NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – April 7, 2025 – The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) has announced the five finalists for the 2025 Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award, which recognizes a workforce management professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry. The finalists are Bill Hodge of USAA, Cody Janiga-Stoll of Northwestern Mutual, Breanne Katrin of Delta Airlines, Rachele Scales of Insite Managed Solutions, and Cooper Taylor of 8x8.

“I am very proud to present these five workforce management professionals as finalists for this distinguished award,” said Vicki Herrell, SWPP Executive Director. “Each year, there are so many outstanding nominations that it continues to be a difficult task for the SWPP Board of Advisors to select the top five. Each one of these individuals has demonstrated great skills, leadership, and ability in our industry, as well as delivered measurable results for their companies.” The winner of the award will be announced at the SWPP Annual Conference, which is held in Nashville, Tennessee on April 22-24, 2025.

Bill Hodge is Forecasting Analyst Lead for USAA Insurance which provides call, chat, and social media, operating 24 X 7 with 4500 agents in 14 locations. They handle 1.7 million inbound calls per month utilizing technologies from Cisco, NICE, and EEM. The WFM team consists of 29 staff. He has a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix, and received the Wells Fargo Presidents Award in 2006.

Jen Aparicio, Director Workload Planning & Forecasting at USAA, stated: “As Forecasting Analyst Lead at USAA, Bill has consistently demonstrated exceptional skill, foresight, and dedication in their approach to workforce planning, resulting in significant positive impacts on our organization. His skills are grounded in practical experience, coupled with the development and implementation of complex statistical models (time series, driver-based,
and erlang) and simulation techniques (ExtendSim). His proven track record of process improvements, optimization, while mitigating risk is elite in the WFM industry.”

Bill has implemented WFM software and processes, resulting in demonstrable ROI. In addition, Bill has exemplified a proven ability to lead and collaborate with cross-functional diverse teams (operations, finance, risk, SMEs) to achieve business objectives. Bill's impact is particularly evident in his transformation of technical workforce tools. He spearheaded the conception, development, and implementation of a new Capacity Planning
Tool, resulting in over 250 hours of annual workload reduction (a savings of $180,000) for the USAA Workload Management team. This achievement was particularly impressive given the complex documentation required to meet Model Risk Management guidelines. Bill's collaborative approach, fostering strong relationships and clear communication, was instrumental in securing buy-in and ensuring full implementation.

Beyond these exceptional results, Bill possesses several key qualities, including:
• Strategic Thinking: Bill consistently anticipates future workforce needs and proactively develop strategies to address potential challenges. In 2024, Bill’s efforts drove a 13-point improvement in service level over plan and a $14.3 million annual reduced FTE requirements, including a 3% shrinkage reduction.
• Innovation: Bill readily embraces and explores new technologies and methodologies, as demonstrated by his development of the Capacity Planning Tool.
• Collaboration: Bill works effectively with various departments and stakeholders to ensure alignment and buy-in on workforce planning initiatives. He is recognized as the subject matter expert, frequently consulted for ad-hoc analyses, such as assessing the potential impact of government shutdowns.
• Leadership: Bill has mentored and developed other team members across the organization, fostering a culture of continuous improvement within the workforce planning function.

Bill’s dedication to excellence and commitment to building a strong, effective workforce are truly commendable. His contributions have significantly benefited USAA and set a high standard for workforce planning professionals.

Cody Janiga-Stoll is Assistant Director of Contact Center Optimization at Northwestern Mutual, a financial services company employing 1500 agents in three locations handling approximately 200,000 contacts per month utilizing calls, chats, and back-office functions. The WFM team consists of 55 persons and they utilize technology from Verint, Five 9, Interactions, and Intradiem.

Jessie Cessna, Senior Director of Resource Planning & Enablement, stated, “Cody has demonstrated unparalleled expertise in workforce management, balancing cost and expenses while prioritizing employee health, quality, and productivity. His outstanding accomplishments in 2024, especially in turning around key relationships with business partners, make him an exceptional candidate for this award.”

Cody has successfully balanced costs while prioritizing critical areas such as employee health, quality, and productivity. One of his significant accomplishments includes establishing a detailed IVR call intent-level taxonomy by Q3, which led to a decrease in the transfer rate of 8% by October 2024. This surpassed the target by 3% demonstrating his capability to manage costs while improving service delivery.

Cody's commitment to employee health is evident in his impressive employee Net Promotor Score (eNPS) score of 59 vs a target of 27 and an engagement score of 90% vs a target of 79%. He has fostered an inclusive work environment, focusing on team development and cross-functional collaboration. His proactive approach in seeking feedback and conducting skip-level meetings has created a culture where team members feel seen, heard, and understood.

While the service level and cycle time consistency for back office faced challenges due to staffing shortages, Cody's leadership ensured high forecast accuracy targets were met. His short-term forecast team had an accuracy that reached 93%. Despite staffing challenges, Cody's efforts were instrumental in achieving success in these areas.

Cody's ability to turn around relationships with business partners has been a cornerstone of his success. By developing a weekly briefing process and a monthly outlook process, he has helped senior leaders gain a deeper understanding of their team’s performance and potential mitigation strategies. His dedication to investing time with leaders has repaired strained relationships, restored confidence in technology, tools, and processes, and improved FCS productivity key results.

