E.ON’s contact center is an extremely busy one. It receives more than 1.2 million inquiries each year via phone, chat and email—2,500 to 4,000 phone calls per day.

Yet, rather than optimizing critical business processes, contact center leaders spent an inordinate amount of time on basic administrative tasks. They couldn’t follow up on things as much as they wanted. They struggled to handle calls on time. And they lacked the control needed to ensure their customer service advisors spent their time on the right things.

With Calabrio WFM, contact center leaders now create the accurate forecasts upon which E.ON’s entire customer service operation relies—forecasts that even take into account projected email volumes.

The detailed forecast, for example, supports scheduling, promotions and other mailshots, while the long-term forecast helps determine the following year’s customer service budget. Managers can build custom forecast reports that identify when the contact center receives the most inquiries or when the highest rate of sick leave occurs. Advisors also use the new forecasts to plan their leave.

In addition, Calabrio’s flexible scheduling capabilities let E.ON better distribute its advisors, so they’re available whenever and however customers contact them. Advisor shifts now can vary between six and ten hours in length, with everything—who will answer the phone or chat service and monitor Facebook during any given period—scheduled ahead of time. Calabrio’s scheduling also lets agents easily access their current schedule in real time, so they can quickly see what they need to do, and when.

A better work environment in E.ON’s contact center has led to a higher customer satisfaction rate driven by more satisfied employees.

E.ON now regularly achieves its target of answering 90% of inbound calls and 100% of inquiries received via other channels—all while spending 30% less time processing emails. Advisor workloads have evened out, with advisors enjoying more productive hours on even the busiest of days. Backlogs also have shrunk, which makes wait times shorter because fewer people call back.