Workforce Management: Essentials for the Modern Contact Center

As global economic situations become increasingly uncertain, many companies turn to their contact centers to ensure they have their workforce optimized for efficiency. It can be challenging to know when to adjust operations to be flexible while still aiming to maintain continuity. This ebook can offer some insights into that evaluation process.

 

Here is the link to the landing page where readers can download the eBook:

https://www.playvox.com/ebooks/workforce-management-essentials-for-the-modern-contact-center/

Verint Cloud Platform Leverages AI, Analytics and Automation to Orchestrate Enterprise Resources for Improved Capacity, Flexibility and Agility 

Engage 2022, ORLANDO, Fla., June 14, 2022 — Customer engagement success is predicated on organizations embracing a channel-less mentality and a One Workforce approach to orchestrate the entire customer engagement workforce – both humans and bots – across the contact center, back office and branch.

This is the vision set forward by Dan Bodner, CEO of Verint® (Nasdaq: VRNT), The Customer Engagement Company, which powers 85 percent of the Fortune 100 and thousands of brands worldwide, at its Engage 2022 customer conference that kicked off this morning.

“You no longer need to organize your workforce by channels and dedicate teams to individual channels, something that can create organizational silos, pockets of inefficiency and limit customer journey flexibility,” said Bodner. “A One Workforce approach offers the ability to orchestrate the workforce as one large pool of resources, to allocate the right work to the right resource at the right time. With a One Workforce approach, you have the flexibility to allocate work to resources based on business priorities – and because such priorities can change quickly – the agility to make such changes in real-time.”

Moving to a One Workforce model is an imperative, as the Engagement Capacity Gap and the Great Resignation challenge organizations in scaling to meet today’s customer engagement needs.

The benefits of a One Workforce approach are a high-quality customer experience, no matter what channel is used or what type of employee (human, bot, hybrid) handles the engagement, the amplification of workforce efficiencies through an any-agent/any-channel workforce, and the improvement of scheduling flexibility and onboarding of additional channels as well as shared services and hybrid workforce models.

“Throughout the conference, attendees will gain insight on how the Verint Cloud Platform supports the One Workforce approach, supported by new innovations in Engagement Orchestration, Knowledge Management and Workforce Management, to empower employees and bots as they engage with the customer across all channels,” says Verint’s David Singer, vice president, go-to-market strategy.

With the Verint Cloud Platform, organizations can leverage AI, analytics and automation to orchestrate enterprise resources for improved responsiveness, operational efficiency, quality and compliance.

One Workforce elements include:

“One Workforce is not a single Verint product, rather it is an approach enabled by our platform that organizations can acquire in individual or multiple phases,” said Singer. “One of the important aspects of the Verint Cloud Platform is that our products can work together to multiply their value in ways that a single product cannot. Today, our customers can achieve the benefits of One Workforce by gradually deploying new capabilities available on our cloud platform.”

About Verint

Verint® (Nasdaq: VRNT) helps the world’s most iconic brands – including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies – build enduring customer relationships by connecting work, data and experiences across the enterprise. The Verint Customer Engagement portfolio draws on the latest advancements in AI and analytics, an open cloud architecture, and The Science of Customer Engagement to help customers close The Engagement Capacity Gap.

Verint. The Customer Engagement Company. Learn more at Verint.com.

This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” including statements regarding expectations, predictions, views, opportunities, plans, strategies, beliefs, and statements of similar effect relating to Verint Systems Inc. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and they are based on management's expectations that involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a detailed discussion of these risk factors, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022, and other filings we make with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and, except as required by law, Verint assumes no obligation to update or revise them or to provide reasons why actual results may differ.

 

VERINT, VERINT DA VINCI, THE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT COMPANY, BOUNDLESS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, THE ENGAGEMENT CAPACITY GAP and THE SCIENCE OF CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT are trademarks of Verint Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries. Verint and other parties may also have trademark rights in other terms used herein.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 24, 2022 – Playvox, the leading omnichannel contact center provider of Workforce Engagement Management solutions, announced today that Michelle Randall Burrows, contact center industry veteran, has joined the company as chief marketing officer (CMO).

