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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – Feb. 28, 2024 – The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) has announced the five finalists for the 2024 Workforce Management Professional
of the Year Award, which recognizes a workforce management professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry. The finalists are Eric Bigelow of Qualfon, Brandon
Kelly of Options for All, Elias Saykali of TD Bank Group, My Tran of UC Davis Health, and Chris Trujillo of Memorial Hermann.

“These five workforce management professionals are truly representative of the ‘best of the best’ in our industry,” said Vicki Herrell, SWPP Executive Director. “They have all demonstrated great leadership and ability in the field, as well as shown measurable results for their companies. We are pleased to present them as finalists for this distinguished award.” The winner of the award will be announced at the SWPP Annual Conference, which is held in Nashville, Tennessee on March 4-6, 2024.

Eric Bigelow is Workforce & Systems Support Manager for Qualfon, a business […]

Solution’s 80% accuracy rate expected to reach 90% in 2024

Atlanta – September 12, 2023 – Intradiem, the leading provider of contact center automation solutions, is introducing the first AI-powered technology solution to quantify agent “burnout” and predict the risk of attrition at the agent level. Currently, the solution predicts churn accurately 80% of the time, but with refinements and model training in progress, the rate is expected to increase to 90% or more by 2024.

Rigid schedules, repetitive work, and regular hostility from frustrated callers make a call center agent’s job notoriously stressful. That fuels chronic attrition, which in turn raises costs and undercuts consistent customer brand experiences. Agent attrition is estimated at 40-70% annually, with some organizations turning over their entire agent populations each year. Replacing a single agent can cost $20,000 to $35,000.

“Agent attrition is always a pressing issue for contact center leaders. It’s costly to find, hire, and train agents, and a lack of experienced employees can negatively […]

Global leaders in contact center solutions team up to deliver operational excellence, cost savings, and customer satisfaction.

Natterbox, a global innovator in contact center solutions, has announced a partnership with Playvox, a leading provider of Workforce Engagement (WEM) solutions that include AI-infused workforce management (WFM) software and Quality Management (QM) software. This strategic collaboration empowers contact centers around the world to navigate the complexities of planning, forecasting, and scheduling their workforce with ease, while maintaining operational excellence, reducing costs, and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

With customers increasingly demanding hyper-personalized experiences across multiple channels, contact centers face growing challenges in optimizing their workforce to meet fluctuating demand. By integrating Playvox’s cutting-edge WFM capabilities with Salesforce Service Cloud Voice, Natterbox customers can enjoy unparalleled efficiency and effectiveness in their sales and contact center operations.

According to recent studies, contact centers that utilize advanced WFM technology can experience up to a 25% increase in agent productivity and a significant reduction in costs. Through […]

The world’s leading employee Performance eXperience Platform recently partnered with the respected professional organization to help support call center quality assurance and training teams.

New York, London, Tel Aviv, June 16,  2023 – Centrical, a global SaaS company, and the Performance eXperience Platform for frontline employees is pleased to announce its new partnership with QATC, an organization devoted to facilitating the education, sharing of ideas, and distribution of knowledge among quality assurance and training professionals in the call center.

Of this new partnership, Centrical CMO April Crichlow said, “Partnering with a revered organization like QATC makes perfect sense. Over the past several years, there has been a massive shift in how call centers do business, and this is especially true for quality assurance teams. QM processes are too often transactional, static, and disconnected from the overall employee experience, which prevents organizations from truly optimizing the data they have at their disposal. By connecting quality assurance teams, agents, and supervisors in a dynamic feedback loop, organizations […]

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – May 15, 2023 – The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) has announced Rick Seeley as the recipient of the 2023 SWPP Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes an individual who has shown outstanding leadership in the workforce management industry.

Rick currently serves as WFM Supervisor at McKesson. He has worked in contact centers for over 33 years. His interest in workforce management started when he was an agent on the phones at the onset of the Sprint Texas Relay Service in Austin, TX in 1996. At that time, Rick inquired how the Supervisors were creating schedules. Once that was explained, Rick took the data and decided to play with it to create better coverage and better staffing. This morphed into creating the Operations Administrator position for Sprint Relay Services which was the initial
RTA, Scheduler, and Forecaster for all the Sprint Relay Services nationwide. And the rest is history. Rick moved to Dallas with Sprint to work as a […]

New customers, partnerships, products, leadership, and industry recognition drive company growth

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 23, 2023 — Playvox, the leading provider of Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) solutions for digital-first contact centers, today announced continued growth driven by new customers and partners, new and enhanced products, an expanded leadership team, and continued industry recognition.

New Customers and Partnerships

Continuing its momentum from the prior year, Playvox added several marquee clients and partners to its portfolio. Brands in a range of industries selected Playvox to support and optimize customer and agent experience, engagement, and workforce solutions. A sampling of new customers includes Squaretalk, Harry’s Inc., Telarus, Jenne Cloud Services Brokerage, and InflowCX.

More recent wins include fashion brands Skims and Decker’s, innovative pet food brand Farmer’s Dog, iconic coffee best seller Black Rifle […]

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – May 15, 2023 – The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) is proud to announce Brandon Emms of GreenShield as the winner of the 2023 Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award, which recognizes a workforce management professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry.

“We are so thrilled to announce Brandon as the winner of this prestigious award,” said Vicki Herrell, SWPP Executive Director. “His knowledge, leadership, and vision have helped him achieve great results for his company. We believe he is truly representative of the great workforce management professionals around the world.”

The other finalists include Mary Kathryn Dorr of Trimble Transportation, Trent Ryan of Netflix, Caci Cooper of Optum, and Tim Bodway of Thrivent. The winner was announced at the 2023 SWPP Annual Conference.

Brandon Emms is Manager of Workforce Management for GreenShield. The insurance company has one location with 200 agents handling calls and emails. They utilize systems from Avaya, Verint, and Nuance. Brandon has […]

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – April 14, 2023 – The Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) has announced the five finalists for the 2023 Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award, which recognizes a workforce management professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry. The finalists are Brandon Emms of GreenShield, Mary Kathryn Dorr of Trimble Transportation, Trent Ryan of Netflix, Caci Cooper of Optum, and Tim Bodway of Thrivent.

“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 will be held in […]