Forecasting & Planning Manager - Customer Services, Northallerton
Location: Northallerton (Hybrid working available)
Salary: £45,963 - £50,077 (pending cost of living pay award)
Grade: N
Contract Type: Established, Full time
About Technology & Change / About the Team
Technology and Change provides ICT, digital, change management and customer services, which enable the organisation and its partners to achieve their outcomes and continually improve the services we deliver to the people of North Yorkshire.
We support the council to improve the management of demand and customer experience through effective channel management and customer responsive service design, including increasing the availability and use of digital channels. NYCC is committed to ensuring modern working environments and flexible workspaces and T&C play a key role in maximising the effective use of digital office technologies, productivity software and digital communications, including collaborative technologies.
We are now recruiting to a pivotal position of Forecasting and Planning Manager, which role sits within the corporate customer service function. The CSC function is responsible for customer service, customer support, channel shift and on-going customer relationship management via telephone, web chat, social media and an on-line portal for both internal/external, corporate and commercial customers. There are currently eight customer service centre working independently but the long term vision is to flow customer demand across all eight centres as services transform.
The role
The core focus of this role is to direct the operations in the customer service function and deliver service in line with corporate service levels. The successful candidate will do this using all available data and tools to effectively model and forecast demand across all customer channels, understanding the course of changes in trends.
The Forecasting and Planning Manager will determine resource and budget requirements to meet all service standards whilst forecasting and modelling future demand requirements and customer behaviour change across multiple inbound channels in a complex, rapidly changing and transforming customer service environment.
You will also be responsible for delivering a balance between optimisation of performance and flexibility, to ensure on-going well-being of staff working in the centre. The Forecasting and Planning Manager will also manage the Intraday Manager who will manage the customer service centre demand on a day to day basis to ensure that the best performance is achieved for our customers as well as providing reporting on individual, service, team and centre performance.
About you
You have significant experience of strategic management in a complex multi-channel multi-site contact centre environment, including contact centre technologies; KPI and best practice models. You have an in depth knowledge of the planning cycle and how to make changes to influence performance improvement in a contact centre environment. You can work productively in a high-pressured fast moving environment, with excellent organisational skills and the ability to prioritise workload. You have strong Leadership skills and customer service ethics and are able to engage with stakeholders at all levels to promote and influence the shape of the customer service function to benefit customers and the organisation as a whole.
You are persuasive and able to influence others to drive performance, proficient in planning and forecasting in a real-time operational environments but you also have the vision and experience to know what’s required strategically to make a step change. You have strong analytical skills and excellent attention to detail. You are adept at the analysis of performance, translating and presenting across multiple datasets and understand interdependencies.
What we can offer you
As well as the above and your base salary, we can offer you a comprehensive benefits package including:
- Modern flexible working practices;
- A local government pension scheme;
- Family friendly leave;
- Salary sacrifice, employee cash backs and discounts schemes; and
- Learning, development and career advancement opportunities.
We can offer you multiple opportunities for career progression working across diverse services and with access to a range of technologies to support modern and agile ways of working.
As a council we are very much committed to encouraging flexible working for our employees, which will include using modern technologies to connect with clients, working from other bases across the county as well as working from home.
The role has a flexible base; as a council we are very much committed to encouraging flexible working for our employees, arranged around the demands of the role.
Next steps and how to apply
For more information or an informal discussion about this role, please contact Sarah Foley, on email Sarah.foley@northyorks.gov.uk or 01609 533872
To apply please send your CV and personal statement to resourcingsolutions@northyorks.gov.uk by midnight on 25th September 2022.
It is important that your CV includes: your full contact details (telephone, email, address), full employment history (name of employer, job titles, dates of employment and salary), full education history (qualification, grade, dates and place of study), explanation of any gaps in employment and the contact details of at least two referees including your current / most recent employer indicating whether you consent to us contacting each referee prior to interview.
Key Dates
Closing date: 25th September 2022
Shortlisting date: w/c 26th September 2022
Interview date: w/c 3rd October 2022