When a leadership vacancy arose, Cody seamlessly took on additional responsibilities, ensuring team stability and demonstrating strong leadership skills. His proactive approach highlighted his ability to manage and lead effectively, even in challenging circumstances. Cody was entrusted with a new role to lead workforce technology initiatives. He embraced this change with enthusiasm and dedication. Cody developed comprehensive program-level
engagements and established clear communication channels for technology updates. This ensured that all stakeholders were well-informed and aligned with the technological enhancements. His proactive approach in integrating workforce management with technology has driven significant improvements in operational efficiency and team performance.

Despite the increased workload and changes in his role, Cody demonstrated exceptional commitment to his professional development. Amidst his numerous responsibilities, he successfully completed his Certified Workforce Planning Professional (CWPP) certification. Additionally, Cody's commitment to professional growth is further exemplified by his recent academic accomplishments. In May 2024, he earned his MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. These achievements prove his dedication to continuous learning and his drive to enhance his expertise in workforce management. Balancing his professional duties with rigorous certification requirements showcases his remarkable time management skills and unwavering commitment to excellence.

Breanne Katrin is Manager of Workforce Planning for Delta Air Lines. The company handles 4.5 million telephone, email, chat, and social media contacts monthly with nearly 6000 agents in seven locations and an additional 2000 agents at BPOs. The WFM team uses Presidio Network Solutions and Calabrio WFM.

Dave Hoekstra, Product Evangelist for Calabrio, praised her by stating, “With Breanne, it’s not just what she does; it’s how she does it. Always caring, always uplifting, she wields a smile and understanding to influence, build compromise, and get it done. This can-do spirit, fueled by genuine empathy and integrity, makes Breanne someone you implicitly trust to do the right thing. Her thoughtful recognition of others’ efforts motivates them to rise to the occasion, forge ahead, and find a way. It works because she holds herself to the same standards.”

As one of the world’s largest airlines, Delta serves nearly 165 million customers each year and offers over 15,000 daily flights, leading to an extremely high volume of customer service calls for Breanne’s team. As part of the Delta Resource Planning team, Breanne administered WFM activities (mainly scheduling and shift bids in their extremely old homegrown legacy system). She has worked tirelessly to learn the functionality of their WFM software’s shift bidding module and has become Delta’s subject matter expert (SME). The shift bid has become the launch point for Delta’s rollout of WFM software over the past year, and it is the first thing that is rolled out at each new Engagement Center. She has successfully rolled out shift bidding in the WFM system to over 4,500 agents so far.

The COVID and post-COVID era has been hard on many industries, but for airlines, the impact was extreme. Delta swung from celebrating their biggest year ever in February 2020 to canceling all flights within weeks. Thirty percent of their workforce voluntarily took exit packages, yet just three months later, volume returned to pre-pandemic levels—without the headcount. Entering 2021, Delta embarked on a rapid hiring journey, bringing on over
3,000 new domestic employees and expanding their messaging channel through business partners in just a few months. To support operations, Resource Planning first adjusted all schedules and operating hours, then worked to unwind those changes as demand surged back. Through it all, Breanne had her team's back, implementing changes and driving new ways of working in an unprecedented time.

As Delta emerged from COVID, they refocused efforts on new WFM technology that had originally been slated for rollout in 2020. Breanne took on a significant leadership role, heading up the Resource Planning team while serving as an SME on the complexities of their business. Delta's infrastructure is highly complex, consisting of:
• Nine engagement centers (eight domestic, one international)
• Four international business partners
• Multiple service channels (Phone, Messaging, Email, and Queues)
• More than 12 lines of business operating in different time zones and languages

In total, Delta creates more than 130 bid groups for their resources alone, and until this year, they managed this process primarily in Excel as our previous software reached end-of life. Working closely with tech, experience, and field teams, as well as technology partners from their WFM software, Breanne defined the business needs for Delta Reservations and Care, a workforce of over 8,000 agents across Delta and its partners. She has worked tirelessly to support the business, ensuring that our new WFM technology was properly configured for resource planning while also advocating for end-users in the field.

Breanne’s expertise in both existing planning tools and the new WFM system meant that she was instrumental in planning schedules for the entire operation for 2024 and 2025—in both the old and new systems—while they transitioned a few centers per bid period. Since 2022, Delta has cut wait times by more than 65%, thanks in large part to the skillful movement and scheduling of people. While some may attribute this solely to hiring, the
data tells a different story. When heavy hiring slowed in 2023, Delta compared 2023 wait times with 2024 wait times and saw a 25% year-over-year improvement, the majority of which resulted from smoother scheduling and better alignment of resources to business needs.

Rachele Scales is WFM Lead for Insite Managed Solutions. The BPO company employs 3000 agents in 23 locations using Genesys Cloud, Verint, Vonage, Nice IEX, Nice CXOne/InContact, and AWS. The 24X7 operation handles one million contacts per month utilizing voice, chat, email, social, and back office interactions. The WFM team consists of 22 staff.

Jenine Kent, Chief Delivery Officer for Insite Managed Solutions said, “Rachele Scales has built an impressive career rooted in workforce management, blending both formal training and extensive hands-on experience across diverse industries and contact center environments. Rachele’s work over the past year represents the very best of what WFM leadership can achieve — blending technical excellence, process rigor, team development, and business collaboration into a cohesive transformation that delivered tangible results.”

Rachele’s journey began more than a decade ago, working as a frontline agent before transitioning into WFM roles, giving her a deep appreciation for both agent experience and operational efficiency. Over the years, Rachele has received comprehensive training in forecasting methodologies, capacity planning, real-time management, and performance analytics, with deep platform experience across multiple WFM tools. Beyond technical training, Rachele has actively pursued leadership development to bridge the gap between technical expertise and executive communication, ensuring WFM is consistently viewed as a strategic business partner rather than just a back office function.

