hours, and shift to the second medium at the later hours of the day. The above approach will reduce the monotony that comes with using a specific contact medium, and it further exposes CSRs to varied contact mediums. Based on the nature and the character of Interbank call center operations, the second routing strategy is the most preferable in terms of functionality and employee flexibility.