Skill priority is a topic that has been covered before in this blog, in the case where skills are being used and we want to ensure that calls are routed evenly. However, we have found that some are unclear on the benefits of assigning differing levels of skill to agents.
We find there are a few different cases that are useful when assigning differing skill levels to agents in a skills-based ACD software like Q-Suite:
- Some agents have a weaker skill and should only receive calls if other agents stronger in that skill are currently unavailable. A typical example would be language skills – the agent whose Spanish is weak should only receive calls from the Spanish queue if no other agents who are stronger in Spanish are available.
- Supervisors or other users who are not normally on the phones who should only be getting calls from a queue that must be answered if no other agents are available. This could be a signal that the queue is over capacity, or a mechanism to have more capacity at peak times.
- In a training situation, you may use skill level to ensure that trainees receive as many calls as possible in order to get up to speed quickly, causing more experienced agents to get bumped if there are two agents waiting for a call.
- Agents from related queues may be assigned a lower level of skill so in peak periods there can be enough agents to take calls, but under normal circumstances the agents would be employed in other queues.
Skill priorities in combination with queue priorities can be a great tool to ensure that your calls are handled in a timely manner by agents competent to handle the call while reserving your best agents for the more challenging calls, or quickly giving less-experienced call center agents the practice they need. After a little time in production, it can become quickly apparent how a change in skilling or queue priorities can improve efficiency.