“As Playvox scales to new heights, Michelle brings her expertise and drive to accelerate our growth in the coming years,” said Louis Bucciarelli, Playvox chief executive officer. “She’s known for putting customers and team members first, which makes her a natural leadership fit. Plus, Michelle’s impressive track record with SaaS enterprise solutions and her deep marketing expertise will ensure Playvox continues to be the Workforce Engagement Management solution of choice for contact centers worldwide.”

Before joining Playvox, Randall Burrows was the CMO of Splashtop, a remote access and help desk solution, and of Procare, a childcare management solution. She also served as the CMO of Serenova, now called Lifesize, the cloud-based call center technology with built-in video conferencing. Prior to that, she was vice president of marketing for Comcast Business. In this role, she led marketing and the West division’s 100-person loyalty contact center, and saw first-hand the deep relationship between agent engagement and customer experience.

“I’ve spent almost my entire career in technology and it’s hard to find a company that offers a solution customers love, has forward-thinking leaders and a remarkable culture. Playvox is the complete package,” said Randall Burrows. “The company has an industry recognized all-in-one solution, an experienced and knowledgeable leadership team, and a culture that puts customers at the heart of every decision.”

In addition to its commitment to customers, Randall Burrows said Playvox’s focus on democratizing the agent experience is critical. The company equips contact center agents with the tools, processes and solutions agents need to work efficiently and successfully from anywhere.

“When you enhance agent engagement, companies and the customers they serve enjoy better outcomes,” said Randall Burrows. “I look forward to building on Playvox’s strong foundation, and uncovering new ways the company can demonstrate its core belief that customer experience is everything.”

About Playvox

Playvox’s powerfully simple Workforce Engagement Management solutions transform customer care. We understand that exceptional employee engagement produces extraordinary customer experiences, and we love creating solutions that help our customers unlock the full potential in every employee and every interaction. Playvox powers the world’s fastest-growing brands and proudly serves expanding digital experience pioneers such as Noom, NuBank, SoFi, Stitch Fix, Twitter and Zendesk. Our agent-empowering suite of scheduling, performance, learning, quality feedback and gamification lives seamlessly in the modern support operations ecosystem with platforms like Amazon Connect, Salesforce, Slack, ServiceNow and Zendesk. Learn more:

Media Contact: 
Kate O’Neill Rauber
913.515.9836
me***@pl*****.com

MELVILLE, N.Y.

Verint® (Nasdaq: VRNT), The Customer Engagement Company, today announced that it has received top scores in multiple customer satisfaction categories according to DMG Consulting LLC’s 2022/2023 Workforce Management for the Enterprise Report*—including a perfect 5.0 out of 5.0 in the Overall Vendor Satisfaction category for the fourth consecutive year.

The latest report provides an in-depth analysis of the workforce management (WFM) market, its competitive landscape, vendors, product suites, technology and innovation. The report also explores back-office and branch WFM applications and enterprise market opportunities. In consideration of current events – the Great Resignation, historically low unemployment rates in the U.S. and post-pandemic impacts – the report provides insightful analysis of the business, market and technology trends and challenges confronting contact centers.

For the fourth consecutive year, customers gave Verint a perfect score (5.0 out of 5.0) in overall vendor satisfaction. The company also received the top score or tied for the top score in nine out of 10 vendor satisfaction categories including product satisfaction, implementation satisfaction and product innovation.  In WFM product capabilities ratings, Verint achieved perfect scores in 11 out of 11 categories. Verint also achieved the top score or tied for the top score in eight out of 10 WFM suite module categories including adaptive real-time intelligent intraday management, and agent self-service.

“The days of rigid WFM solutions that required contact centers to modify their workforce planning and scheduling processes to conform to the system are past,” notes Donna Fluss, president, DMG Consulting. “WFM solutions are increasingly flexible and responsive to the needs of their enterprise customers, and they are getting better with each new release. The newer solutions are built to handle both voice and digital channels, including transactions that pivot between agents and channels.”

“We are honored that our customers have awarded Verint’s Workforce Management solution with such high satisfaction scores once again,” says Verint’s Celia Fleischaker, chief marketing officer. “It’s rewarding to see the innovation we bring to our customers’ evolving needs is having a positive impact—like advanced scheduling and forecasting capabilities that support the hybrid workforce and complex environments where agents dynamically move from one channel to another.”

