Given how common traffic spikes and unpredicted peak periods are for most contact centres, it isn’t a surprise that attrition and under-staffing emerged as 2020’s top challenges/priorities.
In 2020, 27% of contact centres said attrition was their no.1 problem, up from a little over 19%, the previous year. 167.1% also report that they do not have enough staff to handle workloads (i.e., their budgets cannot keep up with demand). What happens if, in this environment, you face an unpredictable traffic spike – up to 10x times, as is the case during the holiday season?
Every contact centre must prepare for traffic spike and peak periods as part of their regular business continuity plans, notwithstanding crises like the pandemic. There are five steps to achieving this.
Invest in call-backenablers
Call-back enablers can be a massive help for inbound contact centres, allowing agents to reach out once free. It saves customers the hassle of waiting on hold for minutes or even hours to solve a query during peak periods, instead conveniently specifying the right time to call back.
Cross-train inbound and outbound agents
Cross-training your agents is helpful when there is a disproportionate traffic spike in one channel. For example, during a promotion, your outbound team will probably be working overtime to penetrate the entire prospect list. But during the peak holiday season, you will receive an overwhelming number of inbound calls pertaining to cancellations, returns, shipping, and other order updates. Cross-training helps to flexibly switch resources and optimise allocation in such scenarios.