Hi There

I am involved in a product selection for suitable workforce management software for the various contact centers within our company (based in Cape Town, South Africa). The packages are all similar. Which packages are you using and how are they being used effectively?

Regards

Fatheela

Over the last 3 years the top 2 workforce management software packages that I've noticed being selected and/or used, were eWorkforce Management (used to be known as TCS), owned by Aspect in Australia and sold by CallScan; and Blue Pumpkin - sold by Premier Technologies in Australia. You should be able to find local suppliers in Sth Africa, else check out their websites. Both are sophisticated so require skilled resource planners to maximise results, but do a very good job. Integration to major playersin the PABX & ACD market are not a problem.

Good luck,

regards,
Lyn Trewenack
Director ST2 Pty Ltd
(Brisbane, Australia)
email : lyn.trewenack@bigpond.com

Hi Fatheela,

Please find my top tips when selecting WorkForce Management:

1. Does the WFM solution fit your operation?

· Change should be gradual, planned and managed, not a big bang!
You and your WFM supplier will need realistic expectations and claims.
· Will the system integrate easily with existing and future technology?
· Will it be easy to implement in the operations and IT departments?
· Can it be tailored to match your unique style of rostering?
· You shouldn’t have to change the way you do business. WFM should compliment not change the world.
· System should be able to allow you to keep agents, managers, and customers happy, a win-win situation


2. Training

· Is it on your site or at another location?
· How many days are involved? Is this sufficient? (5 days – Q-Max)
· Will your trainer be an experienced Contact Centre professional or someone who has no experience of running contact centres?
· Will training berelevant to your business? Will it be tailored and using your data?
· Will training include the Principles & Practices of WFM?
· Will you get hands-on self-training tutorials to consolidate your knowledge?
· Did techie boffins or people who have actually done the job write the Help screens?
· You shouldn’t be alone when the training’s over! Will you have contact with your trainer after the event?


3. Experience and pedigree of WFM supplier

· Find out about the Contact Centre experience of WFM supplier and the people who work for them ie trainers and support staff
· WFM supplier needs a realistic approach – not “you will be able to change the world in ½ a day!”
· How many sites actually use the system? (Q-Max – 300) They can’t all be wrong – WFM supplier needs to have a proven track record.
· Ask for reference site visits these are your chance to ask what the supplier and the system are really like!
· Read customer case studies on web sites and in magazines.
· Do WFM supplier’s customer’s contact centres match yours in size and composition?
· Will there be a long-term commitment to making your investment a success?


4. Is the WFM right for your call centre?

· Can the system cope with Fixed, Rotating and Reserve Shifts?
· Does it support Rota working?
· Does it have full support for the Working Time Directive?
· Will it fit in well with your culture?
· Remember you can buy an American Cadillac and it would get you from A to B in a certain amount of luxury. However, when you came to use it the steering wheel would be on the wrong side, there would be lots of gadgets that you would play with once and never touch again, servicing would be difficult and it would use far too much petrol. It is not just about getting to you destination, but how you get there!


5. Easy to use/saves management time

· WFM must save not use up more time? You need realistic, not pie-in-the sky, estimates. Question your WFM supplier’s logic.
· Does it have Email capability? If so this will save time & paper.
· Is there scope for “Thin client” capability? This will save time and let Agents do some of the work for you
· Is there easy Service Optimisation? For example, can you easily shuffle breaks, plan meetings, call work/non call work, overtime, today and for future weeks
· Will scheduling take days or minutes?


6. What If? Capability

· You will need accurate Long Range Forecasts – Trend & Event Driven.
· Financial cost predictions are important to senior managers.
· % PCA & Time To Answer (TTA) Service Level predictions will allow you to plan effectively and avoid poor customer service.
· Will the systemshow you how to do the best you can with the resource you have available?
· WFM should be able to provide you with shift scheduling scenarios. For example, full set of shifts or additional shifts (for recruitment) and reserve shifts.
· WFM should allow you to undertake effective recruitment planning campaigns.
· Absence planning capabilities will provide you with a decision support tool that puts you in control.


