Call Recording Featured Article

Optimizing the workforce is a great buzz phrase, but are you making the serious investments in this area to impact the bottom line? A number of companies like to claim they leverage workforce optimization, yet lack the tools and even the knowledge to effectively follow through. Those that do, however, are driving significant demand in the market.

According to Ventana Research, in its 2015 Value Index for Workforce Optimization, workforce optimization is the “effective management of all employee-related activities associated with handling customer interactions to ensure optimal customer [interactions] and alignment to a common set of customer and revenue goals and objectives.”

The Value Index is designed to enable businesses to evaluate their current workforce optimization software investments and other solutions they may be considering, in the context of their technology and business requirements. The Index ensures companies can make informed decisions on software purchases so that their focus on the optimization of the workforce is actually based on proven tools and knowledge in order to affect positive change.

"Workforce optimization software has become essential to effectively manage agents who interact with customers to respond and resolve their request to the best possible outcomes," said Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer of Ventana Research. As the customer experience continues to grow as the key differentiator in the marketplace, the effectiveness of the workforce when interacting with the customer base becomes even more of a priority.

As such, we should expect to see considerable growth in the workforce optimization sector in 2015. Competitors in the space, will seek dominance when it comes to providing the best customer care, while also paying close attention to a healthy bottom line. Powerful solutions to optimize the workforce, such as Virtual Observer by Coordinated Systems, Inc., ensure management teams have complete visibility into operations in real-time so adjustments are easily made when needed.

The only solutions that should be on the table for consideration are those offering call recording, performance and trending reports, evaluation and scoring, dashboard analytics and live screen monitoring for assisting the agent. When paired with an agent portal and eLearning capabilities, customer service organizations gain the most value out of these interactions as they are able to drive and support quality customer care.

This is where the impact is measured – the customer experience. If optimizing the workforce isn’t solely focused on the customer, the return on investment will fall short. As the customer care center tends to be the biggest cost center in the organization, investments that add to the spending have to deliver an equal benefit. When the workforce optimization solution is selected according to the needs of the business, the outcome is more likely to be a positive one.