Software for Optimizing the Contact Center Workforce

Transcription

1 Markets, W. Close Research Note 11 February 2003 Software for Optimizing the Contact Center Workforce Contact center workforce management software is an important element of an effective contact center. There are three camps of suppliers to choose from. Narrowing the vendor shortlist helps. Core Topic Customer Relationship Management: Business Strategies, Technologies and Apps. for Customer Service and Support Key Issue How will enterprises select customer service and support technologies and applications that most effectively support their evolving customer service strategy? There are a number of mature products available to solve the challenge of forecasting and scheduling contact center agents based on needs (see the "Contact Center Workforce Management Software" section below). At its core, contact center workforce management (WFM) software is intended to maximize the use of agent labor by projecting incoming and outgoing call volumes, or other communication methods, such as or chat, and scheduling staff exactly to meet these needs by time of day, day of week, week of month and so on. However, there are a number of compelling add-on products to WFM, such as agent performance management solutions, that can improve not only the efficiency of the contact center but its effectiveness. Here, we discuss the options for WFM software, including broader solutions for contact center workforce optimization. For contact center WFM software, there are three camps of suppliers: Camp 1: Contact Center Infrastructure Vendors These vendors strive to deliver a complete contact center infrastructure solution (see "Contact Center Infrastructure Choices Form a Tangled Web"). Their solutions include core contact center components such as: automatic call distributor (ACD) call switching (circuit-switched and Internet Protocol); interactive voice response (IVR); computer-telephony integration (CTI); universal queuing; Internet e-contact channel, such as text chat and Web collaboration; virtual centers; remote agent; outbound dialing; and voice messaging. Their solutions also include key contact center support applications, such as workforce management, quality monitoring, e-learning and analytics. Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 These applications are typically provided through partnerships or reseller agreements with third parties noted in Camp 2 below. For example, Avaya sells and supports Avaya Workforce Management, which it resells from Blue Pumpkin (it also supports integration with other WFM solutions). However, some of the contact center infrastructure vendors, like Aspect and Genesys, have their own WFM solutions that they acquired from other vendors. Aspect acquired leading WFM vendor TCS. Aspect sells its WFM solution as part of its contact center infrastructure as well as a stand-alone offering that can work in other vendor environments. Genesys acquired its WFM solution in 1999 from NextAge Technologies, a startup (founded in 1997) of ex-genesys employees. Although Genesys offers a bundled contact center infrastructure solution that includes WFM, all from a single source, it has in the past year participated in larger stand-alone WFM deals (approximately 5 percent of its clients have purchased WFM only), but this is not a high priority for its sales organization. If enterprises are users of these players' call center technologies, due to integration benefits, one-stop shopping and the depth of their WFM features, they should put these WFM solutions on their shortlists. Most non-aspect users will want to include Aspect on their shortlists as well because of its robust WFM features, installed base and experience in WFM (see "Aspect Contact Centers"). Camp 2: Contact Center Workforce Optimization Vendors Vendors in this camp focus on contact center workforce optimization solutions that may include WFM, budgeting tools, performance management, quality monitoring, analytics and training/e-learning solutions. The goal is to tie together a more complete enterprise view of people, skills, performance, costeffectiveness, payroll and business goals. Such vendors as Performix Technologies, Nice Systems, Witness Systems, and Blue Pumpkin, as well as business intelligence vendors, together with several global business consultancies, are promoting this trend. If your WFM vendor is not helping the enterprise to gain a greater view of contact center performance compared to business goals, it's time to re-evaluate the options in the marketplace. For WFM bundled with agent performance management, evaluate Blue Pumpkin, ESI or CenterForce. Blue Pumpkin, launched in 1997, offers a suite of products for workforce optimization, such as WFM and performance management, with features like agent performance scorecards and key business performance indicators (see "Blue Pumpkin's Suite Offers an Enterprise View of Resources"). It has a mature WFM product and a relatively new performance management product (launched in August 2002, with a half-dozen clients in 11 February

