Skill Optimization: Start Your New Year Off Optimized

Have you ever looked at your headcount requirements and thought, “Man, this looks wayyyy off!” Or maybe you feel like you’re managing 50-’leven million skills (as my grandmother would say to describe an inconceivably large number).

If this sounds familiar, you’re likely overdue for a skill optimization exercise—and your agent profiles probably need updating, too.

The Link Between Telecom and WFM

A common myth is that telecom (telephony systems) and Workforce Management (WFM) are entirely separate departments with no impact on each other. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Your telephony structure directly affects multiple WFM outcomes, and one of the most critical areas it impacts is forecasting. Let’s break it down with an analogy.

The Supermarket Analogy

Imagine walking into a large supermarket. This supermarket has employees trained to work across various departments:

• Jewelry
• Grocery
• Cosmetics
• Automotive
• Pharmacy

Each department represents a skill an employee could have. Now, think about this:

• How likely is it that an employee will work in multiple departments at the same time? Highly unlikely, right? An employee can’t be in the jewelry section and the pharmacy simultaneously.
• How likely is it that the store could have customers in multiple departments at the same time? Very likely! Customers shop in different departments all the time, creating demand across the store.

Now imagine you have one employee trained in all these skills, and you think you’re covered in every department because of their skill set. The reality? You’ve got one person who can only handle one department at a time—not five.

The Call Center Parallel

This same dynamic plays out in the contact center environment when skill optimization and agent profiles are neglected.

If your telephony system or WFM tool isn’t optimized to reflect realistic agent skills, you’ll run into these common problems:

1. Over-forecasting or under-forecasting: The system thinks you have more coverage than you actually do because agents are assigned multiple overlapping skills.
2. Inefficient scheduling: Agents are scheduled inefficiently based on inaccurate assumptions about their availability to handle specific call types.
3. Customer experience suffers: If your forecasts and schedules are off, customers experience longer wait times and less effective service.
4. Agent burnout: When agents are assigned too many skills, they often end up juggling tasks that don’t align with their strengths, leading to frustration and fatigue.

The Importance of Skill Optimization

Skill optimization is about aligning your agent profiles with reality. Here’s what that process looks like:

1. Audit Your Skills Start by identifying all the skills in your telephony system. How many do you actually need? Often, businesses create an overwhelming number of skills without realizing they overlap or aren’t being used effectively.
2. Simplify Where Possible Consolidate skills that serve the same purpose. For example, instead of separate skills for “billing inquiries” and “billing disputes,” consider one overarching “billing” skill if the same agents handle both.

Also, this doesn’t mean agents need to be single skilled. However, it does mean you need to be more thoughtful when creating skills and grouping agents. It’s one thing to have billing inquiries, billing disputes, and billing payments skilling vs Billing, Sales, Services skills. Three skills in the SAME department is much different than serving three DIFFERENT departments.

1. Update Agent Profiles Review each agent’s profile to ensure their assigned skills accurately reflect their capabilities. Remove unused or unnecessary skills, and ensure skill levels are up to date.
2. Calibrate Your Forecasting Once skills are optimized, revisit your forecasting. Ensure the system is using the updated skills and agent profiles to create realistic headcount requirements.
3. Test and Monitor Run test scenarios and monitor performance metrics to ensure the changes positively impact forecasting, scheduling, and customer experience.

Why This Matters

Neglecting skill optimization creates a ripple effect throughout your WFM processes. It skews your forecasts, disrupts schedules, and ultimately harms both the employee and customer experience. When your telephony structure and WFM aren’t aligned, you’re essentially flying blind, making it impossible to deliver on key business outcomes.

But when you prioritize skill optimization and update agent profiles, you create clarity and precision in your WFM processes. You’ll not only forecast more accurately, but you’ll also empower your agents to perform at their best—leading to better service and happier customers.

Skill optimization isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential for aligning your workforce with business demands. Whether it’s ensuring agents aren’t overburdened with unrelated skills or clarifying nuanced tasks within departments, optimizing your skills and updating profiles ensures a smoother operation for everyone involved.

Download Your Free Skill Optimization Step by Step Guide!

Want a simple, actionable checklist to guide you through these steps? Download the Skill Optimization Audit Guide to start aligning your workforce with business needs today.

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That’s all…That’s the article!

Thee Contact Center Whisperer

That WFM Girl

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