Verint Workforce Management is available as part of the Verint Customer Engagement Cloud Platform and leverages artificial intelligence-infused automation and new mobile tools to streamline forecasting and scheduling and improve employee engagement. The solution offers an intuitive, modern, user experience that streamlines scheduling with fewer clicks and screens, making common tasks more efficient for workforce managers and simplifying the path to proficiency for new users. It reduces time and effort, taking into account sick and overtime employees, user skills and multilingual capabilities, time zone variations, and employment requirements. The solution also elevates candidate quality, accelerates time-to-hire and enhances employee retention through Intelligent Interviewing capabilities. With Verint Workforce Management, managers have the tools to meet service level agreements (SLAs) while also providing the workforce with the flexible, work-from-anywhere schedules they require.

About Verint

Verint® (Nasdaq: VRNT) helps the world’s most iconic brands – including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies – build enduring customer relationships by connecting work, data and experiences across the enterprise. The Verint Customer Engagement portfolio draws on the latest advancements in AI and analytics, an open cloud architecture, and The Science of Customer Engagement to help customers close The Engagement Capacity Gap.

Verint. The Customer Engagement Company. Learn more at Verint.com.

*DMG Consulting LLC 2022/2023 Workforce Management for the Enterprise Report. March 2022

This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” including statements regarding expectations, predictions, views, opportunities, plans, strategies, beliefs, and statements of similar effect relating to Verint Systems Inc. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and they are based on management’s expectations that involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a detailed discussion of these risk factors, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022, and other filings we make with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and, except as required by law, Verint assumes no obligation to update or revise them or to provide reasons why actual results may differ.

VERINT, VERINT DA VINCI, THE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT COMPANY, BOUNDLESS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, THE ENGAGEMENT CAPACITY GAP and THE SCIENCE OF CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT are trademarks of Verint Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries. Verint and other parties may also have trademark rights in other terms used herein.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 4, 2022 – Playvox, the leading CRM-connected omnichannel contact center provider of Workforce Engagement Management solutions, is launching its new Capacity Planner solution at the Society for Workforce Planning Professionals Annual Conference April 4-6 in Nashville, Tenn.

The reimagined Capacity Planner moves long-term forecasting from a one-and-done annual burden, to a dynamic, integrated component of workforce management. This latest functionality seamlessly integrates with ongoing scheduling and supports visibility, long-term workforce budgeting and forecasting, and dynamic staff planning.

Hiring shortages and the current business environment present contact center leaders with unique challenges. With the Capacity Planner, which is part of the Playvox Workforce Management solution, contact center leaders can:

At 8:45 a.m. CT on Wednesday, April 6, Kristyn Emenecker, Playvox’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, will lead the SWPP Annual Conference workshop, “And Now We R.O.C. – Radically Operationalized Capacity Planning.” The session will focus on how to define and implement dynamic capacity planning in modern real-time contact centers. Emenecker will also cover the top five ways capacity planning must change to effectively address daily scheduling needs.

“The Capacity Planner enables Playvox’s customers to successfully and nimbly navigate these times of economic disruption and technology transformation,” said Emenecker. “We’re proud to launch this reimagined product during the SWPP Annual Conference, and to give attendees the first look at this exciting new take on long-term planning for service operations.”

About Playvox:

Playvox’s powerfully simple Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) solutions transform customer care.  We understand that exceptional employee engagement produces extraordinary customer experiences, and we love creating tools that help our customers unlock the full potential in every employee and every interaction. Playvox powers the world’s fastest-growing brands and proudly serves expanding DX pioneers such as Noom, NuBank, SoFi, Stitch Fix, Twitter and Zendesk. Our agent-empowering suite of scheduling, performance, learning, quality feedback and gamification lives seamlessly in the modern support operations ecosystem with tools like Amazon Connect, Salesforce, Slack, ServiceNow and Zendesk.

Learn more:

Media Contact: 

Kate O’Neill Rauber
913.515.9836
me***@pl*****.com

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – April 4, 2022 – The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) has announced Jessie Cessna of Cigna as the winner of the 2022 Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award, which recognizes a workforce management professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry.

