Effectively managing a contact center takes a lot of organizational knowledge, people skills, and foresight. It takes more work than many people may realize to keep things running smoothly, and there are quite a few moving pieces that you have to be keeping an eye on at any given time.

Technology in the workplace, and especially in customer service, is quickly evolving to empower its users. If used properly, there are a number of different technologies available that can help you become a better manager, and keep things running smoothly.

Scheduling Software

Gone are the days of paper calendars filled with handwritten notes and covered in post-its.

Similarly, it doesn’t quite cut it to just email a spreadsheet with the weekly or monthly schedule. Using dedicated scheduling and management software to make, and keep track of, schedules doesn’t just give you peace of mind, it helps your employees by enabling them to instantly access their schedule, request changes, and stay posted on updates.

You have more control over scheduling, and can cut down on mix-ups and miscommunications that drive managers crazy.

Electronic Calendars

Scheduling software keeps you and your team on the same page when it comes to the monthly scheduling, but what about your own schedule?

This is where electronic calendar apps can bring some much-needed coherence to your schedule, and help you organize yourself better. Paper calendars only let you jot down a few brief notes before they’re full, but calendar apps allow you to leave detailed notes to yourself, and quickly zoom from an overview of the month or week to a specific day and hour.

A well-organized manager is a better manager, and you’ll quickly notice the difference when you make the switch to a more intuitive calendar system.

Project Management Software

Project management software is perfect for any manager looking for a way to communicate effectively with a number of team members over an easy-to-use platform.

Good communication, or its absence, can make or break any project or initiative that you’re working on in your contact center. As anyone with experience can tell you, communication is the key to any good relationship—and the relationship between management and employee is no exception.

Enterprise Feedback Management Software

In order to manage your contact center efficiently, you need to have a way to reliably track customer satisfaction and their overall impression of your customer service. Then you can quickly identify and react to problems, providing better customer service and increasing your customer’s satisfaction.

You’ll be able to unify disparate systems, and bring together a complete view of customer feedback through different channels. With that information on hand, you have what you need to provide better management and direction to your contact center.

If you’d like to learn more about adding technology to your contact center, and how you can convince upper management, then we’d suggest reading our post, “Achieving Upper Management Buy-In For New Technology.”