Workforce management is a critical contact center function that ensures the right number of agents are hired and scheduled to meet customer support demands. Part art, part science, workforce management continuously treads a fine line between overstaffing and understaffing; of incurring unnecessary labor costs or damaging customer experience and burning out agents. Fortunately, good workforce management software automates many of the complex tasks conducted by workforce analysts.
What is workforce management software?
Workforce management software is a spreadsheet's worst nightmare and a contact center's best friend. The key workforce management tasks - forecasting, scheduling, and intraday adjustments - can be done with a complicated system of spreadsheets, or by software that automates the processes, reducing time and errors. Using complex algorithms and historical data, workforce management software takes the guesswork out of future contact volume and helps leaders identify agent hiring needs. Additionally, the software uses the forecasts it generates to produce agent schedules designed to meet the expected demand. When things don't go according to plan, workforce management software can facilitate intraday adjustments that can save the budget or customer satisfaction. And the best solutions engage agents by giving them more control of their schedules.
Speaking of the best workforce management software, most solutions may offer the basic functionality to automate these tasks, but the way they do it and the quality of execution can differ greatly. Additionally, great platforms have features that can take the execution of workforce management tasks to the next level. Below are some examples.