CCWFM Introdocution
CCWFM Introduction
Preface
This book proposes a new approach to delivering customer service, specifically in contact center environments where queues form. While contact centers will be the primary focus of this book, the concepts presented may be applied to a wide range of customer service functions. The book is written as a manual of sorts, with the heaviest focus on a function known as workforce management. Workforce management is a job function in all contact centers where teams strive to forecast contact center demand (the calls arriving), schedule the supply (employees servicing those calls), and adjust the plan when variance is introduced. This book also represents a work in progress, as change is constant across all facets of life. To join the discussion, I have formed an online community known as WFMLabs.org - please feel free to join the entire community for conversations on many new approaches being developed by both myself and my colleagues across the contact center industry.
I strive to keep this book simple, where one can quickly reference dynamic and fluid conversations by visiting us online at WFMLabs.org. This print version is divided into three sections:
- Section 1: Introduction: Time for Change
- Section 2: Contact Centers
- Section 3: Workforce Management
In section 1, Introduction: Time for Change, I aim to provide the basis for why I am writing this book, the tremendous change in front of us post-pandemic (2023 & beyond), and why successful organizations need to change to meet customer expectations forward. The introduction will provide a vision, the challenges customer service organizations face, and a new approach and summarize the steps needed to transform your customer service operation.
In section 2, Contact Centers, I will leverage a "from" and "to" approach to describe contact centers. This looks at the contact centers from a historical approach (the 1960s up through 2022) and describes a vision for the future of contact centers in 2023 and beyond. I will look at how technologies have helped evolve contact centers over the past 50 years but contrast the abrupt change introduced by a once-in-a-lifetime type event, in this case, the Global COVID-19 pandemic. This book will cover a range of topics but will emphasize the need for a new focus on what makes contact centers successful; their people.
In section 3, Workforce Management, again, I will leverage the historical view of the function (from) and the future of this discipline or where we need to journey (to). This section will detail the goals, roles, processes, relationships, and technology needed to transform workforce management for the next generation of contact center operations. And while workforce management is one of many functions required to operate a contact center effectively, I offer a view that posits workforce management as the catalyst for reinventing your customer service organization. For the past several decades, workforce management has been designed to optimize staffing levels in contact centers, which is critical to those watching expenses and bottom-line company profit. This book examines the workforce management framework in a new light, where employees are prioritized first and where automation & simulation technologies can be leveraged to benefit employees while delivering superior results to customers & shareholders.
