Articles, White Papers, and Press Releases

Articles

Pipkins Simplifies At-Home Agent Implementation

The At-Home Agent Model continues to change call center operations. At-Home Agent Industry Leader, Michelle Rowan, predicts that the number of U.S. companies using the At-Home Agent model will increase to 80% by 2013. Companies currently utilizing remote agents report streamlined operations, improved customer service, decreased call center costs, and increased agent retention and job satisfaction. The benefits of At-Home Agents are compelling and implementation is becoming a viable option for many centers. For centers considering the use of remote agents, Pipkins simplifies the process and provides sophisticated tools to ensure optimum results for at-home workers.

Choose the Right Forecasting Tool

Accurate forecasting is determined by providing the required accuracy and taking account all the historic and future dynamics. No single methodology is optimal for all circumstances; however, four factors should be taken into consideration.

Holiday Planning Made Easy with At-Home Agent Self-Scheduling Tools

With technology now enabling agents to self schedule, holiday planning just got easier. For centers employing or considering integrating remote agents, the benefits are immeasurable.

One Tool Empowers Agents While Cutting Costs

Agent empowerment has been directly linked to agent retention. The best strategy for empowering agents, improving morale, and increasing retention is to give agents the ability to have more control over their work schedules. This is accomplished through an online, do-it-yourself (DIY) agent schedule viewing and modification system.

Back Office Scheduling - A Critical Component for Improving Organizational Efficiency

To improve quality, enhance customer experience, increase operating efficiency, lift productivity and reduce attrition, it is critical for companies to be able to properly forecast and schedule back office employees, track their adherence in real time, and streamline the workflow between the front and back office.

Buyer Beware - Four Considerations When Choosing a Workforce Management Solution

Making the right purchasing decision is important for companies who are looking to upgrade or implement new technology. Today's economy places additional pressure on companies to be more diligent when spending dollars allocated to improve efficiency. Many options are available for workforce management solutions and affordable solutions are available. Making the wrong workforce management purchasing decision can result in wasted investment dollars and a system that does not meet your needs.

Pipkins Provides Pro-Active Support to Hosted Customers

When Coventry Health Care, recently experienced an issue that could have resulted in scheduling problems, Pipkins' intervened and resolved the problem quickly and efficiently. Download this article to learn how Pipkins protects hosted customers in three important ways.

Do I Need Workforce Management Software?

Workforce management is the most cost-effective and under utilized contact center software. More than 80% of contact centers employing over 500 agents have automated workforce management systems. Workforce management solves the costly under- and overstaffing problems experienced by all call centers.

Automate Your Call Center to Simplify Holiday Staffing

Holiday scheduling can be tricky and leave centers under- or overstaffed. Inaccurate scheduling can lead to wasted labor expense through overstaffing. Automated systems help reduce wasted labor expenses by allowing agents to electronically submit requests and then be matched with available vacation slots based on a set of rules established by call center managers.

Accurate Forecasting and Scheduling - The Solution to Overstaffing

The importance of accurate forecasting cannot be overstated. Accurate forecasting is the foundation of call center scheduling, and without it, over- and understaffing will occur and impact the profitability of a contact center. Accurate forecasting and scheduling tools are available to ensure your bottom line is not impacted by wasted labor expenses.

What Small Call Centers Really Need

Small contact centers need the full functionality of workforce management solutions even more than large centers. Addressing four basic needs of small centers will enable growth and increased profitability.

Software as an Agent Retention Tool

Agent empowerment is an important part of retention efforts. This article gives helpful tips on how to use your workforce management software as a tool for reducing attrition. It lists critical components necessary to maximize the effectiveness of your scheduling system regarding flexibility and benefits for both agents and supervisors.

Eight Strategies for Handling Vacation Intra-Day Optimization Issues

Ensuring accurate staffing is a problem faced by all centers during peak agent time-off periods. Vacation scheduling can be especially challenging for centers without an automated solution. This article offers eight simple strategies that can help simplify the process.