“We are continually amazed by the quality of nominees for this award, and are so thrilled to recognize Jessie as this year’s winner,” said Vicki Herrell, Executive Director of SWPP. “Through her leadership and vision, she was able to achieve great results for her company and their customers in the workforce management arena.”

The other finalists for the award include Kanchan Basu of Dish Network, Jeffrey Bretana of Navy Federal Credit Union, Steven Miles of TTEC, and Darrin Scholes of First Tech Federal Credit Union. The winner was announced at the 20th SWPP Annual Conference, which was held in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 4-6, 2022.

Jessie Cessna is Resource Planning Director for Cigna insurance with over 4000 agents using Genesys Decisions, IEX, Intradiem, Cisco, and Verint Quality. She is highly organized and has a process improvement background, along with a communication degree that has provided a very effective communication path with the operation. She holds a Green Belt in Six Sigma, and describes herself as a utility player. She has led all different types of WFM functions, including Capacity Planning, Demand Forecasting, Scheduling and Real-Time Management so she has a well-rounded approach to workforce planning.

Jessie has been in WFM for 18 Years including 10 years at JP Morgan Chase working in various roles. She has been with Cigna for two years, supporting 4,200 FTE in a global setting that handle over 36 million contacts annually. She leads a team of 23 analysts that handle scheduling, forecasting and planning in WFM and she has implemented both Quality and WFM tools. She was originally brought onto Cigna in a Principal role to facilitate process improvement and serve as Chief of Staff for the Managing Director. She quickly received the opportunity (after less than four months at Cigna) to take on the Planning Team.

Since coming to Cigna, Jessie has been instrumental in driving value-add changes into the workforce planning process as well has supporting the implementation of workforce planning at the enterprise level. Using her extensive knowledge while focusing on building a highly-skilled team has enabled her to drive efficiencies and new methodologies that have contributed to significant savings to the organization.

Jessie developed an end-to-end process for tracking initiatives impacting forecasting and capacity planning models. This process was designed to prevent overlapping benefits, prioritize scheduling of initiatives, and highlight the changes to forecast assumptions (i.e., Average Handle Time (AHT), Demand, Shrinkage, etc.). The result of this process enabled Jessie and her team to accurately assess the impact of multiple layered initiatives to capacity and performance and contributed to an operational savings of $21M.

Jessie’s team also includes a group focused on Data and Insights, where they have been able to develop visualization to help the business be more informed on their year-over-year and month-over-month KPIs, along with Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) waterfalls (traditionally created in Excel) now created in Tableau. Now they have the ability to see these waterfall charts that show information in 47 different cuts with a click of a button.

Jessie has had many other accomplishments throughout her tenure with Cigna, including:
• Creating a new data & visualization tool that provided better business intelligence while reducing overall planning time by 40 hours.
• Implementing new forecast models and methodologies resulting in a 9% improvement in forecast accuracy equating to $500,000 in savings.
• Maintaining a 3-5% forecast variance throughout the pandemic.
• Developing an Average Speed of Answer (ASA) modeling tool, that was leveraged for the first time during the 2022 peak season. This tool increased the precision of the interval level ASA forecast and reduced the processing time for this information from two days to a matter of minutes.
• Enabling better decision-making for hiring, staffing, and scheduling.
• Setting clear expectations on performance for all levels of the organization.
• Increasing automation within the planning process resulting in $50,000 of time savings.

Jessie describes herself as a servant leader, most importantly creating a culture of trust. She builds high-performing, engaged teams and she is always looking after the welfare of her team and how it will help the greater good.

The SWPP Board of Advisors selected the five finalists from nominations submitted on the SWPP website. The Workforce Management Professional of the Year award is chosen from the five finalists by the Board of Advisors and announced at the SWPP Annual Conference.

About SWPP
The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) is an organization devoted to facilitating education and networking opportunities among workforce planners across all industries. Membership in SWPP is available to all workforce planning professionals and other interested parties from consulting and vendor organizations. Both individual memberships and corporate membership options are available, with full benefits and costs outlined on the organization’s website at www.swpp.org.

