Challenge

The operation experienced extremely high surges in call volumes during IPL seasons and sun outage periods, leading to increased queue abundance and pressure on service levels. The sudden spike in customer demand during these periods created operational challenges in maintaining answering capacity and workforce availability across support teams.

Traditional staffing structures struggled to absorb the increase in traffic, especially during peak hours when customer demand exceeded normal operating capacity by a significant margin. This created a need for a more agile and responsive operational framework that could manage large-scale traffic surges while maintaining service continuity.

Opportunity Areas

The operation required a structured peak management approach that could improve workforce responsiveness and operational efficiency during high-demand events.

The primary focus areas included:

• Increasing answering capacity during surge periods

• Reducing queue abundance during high-volume days

• Improving workforce flexibility during peak intervals

• Optimising floor management and staffing allocation

• Maintaining service levels despite volume fluctuations

Solution

A multi-layered peak management strategy was introduced to improve operational readiness during periods of extreme customer demand. The initiative focused on improving staffing availability, reducing operational inefficiencies, and strengthening queue management processes during surge events.

Several operational interventions were implemented to improve workforce responsiveness and optimize floor performance.

The approach included:

• Introducing commando shifts supported by additional monetary benefits

• Implementing flexible split shifts to improve workforce coverage

• Introducing future-dated provisioning to improve planning accuracy

• Optimizing break management during peak intervals

• Reducing average handle time through real-time queue management and floor support

• Deploying cross-skilled advisors to improve queue flexibility

• Introducing live match streaming on the floor to reduce shrinkage during IPL periods

Outcomes

The revised operational model significantly improved the operation’s ability to manage high-volume periods while maintaining service continuity across teams.

The initiative delivered the following outcomes:

• Maintained lower call abundance despite volume surges exceeding 160%

• Increased answering capacity during peak hours

• Continued meeting month-to-date service levels during high-demand days

• Improved workforce responsiveness during seasonal traffic spikes