Efficient Resource Planning through Demand-driven Workforce Management

Problem description

The T-Mobile Austria call centres answer customers’ questions about mobile telephone products and services. The two call centres in Austria (Vienna and Graz) are open 24 hours a day and employ approximately 400 agents (one-third in Vienna and two-thirds in Graz). The 24/7 service was introduced especially for business customers in 2007. The two call centres take around five million calls a year from individuals and businesses. The head office in Vienna looks after business customers, while Graz focuses on the retail sector. T-Mobile Austria ensures that even at peak times, the service level is maintained and that calls can be taken directly, even with very high call volumes, by routing some customer calls to an outsourcing partner.

Both locations work to a high service level, handling very high call volumes. On average over two-thirds of calls are answered within 20 seconds. Due to the growing complexity of scheduling processes, Excel based planning has already proved to be inadequate. Therefore, T-Mobile Austria needed a resource allocation tool that would allow planning costs to be reduced, with software that could be seamlessly introduced in the technological environment of the call centres. Further requirements included ease of handling, even in the event of a change in planners, high performance, detailed reporting and flexible shift options for agents, both part-time and full-time. The Works Council was keen to ensure that all statutory regulations were complied with and hoped that the new system would also improve employee motivation.

Project description

The company opted for InVision Enterprise WFM from InVision Software because it addressed all T-Mobile Austria’s requirements exactly, especially the company’s desire to engage its staff in the resource planning process. The numerous sophisticated planning functions offered by the software are easy to manage and the system includes an intuitive user interface. Customised extensions are quick and easy to integrate and the software is backed up by InVision Software Professional Services which includes project management, advice and technical support with expertise honed over hundreds of WFM implementations.

The solution was first implemented in 1999. With its open interface and flexible architecture, iWFM was integrated seamlessly into the existing IT environment and linked to various external systems. The changeover to a new ACD system in 2006 was a straightforward matter. The data needed to forecast future incoming call volumes are automatically imported via an ACD interface and future call metrics are forecast based on 3 months worth of historic data. In order to establish resource requirements, planners then establish a detailed forecast of anticipated workloads and the number of agents required with which skills using the ForecastPro module.

The InVision AutoScheduler generates schedules in keeping with all applicable rules while at the same time providing optimum coverage of demand – minimising over- and under- staffing and taking advantage of multi-site and multi-skill efficiencies where available. The entire optimisation process is completed in one step: from long-term allocation of daily working times to detailed definitions of individual activities during the course of the day. The shift plans generated are distributed 10 days in advance to employees, who use the Infothek agent web portal. Agents can use the module to input their preferred working times. Employees are only offered shifts which are compatible with the workload, their individual contracts and all statutory requirements and with the Interactive Scheduling feature of Infothek, they may select those shifts which suit them best.

Over the 10 years that T-Mobile Austria has used iWFM, it has proved to be a reliable and valuable tool, which is why the platform has been constantly expanded with new modules, to keep up with the growth and constantly increasing requirements of T-Mobile Austria. Apart from the wealth of basic functions and the flexibility of the software, the facility to introduce T-Mobile – specific extensions has enabled InVision to constantly deliver additional value to T-Mobile. Examples include specific reports and integration to T-Mobile’s SAP ERP system.

Results

The Infothek agent portal enables automated, paperless shift requests/exchanges and for information on working plans and up-coming employee activity or project changes. Employees have responded extremely positively to the InVision system. T-Mobile Austria’s experience is that where interactive scheduling is used, agents received preferred shifts on at least 80 percent of occasions and this has considerably improved motivation and therefore productivity.

This work-life balance empowerment is achieved without adverse impact on coverage or service level achievement, thanks to iWFM’s optimised approach to scheduling. Integrating agents into the planning process has demonstrably improved the motivation of agents at T-Mobile Austria. Employee satisfaction with working times and shift allocations makes for a good working environment and this has increased the productivity of individual employees. This is noticeable in the quality of customer service and the friendliness of agents. Even the Works Council has responded well to this solution.

Thanks to InVision Enterprise WFM, T-Mobile Austria achieved a significant reduction in planning effort as soon as the system was implemented in 1999. Once InVision Enterprise WFM had been implemented, only two planners were needed to plan the allocation of 400 agents. Planning costs have fallen even further over the years.

In the short term, the ACD interface will be updated so that a detailed requirement forecasts can be generated for T-Mobile Austria’s outsourcing partners. This will give them the facility to plan demand driven resource allocation both in-house and outsourced.