Call centers are looking for efficiencies and call blending provides an opportunity to optimally use the available pool of workforce. Blended agents handle both inbound and outbound calls by being simultaneously logged into inbound queues based on agent skills as well as being part of outbound dialing. Call center ACD software will use skills based routing to handle inbound calls while Predictive dialing is the preferred method to reach out to customers, in a cost effective manner. Call blending requires an efficient mechanism to hand over calls to agents from both inbound and outbound services to maintain service level and achieve effective list penetration.
The challenges of call blending become obvious while flexing an agent from a predictive dialer campaign to answer an inbound call from a queue with a higher service level priority. A predictive dialer dials based on the anticipated number of agents available to take calls. Withdrawing an agent after the dialer has placed calls can result in “dropped calls” and is undesirable. At the same time, letting inbound calls wait in their queue till an agent becomes available increases the possibility of caller abandonment and poor customer service.
A good call center software should have smart agent blending capability. This allows agents to be a part of both inbound queues and outbound predictive dialing without service degradation. Services should have priority to ensure that the calls are being handled based on business requirements. There should be clear guidelines allowing the ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) to borrow agents working predominantly on one service (say predictive dialing) to answer another service (say inbound queue) based on factors like service level averages, minimum number of agents available and call volume. A good call center software offering effective call blending improves workforce utilization.