Read the queue before it starts to bend
Queue planning begins with the work your clients send in, not the work you hope for. Look at hourly application patterns, identity document types, device mix and the points where a guided video session slows down, such as unclear images, poor audio or a face match that needs a second look.
For busy onboarding periods in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Gqeberha, the real strain often comes from irregular arrival patterns rather than a smooth queue. A smaller morning burst can turn into a long tail of catch-up work if sessions are not spread across the day with care.
- Count expected sessions by hour, not just by day.
- Separate first attempts from follow-up checks.
- Track document quality issues by source channel.
- Note which teams need more support at handover points.
Set session capacity around the real bottlenecks
Capacity is not only the number of agents on duty. It also depends on supervisor cover, quality review load, system access, and the time needed for liveness checks, consent recording and notes after each session. If those parts are ignored, the queue may look healthy until it suddenly is not.
PersonVideo ID works with clients that need remote identity verification for account opening, so queue planning should match the business rule set in use. Some organisations want tighter review for higher-risk cases, while others need a faster path for lower-risk onboarding with clear escalation steps for anything uncertain.
- Fix a target number of live sessions per agent hour.
- Reserve headroom for escalations and rechecks.
- Plan supervisor availability around peak review times.
- Keep a separate lane for sessions that need rework.
Give agents a script they can actually carry
When queues build, agents do better with a short, repeatable script than with a long speech. The script should guide the customer through the ID capture, face comparison, consent step and any movement instructions for liveness checks, while keeping the tone calm and plain.
Agent Script Design is not only about wording, it also shapes pacing. A tighter script helps reduce drift between agents, which matters when one team is handling many sessions at once and another is stepping in for support or training.
- Use the same opening and consent prompt across the team.
- Build in prompts for blurry images and shadowed frames.
- Keep handover lines short for quality review and escalation.
- Train agents to close out a session cleanly before the next one starts.
Match training to the busy periods, not the quiet ones
Staff Training should reflect the sort of pressure that appears during onboarding peaks. New staff need practice with rushed customers, poor camera angles, repeated ID captures and cases where the face image needs a second pass. A calm training room is useful, but it should not hide the conditions that show up during a real queue.
Refresh Training is useful when the process changes, the script is updated, or a client launches a new customer journey. That is also the point where quality checks and escalation design need to be reinforced, so the team does not improvise under pressure.
Use reporting to spot the pattern early
Operational reporting should show more than total sessions completed. It should show where the queue thickens, which checks take longer, which teams are dealing with repeated document issues and how many sessions move into escalation or rework. That makes the next roster easier to shape.
For clients across South Africa, reporting is most useful when it points to action. A queue chart that just records the past is less helpful than one that shows where staffing needs to move, where integration timing is affecting flow, and where a pilot launch still needs stabilising.
- Review completion counts by hour and by client team.
- Watch for repeated delay points in the same step.
- Compare busy days with normal days, not averages alone.
- Feed the findings back into Workflow Mapping and API Coordination.
Keep the handover clean when the line gets long
When a queue gets longer, the handover between onboarding, verification and client operations matters more. A good escalation design tells the team what to do when a session fails, when a record needs review, or when a customer has to return with a better image or clearer document copy.
Go Live Stabilising is often where these details settle into place. The same is true for Change Request Support, where one small adjustment to flow or validation rules can ease pressure on the queue without adding extra steps for the customer.
If your team needs support with planning, integration or staff readiness, our contact form can be used for a guided conversation with the right people in the Rosebank base.