The Enhanced Agentless Outbound Communication Tool Increases Response Rate for Proactive Customer & Prospect Outreach

INDIANAPOLIS, October 7, 2021 – Sharpen Technologies, developers of the agent-first omnichannel cloud contact center platform, released its new outbound tool, OmniOut, which provides agentless omnichannel outbound communications combined with AI-driven automation, to create personalized use cases with better response rates.

Most people, 97%, reject or ignore phone calls from traditional outbound dialers. But 98% open an SMS in the first five minutes. With OmniOut, contact centers can now more intelligently sequence text messages, emails, and voice call back options to send appointment reminders, payment notices, deal promotions, and new prospect recruiting. And, its agentless capabilities use logical sequencing to create fully automated and consistent outreach on multiple channels so that agents can focus on pre-qualified interactions and customers can self-serve when it suits them, leading to a more efficient and effective experience.

“People simply can’t be tricked into answering the phone anymore,” said Kevin Schatz, Sharpen’s Chief Technology Officer. “Traditional methods have shown declining effectiveness for years with existing dialers having accomplished little more than training people to ignore the voice channel. We designed OmniOut to be a true evolution of outbound methods.”

“We built our inbound omnichannel to make interacting easier for agents and customers. Now we’ve done that with outbound,” added Sharpen’s CXO Adam Settle. “And today’s release adds new agentless options into our existing platform using our existing inbound CRM integration and unified reporting capabilities. This adds efficiency to your outbound efforts. It’s never been easier to create automated, high-touch experience–for sales and service teams.”

OmniOut is included in the Sharpen platform at no extra charge. Find more information on OmniOut here.

About Sharpen Technologies

Sharpen Technologies is the world’s first, truly agent-focused contact center platform built in the cloud for the cloud. The omnichannel platform lets users work from anywhere, seamlessly moving between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media etc., all in real-time and in a single interaction. Frost & Sullivan recognized Sharpen for its “dramatic ROI,” “out-of-the-box integrations,” “powerful reporting and analytics tools,” and “demonstrable value”. Inc. named the company a part of their Inc. 5000, the magazine’s annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in 2020 and 2021. And, it is a “Best Places to Work” by both Inc. (2019) and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce (2017, 2018, 2021). Visit Sharpen on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the Sharpen blog.

INDIANAPOLIS, October 19, 2021 Sharpen Technologies, developers of the agent-first, omnichannel, cloud contact center platform, signed a Master Agent Agreement with PlanetOne, the IT channel’s preferred business partner for identifying and delivering cloud-based and connectivity solutions to small and midsize businesses and enterprises. With the agreement, PlanetOne’s growing nationwide network of agents and channel partners can now access and sell Sharpen’s award-winning CCaaS contact center solution built for the mid-market.

Sharpen is the contact center solution that lets users work from anywhere. Users can move between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media, etc., all in real-time and in a single interaction. With performance management built into its core functionality, at no extra cost, agents know what is expected of them. And, they have visibility into how they’re performing against those expectations. As a result, they see how their work is impacting the business and where to focus their attention in interactions. And they can do it all without having to leave their queue. It also lets managers easily coach agents and provide feedback, keeping their teams productive and aligned.

“Along with providing hard-dollar ROI, we’ve built Performance Tiles into our core contact center platform,” said Joe Davis, Sharpen’s Director of Channel & Partnerships. “Although performance management products have been available in the contact center for the past five years or so, they’ve traditionally come as an expensive add-on from specialty vendors who host a bolt-on integration. Given the cost and complexity of those integrations, it’s been an unreachable standard for small to mid-sized contact center operations. Until now. Sharpen includes it in their core license at no additional cost—a great solution for the businesses PlanetOne and their partners serve.”

One customer using Sharpen Performance Tiles reported an average 8% reduction in handle times and a projected savings of $1.5 million annually. Another experienced a 20% improvement in wrap-up times, a 17% improvement in hold times, a 12% reduction in average handle times, and an 8% reduction in staffing required for a yearly savings of $630,000. A third, a home warranty provider, recently improved their Active Call Resolution significantly, reducing their call volumes by 16% while improving their customer satisfaction scores and saving $61,000 per year.