Rachele has consistently been recognized internally for her leadership and impact. Rachele won the Perseverance Award for her unwavering commitment to excellence, consistently rising to every challenge — from stepping into expanded leadership roles to delivering exceptional client results — all while supporting her colleagues with her deep expertise, collaborative spirit, and tireless work ethic. While her formal certifications include platformspecific WFM tool training and advanced Excel/analytics coursework, her most meaningful recognition comes directly from her clients and team members, who regularly cite her approachability, expertise, and ability to translate complexity into clarity as defining traits. Rachele also has Insite ccSigma Yellow Belt and ccSigma Green Belt certification.

Rachele’s leadership delivered immediate and lasting results, including improving forecast accuracy from 82% to consistently above 95% across all programs within her portfolio. WFM’s credibility also dramatically improved, with operations leadership actively seeking WFM input for scheduling decisions, staffing approvals, and long-term budget planning. WFM team engagement and confidence grew significantly, with team members reporting
greater clarity, empowerment, and a stronger sense of purpose. And cross-functional collaboration evolved from a reactive process to a proactive, collaborative partnership, where WFM was involved early in decision-making rather than consulted after the fact.

By restoring forecast accuracy, aligning staffing plans to real business priorities, and fostering stronger collaboration with operations, Rachele’s work directly contributed to improved service levels across client programs, optimized labor costs through more accurate scheduling, improved agent experience, as schedules better matched demand and reduced last-minute changes, stronger leadership confidence in WFM data, resulting in faster decision-making and reduced friction between teams, and perhaps most importantly, Rachele transformed the perception of WFM from a support/reporting function into a strategic advisor helping the business achieve both service and financial goals.

Rachele’s efforts garnered amazing monetary benefits for the company, including labor cost savings of approximately $1.2 million annually, driven by improved forecast accuracy and optimized scheduling. The company also saw a reduction in unplanned overtime and improved efficiency in resource utilization and avoided consulting costs, as the improved internal processes eliminated the need for external forecasting and workforce planning
consultants.

Rachele also was able to improve agent satisfaction, due to reduced last-minute schedule changes, and she built stronger relationships between WFM and operations, leading to better cross-department alignment. She also fostered enhanced WFM team engagement, as team members felt empowered to own processes and contribute ideas, creating a culture of continuous improvement.

Rachele ensured that these improvements were not temporary fixes but part of a sustainable, scalable framework by embedding the WFM Playbook as the team’s standard operating procedure, ensuring consistency across all lines of business. She maintained the weekly review cadence, keeping performance conversations ongoing, transparent, and collaborative, and cross-trained team members across forecasting, scheduling, and realtime
management, ensuring process continuity even during staffing changes. Rachele also instilled a continuous improvement mindset within the team, encouraging regular process reviews, data deep dives, and proactive problem-solving.

Cooper Taylor is Senior Workforce Management Analyst for 8x8. The telecommunications operation handles 11,000 phone, web, chat, and SMS contacts per month in five locations with 250 agents including BPOs. They utilize 8x8 Contact Center and Verint WFM Pro technologies. The WFM team consists of two persons.

Cooper has been with 8x8 for over four years, starting as a Workforce Management Analyst and then receiving a promotion to Senior Workforce Management Analyst role. He has an MBA and is a four-time winner of the 8x8 Super Star award, which is awarded quarterly to the top five individual contributors in the 8x8 Support Department of 400+ employees. He is currently studying for his Certified Workforce Planning Professional (CWPP) certification and the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) designation.

According to Christopher Lathouwers, Workforce Management Program Manager at 8x8, “Cooper is extremely analytical and loves problem-solving. He views the daily management of our phone, chat, and web queues with an inquisitive mind, always looking to figure out the optimal way to ensure our interactions are being answered in the thresholds set to ensure the business is meeting its KPI's.“

Within 3 weeks of joining 8x8, Cooper single-handedly found all the reports needed to create an Adherence Tracking Report that he updated manually in Excel daily, reporting on the prior days’ adherence for the team. In Cooper's initial report, the team’s weekly adherence percentage was 32.1%, which was causing missed service levels (SLAs), as well as a phone and chat abandon rate above 20%. Within four months of reporting on Adherence to our management team, the daily adherence had climbed to 72.7%, which was due to Cooper’s diligence in not only reporting the figures to the management team but also taking the initiative to create a weekly checkpoint call with the leaders to discuss individual agent performance to help them to have pinpointed coaching sessions with agents who struggled to follow their schedules.

It was at the 4-month mark into Cooper’s tenure with 8x8 that the Workforce Management team of five quickly became a team of two as three colleagues left all at the same time. This quick change forced Cooper to pick up and learn the other key areas of the team rapidly to ensure that business results would not be compromised. One crucial piece that Cooper fought for during this transitionary period for the team was to bring in a Workforce
Management software that could be utilized to help fill the place of losing 60% of the team without burning the remaining team members out trying to pick up the slack of their former peers. Within two months, Cooper had set up and viewed demo calls with five different software providers and had settled on one as the product that could help us with forecasting, scheduling ,and adherence reporting. Cooper took on the role as the software
administrator for the team, ensuring it was set up properly during the implementation phase and that it continues to be maintained and helpful to the team over three years later.

