Hi everyone!
Do you use New Calabrio WFM? If so do you ever ask yourself ‘Should I be sending ASM messages?’
Well, watch the video or read on and I will help you answer that question!
What are ASM Messages?
They are an easy way for a New Calabrio WFM user to send messages to other users. The original sender would usually be manager or WFM team member and would use the Windows Client to send the message to any or many MyTime users, so the receiver of the message could be a manager or an agent using MyTime. The MyTime user receives the message instantly (either on their desktop or mobile) and can respond real time, the original sender can review the responses, and continue the conversation as required.
Where do I send ASM Messages from?
We start the process as the sender on the Windows Client People panel. On the left you select the people you want to send the message to, you know how this works, you can pick a department, team, or individuals, or you can use other filters such as people with a certain skill or use a custom optional column such as people who can work overtime on weekends.
Now on the bottom left in the Action list you’ll see an option called Messages. (Check you have the Notify module and correct Permissions)
Now you will see a pop up box with 4 tabs. The 1st is ‘Follow up’ and this shows the answers to the questions asked before so these can be reviewed, who has answered what, and a total of each answer type. The next 3 tabs are for creating a message.
- The ‘Standard’ message can be just a reminder that requires an acknowledgment or a question that requires a text reply, so it’s like starting a conversation on a chat.
- The ‘Yes/No’ message is similar, but rather than just an acknowledgement of an OK, you want the answer yes or no.
- Finally, the ‘Custom’ message allows me to set up a multi choice question.
Where do I see and respond to ASM Messages?
The MyTime user will be notified of new incoming messages in the same place as a shift swap or holiday request update, so that’s the envelope counter on the ASM bar or the Messages button across the top of the MyTime menu.
In the Messages page, they’ll see the details of the messages that they have been sent. It might be just a message with an OK to acknowledge they have seen it, it may require a text response, a yes or no, or they may pick from a multiple choice of answers.
When could you use ASM Messages?
Here are some examples:
Standard Message without text reply
We need Billing OT on Sunday! Apply in the usual way
Using the Standard message where no response required, just an acknowledgement of an OK. In your centre you need overtime in billing on Sunday and you already have an overtime process but you just want to prompt more people to apply, you can just send the message to people that are in on Sunday with the billing skill.
Xmas holidays will be confirmed on Thursday / The IT issues will be fixed by 11am
You may be getting asked lots of times for the same information so you can send out a mass reminder to everybody. Using the ASM Message feature to keep all parties up to date with processes and timescales and save lots of calls and emails coming in to the WFM team.
Standard Message with text reply
Any questions about the new OT process?
This time we are asking for text replies, so allowing the agents/team managers to give a variety of answers. This is a great opporuntiy to ask for feedback on training and collate the answers to follow up on.
How many calls have you had today regarding the supply issue?
You might be busier than you expected, but you’re not quite sure why, so you just want a quick response from everybody who’s in right now on how many calls they’ve had of a certain nature so you can identify why you are so busy.
Any AOBs for the team meeting?
This example could be a team manager sending the message to their own agents in advance of their weekly team meeting.
Yes/No messages
Have you seen the new overtime processes?
In this case if the answer is no, but you expect everybody to have been shown these, then you need to follow up on those Nos. The sender will be able to see a list of those who answered No and follow up with further briefings.
Is the CRM system running slow today?
You have noticed AHT is going up this morning, someone has mentioned their systems are slow, let’s send a message to the agents in that department who are in today to check how many people it is affecting.
Can you do overtime 5-6 tonight?
Another way of doing overtime if you haven’t got the overtime request module, using ASM Messaging you can put out a call to all the people that are working in a certain skill who are on 9-5 shift today, can you stay an extra hour?
Custom message with multichoice answer
Which day of the week would you prefer to work in the office? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Many of you are looking at potentially getting people working back in the office, maybe for one day a week, so you could have a general consensus of which days people would prefer. With this tool you will have a quick and neat view of how many Mondays, how many Tuesdays etc. are preferred days and then you can go into the detail of who’s answered what if you need to.
Which skill would you like to learn next? Billing calls, Support Emails, Webchat Queries
Let’s say you’re thinking of doing some multi skilling and you want to know what people would like to do, you can enter the areas that require more resource.
What’s your favourite cake flavour?
Why not use it for some fun things as well. If you’re thinking of people working back in the office, why not buy them a cake to welcome them back in the office?
What Permissions are required?
For the sender, go into the Permissions page in the Web client, and select the role, potentially you could be looking at your WFM teams permissions or your team leaders permissions. On the Functions tab, go to People and select Send Messages. For the Data tab this works the same as it does for say viewing agents in Teams, so if you’ve got access to either your own team or your own department, or certain number of teams, for example, then you’ll have access to that same group of people to send messages to.
For the receiver, we change the permissions for MyTime, so this could be either an agent or a team leader if they use my time.
Again in Permissions page in the Web client, go to MyTime, and select Agent Scheduled Messenger, you may already have this enabled if you use the ASM bar.
What are the benefits of ASM messages?
So you may be thinking…I do some of these things on email at the moment, some of the things I don’t do because they are just too time-consuming or because we’re all remote working it’s too difficult. Let’s see why this feature will help
• Instant answers – if something is going amiss with your intraday plans and you need answers now and quickly, you can get a message out to all the people that are taking calls now, doing emails now etc. You can get an instant response.
• Use for surveys – it categorizes the answers and records them, so you can easily survey all of your staff and review the responses
• Send to any groupings – how many times do you go to send an email and you actually go on WFM first to see who’s on that shift, who’s got that skill and or who’s in that team? Well, now you can select those people and send the message all from one place.
• Engages all staff – get your agents and TMs involved, you can do a really quick review of what agents/TMs think right now about an issue, an intraday situation, recent training, changes to processes etc. You can get answers everyone you need and really quickly.
• Have fun with it! – use it as a way of communicating some nice news like if some had a baby or got engaged.
So back to the original question, should I be sending ASM messages? Well, of course you should!
I hope this video has given you some ideas of what you can use it for and hope you enjoy the benefits.
Take care and I’ll see you soon.
Jo