Customer conversations often contain some of the most important information about your company. From feedback about your product to competitive intelligence, the discussions between an agent and a customer are extremely valuable.

But how do these discussions specifically impact a contact center with workforce management (WFM) software? Sometimes referred to as interaction analytics, these key data points derived from talking with customers can also drive value when it comes to improving your staffing and agent relationships. Below are a few ways interaction analytics, when combined with WFM software, helps to drive contact center productivity.

Interaction analytics assist with staffing the right agents – Especially for emerging contact centers, finding the right mix of agent expertise to match contact topics can be hit or miss. An interaction analytics solution can help here. By evaluating conversations with this technology, your contact center can see which topics and trends are occurring the most often so you can staff the right agents. Seeing an uptick in technical issues? If so, it may be time to hire or cross train new agents to meet customer demand.

Interaction analytics can help with refining schedules – One of the most robust capabilities within interaction analytics is that the technology can identify both what is being discussed and also when the conversations are happening. Did a lot of issues around a singular complex topic start occurring in evening shifts over the past month? If so, you can cross check your interaction analytics with data found in WFM software. Take a look and see if there is an increased length in contact center metrics (such as average handle time) and adjust future forecasts and schedules accordingly to resolve any problems.

Interaction analytics can identify areas where training is needed – Imagine being able to evaluate thousands of calls quickly and pull out the key topics or phrases that occur the most often. That’s what interaction analytics can do for a business. However, while its findings may help to convey what the most common topics are, sometimes these themes can raise red flags. For example, if you’re a traditional insurance company and HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) starts showing us a frequently discussed topic, it may be time to ensure all agents are up to date on their training. WFM software with scheduling options like an automated self service kiosk (ASSK) can assist with completing training and even lets agents go through each session at a time that works for them. Best of all, ASSK leverages automation during the scheduling process to ensure there are no shift conflicts with the desired training time for each agent.

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In short, combining interaction analytics with WFM software improves not only productivity but also agent morale. It means fewer scheduling errors, less time shifting agents to work that doesn’t fit their skill set, and provides agents with more freedom in regards to their training. Moving forward expect more companies to leverage WFM software in conjunction with other analytics and metrics to further improve agent relationships while still creating a streamlined customer experience.