Cooper has helped to overhaul the workforce management program by decreasing phone and chat abandon rates from 22.9% in 2020 down to 3.6% in 2024 through his adherence reporting (both manually in Excel and within the WFM tool once implemented). He also performed the first forecasting for 8x8 and he has been able to reduce our forecast variance from 12.1% in 2021 to 6.4% in 2024 which has dramatically helped the management team
with their headcount decisions.

Cooper’s forecasting, scheduling, and adherence data has driven the ability to decrease headcount at their BPOs from over 150 agents in 2020 down to 90 agents in 2025 without impacting the underlying KPIs of abandon rate below 5%, ASA of less than 35 seconds, and SLA of 90% of calls answered within 75 seconds.

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 2025 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.

ProHance releases its latest 2023-24 Global Productivity Benchmarking Report, offering key insights into workforce efficiency, trends, and industry best practices

“Most productive time in Healthcare/RCM and BPO/BPM is spent on core business apps, while over a quarter of productive time in fast-growing Global Capability Centers goes to communication tools”— Arvind Sagar, Senior Advisor, ProHance

ProHance, a new-age workforce analytics and operations enablement platform, has released its latest Global Productivity Benchmarking Report for 2023 & 2024. This comprehensive and updated report is an industry gold standard in terms of the data-driven statistics it provides. However, what makes it unique is the comparative analysis of productivity trends across a substantial dataset of 231,000 users across 69 organizations—this enables the report to provide valuable insights into workforce efficiency and performance.

The benchmarking study examines key productivity metrics, identifies emerging trends, and delivers data-driven strategies for enterprises looking to optimize workforce performance. With deep analytical insights, this report serves as an essential resource for business leaders, operations heads, and shared services professionals navigating the evolving workplace landscape.

ProHance has been publishing a Global Productivity Benchmarking Report for the past two years; but this latest report for 2023 and 2024 throws up some interesting findings - such as how key WorkTime metrics have improved noticeably, and the India and Asia-Pacific regions are significantly ahead of the rest of the world in terms of productivity. Another compelling insight that the study throws up is, that while the majority of productive time is spent on core business applications in leading industries like Healthcare/RCM and BPO/BPM, more than a quarter of the productive time in fast-growing Global Capability Centers is spent on communication tools.

The 5.6% improvement in productive hours in 2024 compared to 2023 is significantly higher than the 1.8% increase in logged hours, highlighting how ProHance helps teams work smarter, not just harder.

Key Findings from the Report:

Increase in Productive Time: The study reveals an overall increase of 24 minutes in productive time from 2023 to 2024, driven by higher logged hours and improved system engagement.

Industry Performance Trends: While Healthcare/RCM met the expected productive time benchmark, other industries, including BFSI and IT Services, need to optimize idle time and time away from the system to achieve efficiency gains.

Sector-Wide Productivity Growth: Most industry sectors demonstrated an improvement in productive hours, except for Staffing and Real Estate, which experienced a slight decline in 2024.

Regional Productivity Insights: India, the Philippines, and the rest of Asia-Pacific outperformed other regions in productive time, while the Americas, Europe, and MEA showed lower efficiency, potentially due to labor regulations or operational inefficiencies.

Workforce Deployment Comparison: Large enterprises with over 5,000 users reached the benchmark of 7 hours and 30 minutes of productive time, while smaller deployments still lagged slightly behind.

Tool Utilization Trends: The report highlights a strong reliance on business tools in Healthcare/RCM, while collaboration tools were heavily used in BFSI and Global Capability Centers (GCCs), emphasizing the role of virtual team connectivity.

"By sharing these findings, we want to empower organizations with actionable intelligence to enhance efficiency and drive better business outcomes," said Arvind Sagar, Senior Advisor, ProHance. "This report underscores the power of data-backed decision-making in improving operational effectiveness."

About ProHance
ProHance is a comprehensive workforce analytics and operations enablement platform that empowers organizations to enhance productivity, enforce compliance, optimize costs, and drive data-backed business strategies. Trusted by over 400,000 users across 25 countries, ProHance provides deep visibility into workforce dynamics, enabling enterprises to make informed decisions for sustainable growth.

For more information, visit www.prohance.net or follow us on LinkedIn.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE

 

MEDIA CONTACT

Shikha Mishra
ProHance
sh******@******ce.net

 

ProHance, a new-age workforce analytics and operations enablement platform, announces that it has achieved 400,000 users across 25 countries. This milestone underscores the platform’s increasing adoption as enterprises prioritize workforce productivity, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.

“Achieving 400,000 users is a significant milestone that reflects the trust Enterprises and SMBs place in ProHance,” said Saurabh Sharma, CGO of ProHance. “As businesses adapt to evolving workplace dynamics, our AI-driven platform provides them with real-time insights to optimize workforce efficiency, enhance resource utilization, and drive sustainable productivity gains.”

ProHance is driving transformation across key industries, including IT & BPM, BFSI, Healthcare, Retail, and Shared Services. With AI-powered analytics, automated workflows, and intuitive dashboards, the platform empowers enterprises to streamline operations, improve compliance, and maximize workforce potential.

This achievement follows a series of strategic initiatives, including global partnerships, industry collaborations, and continuous innovation in AI-driven workforce intelligence. As organizations increasingly focus on scalability, automation, and workforce optimization, ProHance remains committed to delivering next-generation solutions to help businesses future-proof their workforce strategies.