3 production). ESI has a complementary product to its WFM solution that leverages its rule-based technology to improve the customer and agent interaction. The application has features like upselling and cross-selling. CenterForce Technologies and RightForce recently merged (in November 2002; it operates as CenterForce Technologies now), with the combined company now having an agent scorecard performance measurement product and blended inbound and outbound WFM solutions. Full integration of the products is expected by 2Q03. Another option for workforce optimization solutions is to work with several suppliers. For example, Performix partners with vendors like IEX and Aspect for WFM. Performix has a suite of software for contact center performance management and is well-suited for large centers of more than 500 agents that want to focus on improving performance. The software includes features such as key performance indicators, performance reviews, performance appraisal, reward and recognition, and personal development. The solution is quite compelling. For example, by providing agents with real-time feedback during the day, the software allows agents to readjust their average call time to meet "incented" performance goals. Aim Technology provides contact center analytics and is another option for contact center performance management. It partners with WFM vendors like IEX and Aspect and e-learning vendors such as Knowlagent. The application includes features such as real-time monitoring and analysis of key performance indicators, historical and trend views, performance commentary, analytic messaging and root cause analysis. Other options include Nice, which has some of the components of a contact center workforce optimization solution, including quality monitoring and e-learning solutions integrated with WFM systems from other vendors, such as IEX, Aspect, Blue Pumpkin and Pipkins. Witness Systems also offers some of the components of a contact center workforce optimization solution, including quality monitoring, performance analysis that includes performance scorecard capabilities, and e- learning management applications, and it partners with WFM vendors such as Blue Pumpkin. Camp 3: Contact Center WFM Vendors The Established and the Niche There are a number of other vendors that offer robust, highly scalable stand-alone applications for contact center WFM. Some have been in the WFM market for years and can boast large installed bases of WFM users across a number of different industries. Examples include IEX and Pipkins. IEX's WFM solution has a good ability to scale to very large-scale, multisite environments with a single server (it has one client with 12,000 agents on one Sun Microsystems server running Unix), and it 11 February

4 has offerings for small centers (one client has 25 agents). It offers some agent performance optimization features like the ability to compare team goals to group goals, and it partners with Witness Systems for other workforce optimization features. Most users will want to include IEX on their WFM shortlist because of its technology, features and expertise. Pipkins is also one of the more established players in contact center WFM, with expertise in the operator services industry as well as banking, cable TV, catalog sales and a number of other industries. Its solution has also proved highly scalable, with one client having 7,000 agents across four sites running its WFM solution on one Windows NT server. Some vendors focus on WFM solutions for not only the contact center but also other channels of service, such as warehouse personnel, processing centers, retail personal and back office. Examples include GMT Planet, ESI and Pipkins. GMT Planet's WFM can be used in contact centers and other service environments like retail stores, restaurants and theme parks. GMT has been in the WFM space since 1989, and in the contact center WFM space since These systems are appealing for those organizations that have WFM needs in the contact center and in other areas of the enterprise. There are a number of vendors that focus on particular niches of the WFM market. For example, Q-Max and InVision focus on European contact centers. Their solutions are well-suited for European work practices, because the contact center WFM requirements are different compared with U.S. centers because of such issues as the European Working Time Directive (the directive lays down minimum safety and health requirements for the organization of working time). InVision's product is not only sold in Europe but also in Africa, where work laws are almost as complicated as in Europe. Some vendors have gained expertise in certain industries. For example, Exametric helps banks and credit unions forecast branch staff (not call center staff). For highly focused needs, consider a niche player. Several vendors focus on the small-to-midsize contact center. Examples include a new player to the WFM market (it entered the market in February 2002), Symon Communications, and Portage Communications (which focuses on call centers with fewer than 75 agents). Also, for midsize contact centers, some vendors are offering the option to use their WFM solutions as a subscription service over the Internet. Benefits include minimal startup costs and fast deployment. One vendor, ISC, bucks the myth that WFM solutions are expensive, offering its hosted solution including features like skill-based scheduling for multisite, multi-time-zone systems; real-time monitoring and reporting capabilities; and import and export capabilities to 11 February

