NEW Generation WFO Technologies
With the increased complexity of contact center operations and conflicting critical success requirements, workforce management has become increasingly challenging. Using technologies developed over 15 years of research into advanced statistical and mathematical optimization, the AWO Portal answers the industry’s need by delivering breakthrough performance in workforce management, performance optimization, and agent empowerment.
AWO Portal’s New Generation WFM 2.0 technologies deliver a quantum leap in contact center performance and efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence built into the AWO Portal has knowledge an expert would use in planning and managing your workforce. It offers the utmost in ease-of-use allowing you to focus on the performance of your contact centers, while enjoying the automated expert forecasting and optimization skills provided by the Portal. AWO Portal’s artificial intelligence technology eliminates the complexity and performance issues faced with traditional WFM systems.
Advanced Forecasting technologies provided in the AWO Portal include the most advanced time-series forecasting methods such as Box-Jenkins ARIMA, Exponential Smoothing (over 10 versions), and Dynamic Regression. In contrast, traditional WFM systems rely on the outdated weighted moving averages-based forecasting technology. Some traditional WFM systems even require you to provide weights and other information regarding seasonal and trend patterns in your contact volume and AHT data, while others use simple methods to compute them. The AWO Portal not only offers the most advanced forecasting technologies, but also provides ac2’s artificial intelligence technology to ensure optimal forecasting performance and utmost in ease of use.
Concurrent Schedule Optimization technology available in the AWO Portal optimizes schedules concurrently to meet service level targets. In contrast, other WFM systems universally use incremental scheduling to generate schedules one-at-a-time, optimizing each schedule individually by itself. They apply the same scheduling steps as manual scheduling to generate schedules. The AWO Portal optimally generates schedules simultaneously to determine the best work/off days, daily start and end times, daily coffee and lunch breaks for your agents together to meet your service level objectives and minimize costs. Concurrent schedule optimization achieves unsurpassed efficiency levels and lowers total agent costs by 5-12% over other WFM systems.
Multi-criteria Schedule Bidding technologies provided in the AWO Portal facilitate schedule management significantly. Agents may be scheduled based on their preferences or availabilities, or through a bidding process. Schedule bidding uses agents’ schedule preferences and criteria like seniority, performance, adherence, etc. in assigning schedules. The AWO Scheduler Manager uses the new generation multi-criteria optimization technology to maximize fairness.
Multi-criteria Vacation Planning functionality facilitates vacation planning while providing utmost fairness and openness using a bidding process. Agents enter their vacation preferences over a period or entire year. Using criteria such as agent seniority, performance, adherence, etc., the AWO Vacation Planner uses AWO’s multi-criteria optimization technology to maximize fairness in assigning vacation slots.
Agent Lifestyle Self-Management is important to improve agent morale and job satisfaction and to minimize costs. Schedules meeting agent lifestyle needs are found to be one of the morale boosters listed in many employee surveys. The AWO Optimal Scheduler generates optimal schedules consistent with agents’ preferences while meeting the centers’ performance targets. The AWO Agent Workstation provides comprehensive agent lifestyle support capabilities for agents to manage their time and activities both at work and off work.
Integrated Strategic Planning module available in the AWO Portal uses the same advanced forecasting and concurrent optimal scheduling technologies to develop comprehensive plans for hiring and training new agents. Lacking strategic planning capabilities, traditional WFM systems are supplemented by deploying strategic planning modules from different vendors. These modules develop strategic plans using forecasting and scheduling technologies with accuracy and schedule efficiency levels different than that of the forecasting and scheduling technologies used in the traditional WFM systems. Integrated strategic planning uses the same advanced forecasting and scheduling technologies as the AWO Portal. Therefore, the high forecast accuracy and schedule efficiency levels included in strategic plans are consistent with the levels that the AWO Portal provides. This results in accurate and realistic strategic plans.
Performance Optimization together with the AWO Portal provides a single information source on performance and adherence. It collects and reports information you need to make adjustments to your plan as conditions in your contact centers change during an operating day. Moreover, the AWO Performance Optimizer also provides technology to re-forecast and re-optimize your plan through scheduling/canceling overtime and volunteer time off, meetings, and other activities, so that you can meet your performance targets. It also provides dashboards, scorecards at various levels for performance monitoring and management, and feedback to agents on their adherence to encourage self improvement.
