GETTING STARTED WITH ZENDESK TALK 33 STAFFING YOUR AGENTS Dedicated Model In addition to understanding who you There are pros and cons to either method, want to assign to phone support, you’ll but in general if your organization has also need to develop a logistical strategy, more than 10 agents it is recommended including everything from phone support to use the dedicated model, at least for hours to the number of agents to staff. some channels. In this format, agents focus their attention on customers from one WHAT STAFFING MODEL channel. For example, phone agents would Dedicated model SHOULD I USE? only service phone customers for the duration of their shift. This model allows Consider what staffing model to use as agents to develop a solid understanding you put together your agent assignment of one channel and find the most effective plan. Offering multi-channel customer methods of helping customers. Further, a service is the core of any organization’s dedicated model allows the support team support strategy. But, in some cases it’s to scale more effectively. The downside of not possible for agents to manage multiple this model is that agents often don’t get channels and it’s critical that there is a deeper understanding of a customer’s a plan in place for assigning agents to problems as they end up escalating channels. There are two methodologies complex queries. This results in them for channel assignment: a shared agent (potentially) developing a shallower skillset. model and a dedicated one. In a shared Shared model model, agents handle some or all channels simultaneously. In a dedicated model, agents are focused on a single channel.