The Benefits of Hosted Workforce Management

The cloud has come to dominate all aspects of the business and call center management software. From workforce management to CRM and IVR there are few software solutions that have not taken some form another in a SaaS (News - Alert) format.

The benefits of hosted WFM services are similar to those in any other software vertical. Lower cost, less maintenance and constant service updates are the most obvious advantages. Plus the lack of startup cost means companies who were once too small to incorporate these solutions now have full access to them. While the lower cost is a great boon to many, there are additional time-saving features cloud based workforce management tools that will streamline efficiency in the call center as well.

According to an article by TMC’s (News - Alert) Pat Barnard “Today's hosted workforce management solutions hold many advantages over spreadsheets and other "manual" scheduling processes. These powerful software solutions are rapidly replacing spreadsheets as the preferred way to manage call center schedules, as they help call center managers more effectively combat common, every-day call center management issues such as schedule adherence and shrinkage.”

Labor is the single biggest cost factor in the call center and since the managers making the schedules are usually making more money than the agents, the savings gained from making the manager's job of scheduling faster and easier alone are enough to justify the investment in workforce management software.

WFM is essential to any company that needs to monitor its workforce and a hosted solution will offer the utility to do this with money and time savings thrown in as a bonus.

Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco