Are you struggling to find the perfect balance between operational efficiency and exceptional service? You’re not alone. Many contact centers struggle with overstaffing or understaffing – two costly workforce pitfalls that can severely impact revenue, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how contact center overstaffing and understaffing affect your business and how AI-driven WFM can help you strike the right balance to optimize costs, improve customer service, and drive better sales outcomes.
The cost of overstaffing: wasted resources & lower profitability
Overstaffing happens when too many agents are scheduled relative to customer demand. While it may seem like a safe approach to ensure service levels are met, the reality is that it leads to inefficiencies and unnecessary costs. Some implications of an overstaffed contact center include:
- Higher labor costs – Wages and overhead increase, cutting into profit margins.
- Lower agent productivity – Agents experience idle time, leading to disengagement.
- Diminished ROI on customer interactions – More staff does not necessarily mean higher quality service if demand does not justify it.
The cost of understaffing: Lost sales & poor CX
Understaffing is an even more dangerous scenario. When there aren’t enough agents to handle incoming customer inquiries, wait times increase, service levels drop, and customers become frustrated – often taking their business elsewhere. The risks of understaffing include:
- Longer wait times – Customers become frustrated and may abandon calls or chats.
- Missed sales opportunities – Sales conversions drop when agents are unavailable.
- Agent burnout & turnover – Overworked employees experience stress, leading to increased agent attrition and training costs.
Striking the right balance: The power of intelligent WFM
The key to overcoming overstaffing and understaffing is having a data-driven approach to workforce planning. By leveraging tools such as Calabrio WFM, contact centers can:
- Optimize staffing levels with AI-driven contact center forecasting
- Improve agent engagement with flexible, intelligent scheduling
- Boost service levels and sales with real-time workforce insights
- Reduce labor costs while maintaining customer satisfaction
By investing in intelligent contact center WFM technology, you can ensure the right number of agents are scheduled at the right time, maximizing efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction.
The results? Save on overhead costs, drive greater efficiency, and more! DOJO, a premier payment provider in the UK is just one of many examples of this. DOJO has saved £60,000 (about $77,000) and seen a 25% increase in efficiency. With advanced analytics and AI-powered data, Calabrio’s contact center workforce management tools help Dojo to improve forecasting and scheduling, accelerate workflows, develop effective staffing models, and engage agents more effectively. By leveraging Calabrio’s advanced features, Dojo’s team can now manage their workforce more effectively, save time, and focus on delivering exceptional customer service.
Ready to optimize your workforce?
If your contact center is struggling with inefficient staffing, it’s time to harness the power of Calabrio WFM. Learn how our advanced forecasting, real-time insights, and AI-powered automation can help you strike the perfect balance between cost efficiency and service excellence. Check out our workforce management ROI calculator or book a custom demo today and see how much you could save.
