Workforce management (WFM) is used to maximise productivity and improve performance within an organisation.

Amongst other things, it involves managing agent schedules, forecasting demand, team management, and reporting. WFM is the key to satisfied customers, happy employees and overall business growth.

In recent years, the contact centre environment has become increasingly complex. Hybrid work and multi-channel customer engagement have altered customer demands and changed work patterns. WFM plays an important role in keeping things running smoothly.

When WFM tasks are completed manually, they can be extremely time-consuming and act as a barrier to business’ success. Rather than spending hours organising agent schedules and estimating demand, businesses should consider WFM automation as a time saving solution.

Pain Points of Manual WFM

If your business has been relying on manual WFM for a long time, you’ve likely grown accustomed to doing things the hard way. You may rely on a large number of spreadsheets that require constant updates.

Manual WFM processes can also lead to a large number of problems for contact centres, ranging from mild inconveniences to serious operational inefficiencies. For example:

  • Difficulties forecasting call volumes and agent requirements, leading to overstaffing or understaffing, and wasting resources.
  • Inefficient shift scheduling and time-off management.
  • Challenges in adhering to labour laws and compliance regulations.
  • Inaccurate labour cost forecasting and budgeting.
  • Difficulty measuring agent performance and productivity.

Power of WFM Automation for Contact Centres

Automated WFM offers the perfect solution to the problems outlined above. Not only can automated WFM save time spent on administrative tasks, it can effectively use data to utilise your workforce.

Improved Forecasting

When done manually, forecasting takes a lot of time and can lead to mistakes. These errors can greatly affect a business’s profits and performance. Rather than relying on managers to make these predictions, WFM systems can automate forecasting, improving both efficiency and accuracy.

WFM systems are equipped with sophisticated forecasting algorithms. Powered by AI, these forecasting algorithms can predict interaction patterns, trends and seasonality in a matter of minutes. Accurate forecasting reduces the risk of under or over-staffing, boosting profitability and performance.

Improved Scheduling

WFM automation can make scheduling issues a thing of the past. Schedules are created based on forecasted demand, moving away from rigid shift patterns to reduce staffing issues.

Improved scheduling also leads to agent empowerment and a happier, more productive team members. WFM automations can improved agents’ work experience by:

  • Taking into account agent work preferences.
  • Making it easier for agents to swap shifts.
  • Automatically approving last minute leave requests if SLA and staffing levels are not compromised.
  • Giving agents better control of their schedule and the ability to request overtime, time off, etc. outside of work hours.

Measure Performance

Businesses can use WFM to track employee performance. Automated WFM solutions can collect detailed information about a number of metrics, such as:

  • Average handling time
  • Occupancy rate
  • Customer satisfaction scores

With detailed reports about agent performance, managers can identify areas of improvement for individual employees, and for the entire organisation. Some WFM solutions are able to give real-time performance feedback to agents, enabling employees to develop their skills quickly and without manager intervention.

Integration with Contact Centre Software

WFM solutions can be easily integrated with other contact centre solutions like CRM and HR systems. Share data in real-time and access everything you need on a unified dashboard, making it easier to manage your workforce.

Case Studies

ScS: Enhancing Customer Experience

ScS partnered with SVL to implement a full suite of solutions to enhance WFM and improve customer experience. The ScS team had previously struggled working across multiple platforms, finding it inefficient for both agents and customers. Implementing Nice CXone led to significant improvements in ScS’s WFM, allowing agents to see their shift patterns up to a year in advance and reducing the management team’s workload by 20%.

Animal Friends Insurance

The team at Animal Friends insurance wanted to implement a WFM solution into their customer contact centre to minimise manual forecasting efforts, enable more real-time data insights and improve overall average handling time. Implementing Calabrio WFM led to an approximate 10% increase in contact centre adherence, increasing overall productivity.

Implementing WFM Automation

Making the transition from manual to automated workforce management can be a huge change for a business. Although automated WFM offers countless benefits, it’s understandable that employees might be wary of or reluctant to make the change.

There are a number of steps businesses can take to make WFM automation as successful as possible.

  • Pick a trusted partner to guide you through the transition to WFM software. Working with experts will allow you to make the most out of your WFM solution from day one.
  • Allow employees to trial the software as early as possible and offer training throughout implementation. Encourage questions and reward curiosity!
  • Clearly explain how automated WFM solutions will benefit not only your customers, but how it’ll make your employees’ jobs easier, too. The fear of the unknown will disappear quickly once your employees experience the benefits of automated WFM.

Measuring the Success of WFM Automation

There are a number of ways that businesses can track the success of their WFM automation solution. For example, the following metrics can be tracked to see how WFM automation improves performance:

  • Handle time
  • Average speed of answer
  • Agent turnover
  • Labour costs

Conclusion

With WFM automation, businesses can get back valuable time that can be reinvested elsewhere. Managers will no longer have to predict the future – WFM solutions make those predictions for you, using real-time data.

For contact centre agents, WFM automation can improve productivity and performance, giving employees more control over their schedules and development. In turn, customers benefit with increased satisfaction and a streamlined experience across channels.

Ready to improve your WFM processes?

If your business is ready to be free of manual WFM and enter the world of data-driven insights, contact us today for a WFM automation consultation.