Call Center Forecasting Methods & Techniques

Accurate forecasting is critical to successfully managing your call center. In order to meet call demand and avoid under- or over-staffing, you need call center forecasting methods and techniques that precisely predict how many agents are needed to handle the center’s call volume and help you “re-calculate” if the call volume fluctuates more than anticipated.

Here are 5 considerations and methods that should help you improve forecast accuracy:

1. The importance of accurate forecasting: First, take a look why an accurate forecast is crucial.
2. How to improve call center volume forecasting with simulation tools: Anticipating the “future” is not easy, therefore, running simulations with different assumptions helps to better predict call volumes.
3. How to forecast special days: There are certain days that are difficult to forecast, or are important for the business. Here are some tips on how to deal with those.
4. How to do “intra-day” call forecasting: One of the biggest forecasting challenge is related to unpredictable call volume fluctuations – here are some “intra-day” tips.
5. How to forecast for multiple channels: As more communication channels open up (phone, email, chat, social media) you have to add those to your call center volume forecasting scenarios.

Want to learn more? Download our whitepaper: Contact Center Forecasting & Scheduling Best Practices or contact us to learn more about our contact center optimization software.