2020 has been a unique and challenging year for many businesses. Contact center workforce management is no different, with many companies being forced to change the way they work and operate seemingly overnight.
So, what should workforce management (WFM) professionals be on the lookout for in 2021? Here are five unique predictions from Daryl Gonos, CEO of CommunityWFM, on what to expect in the coming months and throughout the year. One of Daryl’s predictions recently was mentioned on Forbes by customer experience thought leader Adrian Swinscoe so here are all of them!
1) Cloud migration – “2021 will be, without question, the most important year for cloud migration. COVID-19 has forced a rapid move away from on-prem technologies, and contact centers are having to find well-integrated technology suites that can help them compensate for a changing work environment.”
2) Single-point migration – “The market is clamoring for cloud solutions, and the time for piecemeal cloud migration is over. Contact center technology providers that lack a fully integrated WFM platform will be forced to round out their technology suites to address the needs of the market.”
3) Agent empowerment – “Contact centers must focus on agent-empowered tools in 2021, because work-life balance is more sensitive than ever before. Shift-swaps, split-shifts, and vacation management tools will give contact center agents more options to work when and where they desire. Greater information about their own performance is crucial because managers can’t work as closely with their staff as they have before.”
4) WFH will continue to rise in importance – “Workforce optimization in the contact center is taking on even greater importance in a remote work environment. The quality and security of remote internet connections so that agents can provide quality service has been even more critical. In 2021, the contact center is everywhere. Companies have been forced to adopt massive technology changes to accommodate work during the pandemic. We’re not going right back to cubicles and mandatory attendance inside commercial offices in 2021. Managers and agents have already figured out how to work well remotely, and I think COVID-19 has left an imprint on this industry that has changed its trajectory forever.”
5) Working across different and new channels – “One of the most difficult challenges contact centers will continue to face is keeping a consistent experience across the contact center as customers interact through disparate channels. Connecting customer interactions from phone conversations, chat sessions, and social media to a single individual is still a challenge from a technology perspective. In addition, we will see continued advancements in AI-based self-service channels to help resolve customer issues to reduce the volume of live interactions.”
Conclusion
Workforce management solutions for the contact center in 2021 will be focused on empowering your agents with cross-channel cloud solutions that will enable their mobility and increase morale. Businesses that are able to leverage WFM software to align their teams with their technology will increase their odds of success in 2021 and the years beyond.