7. Multi-Channel capabilities

· Any WFM system should be able to schedule telephone calls (demand work) – multi routes
· E-Mails/Faxes/Admin (non-demand work)
· Combination of two - Skills blending
· Extra hidden cost? (with Q-Max there is none)
· Supports Skills Based Routing


8. Support/Maintenance package

· Clarify exactly what’s included and what’s not.
· Do you get a dedicated Account Manager?
· Is there telephone & e-mail support?
· Is there support from IT & experienced contact centre professionals?
· UK/European based support team
· Is there secure area on the Website – Peer to peer networking, Support Notes, Bulletin Board
· How often are user forums?
· How about software version upgrades (Q-Max recently updated from V5 to V6) how oftendo these happen and what help is available?

9. Management Information

· Management information should provide best practice KPI’s (key performance indicators) based on real contact centre knowledge.
· Management information should be useful information for managing the call centre.
· KPI’s should be developed and refined based on customer feedback
· You should be able to see KPI’s globally or by drilling down
· WFM needs to provide clear financial cost and % service level breakdowns

10. Price

· Is the price model all in one or modular?
· Is pricing up front?
· Are there any hidden extras? – No surprises please!
· Are upgrades included in the price or will you be charged through the nose ata later date? You must ask now!
· Will your WFM supplier penalise you for growth? Prices for new items/increase licences should be as if you bought it at the outset
· Can your WFM supplier show you clear evidence of Cost Justification?

11. Future Development of Software

· Customer power! The customer knows best!
· Will the WFM supplier listen to your suggestions for product development?
· Is the software developed and driven by boffins & marketers or by the customer?
· Will you be invited to regular user forums – customer feedback is vital to develop/improve software.
· More customers and users = best practice (Q-Max has over 300 user sites)
· Because of constant change expect a new version every 18 months.

12. A WFM that grows with your company

· WFM needs to be able to support single site & multi-site virtual set ups
· Do you get penalised on price for upgrading the size of licence?
· WFM supplier needs to be able to support your growing operation.

Best Regards,

Damian Moore
Q-Max Systems

T: 07946 739 544
E: damian@q-max.co.uk
W: www.q-max.co.uk

Hi Damian, welcome to 'Voice.

I see you've spent a fair bit of time typing out your tips there. If you'd prefer, I can set them up as a static resource (which would then form part of our resources section). People can add comments below staticarticles, but the real benefit is that you'll get your own byline and a free plug for your company (which can never hurt, seeing as we get tens of thousands of page views each month).

What say you?

John

My company just purchased several Blue Pumpkin Applications. We purchased The Blue Pumpkin Suite wich includes Director Enterprise(Schedular, Activity Manager(Tracks adherence and different type of daily events), Web Tools( allows reps to view schedules, request time off, and do shift swaps via the internet browser) Activity Manager also is web based. We have had some initial problems with the applications but all have been fixed now. There support is very willing to help and they are very friendly. I did have a problem with the training process but the issues were brought to their attention and we have been compensated for this. We are in the process of creating schedules right now. I would like to hear some other comments about Blue Pumkin if there are any out there.

Recently intorduced to Blue Pumpkin, now what I call the " Green squash", would be more than happy to tell you to stay away from it. Promises of a terrific WFM system were readily squashed after the multitude of issues that occur on a daily basis. The software is unstable at best and support for the product is less than stellar. It takes weeks to get issues resolved and even then they are work arounds. In fact, the software is going back and we are looking at IEX Total View solutions. Not only does it encompass the features the Green Squash does, it offeres much more and you can run multiple centers off one server opposed to the 5 BP takes.

Take it from me, unless you want to spend hours on the phone to get the software working, go with IEX.

Jason,

Your experience sounds painful and I hope you will resolve the issues you have experienced. I am however very surprised, Optimis have installed and implemented many Blue Pumpkin systems across Europe and India and the software has proven to be very reliable in all locations.

Fathella,

If you have gone a number of vendor reviews I would recommend that you talk with your suppliers and ask to visit a reference site. Make sure you pick one that best represents how you operate your call centre - I personally find even competitive centres are very open to talk about the software, practices and techniques that they use. You may feel more comfortable after having seen the products in a working environment.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Huw Jones
Product Marketing Manager
Optimis UK

Hi all, I would just like to congratulate Damian on your thorough, informative and well written post.

I have just had a conversation about WFM support (which means that shortly support and change management will be my responsibility!!). We will be using Vantage Point by Pipkins and implimenting across multiple sites / channels (30+ call centres) worldwide.

Any experience or information available from the community? I have read the help files, installed and played a bit.

Guidance would be appreciated.

Regards,

Ian