“With organizations shifting to hybrid work and work-from-anywhere environments, call centers need the right technology in place to provide a fast, personalized and consistent customer experience, regardless of when or where their agents are working from,” said Karie Atwood, Vice President of Supplier Management, PlanetOne. “Sharpen’s innovative CCaaS platform is a built-in-the-cloud, omnichannel solution that provides a tremendous amount of features and functionality tailored to meet the evolving needs of modern call center operators. PlanetOne is proud to be signing on as one of Sharpen’s Master Agents, and we look forward to using their solutions to help our partners take advantage of the growing opportunity to help their clients improve the call center experience.”

Find more information about Sharpen partner opportunities here.

About Sharpen Technologies

Sharpen Technologies is the world’s first, truly agent-focused contact center platform built in the cloud for the cloud. The omnichannel platform lets users work from anywhere, seamlessly moving between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media etc., all in real-time and in a single interaction. Sharpen was recognized by Frost & Sullivan’s Contact Center Buyers Guide, North America for its “dramatic ROI,” “out-of-the-box integrations,” “powerful reporting and analytics tools,” and “demonstrable value.” In 2020 and 2021, it made the Inc. 5000, the magazine’s annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies and came in #1 as the fastest-growing private company in central Indiana in Indiana Business Journal’s 2021 Fast25 ranking. And, it is a “Best Places to Work” by both Inc. (2019) and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce (2017, 2018, 2021). Visit Sharpen on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the Sharpen blog.

About PlanetOne

PlanetOne is the IT channel and telecom industry’s preferred business partner for identifying and delivering cloud-based and connectivity solutions to small and midsize businesses and enterprises. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., the industry pioneer is celebrated by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies and regarded as a top-performing partner for hundreds of telecom agents and channel partners nationwide. In 2018, PlanetOne was named one of the Best Places to Work by The Business Intelligence Group. In 2015 and 2017, PlanetOne ranked No. 1 in the Phoenix Business Journal’s annual “Best Places to Work” survey, and has been recognized as one of Arizona’s largest privately-held companies as part of the Arizona Corporate Excellence (ACE) Awards program, since 2016. The award-winning PlanetOne Partner Program is also featured in CRN’s annual Partner Program Guide. To learn more, visit www.planetone.net. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

INDIANAPOLIS, October 4, 2021 – Sharpen Technologies, developers of the agent-first omnichannel cloud contact center platform, signed a Master Agent Agreement with Intelisys, a channel-centric distributor of the hardware, software, connectivity and cloud services businesses need to support the hybrid workplace of the future. The partnership allows Intelisys’ network of Sales Partners to offer Sharpen’s award-winning CCaaS technology to its customers and prospects.

Sharpen lets users work from anywhere, seamlessly moving between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media, etc., all in real-time and in a single interaction. With performance management built into its core CCaaS functionality, at no extra cost, agents are empowered with the knowledge of what is expected of them, how their work is impacting the business, and where they need to focus their attention in interactions—all without having to leave their queue. It also allows managers to easily coach agents and provide feedback, keeping their teams productive and aligned.

“Sharpen’s platform continues to gain traction in the marketplace, based on our unique ‘agent-first’ focus which yields a guaranteed 5-15% improvement in agent efficiency in the first 60 days and a proven ROI,” said Joe Davis, Sharpen’s Director of Channel & Partnerships. “We’re excited to expand our channel presence with the thousands of participating agents at Intelisys, as Sharpen provides comprehensive, expert pre-sales resources, combined with direct post-go-live support that ensures a best-in-class customer experience.”

Cory Shehan, director, Supplier Services at Intelisys said, “The demand for contact center solutions has skyrocketed as organizations have shifted to hybrid work. Sharpen has positioned themselves as a strong contender in omnichannel contact center solutions and we are thrilled to add them to our growing portfolio of top suppliers. This partnership with Sharpen will allow our Sales Partners to help their clients drive a better employee and customer experience and higher ROI.”

For more information about Sharpen partner opportunities, visit https://sharpencx.com/partners/.

