Littlewoods Shop Direct Group, a home shopping and online retailer in UK has deployed Witness Systems’ (News - Alert) Impact 360 Advanced Workforce Management solution, along with its Impact 360 Strategic Planning functionality.

Witness’ technology includes forecasting and scheduling, adherence, scorecards, time off management and lesson management, as well as strategic planning. Littlewoods Shop Direct Group uses the technology to manage 3,000 agent seats at its contact centre subsidiary Optimum (News - Alert) Contact Centre Solutions.

The subsidiary created as a result of the recent merger of the Littlewoods and Shop Direct business lines, handles both the inbound and outbound telephone sales and customer service functions of the Littlewoods Shop Direct Group business.

Littlewoods Shop Direct Group’s sales exceed £2.1 billion annually, and Witness Systems’ solution optimizes customer service by accurately matching resources, projected customer demand and the number of agents scheduled.

According to Vicky Jenkins, customer services director for Littlewoods, their organization strives to put their customers first.

“We distribute over nine million catalogues every year – containing more than 70,000 fashion and footwear, and home and leisure lines – mailed by our Home Shopping brands, said Jenkins in a press release.

He continued: “After an extensive review of workforce management offerings on the market, it was clear that Impact 360 Workforce Management is able to provide us with the flexibility we need to match available agents to customer demand and make us fit for purpose.”

Chris Manton-Jones, vice president EMEA at Witness Systems believes that with Impact 360 Workforce Management, organizations such as Littlewoods can reduce costs by staffing appropriately to meet workload, drive business growth, and improve employee effectiveness and retention.

“The solution helps increase both agent and customer satisfaction by creating flexible shift patterns that suit employees, while ensuring that predicted customer demands are met,” he concluded.

Littlewoods’ registered head office, Skyways House, is situated in Speke, South Liverpool and it also has offices in central Liverpool and Manchester. The company has annual sales reaching in excess of £2.1 billion and it services 12 leading brands.

Witness Systems is the provider of software and services that help businesses capture customer intelligence and optimize their workforce performance.

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Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering call centers, CRM and information technology. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.