Get a Jump on Vacation Scheduling

How can call centers be prepared for last minute changes that occur with vacation scheduling? This can be especially challenging for those without an automated solution.

Why Do Workforce Management Systems Fail?

What does an airline crash have in common with workforce management software? Both are based on the accuracy of mathematical equations and algorithms where even a small deviation in the equation can dramatically alter the outcome.

Policies and Advanced Directives: New Tools to Solve an Old Problem

This is a dynamic solution for making minor or major adjustments to any part of the workforce process and is exclusive to Pipkins technology.

Click here for older Articles

Press Releases

Fusion-io Innovator Series: Pipkins Case Study

Pipkins, Inc. is the leading supplier of workforce management software to the call center industry. "We're in the problem-solving business -- we help companies solve their staffing problems," says CFO Tim Venturella. "We pride ourselves in doing that better than anyone else."

Pipkins Participates in 2012 Call Center Events

Pipkins, Inc., a leading supplier of workforce management software and services to the call center industry, today announced that it will participate in 2012 industry events, including 2012 Call Center Optimization Forums (CCOF) and At-home Agent Seminars, facilitated by Michelle Rowan, At-Home Agent Industry Leader.

Pipkins Continues to "Go the Extra Mile" for Hosted Customers

Joel Gilbert, CIO of Pipkins, Inc., stated "When we decided to expand our hosted solution, we knew demand would be high. We wanted to ensure we had the highest performance up-front to avoid growing pains down the road." After scrutinizing various solutions, Pipkins determined that Fusion-io had the best technology that would yield the most benefits.

Pipkins Participates in At-Home Agent Seminars

At-Home Agent Seminars are designed exclusively for organizations considering the at-home model, currently in pilot, or expanding and refining their existing model. The first At-Home Agent Seminar will be held in Dallas, Texas at the Westin Galleria Dallas on February 23 to Thursday, February 24.

Click here for older Press Releases

White Papers

Workforce Management: Your Most Important Investment

Workforce management is the foundation of call center success. Without a WFM system that delivers accurate forecasting, a center is at risk of losing bottom line revenue. Accurate forecasting is at the core of WFM and its importance cannot be overstated.

Accurate Forecasting: The Heart of Call Center Success

Accurate scheduling is dependent upon the forecast correctly estimating anticipated call volume and determining the number of agents required to meet service levels. How does this affect profitability? In a real life scenario, if call volume is underestimated to the extent that 100 callers out of 1,000 hang up before they speak to an agent in a sales environment where the average order is just $50, $5,000 in lost revenues will occur per day, $150,000 per month, or a staggering $1.8 million per year.

At-Home Agents: A Model for the Future

The At-Home Agent Model is rapidly changing call center operations. The benefits of using remote agents make a compelling case for companies who are looking to streamline operations, provide improved customer service, decrease call center costs, and increase agent retention and job satisfaction. Download this white paper to discover how Pipkins @HomeVantage can help your organization reap the benefits of at-home agents and start saving money.

Building the Case for Best-of-Breed Workforce Management Vendors

Understanding what your company really needs now, and aligning your purchasing decision with long-term goals, is critical when choosing a software vendor. You need to understand what to expect from workforce management software and be aware of issues on each side of the best-of-breed versus end-to-end solution debate.

Maximizing Your Workforce Management Software in a SaaS Environment

Software as a Service (SaaS), also known as hosted, enables software to be delivered over the internet and has been available for over ten years. Many businesses today are placing the burden of deploying and maintaining software on the vendor via hosted solutions. Companies should look beyond the technology to see new business opportunities that can be created through creative use of SaaS features.

The Pipkins Advantage - Five Powerful Features That Set Us Apart

This paper discusses five powerful differentiators that establish Pipkins' competitive advantage and helps companies make better purchasing decisions.

Workforce Management for the Masses

Have you thought about hosting? Hosting allows you to pay a subscription fee rather than investing in premised-based software and hardware. Pipkins, Inc. pioneered the concept of hosting in 2002 and offers a full-featured solution via the hosted model.