Aberdeen Group Report Cites Intraday Management as Key Differentiator of Leading Contact Centers

Improved customer experience through efficient use of agent resources top objective for workforce optimization programs

ATLANTA (June 10, 2014) – Intradiem, the leading provider of intraday automation solutions, is making available a new report by the Aberdeen Group that cites intraday management technology as a critical component of workforce optimization (WFO) success. It also ranks improving the customer experience as the top objective driving contact center WFO programs.

According to the report, Contact Center Workforce Optimization: Secrets to Unlock Agent Productivity and Performance, 60 percent of WFO leaders have adopted intraday management technologies compared to 30 percent of followers.

“Intraday management tools help companies manage fluctuating agent demand throughout the day based on client traffic and agent productivity,” Omer Minkara, Aberdeen research director, states in his report. “By doing so, it helps companies optimize staffing levels and reduce the likelihood of overstaffing and understaffing.”

In May 2014, Aberdeen surveyed 83 businesses regarding their contact center WFO activities. Fifty-nine percent stated that their top objective was to “improve the quality of customer interactions,” compared to 32 percent in 2012. The top objective cited in the June 2012 report, “improving agent productivity and utilization,” fell from 65 percent in 2012 to 44 percent in the current report.

“Aberdeen’s report provides insight regarding the shift in priorities driving contact center WFO programs,” said Matt McConnell, CEO, Intradiem. “The rubber meets the road when companies take action to reconcile this new requirement with existing productivity constraints.”

The report points out that organizations are realizing the impact of “empowered customers” on the business. As a result these companies are focusing more on customer satisfaction rather than just operational improvements. According to Minkara, “Companies today are 44 percent less likely than two years ago to cite improving agent productivity and performance as a top objective. They are, however, 84 percent more likely than in 2012 to indicate improving the quality of client interactions as a top objective driving their WFO programs.”

Though delighting customers is a top priority of WFO leaders, productivity and performance remain important as well. In order to be successful, Minkara says, companies must strike a balance between delivering an outstanding customer experience and making the most effective use of agent resources.

Some challenges contact centers face are increased customer expectations, delivering consistent customer care across multiple channels, and unpredictable customer traffic resulting in overstaffing and understaffing. However, successful contact centers meet customers’ needs while seeking opportunities to make better use of their agent resources – specifically, technology tools to help hire, train and manage the contact center workforce.

“Contact center WFO programs today are about more than just scheduling the right amount of agents and matching customer issues with agent skills,” said Minkara. “The leading contact centers build their efforts around improving the customer experience across every touch point. This becomes even more important as 99 percent of contact centers use at least two channels to interact with clients.”

According to the report, leading contact center WFO users optimize agent scheduling, streamline process and organizational management, maximize training results and optimize performance for continuous improvements.

“Successful contact centers are able to interact in any channel of communication the customer chooses and can deliver a consistent experience across them all,” said McConnell. “Intraday automation technology helps contact centers make the most of their agent resources and creates a frontline workforce that can react to changing conditions in real time.”

Visit this link to download a copy of the report.

Intradiem is the only complete Intraday Automation solution provider for frontline workforces including Contact Center, Back Office, Retail and Mobile. The SaaS-based solution automates intraday management and real-time processes and turns frontline workforces into real-time workforces that can adapt and respond to changing conditions and events throughout the day. The result is a more agile frontline workforce that can adjust in real-time to deliver a dramatically better and more consistent customer experience at reduced cost. Over 300,000 frontline workers use Intradiem's solution every day.
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