Workforce Management

Providing excellent customer service, support, sales, and billing relies on having the right numbers of the skilled contact center agents at the right times. But ensuring that critical task is accomplished successfully appears to...

Organizations are now well in their third year of operation in the remote or at-home/work-from-home (WFH) contact center environment. And they are working to devise sustainable workforce management (WFM) strategies. In today’s challenging job...

Not all roads to WFM Training follow the same path. Here is some information to help you understand the characteristics and the differences amongst them. I. VENDOR TRAINING “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” —Benjamin...

This month, our blog readers were interested in a variety of topics affecting their centers. Leslie discusses the skill that is of the utmost importance for our remote workers--writing well. The pandemic has brought...

Time flies! Here we are at Back to School time … prepping back packs, planning schedules, assigning duties, and gathering tools needed for success. Back to School is a good time to reflect...

One of the long-running conversations in the contact center industry has been whether to have staff (agents and supervisors) work-from-home (WFH). Proponents argue that WFH provides contact centers with access to a larger pool...

The earliest definition of contact center management that I know of came from Gordon MacPherson, founder of the Incoming Calls Management Institute (ICMI) in 1985. Gordon authored the Essentials Skills and Knowledge course, which...

Contact centers have long emphasized a strategy that is customer first, and for good reason. Delivering an outstanding customer experience is essential to driving brand loyalty and equity. Often neglected however, was the agent....

It is a good news/troubling news story for contact centers. How they and their supplier partners plan and respond will help determine how well the industry succeeds in the post-COVID-19 pandemic “new normal” era. On...

Everyone likes simplicity, especially in the world of customer service. The best contact center agents will simplify difficult situations for callers, and smart contact center managers will simplify training and workforce development for their...

Admittedly, I have not worked in a lot of different industries, but it is hard to imagine there are many that have a greater penchant for acronyms than the contact center space. When I...

Old and in the way, That’s what I heard them say. They used to heed the words he said, But that was yesterday. I had a birthday in June, and it suddenly struck me that I’ve lived for...

Artificial intelligence has become common in many households and workplaces. Popular AI personal assistants like Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, Alexa and Bixby have played a big role in rapidly reshaping consumer attitudes about how...

Frontline focused! To make it in the future, contact center leadership needs to get down to the business of being “frontline-focused.” The competition for contact center resources has never been greater; this puts contemporary...

Our workforce management (WFM) landscape is changing at breakneck speed. Many organizations are now 100% work-from-home or have a workforce divided between brick-and-mortar and virtual agents (82% are WFH since July 2020—Gartner). This presents...

At Pelorus Associates, we have studied the workforce management (WFM) space for over a decade. Our biannual reports delve deeply into the size, composition, market shares, trends, drivers and obstacles. The reports are quantitative...

Contact Center Pipeline's SPONSOR WALL OF FAME Company name: Human Numbers CEO/Founder: Tiffany LaReau, Certified Workforce Manager & Owner When founded: 2008 Describe your company: We create forecasts, generate schedules and develop staffing models for all kinds of contact centers. What is...

As companies realign their workforce during these disruptive times, work-from-home (WFH) is quickly redefining the concept of “business as usual.” Both companies and employees benefit from WFH strategies. A Stanford University study found that...

The upheaval created by the Coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented. Your customers are understandably concerned and confused, and are likely coming to your organization with many questions, most of which are different from what your...

Contact Center Pipeline's SPONSOR WALL OF FAME Company name: WFMSG (The Workforce Management Software Group) CEO/Co-Founders: Daryl Gonos, CEO; Todd Cotharin, COO; Peter Schmidt, CTO When founded: 2005 Describe your company: WFMSG provides a unique and simplified approach to forecasting and...