About ProHance
ProHance is a new-age workforce analytics and operations enablement platform that helps organizations enhance productivity, ensure compliance, optimize costs, improve customer satisfaction, and drive data-led strategies. Trusted by 400,000 users across 25 countries, ProHance enables enterprises to achieve measurable productivity gains through advanced workforce intelligence solutions. For more information, visit www.prohance.net or follow us on our LinkedIn handle.

Revolutionizing Workforce Productivity with Actionable Insights

"As organizations navigate hybrid and dynamic work models, ProHance’s Global Productivity Benchmarking Report offers a powerful tool for identifying and bridging productivity gaps”

— Arvind Sagar, Senior Advisor, ProHance

ProHance, a leading operational analytics and workforce productivity platform, has unveiled its Global Productivity Benchmarking Report. Spanning 2023 through Q3 2024, the report delivers deep, data-backed insights on workforce productivity trends across industries and regions, empowering businesses to drive operational excellence in an evolving work environment. With the increasing adoption of hybrid work models, relying solely on logged hours is becoming outdated. Companies need to focus on productive time—the real 'Most Valuable Player' of workforce efficiency.

Drawing on data from over 197,000 users across 65 organizations globally, the report offers unparalleled analysis across sectors such as Healthcare, BFSI, IT Services, BPO/KPO, and Global Capability Centers (GCCs). Covering key geographies including India, the Philippines, the Americas, Europe, and the MEA region, the findings reveal trends that help organizations unlock their workforce's full potential.

Highlights of the Report:

- Rising Productivity: Average productive hours climbed to 7 hours 24 minutes per day by Q3 2024.

- Sector Excellence: Healthcare/RCM emerged as a standout, consistently surpassing productivity benchmarks.

Regional Insights:

- India and the Philippines led in productivity but highlighted opportunities to reduce idle time.

- The Americas and Europe showcased balanced productivity and idle time metrics.

Organizational Scale Impact:

- Larger organizations demonstrated superior productivity, benefiting from data-driven operational cultures.

- Small and medium businesses revealed untapped potential, particularly in adopting effective tools.

Industry-Specific Trends:

- BFSI logged the highest idle time, signalling areas for operational improvement.

- IT Services and GCCs showed advanced adoption of collaboration tools to support distributed teams.

- Hybrid Work Redefined: Productive time, not just logged hours, emerged as the critical benchmark in hybrid work setups.

New Features:
- The current edition of the report introduces granular insights into tool utilization by industry and organizational scale, enabling businesses to craft customized strategies for workforce engagement and efficiency.

“As organizations navigate hybrid and dynamic work models, ProHance’s Global Productivity Benchmarking Report offers a powerful tool for identifying and bridging productivity gaps,” said Arvind Sagar, Senior Advisor at ProHance. “Armed with this data, leaders can drive meaningful, analytics-based transformations to improve workforce efficiency and achieve sustainable growth.”

ProHance reaffirms its commitment to revolutionizing workforce productivity by empowering organizations with actionable intelligence for building robust operational frameworks.

To download the full report and learn more about how ProHance can transform your workforce, visit https://www.prohance.net/global-productivity-benchmarking-report.php

About ProHance:
ProHance empowers organizations with its comprehensive suite of tools, designed to elevate productivity, enforce compliance, streamline costs, and enable data-driven decision-making. Currently used by over 380,000 users in 25+ countries, ProHance helps enterprises achieve operational excellence and strategic goals. For more, log onto www.prohance.net

Shikha Mishra
ProHance
sh******@******ce.net

Integration of Echo AI Advances Calabrio’s Aim to Improve Customer Experiences and Optimize Contact Centers Through Cutting-Edge AI

MINNEAPOLIS – December 11, 2024 – Calabrio, today announced the acquisition of Echo AI, a generative AI-native conversation intelligence platform. It is the next strategic step in Calabrio’s commitment to providing contact centers with the latest innovative solutions through near-time conversation insights that enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency.

With the global customer experience management (CXM) market projected to grow from $19 billion in 2024 to $43 billion by 2029, Echo AI’s technology will provide automated quality management with 100% customization and bolster Calabrio’s offerings in customer experience (CX) intelligence and agent performance coaching, providing a deeper view into customer interactions and optimizing human and bot performance.

Echo AI’s technology analyzes every customer conversation across multiple channels, including calls, tickets, surveys and reviews, turning them into opportunities to increase conversions, improve bot and agent interactions, reduce costs, and reveal new business opportunities. By deploying a unique pipeline of large language models (LLMs), the technology analyzes millions of data points and delivers insights that drive customer retention, operational efficiency and growth.

“Calabrio believes AI is the cornerstone of innovation in the contact center,” said Dave Rhodes, CEO of Calabrio. “The Echo AI acquisition reflects our ongoing investment in solutions that enable automation, improve quality management and provide precise data to inform decisions.

Enhanced AI Capabilities for Calabrio’s Suite

This integration, incorporating generative AI-driven conversation intelligence, will significantly impact the contact center industry in two critical ways:

By analyzing every customer interaction, across all channels, contact centers can quicky access context-rich insights. The result is the identification of key customer opportunities, trends and risks, and the ability for businesses to rapidly respond to them.
Specific, prioritized training and coaching for agents is possible due to the depth of data gleaned from agent-customer interactions. Agents, better equipped to improve performance with unbiased, automated quality grading, can positively impact customers’ experiences, and ultimately, improve customer satisfaction.

