Mobile Self-service Modernizes Your WFM

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Effective Workforce Management (WFM) in contact centers seems to be fairly straight forward. That’s until you have to deal with all of the exceptions. But when agents use their mobile devices to help themselves with managing exceptions, your burden becomes a whole lot easier.

Mobile Self-service Modernizes your WFM Click to Tweet

While it does take a lot of skill and experience to develop good forecasts and schedules, the most difficult aspect of WFM has always been managing all of the schedule exceptions.

People needing time off, people wanting to swap shifts, people needed because customer demands we’re higher because of some unforeseen event. All of these reasons and much more makes the job of managing WFM seem like a never ending barrage of waves crashing on you. Each time you struggle to stand up, another wave slams you back down again.

Manual WFM Practices

Exception processing has always been a cumbersome task for managers. I have used everything from intranet, email, board postings, and using a binder where agents would sign up for extra time or to swap shifts. They would even sign the book to be on the list to be given an opportunity to leave early if volumes were low.

Because of the manual aspects of the methods that many are relegated to using, they often times are scrambling at the last minute to get the coverage they need.

Mobile comes to the rescue

I was able to rapidly see the benefit of using the rapid response of mobile self-service in WFM exception processing (and more) when I met Taylor Pack from Branch Messenger at Call Center Week. His tool truly meets the needs of the modern workforce and contact center.

Watch how Branch Messenger meets the WFM needs of the modern workforce Click to Tweet

By getting agents involved with WFM the exception management burden is greatly lifted. In one instance, fulfilling shift swaps went down from three days to down to twenty minutes. And the swap was conducted by the agents, without the WFM staff managing the process.

Get agents involved with managing WFM scheduling Click to Tweet

About Branch Messenger

Branch Messenger is the employee self-service platform that offers enterprises unprecedented access to their frontline workers at scale while also empowering hourly shift workers to manage their work lives in real-time. Created at leading technology incubator Idealab, Branch is a Target + Techstars portfolio company headquartered in Minneapolis with an office in Los Angeles. Source: http://www.branchmessenger.com/

You already have a WFM solution

As you look at the current workforce management solution providers they do an excellent job at being able to manage the demand side of labor. They’re very effective at budgeting, forecasting and scheduling agents.

Where they struggle is on the supply side of labor. Being more flexible and adaptive after the demand is determined is where the opportunity currently exists to greater realize the WFM return on investment.

Near real-time changes

I bet all of your agents have mobile smartphones. Just think about how fast you could get shifts filled when volumes unexpectedly peak by using mobile notification instead of send out emails or posting requests? The peace of mind alone is well worth the investment.

Are you ready to modernize your WFM?

Are you ready to enable your agents to help modernize your WFM through mobile self-service? Then it’s time to talk to Taylor Pack. Contact him at taylor [at] branchmessenger.com.

Watch and learn about more contact center solutions now.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Jim Rembach
Jim Rembach is recognized as a Top 50 Thought Leader and CX Influencer. He's a certified Emotional Intelligence practitioner and host of the Fast Leader Show podcast and president of Call Center Coach, the world's only virtual blended learning academy for contact center supervisors and emerging supervisors. He’s a founding member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association’s CX Expert Panel, Advisory Board Member for Customer Value Creation International (CVCI), and Advisory Board Member for CX University.

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