What’s New in the World of Contact Center WFM

With so much going on in the world and many “fires” to put out, it’s tough to think about the future of our contact centers. But in case you want a break from the realities of COVID-19 and the havoc it is causing around the world, I am going to share some of my thoughts about the future of contact center workforce management (WFM).

To begin with, if we had new-gen WFM solutions with real-time, adaptable intelligent intraday management modules supported by mobility in our contact centers today, we’d all be putting out fewer fires, but I am getting ahead of myself.

During the last weeks, I’ve spent the majority of my time sharing operational practices for managing contact centers through a pandemic – of course, from my home office. The most important task for contact center leaders is to take care of their employees. Yes, customers matter a great deal and we all want to be there for them, particularly in these trying times, but we need our contact center agents and other staff to be healthy to achieve this goal.

The question is how WFM can help with this challenge.

We all know that WFM is the most important productivity tool in contact centers. It is also essential for delivering an outstanding customer experience (CX), as it determines the number of agents and skill sets needed to handle the projected volume of interactions. Now, this is where New-Gen WFM comes in. WFM solutions project future interaction volumes based on historical activity and input from WFM administrators, but they can’t predict the unexpected, like COVID-19, for example, and its daily impact on agents.

The new generation of real-time, adaptive, intraday management solutions are constantly on and continuously calculating agent requirements; they take into account real-time changes in volumes and staffing levels due to agents calling in sick, coming in late or not being able to get in at all due to cancelled public transportation.

To hear how WFM intraday management modules need to become more adaptive, intelligent and real-time to meet the needs of dynamic and fast-paced contact centers, (and flexible enough to help managers in difficult times, like this pandemic), please join me in DMG’s upcoming webinar in partnership with Calabrio. Learn about the future of contact center WFM and how artificial intelligence (AI), automation and analytics are being used to enhance these solutions.

The live webinar, The Future of WFM: What’s Required, is on April 28, 2020 at 11 AM ET / 4 PM BST. During this webinar I am going to discuss major innovations like enhanced mobility capabilities and how the processing power of the cloud, is a game-changer for WFM.

Donna Fluss, DMG Consulting LLC

Donna Fluss, Founder and President of DMG Consulting LLC, provides a unique and unparalleled understanding of the people, processes and technology that drive the strategic direction of the dynamic and rapidly transforming contact center and back-office markets. Donna can be reached at [email protected].