“Echo AI’s technology aligns with Calabrio’s vision of an AI-enabled contact center,” added Rhodes. “With this acquisition, we’re accelerating our effort to provide a seamless integration of human and AI-driven intelligence, empowering agents to improve efficiency and dramatically improve customer interactions.”

A Shared Vision for the Future

In September of 2024, Echo AI was recognized as a Gartner Cool Vendor for Customer Service and Support and has built a reputation for harnessing generative AI to uncover critical insights and improve customer outcomes.

“We are thrilled to join Calabrio to advance and accelerate the adoption and impact of generative AI in the contact center” said Alex Kvamme, Co-founder and CEO of Echo AI. “Together, we’ll help businesses unlock new levels of customer understanding and service excellence with unmatched depth, speed and precision.”

The acquisition aligns with Calabrio’s strategic roadmap for AI innovation, focusing on improving customer experience by identifying potential issues and trends early and addressing them proactively. One of the most advanced solutions in the industry, this integration will provide the technological underpinnings enabling contact center leaders, operators and agents to embrace the AI-augmented era.

For more information about Calabrio and its expanded suite of solutions, visit: www.calabrio.com.

About Echo AI

Echo AI is a genAI-native conversation intelligence platform that deeply analyzes customer conversations and transforms them into the insights and actions that drive growth. By analyzing 100% of customer interactions—from calls to tickets, surveys, and reviews—Echo AI rapidly finds key perishable insights that improve every layer of the organization while automatically scoring agent and bot performance.

About Calabrio

Calabrio is a trusted ally to leading brands. The digital foundation of a customer-centric contact center, the Calabrio ONE workforce performance suite helps enrich and understand human interactions, empowering your contact center as a brand guardian. We maximize agent performance, exceed customer expectations, and boost workforce efficiency using connected data, AI-fueled analytics, automated workforce management, and personalized coaching. Only Calabrio ONE unites workforce optimization (WFO), agent engagement, and business intelligence solutions into a cloud-native, fully integrated suite that adapts to your business.

Calabrio, Calabrio ONE and the Calabrio logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Calabrio, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. Calabrio operates in Canada under Calabrio Canada, Ltd., based in British Columbia. Follow us on LinkedIn. Follow us on X.

Bengaluru, 23^rd September 2024: In the face of mounting macro-economic challenges, Global Business Services (GBS) organizations are at a pivotal moment. A new study by Zinnov, a global management and strategy consulting firm, in collaboration with ProHance, a productivity management pioneer, underscores the critical need for GBS leaders to implement robust productivity frameworks to not only withstand economic pressures but also drive sustainable growth.

Navigating the Crossroads of GBS: The Need for a Data-driven Productivity Framework

GBS organizations today are navigating a complex landscape marked by economic uncertainty, talent retention challenges, and rapid technological advancements. The study highlights that 53% of GBS leaders rank productivity improvement as their top priority for 2024. This focus is driven by the dual need to enhance operational efficiency and foster innovation amidst ongoing economic headwinds.

As the economic environment remains volatile with inflation, geopolitical risks, and supply chain disruptions, the pressure on GBS organizations to deliver cost efficiencies has intensified. Zinnov and ProHance’s study reveals that a data-driven approach to productivity management is not just desirable but essential. With 52% of leaders citing limited access to reliable data as a key barrier, there is an urgent need for comprehensive visibility and actionable insights to optimize operations and impact the bottom-line effectively. In response, GBS leaders are increasingly focusing on productivity as a critical lever to mitigate these pressures and ensure organizational resilience.

This one of a kind study by Zinnov and ProHance guides GBS leaders on how productivity can serve as a key lever to navigate these challenges and offers a roadmap for sustainably enhancing productivity. The key to success lies in transforming data into actionable intelligence and integrating it across people, processes, and technology. This holistic approach not only enhances immediate productivity gains but also builds a culture of continuous improvement, positioning GBS organizations as strategic enablers within their parent organizations.

From Quick Wins to Sustained Impact: The Journey of Productivity Transformation

The study outlines a three-step strategy for GBS leaders to enhance productivity and achieve sustained impact –

1. Visibility: The first step is gaining comprehensive visibility into workforce data. This involves leveraging advanced analytics tools to capture and visualize performance metrics, enabling GBS leaders to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
2. Interventions: Once visibility is established, targeted interventions can be implemented. These range from optimizing resource allocation and task prioritization to reengineering processes and integrating Automation and AI technologies. The goal is to enhance both short-term productivity and long-term operational resilience.
3. Change Management: Effective change management is crucial to the success of any productivity initiative. The study emphasizes the need for a strategic approach to manage stakeholder expectations, align priorities, and drive cultural change across the organization.

The study also captures compelling, real-world case studies that demonstrate how organizations at different stages of their productivity journey can achieve significant gains – with a framework approach. The Zinnov-ProHance Productivity framework is designed to help organizations systematically identify pain points and curate targeted interventions. With early-stage organizations reporting up to a 20% improvement in productivity levels, the framework-led approach clearly has merits.

The Strategic Imperative: Embracing Productivity for Sustainable Growth

In light of the study’s findings, it is clear that productivity is no longer just a measure of efficiency but a strategic imperative for GBS organizations. As the role of GBS evolves from being a cost center to a value driver, leaders must adopt a more nuanced approach to productivity management—one that balances cost efficiencies with value creation and innovation.

