workforce optimization trends · summary results • october 2016 survey summary between may and...

Summary Results • October 2016

Workforce Optimization Trends


Survey Summary

Between May and August 2016, Gatepoint Research invited selected Workforce Management executives to participate in a survey themed Workforce Optimization Trends.

Candidates were invited via email and 100 executives have participated to date.

Management levels represented are predominantly senior decision makers: 7% hold the title CxO, 20% are VPs, 43% are Directors, and 27% are Managers.

Survey participants represent firms from a wide variety of industries including business services, financial services, retail trade, general manufacturing, healthcare, telecom services, utilities, wholesale trade, and high tech manufacturing.

Responders work for firms with a wide range of revenue levels:

– 56% work in Fortune 1000 companies with revenues over $1.5 billion; – 18% work in Large firms whose revenues are between $500 million and $1.5 billion; – 4% work in Mid-Market firms with $250 million to $500 million in revenues; – 22% work in Small companies with less than $250 million in revenues.

100% of responders participated voluntarily; none were engaged using telemarketing.


Executive Overview

Workforce Optimization (WFO) solutions provide the tools companies need to manage and optimize their contact centers, from improving employee performance to analyzing customer satisfaction and more efficiently schedule their agents.

This survey focuses on workforce management (WFM) and performance management, two applications found in many WFO solutions suites. The survey asks respondents to report:

What matters to them - why did they chose the WFM they are currently using?

Are they using a WFM vendor solution or spreadsheet? What do they use a solution to accomplish (for example, to do back-office analytics)?

What metrics do they use to determine agent performance? Can they easily gather this data?

What are their contact center goals in the near future?

How can a WFO solution boost their competitiveness?

Summary Results • October 2016 Copyright © 2015 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be

used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research.

Do you currently use a Workforce Management (WFM) solution or a

spreadsheet?

Workforce Management: a variety of solutions. 33% use spreadsheets; 67% use WFM software solutions. However, in firms with fewer agents there is a greater tendency to depend on

spreadsheets - 45% of them report using spreadsheets versus 27% of the larger firms. The leading 6 WFM solutions comprise the 67% of vendors reported by respondents.

33%

67%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Excel

WFM solution



How many agents are in your contact center?

Contact centers by the numbers. 21% of respondents report less than 50

agents in their contact centers; 28% have over 1,000 agents.

21% 21%

18%

12%

28%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Fewer than 50 51 to 200 201 to 400 401 to 1000 1001 or more



Please indicate the key reason(s) you chose your WFM solution.

What matters in a WFM solution? Respondents overwhelmingly indicate product features are the primary influence in their WFM choice (54%), overshadowing the

importance of product cost (36%) and other seemingly important factors.

54%

36% 35% 33% 32%

20%

4% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Product features Product cost Product reliability Productintegration

Generalconvenience

N/A Cloud based



Do you use any Workforce Optimization (WFO) solutions

to help manage your back office automation?

WFO in the back office. Among all respondents 32% of those surveyed say

a WFO solution helps manage their back office automation.

Yes 32%

No 61%

No, but we're interested in knowing how

7%



Which of the following present significant challenges in

managing agent performance in your contact center(s)?

Measures of success. In determining agent performance, respondents have problems with critical management criteria such as the effectiveness of coaching (45%), agent

accountability (44%), and measuring productivity (43%).

45%

44%

43%

35%

34%

34%

30%

29%

26%

13%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Coaching effectiveness

Agent accountability

Measuring productivity

Obtaining actionableperformance data

Measuring skill level

Supervisor accountability

Engaging millennials

Managing remote agents

Measuring compliance

Agents unable to self-correct



Which KPIs are most important in your contact center?

Customer satisfaction is #1. 75% of respondents rate customer

satisfaction as their primary gauge contact center performance.

75%

50%

39%

34%

29%

22%

20%

19%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Customer satisfaction

First call resolution (FCR)

Utilization (optimized schedule)

Average handle time

Schedule adherence

Occupancy

After call work (ACW)

Revenue per call (RPC)



What are your top contact center goals in the next 12-18 months?

Top goals: performance, automation, hiring. To enhance customer satisfaction, respondents seek to improve their agents’ performance (67%), automate more (52%),

and accelerate employee training (47%).

67%

52%

47%

43%

39%

36%

27%

25%

22%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Improve agent performance

Increase automation of processes

Accelerate employee onboarding

Reduce agent churn

Improve supervisor performance

Consolidate reporting

Reduce hiring costs

Deliver relevant training material

Adapt to Millennial work style



How much of a unique competitive advantage

can the following WFO solutions contribute to your organization?

WFO competitive advantages. Respondents believe that the applications in the WFO suite that give them a competitive advantage are Quality Management (71%), Performance

Management (70%) and their Workforce Management (60%)

71%

70%

60%

56%

47%

31%

30%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Quality management

Performance management

Workforce management

Desktop analytics

Speech analytics

Gamification

Robotic automation



What is your preferred application hosting environment

for any new WFO applications that you would be deploying

for the first time at your organization in the next 12 to 18 months?

Where to host new WFO apps? Thinking ahead, 36% of respondents plan to

host new apps on the cloud , compared to 17% planning to host on premise.

Cloud 36%

On premise 17%

Hybrid 8%

No preference 14%

N/A, we do not intend to deploy

any new WFO applications in the

next 12 to 18 months

25%



When choosing a unified WFO solution from a single vendor,

how important are the following?

A unified WFO solution provides greater value than point solutions. Asked to rate the importance of various aspects of a prospective unified WFO solution, a common user interface across products,

cost savings and cross-product reporting topped the “very important” category.

Not at all important

Somewhat important Very important

Common user interface (UI) across products 7% 29% 61%

Cost savings 5% 32% 61%

Cross-product reporting 11% 30% 57%

Common technology platform (e.g., database technology) 8% 36% 52%

Cross-product workflows (e.g., schedule QM coaching using WFM) 11% 38% 49%

Cross-product Integration 11% 40% 47%

Single services and support 10% 45% 43%



Profile of Responders:

Industry Sectors

A wide range of industry sectors participated in the survey.

BUSINESS SERVICES

28%

FINANCIAL SERVICES

29%

RETAIL TRADE

10% MFG - GENERAL

6%

HEALTHCARE 6%

TELECOM SERVICES

7%

UTILITIES 4%

WHOLESALE TRADE

5%

MFG - HIGH TECH 5%




Revenue

56% of responders work in Fortune 1000 companies

with over $1.5 billion in revenue.

>$1.5billion 56% $500 million - $1.5

billion 18%

$250 - 500 million 4%

<$250 million 22%




Job Level

70% of responders hold executive positions in their organizations.

Manager, 27%

Director, 43%

VP, 20%

CxO, 7%


NICE’s WFO Solution Suite optimizes operational performance, improves customer experience and retention and empowers agents to performance their best. With more than 25,000 customers, NICE is a recognized leader in the WFO market. The WFO suite is backed by global service and support and business consulting teams of experts that will help you to meet your goals.

For more information, visit http://www.nice.com/engage/workforce-optimization

http://www.nice.com/engage/workforce-optimization/workforce-optimization-solutions




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