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Question:

What are the mobility capabilities of WFM solutions?

Answer:

Remote workers, whether performing their job responsibilities off-site temporarily as a result of the pandemic, or agents who regularly rotate between home and contact center locations, as well as dedicated work-at-home employees, depend on mobility to help them effectively and efficiently perform their jobs anytime, anywhere. And, mobile solutions enable on-site employees to complete self-service activities, view personal, team, and site performance results, and more, when they are not in the contact center. WFM solutions are increasingly providing role-based mobile capabilities for agents, supervisors and administrators via purpose-built apps for iOS, Android and other operating systems, or through optimized browser-based access.

Mobility features provide agents with 24/7 access to schedules and self-service capabilities, making it easy for them to view their schedule; sync work schedules with personal online calendars; request time off; view, initiate or accept shift trades; and make or request other schedule modifications (e.g., OT/VTO), from their smartphone or tablet. Mobile functionality also helps keep agents engaged by giving them access to: personal performance dashboards, gamification contests along with results and rewards; and communication channels that facilitate conversations with supervisors or peers.

Workforce management solutions that support mobile capabilities for supervisors enable them to monitor the real-time performance of staff in contact centers, back offices and branches, where the activities have a direct and measurable impact on the customer experience. Supervisors can receive critical real-time notifications and alerts, gain vital insight into the real-time adherence of on-site and work-at-home agents, and make schedule modifications for employees directly from a mobile device. 

Mobility enables administrators to support contact center personnel and applications remotely. The ability to effect system changes “on-the-fly” minimizes potential impacts to service quality and the customer experience when situations require immediate attention.

Although mobile-enabled contact center applications, including WFM, were becoming a necessity prior to the pandemic, enterprises began paying more attention to the benefits once the volume of work-at-home employees exploded. Many of the leading and contending WFM solutions provide full-featured mobile capabilities for agents and supervisors, however mobility for administrators remains a differentiator amongst the competitors.