Talking about the study, Karthik Padmanabhan, Managing Partner at Zinnov, said, “Today, the pursuit of productivity extends beyond just deploying advanced tools – it requires a cohesive, framework-led approach. With 52% of leaders citing limited access to reliable data as a major barrier, and productivity dropping by 15% after 8 hours of work, it’s clear that sustainable productivity is not just about working harder, but smarter. By setting realistic targets and KPIs, the Zinnov-ProHance approach helps move 19% of employees into high productivity zones within six months, driving impactful change across people, processes, and technology. The Zinnov-ProHance Productivity Quadrants framework provides a strategic blueprint for GBS organizations to baseline and benchmark productivity, allowing them to make data-driven decisions. As GBS leaders navigate the complexities of modern business, adopting this holistic approach will be essential to sustain and scale their impact.”

The Path Forward: Leveraging Data for Strategic Advantage

For GBS leaders, the path forward is clear: embrace a productivity framework that integrates advanced analytics, targeted interventions, and strategic change management to navigate the complexities of the current business environment and unlock sustainable growth.

“Driving the productivity agenda within GBS demands a robust measurement system. The enterprise productivity landscape is increasingly complex and cluttered with various technologies such as Generative AI, RPA, and Process Discovery. However, the impact of these technologies on optimizing investments in human capital often remains unclear. ProHance offers a comprehensive understanding of work patterns and their influence on efficiency and productivity. This study, grounded in first principles, provides accurate measurement and presents an alternative perspective, enabling GBS organizations to cut through the noise and focus on the true drivers of sustainable productivity,” said Ankur Dhingra, CEO, ProHance.  

About Zinnov

Founded in 2002, Zinnov is a global management and strategy consulting firm, with presence in New York, Santa Clara, Houston, Seattle, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, and Paris. Over the past 22 years, Zinnov has successfully consulted with over 250+ Fortune 500 enterprises to develop actionable insights to help them accelerate their technology journeys to create value – across dimensions of revenue, transformation, and optimization. With core expertise in Digital Engineering Talent, Digital Transformation, Innovation, and Outsourcing Advisory, Zinnov assists clients by:

 

• Enabling global companies to design, build, transform, and scale their global engineering talent footprint through center setups and accelerators – in an as-a-service model, as well as optimizing their global portfolios, to achieve higher R&D efficiencies, innovation, and productivity;
• Advising global PE firms in asset shortlisting and target evaluation, commercial due diligence, and value creation including global footprint accretion;
• Growing revenue for companies’ products and services in newer markets through account intelligence, market entry, and market expansion advisory;
• Helping global companies outline and drive their open innovation programs, design and operate accelerator programs, and enable collaboration with start-ups across specific use cases and predefined outcomes;
• Structuring and implementing Digital Transformation levers enabled by technologies like AI/ML, Intelligent Automation, Cloud, IOT, etc.

 

With their team of experienced consultants, subject matter experts, and research professionals, Zinnov serves clients from across multiple industry verticals including Enterprise Software, BFSI, Healthcare, Automotive, Retail, and Telecom in the US, Europe, Japan, and India. For more information, visit http://www.zinnov.com.

 

About ProHance

ProHance is an industry leader in the enterprise workforce analytics, productivity intelligence, and operational empowerment with 370,000+ users across 25 countries. The cloud-based platform is tailored for the hybrid work environment and productivity enhancement especially in GBS organizations through years of collaboration with companies like Tesco, JLL, American Express, Tata Power, Lowe’s, and more. In an age when remote and hybrid work has become table stakes for the contemporary enterprise, solutions like ProHance enable businesses to track productivity beyond simple metrics and generate real-time workforce intelligence to the executive leaders that crave actionable insights.

For more information, log onto: www.prohance.net.

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New era of growth to be led by newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Darryl Kelly

(Atlanta - September 4, 2024) Alvaria, a pioneer in workforce management and contact center customer experience technology, servicing large global enterprises and rapidly growing consumer brands, today announced the rebirth of Aspect in response to accelerated company growth and a demand for more complex tools to support hybrid, remote and in-person workforces. Aspect encapsulates Alvaria’s Enterprise Workforce Suite and will operate as an Alvaria-owned subsidiary.

Aspect returns to the brand portfolio with a modern and innovative suite of products, including their new next-generation platform, WorkforceOS, powered by predictive analytics and a mission to humanize the service economy. Aspect has a rich history of innovation and leadership in the contact center space, having pioneered the world’s first Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and the first Workforce Management Software for contact centers.

Alvaria has named Darryl Kelly as Chief Executive Officer to steward this brand evolution. Kelly, an accomplished senior leader, previously served for two years as Alvaria’s Chief Strategy Officer, in addition to leading strategic initiatives at companies including Bain & Co, RingCentral/Connect First, and LivePerson. While serving as Chief Strategy Officer at Alvaria, Kelly led the creation of WorkforceOS while simultaneously driving double digit Enterprise Cloud revenue growth in the past two years.

”Given we’re doubling down on innovation with this next chapter, we want to honor where it all began, so bringing the Aspect name back seems like a natural fit. With the workforce landscape changing significantly, corporations can rely on us to help them build more resilient, engaged, and agile frontline teams that can thrive in an always changing world,” said Darryl Kelly, newly appointed Aspect CEO.

Over the past 50 years, Alvaria has elevated its status as a market leader within the workforce technology and call center industries servicing many companies including airlines, financial service organizations, healthcare, insurance, retail, and more. With over

750K employees using their products across 20 countries, Alvaria is committed to changing work culture and creating longer ownership cycles for businesses.

To further explore Aspect’s Workforce Enterprise Suite, now in beta, visit www.aspect.com.