5 connect to multiple data sources, payroll and HR systems for $20 to $35 per agent, per month, depending on feature set, number of agents and term of the commitment. Pipkins also offers a hosted option. Midsize call centers with fewer than 100 agents and with limited internal IT call center resources may want to investigate a subscription service for contact center WFM. Contact Center Workforce Management Software Aspect Communications/TCS ( Product: Aspect eworkforce Management Installed Base: More than 1 million agents in nearly 40 countries at 3,000 sites worldwide Blue Pumpkin ( Product: Workforce Optimization Suite Installed Base: 1,000 customers, 350,000 agents at 1,500 sites worldwide CenterForce Technologies ( Products: RightForce multichannel workforce management suite, CenterForce Analyzer (automated goal setting, performance measurement and agent scorecards), CenterForce Optimizer ("best time to call" technology), CenterForce Planner (outbound staff forecasting) Installed Base: 74 installed customers, 103 sites, 14,213 agents ESI (Expert Solutions International), a Formula Group Company ( Product: OptiWise Installed Base: 80 customers, 30,000 agents Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories ( Product: Genesys Workforce Management Solution Installed Base: 400 customers, 240,000 agents GMT ( Product: GMT Planet Installed Base: 25 banking clients, 554 contact center clients and approximately 250,000 employees scheduled worldwide using its WFM software IEX, a Tekelec Company ( Products: TotalView Workforce Management, TotalNet Call Routing Installed Base: 560,000 agents at 2,200 sites worldwide InVision Software ( Product: Staff Planning System (SPS) Installed Base: 390 installed client sites, 80,000 scheduled employees worldwide 11 February

6 ISC (Instructional Systems Company) ( Products: Irene Online (hosted by vendor) and Irene Enterprise (installed on a server at your location) Installed Base: Fewer than 100 customers ranging from 20 to 1,500 scheduled agents, with up to six sites (in multiple time zones) Pipkins ( Products: Maxima Advantage Vantage Point Version 8.0, WorkforceScheduling.Com (all Vantage Point features in an online subscription service for fewer then 100 agents; launched in October 2002), Merlang Call Center Consultant (an introductory product suitable for individual call center consultants or managers) Installed Base: 100,000 agents in more than 300 locations Portage Communications ( Products: AgentTime Scheduler (agent scheduling), Call Center Designer and SimACD Installed Base: 600 users Q-Max Systems ( Product: Q-Max workforce management software Symon Communications ( Product: Contact Center Community Installed Base: 20 clients, 2,000 seats Other Vendors Mentioned in This Research: Aim Technology ( Products: AIMCall (analyzes and optimizes contact center performance and measures key performance indicators to allow users to drill down into them to see the root causes of problems so corrections can be made immediately), AIMPlan (contact center campaign and resource planning application that allows the user to model any number of campaigns and to plan the human resources that will be needed to ensure that the campaigns meet their service-level targets) and AIMScore (datadriven, multimetric balanced scorecards for agents to senior executives showing ongoing achievement of targets set throughout the organization) Installed Base: 10 clients, 10,000 installed users Exametric ( Product: Click2Staff Installed Base: 15 banks, fewer than 10,000 branches, and 200,000 agents Knowlagent ( Product: Knowlagent's product suite includes four key modules Builder, Manager, Student and Analysis that allow you to 11 February

7 author courses, deliver them to the agent desktop, and track agent performance and progress. Nice Systems ( Products: Nice offers a suite of products to capture, evaluate, analyze and improve the customer experience in voice, voice over IP, and Web interactions. Performix Technologies ( Product: Emvolve Performance Manager a performance management tool aimed at delivering performance results of the call center, from individual agent performance through to multisite and multifunction. Emvolve Performance Manager also provides personal development and reward and recognition functionality to improve performance. Installed Base: 20 clients, 25,000 licenses Witness Systems ( Products: equality Balance (voice and data recording), Response ( recording), Interactive (Web chat recording), Discover (Web self-service recording), Evaluation (contact evaluation), Analysis (performance analysis) and equality Now (electronic learning management) Bottom Line: Workforce management (WFM) software will benefit any contact center with more than 100 agents. Those that have yet to invest in WFM should evaluate the offerings mentioned in this research, as these solutions can help enterprises to increase service levels, decrease payroll costs and decrease call abandon rates. Based on inquiries Gartner receives, Aspect, Blue Pumpkin, IEX and, to a lesser degree, Genesys are the most commonly used contact center WFM solutions in our client base. However, any of the options noted in this research may be a viable option for any particular enterprise's unique business needs. Ultimately, the decision is based on the enterprise's unique requirements and business goals. Acronym Key ACD Automatic call distributor CTI Computer-telephony integration IVR Interactive voice response WFM Workforce management Those that have already implemented WFM solutions should look to their vendors to provide more-advanced features for performance management, helping enterprises to map contact center performance to corporate objectives, and more features for agent performance and incentive management (for example, rewards and recognition, personal development and performance reviews) to improve agent effectiveness. 11 February