Workforce optimization (WFO) is a business strategy that integrates business performance considerations with workforce management. The strategy involves automating processes, data visibility, compliance on legislation and solving business problems related to staffing.
[ It is used by ]call centers
A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...
to improve workforce management Workforce management (WFM) is an institutional process that maximizes performance levels and competency for an organization. The process includes all the activities needed to maintain a productive workforce, such as field service management, human ...
and agent performance.
Description
Workforce optimization uses all aspects of the complete workforce management life-cycle and provides key insights into how its workforce is performing, with a focus on customer experience. Workforce optimization includes automating entire processes, making key data more visible to support better decision-making, ensuring compliance on relevant legislation and solving business problems related to staff.[ It is used by contact centers to make convenient communication with customers, such as ]text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...
support.
The strategy ties together the human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...
, operations and IT departments of a business. Workforce optimization manages the performance of staff to understand the impact on both operational efficiency and the customer experience. Companies use VoC
VOC, VoC or voc may refer to:
Science and technology
* Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected
* Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus
...
insights to improve customer experience, which increases the effectiveness of its agents and builds customer loyalty.
Development
DMG Consulting's 2014 "Contact Center Workforce Optimization Market Share Report" documented an increase in workforce optimization revenue over the 2013 fiscal year. It noted an increase in investments to improve core solutions as well as improvements in back-office and branch workforce optimization solutions. In 2015, DMG Consulting found a resurgence in workforce management due to innovation in usability and functionality through speech and text analytics, desktop analytics and customer journey analytics applications. It also considered a shift in the workforce optimization market to emphasize enterprise analytics that personalize customer interaction.
To make strategic decisions in the modern and complex business landscape, organizations are also using Big Data
Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...
and Analytics
Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...
for workforce planning. 80 percent of executives say their big data investments have been successful, and almost half say their organizations can measure the benefits from their projects. What’s more, according to Harvard Business Review, organizations that excel in data-driven decision-making are more productive and more profitable than their competitors on average. Maximizing workforce utilization for Access control
In the fields of physical security and information security, access control (AC) is the selective restriction of access to a place or other resource, while access management describes the process. The act of ''accessing'' may mean consuming ...
systems in presence of security constraints has been explored.
References
External links
"What You Need To Know About Workforce Optimization" ''Industry Week'' - 12 March 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workforce optimization
Business software
Human resource management