When was the last time you updated your workforce management system? Are you still simply focusing on the core modules of forecasting and scheduling? If it’s been a while since you’ve given any thought to your workforce management system, it’s time to re-examine this essential tool in the battle to achieve optimum performance in the contact center.

Workforce management software has evolved and progressed into extended suites. While traditional solutions focused on metrics such as talk time and number of calls handled, contemporary workforce management solutions have been augmented with tools that give agents insight into their work schedules and help to streamline interactions among managers, supervisors and agents. These new capabilities are designed to empower agents, bolster their satisfaction, minimize turnover, reduce hiring and training costs and, ultimately, result in better customer service and retention.

Another reason to be sure your solution is up-to-date is the current workforce management environment is more complex than ever along with the fact that a great many companies now operate multi-site, multi-channel centers using intelligent contact routing systems. It’s critical, therefore, for workforce management to be seamlessly integrated across distributed centers so top-shelf customer service is offered. This requires optimizing the use of agents who have the right skill sets to handle multiple contact types.

With this in mind, according to Genesys (News - Alert) Labs, a supplier of enterprise software, there are six essential capabilities a contemporary, full-featured workforce management system should be delivering, as follows, and anyone looking to update/upgrade should be sure the new workforce management solution incorporates them.

1. Automating Forecasting, Scheduling and Resource Tracking

A full-featured automated workforce management solution should forecast contact volume accurately for better scheduling and optimized staffing. The effect should be prevention of understaffing and reduced labor costs while promoting higher customer satisfaction and increased sales.

2. Integrating Intelligent Contact Routing

To gain the full advantage of intelligent contact routing (matching each caller to the agent with the right skills), contact centers need a workforce management solution that integrates with the contact routing system and updates its database in real-time so every time a contact comes in, the right agent will be chosen based on up-to-the-second skills information.

3. Tracking Multi-channel Activities

Organizations need a workforce management solution that enables managers to track channels and skill sets, forecast and schedule by media channel, and take into consideration factors such as the need to answer voice calls immediately as opposed to answering e-mail in batches during periods when voice traffic is light.

4. Managing the Use of Real-Time Adherence

An optimal workforce management solution gives managers visibility into real-time metrics on agent performance, adherence and forecast variances so they can deal with discrepancies between target and actual availability and reduce churn.

5. Empowering Agents to Manage Their Schedules

Agents who can access and manage their own schedules, request changes and receive approvals online, see other agents’ schedules and ask for shift trades, and bid on shifts, should help to make agents happier, which can reduce turnover and increase customer satisfaction.

6. Streamlining Administration Tasks

A workforce management solution that provides agents the tools to check their schedules and automatically receive approval for trades will reduce the time supervisors spend on manual scheduling and improve the accuracy and promptness of skills-based scheduling.

The bottom line is each of these capabilities enhances contact center effectiveness in a different way. If a system lacks any one of them, frustration levels for both agents and supervisors may escalate, the cost of rehiring and training can increase, and ultimately, customer service levels may suffer, which will have a negative impact on ROI.

In other news, TMCnet reported, “Contact center managers who want to make schedules more flexible, better address fluctuating call volumes and also give agents more flexibility, may want to investigate web-based communication tools.”