About Alvaria

Alvaria is on a mission to humanize the service economy. As an industry leader in workforce management and contact center CX technology for over 50 years, Alvaria has provided large global enterprises with a comprehensive suite of secure, autonomous solutions that enhance satisfaction and success for both employees and customers. This vision fosters a more connected and thriving world and drives brand loyalty for clients. In response to accelerated company growth, Alvaria announced the return of its legacy brand Aspect, which aims to deliver innovation, larger efficiencies, and greater business results. For more information, visit www.alvaria.com.

Post-acquisition, ProHance aims to build on its success and strategically expand into important markets such as the Philippines, Australia, and South America

BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, INDIA -- Private equity firm ChrysCapital has acquired a 75 per cent stake in ProHance, a business-to-business software-as-a-service (B2B SaaS) platform offering workforce analytics and operations enablement.

The investment will be primarily used to accelerate ProHance’s expansion across the globe and further strengthen its market dominance. ProHance was founded by Kishore Reddy and Rajesh Sharma in 2009 with a vision of creating a world-class global product out of India.

The investment marks ChrysCapital’s foray into the growing Indian SaaS ecosystem that is currently valued at over $12 billion. Indian SaaS has outpaced the global market growth with ~5% market share and is poised to reach 8% by CY27. ChrysCapital is one of the leading investment firms based out of India that manages $5 billion across nine funds and has valuable experience in investing across a breadth of sectors to leverage growth.

ProHance offers enterprises actionable analytics to improve their operational productivity. It is an enterprise-grade product being leveraged by over 370,000 users in more than 25 countries.

ProHance founders, Kishore & Rajesh, commented “ProHance has achieved remarkable success in deploying its product at leading IT/BPO, GCC, BFSI clients in India and the US, and with ChrysCapital’s acquisition, ProHance hopes to build on its success and plans to strategically expand into important markets such as the Philippines, Australia, and South America.”

The founders and existing senior leadership of Prohance will remain an integral part of the business post the acquisition.

Ankur Dhingra, CEO of ProHance, said, “We are excited to partner with ChrysCapital as it will empower us to accelerate our global expansion efforts and align seamlessly with our vision of becoming a market leader. Our commitment to innovation, coupled with a dedicated team and robust solutions, has garnered significant recognition and trust from clients.”

Sanjay Jalona, Operating Partner, ChrysCapital Advisors, stated, "ChrysCapital is delighted to back ProHance, a company distinguished by its execution-oriented leadership. Platforms like ProHance play a pivotal role in a hybrid workplace, seamlessly connecting and empowering teams to collaborate efficiently regardless of physical location. I have personally seen the benefits of ProHance having been one of their largest clients at prior organizations.”

Rishabh Iyer, Vice President, ChrysCapital Advisors, stated, " At ChrysCapital, we see tremendous potential in ‘India for Global SaaS’ given the large developer talent pool and higher adoption of cloud in global enterprises. We are excited to be partnering with an innovative and dynamic company for our inaugural investment in the SaaS sector.”

DC Advisory was the exclusive financial advisor to ProHance and its shareholders.

For this transaction, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Cooley served as the legal counsel for ChrysCapital and EY as the accounting and tax advisor. BLC served as legal counsel and Aeka Advisors for ProHance.

 

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – March 4, 2024 – The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) has announced Elias Saykali of TD Bank Group as the winner of the 2024 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 Elias as this year’s winner,” said Vicki Herrell, Executive Director of SWPP. “Through his  leadership and vision, he was able to achieve great results for his company and their customers in the workforce management arena.”

The other finalists for the award include Eric Bigelow of Qualfon, Brandon Kelly of Options for All, My Tran of UC Davis Health, and Chris Trujillo of Memorial Hermann. 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 2024 SWPP Annual Conference.

Elias Saykali is Senior Leader, WFM Command & Dispatch Centre for TD Bank Group. This financial services company employs 12,000 agents in 23 locations and remotely on a 24x7 basis. They handle five million monthly inbound and outbound voice, inbound chat, social, email and back office contacts. The technology used includes Cisco UCCE, Genesys Routing, NICE WFM and EEM,
Genesys WFM, and Verint. The workforce management team employs 160 people.

According to the Senior Manager of Command & Dispatch, Elias possesses a rare combination of strategic thinking and hands-on problem-solving, making him an exceptional leader. His ability to envision and implement groundbreaking processes has been a driving force behind his team’s success. He is known for fostering a collaborative and motivated team environment where his leadership has become synonymous with success.

Elias has accomplished many amazing things during his tenure at TD Bank that produced great results for the organization, including:

• Service level targets were met for the first time ever and sustained consistently for an unprecedented 13 months. This moved the organization from 5th to 1st for service level performance based on a benchmarking study of the “Big 5” banks.
• Occupancy levels dropped only 1% while the service level increased 13 points.
• Implementation of Voluntary time off resulted in a full year paid FTE hours reduction of 3% or $15MM (CAD).
• A live dashboard was created that integrates multiple data sources, providing real-time insights in ACD, weather, live insurance claims, logins to the bank website, customer transactions, and real-time incidents. This offers a view of ongoing activities, enabling proactive decision-making and creating a rapid response centre mitigating against unexpected events.
• Service level consistency across all intervals was a focus and reporting capabilities to produced heatmaps highlighting the opportunities overall and for each line of business.

Elias consistently secures the highest employee engagement survey results across the entire WFM department with a 98% employee engagement index score (median score 86%).