Contact centres are increasingly considering the use of outsourcing options in response to cost-control initiatives, seasonal volume changes and other operational requirements. Achieving the benefits of outsourcing, while maintaining adequate control over service quality, can be a challenge. Working together as partners, in-house and external operations combine to overcome this challenge.

Outsourced resources should be viewed as extensions to your business, rather than external, independent entities. Obtaining the necessary level of operational coordination between organisations requires a constant exchange of information - traditionally a manually intensive and time-consuming process.

Benefits:

• Improve co-ordination between in-house and outsourced operations
• React quickly and effectively to changing conditions
• Analyse how to best utilise external resources
• Reduce costs associated with tracking and managing outsourcer performance

IEX TotalView® Outsource Manager provides an easy solution to the challenges associated with information exchange and resource management between in-house and external contact centre operations. Built on the industry's premier multi-site management system Outsource Manager extends the proven multi-site management benefits of the TotalView workforce management system to accommodate outsourced contact centre operations. Powerful planning and daily management features make it easy to co-ordinate resources and oversee performance. Built-in flexibility provides the ability to handle a wide variety of internal and external infrastructure configurations, including multiple ACD and network-level routing systems.

Streamlining the process of sharing information between in-house and outsourced operations provides several benefits. It significantly reduces the manual effort associated with collecting, consolidating and distributing data, and it greatly increases the speed of information flow. This allows both operations to make informed decisions faster and more effectively.

IEX SmartSync's technology automates the process of data exchange between the TotalView system and external resources. Information on staffing levels, agent schedules, resource requirements, intraday performance and more is periodically exchanged by the SmartSync feature, ensuring that everyone is working on the same set of data. Offering a variety of industry-standard data exchange formats, including XML, the SmartSync interface supports a wide range of ACD and other contact centre systems, including other workforce management products.

TotalView® Outsource Manager provides crucial visibility into outsourced operations whilst allowing your business to fully realise the cost benefits.

Tracking outsourcer performance is typically a costly and time-consuming effort. Outsource Manager significantly reduces that effort, giving you more time to focus on ways to improve your results. A comprehensive view of in-house, outsourced and combined resources and performance lets you conduct what-if analysis to evaluate benefits of potential changes in Work allocation or contact routing strategies. Overall visibility into performance during the day not only helps you make adjustments within your own contact centre, it allows you to communicate possible changes to outsourced operations. This ensures you are not paying for unnecessary resources during periods of overstaffing and helps your outsourcers respond quicker when service levels are endangered during periods of understaffing.

A better understanding of overall requirements also improves the process for evaluating and selecting outsource suppliers.

The TotalView system offers benefits to outsource suppliers as well as their clients. Using TotalView Workforce Management within their own operation provides outsourcers the ability to offer clients an easy way to exchange planning and performance information, gaining a key competitive edge.

Better co-ordination and communication of planning and performance information enables the supplier to improve resource management by understanding when an individual client's peak staffing needs will occur and when those resources may be reallocated to another client. Expenses associated with compiling and producing comprehensive performance information for clients are reduced, making it easier to prove the value of outsourcing services and provide supporting documentation for invoices.

The ability to use the TotalView planning and analysis features provides suppliers an opportunity to fully understand the cost impact of bringing on additional clients or expanding services with existing ones. Presenting clients with accurate and detailed proposals improves financial results and provides additional competitive advantages.

A Total Solution for Outsource Management TotalView Outsource Manager is ready-made to help contact centres ensure they receive the benefits of outsourcing, while maintaining the necessary level of control over service quality and expenses.