About Sharpen Technologies

Sharpen Technologies is the world’s first, truly agent-focused contact center platform built in the cloud for the cloud. The omnichannel platform lets users work from anywhere, seamlessly

moving between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media etc., all in real-time and in a single interaction. Sharpen was recognized by Frost & Sullivan’s Contact Center Buyers Guide, North America for its “dramatic ROI,” “out-of-the-box integrations,” “powerful reporting and analytics tools,” and “demonstrable value.” In 2020 and 2021, it made the Inc. 5000, the magazine’s

annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. And, it is a “Best Places to Work” by both Inc. (2019) and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce (2017, 2018, 2021). Visit Sharpen on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the Sharpen blog.

About Intelisys, a ScanSource company

Intelisys, a ScanSource company, is the nation’s leading technology services provider of business communications services, including voice, data, access, cable, collaboration, wireless and cloud. They’re dedicated to one thing – serving the needs and accelerating the success of the industry’s top producing telecom sales agents, IT Solution Providers, VARs, MSPs and integrators, as they leverage the power of recurring revenue in their businesses. Intelisys is a part of ScanSource, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCSC), a leading provider of technology products and solutions. ScanSource is at the center of the technology solution delivery channel, connecting businesses and providing solutions for their complex needs. They sell through multiple, specialized routes-to-market with digital, physical product and services offerings from the world’s leading suppliers of point-of-sale (POS), payments, barcode, physical security, unified communications and collaboration, cloud and telecom services. ScanSource enables its sales partners to create, deliver and manage solutions for end-customers across almost every vertical market. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, ScanSource was named one of the 2020 Best Places to Work in South Carolina and on FORTUNE magazine’s 2021 List of World’s Most Admired Companies. ScanSource ranks #655 on the Fortune 1000. To learn more, visit www.Intelisys.com and www.scansource.com.

INDIANAPOLIS, September 28, 2021 – The Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the world’s top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run, honored Sharpen’s COO Pam Hynes with a Gold Stevie for Female Executive of the Year in the Business Products –11 to 2,500 Employees category. Judges called Pam an “innovative leader with a high impact.” And, they noted her “impressive track record of achievement that has seen entrepreneurial growth, innovation, and leadership at its best.”

In her 33-year career, Pam has been instrumental in building not one but two successful technology companies. Her first, Software Artistry, made history in Indiana by being the first tech company in the state to go public. Interactive Intelligence, her second, created thousands of jobs around the world and sold for $1.4 billion in 2016.

Since Pam joined Sharpen in 2017, the software company has made the 2020 and 2021 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. And the 2021 Fast 25—Indiana Business Journal’s (IBJ) list of the 25 fastest-growing companies in the region. It has also been named a Best Place to Work by both Inc. (2019) and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce (2021). In 2020, Pam was named a Woman of Influence by IBJ.

“This achievement is only possible because of the great teams around me throughout my career,” said Pam. “I’ve been very fortunate to work with and for very talented entrepreneurs who were innovative, collaborative, and inclusive. I‘ve been blessed and truly enjoy what I do.”

More than 1,500 nominations from organizations and individuals around the world were submitted to the awards this year for consideration in categories including COVID-19 Response, Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, and Startup of the Year, among others. Stevie Award-winning nominations were submitted by organizations in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.

“Pam is one of the reasons Sharpen is a great place to work,” noted Sharpen CEO Bill Gildea. “When you combine her unwavering commitment to ensure our customers’ and employees’ success, along with her leadership skills, attention to detail, and ability to hire–and mentor–great team members, you can see why she has been so successful at every stop she’s made.”

A list of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners by category, can be found here. 

About Sharpen Technologies

Sharpen Technologies is the world’s first, truly agent-focused contact center platform built in the cloud for the cloud. The omnichannel platform lets users work from anywhere, seamlessly moving between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media etc., all in real-time and in a single interaction. Sharpen was recognized by Frost & Sullivan for its “dramatic ROI,” “out-of-the-box integrations,” “powerful reporting and analytics tools,” and “demonstrable value.” In 2020 and 2021, it was named to the Inc. 5000, the magazine’s annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. And, it is a Best Places to Work by both Inc. (2019) and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce (2017, 2018, 2021). Visit Sharpen on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the Sharpen blog.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

cross