Call Center Staffing Software Using Simulation
Are you still only using Erlang C tools to determine how many agents you need for call center workforce management, and call center staffing?
The reality is that the Erlang C formula and the "improved" versions in use are simply not suitable for smaller call centers. Being short or overstaffed can have disastrous consequences. SimACD™ is a revolutionary and affordable software simulation tool for determining call center staffing. It's the ultimate "what if" solution to find the optimal number of agents you require.
Refine and improve on the old methods of other call center workforce management systems. Take into account caller abandonment, call blockage, re-dial behavior, ring delay, overflow, and the correct mathematical distributions of talk and queue times.
It doesn't matter how fully-featured your current call center staffing scheduling software may be, or how many thousands of dollars you spent on it: if it is using old formulas for predicting the number of people you need, then it is creating sub-optimal schedules.
How it Works
Enter or download expected call volumes with the number of agents and inbound lines you plan on using for each time period in your workday, and enter the abandon and re-try behavior of your callers.
- SimACD then performs a second-to-second, call-by-call simulation for each time period of each day in your call center's workweek.
- See the results of calls arriving, being handled or queued, abandoning, re-trying, given busies, and overflowing.
- The resulting performance statistics are computed and graphed.
- Then, adjust your agent levels and re-run simulations until you are satisfied with each time period's service level for your callers. You will get perfect staffing predictions.
- If you purchase our AgentTime Scheduler or own another scheduling product, SimSCD is the best tool available for determining your optimal call center staffing needs.
SimACD includes our Erlang-C based Call Center Designer tool. Use Call Center Designer to make an Erlang C approximation of staffing requirements for each time period, and then use the SimACD simulator to refine and determine the ideal agent staffing levels for your agent groups.
What is a computer simulation?
A computer program can imitate the flow of people and events like phone calls and be used to experiment to see what the effects that alternative configurations of these people and events will have on a real-world situation. Simulation is an ideal tool for call center staffing analysis with very accurate predictions of required staffing levels.
How does SimACD simulate an inbound call center?
SimACD compresses a day's worth of call traffic into a short period of time by representing each second of a day with a few microseconds of computer time. Calls randomly arrive in a "virtual" call center created in the computer and are answered by agents, queued, met with busy signals, overflowed, or abandoned depending on the parameters, agent combinations, and call volumes you define for your call center.
How do I run a call center simulation?
You enter your expected call volumes, average talk and work times per call, with the number of agents and inbound lines you plan on using for each 15, 30, or 60 minute period in your workday. You also enter the abandon-from-queue and re-try behavior of your callers, and the ring delay and overflow characteristics of the ACD.
SimACD then performs a minute-to-minute, call-by-call simulation of your call center agent group.
What will the simulation tell me?
At the end of the simulation, you will see how many calls will be handled, abandoned, given a busy, queued, and overflowed along with queue lengths, average speed to answer, and actual service levels given to callers. Each simulation takes only 10 to 15 seconds.
Perform more simulations with different combinations of agents and inbound lines until you are satisfied with the service levels, agent workload, and call center financials.
SimACD call center staffing software runs on all versions of Windows. $120.00. SimACD is included in our AgentTime Scheduling software at no extra cost.
Portage’s SimACD staffing module adds a whole new dimension to accurate staffing levels prior to creation of our schedules. Much better than simple Erlang C!
Beth Rogers, Harmon and Rogers Call Center Consulting