Nothing is quite so satisfying as finding a workaround to solve a problem that would have otherwise cost you money. It’s creative. Sometimes simpler. Often ingenuous. Always cheaper. Of course, sometimes the workaround turns out to be a disaster in disguise, doesn’t it? For call center workforce management, the workaround is the spreadsheet. Sure, for... Read More

There’s often resistance to deploying any new data-driven application. The anxiety is that there will be headaches and trauma associated with it. All the data mapping and validation and custom field development and so on. And while call center management is willing to endure that in order to create core WFM capabilities, they get a... Read More

There is always a base stream of contact volume coming in to the Contact Center. Most of the volume is however driven by factors in other parts of the business. The WFM team must be fed with relevant information about expected outside call drivers and the process must be set up to enable them to... Read More

I want to take a moment to talk about something that concerns some people who are bringing Gamification—or considering it—into their call center workforce management. Badges. Ribbons. Medals. Those little icons on an agent’s portal that say “good job,” or “great job” or even “need improvement.” Some people think that, as a reward, they’re too... Read More

WFM is a strategic tool, in the hands of strategic thinkers. Too often, though, call centers don’t develop that kind of thinking in the people that use WFM. The result is that their WFM system doesn’t deliver all the value that it should. Read More

Are you using as much of your WFM as you could? Often, the answer is “no.” The reason? People learn the mechanics of using a system, but not the concepts behind it. And without that knowledge, they can’t apply the kind of critical thinking that makes the most of WFM—and that delivers the highest ROI. Read More

Self service flexible scheduling—lifestyle scheduling—lets you help your agents blend their personal and professional lives. It opens the door to flexible shift scheduling, vacation planning, shift swapping and overtime management. That’s not possible with manual scheduling—too much drain on your managers. But it’s easy with the right WFM. Read More

Making the move from your spreadsheet to a real workforce management system is a process—kind of like moving through high school and graduating to college. Your understanding of the systems available, of what other companies are doing, and of your own business needs evolves. Along with that come the realization that the spreadsheet just can’t... Read More

Forecasting the call center operation with a spreadsheet is like forecasting the weather with a finger in the air. It works every now and then, but you know better than to count on it. The advanced analytics of a strong Workforce Management system transforms forecasting from guesswork to science. Read More

Call Center scheduling is a lot more complex and a lot more comprehensive than “just” setting work hours. WFM software provides advanced scheduling systems that go far beyond the time clock. Read More

USAN, a cloud services provider of Omni-channel customer engagement solutions and services, announced today its new partnership with Teleopti, a global leader in strategic Workforce Management (WFM) software, to provide Teleopti’s WFM solutions in a Software-as-a-Service model. Read More